They Feared The Lord And Served Their Own Gods 2 Kings 17:27-41
The Decline and Fall of Israel and Judah
INTRODUCTION
The Second Book of Kings is a continuation of the First. It records the reigns of fifteen kings in Judah and of eleven kings in Israel. In Judah the dynasty of David continued to the end, while in Israel there were nine changes of dynasty.
The northern kingdom maintained an unbroken course of idolatry, until the nation was ripe for destruction. The end came in 722 B.C., when Samaria was taken by the Assyrians. Judah continued her course for nearly 150 years longer. But in spite of the efforts of prophets and good kings, the tide of idolatry could not be stayed, and Jerusalem fell before the Babylonians, 586 B.C. Nothing but the Exile could avail to purify the nation and restore the spirit of true worship.
II. FROM THE FALL OF SAMARIA TO THE FALL OF JERUSALEM, II Kings 18-25
1. The Reign of Hezekiah, II Kings 18:1-8, 13-37; 19-20
40. What is said of the later religious life of Samaria?
THEY FEARED THE LORD AND SERVED THEIR OWN GODS
Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Take back [to Samaria] one of the priests whom you brought from there, and have him go and live there; and have him teach the people the custom of the god of the land.”
So one of the priests whom they had exiled from Samaria came [back] and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear [and worship] the LORD.
But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses (shrines) of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they lived.
The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,
the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
They feared the LORD, yet served their own gods, following the custom of the nations from among whom they had been sent into exile.
To this day they act in accordance with their former [pagan] customs: they do not [really] fear the LORD, nor do they obey their statutes and ordinances, nor the law, nor the commandments which the LORD commanded the sons (descendants) of Jacob, whom He named Israel;
with whom the LORD had made a covenant and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them.
But the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, and to Him you shall bow yourselves down, and to Him you shall sacrifice.
The statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which He wrote for you [by the hand of Moses], you shall observe and do forever. You shall not fear (worship, serve) other gods.
The covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget; you shall not fear other gods.
But the LORD your God you shall fear [and worship]; then He will rescue you from the hands of all your enemies.”
However, they did not listen, but they acted in accordance with their former custom.
So these nations [superficially] feared the LORD; they also served their idols, as did their children and their children’s children, just as their fathers did, so do they to this day [the date of this writing].
THEY FEARED THE LORD AND SERVED THEIR OWN GODS
The policy of peopling Israel with other races was intended to keep the land under cultivation, and to break the ties of fatherland, which are the spring of patriotism. Men will not fight for a land which does not pull at their heart-strings. These newly-imported peoples believed that each country was under the care of its own local deity. They therefore deemed it advisable, that, without renouncing their own gods, they should give the God of Israel some sort of recognition. Samaritan religion of this kind is still very popular. Too many people feel that they ought to do something to show their respect for God. They attend to the outward forms of worship, lest they should lose caste; but in their hearts they enthrone worldly and worthless ideals.
The Jews, as we learn from Joh_4:9, hated the Samaritans, as a kind of mongrel race. But how generous was the Savior, ministering to the woman of Sychar, healing the Samaritan leper, and making one of this despised people the central figure in his parable of mercy, thus compelling the world to speak of the good Samaritan!
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