2 Kings 17:24-41

B. THE REPOPULATION OF SAMARIA 17:24-41

TRANSLATION

(24) And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath and from Sepharvaim, and made them dwell in the cities of Samaria in place of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in her cities. (25) And it came to pass at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. And the LORD sent against them lions which slew some of them. (26) And they said to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which you carried away and caused to dwell in the cities of Samaria do not know the manner of the God of the land, and He has sent among them lions; and behold they are killing them because they do not know the manner of the God of the land. (27) And the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Cause one of the priests which you carried away from there to go there, and let them go and dwell there that he may teach them the manner of the God of the land. (28) And one of the priests who had been carried away from Samaria came, and dwelled in Bethel, and taught them how they might fear the LORD. (29) But each nationality made its own gods; and they put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, each nationality in the cities where they were dwelling. (30) And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima. (31) And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites continued to bum their children in fire to Adremmelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. (32) So they feared the LORD, while they made for themselves from the lowest of them priests of the high places who made offerings for them in the houses of the high places. (33) They feared the LORD, while they served their own gods according to the manner of the nations from which they were carried away. (34) Unto this day they are doing according to the former manner; they do not fear the LORD, neither do they do after their statutes and their judgments, or the instruction and commandments which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob whom He named Israel. (35) And the LORD made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying, Do not fear other gods, and do not bow down to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them, (36) But the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great strength and outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, and to Him bow down, and to Him make sacrifice. (37) And the statutes and the judgments and the instruction and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever; and you shall not fear other gods. (38) And the covenant which I made with you, do not forget, and do not fear other gods. (39) But fear the LORD your God, and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies. (40) Yet they did not hearken, but did according to their former manner. (41) So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images; also their sons and the sons of their sons; as their fathers did, so do they unto this day.

COMMENTS

In keeping with imperial policy, the Assyrian king replaced those Israelites taken into captivity with subjects from other parts of his empire. It would seem that this resettlement started not long after the fall of Samaria in 722 B.C.[597] Five areas are named as having furnished the foreign settlers of Samaria. Babylon and its near neighbor Cuthah were conquered by Sargon in 709 B.C. Hamath on the Orontes river fell to Sargon in 720 B.C. and its inhabitants were carried off. The location of Ava and Sepharvaim is disputed, some scholars feeling they were Mesopotamian towns, and others, that they were located in Syria.[598] The Assyrian policy of national transplantation which had been introduced by Tiglath-pileser was practiced on an even larger scale by Sargon. By separating people from their native lands and from their leadership, the Assyrians hoped to be able to prevent rebellions from subject peoples (2 Kings 17:24).

[597] In his annals Sargon mentions deporting people from Mesopotamia to the Hatti land (Syria-Palestine) in his first year of reign (721 B.C.). A similar repopulation of Samaria took place in his seventh year (715 B.C.). In the days of Esarhaddon (681-669 B.C.) the resettlement of Samaria was still taking place (Ezra 4:2).

[598] In 2 Kings 18:34 Ivvah is probably the same as Ava here. It is there mentioned with various Syrian locations. That Sepharvaim is a Syrian town is suggested by 2 Kings 18:34; 2 Kings 19:13.

The foreign colonists were ignorant of Yahweh and therefore neglected to pay Him the proper respect. To teach these idolaters a much-needed lesson, the Lord sent against them lions. These beasts are no longer found in Palestine, but apparently in antiquity they were quite numerous in this region. The rural areas of the Northern Kingdom had become so depopulated by war and deportation that conditions were favorable for the rapid increase of the lion population. Several of the colonists lost their lives (2 Kings 17:25) and the situation became a matter of grave concern. Word came to the Assyrian king along with the suggestion that the colonists needed to learn the proper ritual to perform in order to please the God of Israel and thus bring about the end of the lion plague (2 Kings 17:26). The king then ordered that one of the priests of Yahweh be sent back to instruct the colonists in the ways of the Lord. Since the priests were such prominent personages in ancient society, they had all been carried away to other parts of the Assyrian empire. While there was a remnant of Israel left in the land (2 Chronicles 34:9), they would not have been familiar with the details of the religious ritual practiced in the temples. This priest, along with his entourage (note the plural them in 2 Kings 17:27), returned to dwell in Bethel. He taught the new settlers to fear the Lord (2 Kings 17:28) by which is most certainly meant the perverted parody of the true worship practiced in Jerusalem. No positive evidence exists, however, that this priest set up a new calf image to replace the one which had been carried off to Assyria (Hosea 10:5).

Those who had settled in the region of Samaria were polytheists and, in spite of the teaching of the priest of Yahweh, they continued to worship their native deities. They set up their idols in the high places which had been constructed by the Samaritans (i.e., the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom) throughout their cities (2 Kings 17:29). The Babylonians worshiped Succoth-benoth which is generally regarded as a corruption of the name of the goddess who was the wife of Marduk, viz., Sarpanitu.[599] The men of Cuth (Cuthah of 2 Kings 17:24) continued to honor Nergal the god of war which was the titular deity of their native city. The colonists from Hamath worshiped Ashima, a deliberate misvocalization of Asherah, the name of the Canaanite mother goddess (2 Kings 17:30).

[599] This goddess was popularly titled Zir-banitu (seed-creating).

The names of the gods of the Avites are unfamiliar, but this is to be expected in view of the fact that nothing is known of the religion of that particular city. Nibhaz and Tartak may have been purely local gods, or they may have been local names for gods worshiped elsewhere under other appellations. The Sepharvites worshiped Adram-melech (the glorious king), which may have been a special title of Shamash the sun god. Anammelech (the arranging king) may be an intentional Hebrew corruption of the name of the goddess Anunit who was the consort of Shamash.[600] In honor of these particular gods, the Sepharvites committed the most abominable rite of antiquity, the sacrifice of their children (2 Kings 17:31).

[600] Gray (OTL, p. 655) thinks Anammelek means Anu (the Mesopotamian sky-god) is king.

It is in the very nature of polytheism to be syncretistic. Thus it is not strange to find that the foreign colonists in the territory of Samaria feared the Lord and served their own gods. To the author of Kings this mixed religion was so inexplicable and repugnant that he dwells upon it. While they feared, i.e., worshiped, the Lord, the Samaritans followed the apostate practice of recruiting priests from all ranks of society, even the lowest (cf. 1 Kings 12:31). These priests were willing to officiate in the illegitimate high places which were maintained contrary to the Law of Moses (2 Kings 17:32). The Samaritans continued to mix with this apostate Yahwism the worship to which they were accustomed prior to being transplanted by the Assyrian authorities to Samaria (2 Kings 17:33). At the time Kings was written, this syncretistic religion was still being practiced in the North.

While in an external sense the Samaritans feared the Lord (2 Kings 17:32-33; 2 Kings 17:41), in reality they did not, for genuine fear of the Lord demand the elimination of all who would rival His deity. Had these people really wanted to serve Yahweh they would have attended to their statutes and ordinances, i.e., the divine commandments which are binding upon all who would pretend to worship the Lord (2 Kings 17:34). With the children of Jacob (Israel), God had made a covenant in which He had stipulated that they should not worship any other god (2 Kings 17:35). All religious devotion belonged exclusively to Yahweh who had brought these people out of the land of their bondage (2 Kings 17:36). To all of His commandments they must forever give heed and never must they fear, i.e., serve, other gods (2 Kings 17:37). Never were they to forget that Sinai covenant (Exodus 19:5-8) which had been so solemnly ratified by the sprinkling of blood and by a covenant feast (Exodus 24:3-11). For the sake of emphasis again, the author reiterates that God's people were not to fear other gods (2 Kings 17:38). God's promise of deliverance and protection for His people was conditioned upon their faithfulness to Him (2 Kings 17:39). The colonists in Samaria refused to hearken to the warnings of the Law, but continued to maintain the syncretism described in 2 Kings 17:28-33.

The final verse of chapter 17 sums up the spiritual condition of the foreign colonists who were brought by the Assyrians to Samaria. They feared the Lord (externally) and at the same time continued to serve their graven images. In Mesopotamia the images of the gods generally assumed human form. The syncretistic worship of the Samaritans continued right down to the time of the author (2 Kings 17:41). But by the time of Christ, the Samaritans had become devoted followers of Yahweh and followers of the Law of Moses in most respects. To this day a small colony of these Samaritans still can be found in Nabulus Israel.