Episode Transcript
Alright, 2 Kings 17, verse 24 is our text this morning.
"If we could summarize the trouble Israel has brought upon itself in one thought, it would be the one we learned about last week.
They rejected the Good Shepherd and they followed the greedy spoiler.
" And if we think about Israel's demise in terms of what they rejected and what they accepted, it would sound something like this.
"They rejected truth, so they rejected God.
They accepted a lie, so they accepted destruction.
" Very easy to remember if you think of it in those terms.
And by accepting the lies the diviners and the enchanters told them, it was easier than you might think to accept error.
Because the very priests, as we're going to read about a little later in our study, the very priests who should have been laboring in the Word and in prayer, serving in the temple, teaching the people, those priests had departed from the truth.
And those priests had rejected the truth.
They didn't just make a mistake, they rejected truth.
So their mixed up doctrines were no better than the ones preached by the idol worshippers or the diviners or the enchanters.
You know the average person who sees maybe a picture or an article or a video about the Church of Satan, just shrieking horror, they say, "Oh, that's terrible.
" And it is.
And yet that same person could sit in a congregation at a church and hear doctrine taught that is full of error, that points people to themselves and away from the cross, and they don't have that same reaction.
But did you know that it's the same thing?
And I think Brother Fulton hit on that Wednesday night.
Whether it's a mixed up doctrine being preached in the church or a doctrine of devils preached by Gentiles who have no knowledge of God, it's all the same.
And now we come to a place where God teaches us what happens when a nation rejects God and is delivered into the hands of the spoilers.
There's something else that happens.
2 Kings 17, I want to reread verse 23, and then we'll get into verse 24, which is the new part of our study.
"Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said, by all his servants the prophets, so was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
" When the Bible says "unto this day," that means "unto the day" that the man who was writing this text was living.
And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cutha and from Ava and from Hamath and from Sephravaam and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel.
And they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof.
" So in verse 23, the ten tribes of the nation of Israel, remember this is a divided kingdom at this time, the ten tribes of the nation of Israel, the northern kingdom, whose capital was Samaria, were carried away from the geographical location Israel.
Now that left a bunch of vacancies in the land, didn't it?
There were a bunch of unoccupied houses, chambers, and businesses, farms, and all of that was what God had given them.
And now they're carried away from it.
They've been taken as captives.
In fact, God delivered them into the hands of the Assyrians.
And they've been taken captives by the king of Assyria.
And to fill those vacant cities and farms and businesses in Samaria, that same Assyrian king brought Gentile substitutes to live in their place.
Now you don't know where I'm going with this, but you're about to.
I saw this last week as I was studying, and I said, "Man, there's a good spiritual lesson right there.
" Let's put this another way.
God had given Israel a blessing when He gave them the land of Israel.
And in unbelief, Israel despised that land, and so they were evicted from it.
And in their place, into the place, God gave them, and which they despised and were evicted, into that place came Gentiles.
And those Gentiles would never have been allowed, at least by God's law, to live among the children of Israel, if Israel had been walking in the statutes and the commandments of the Lord.
Remember what God said for Israel to do when He brought them into the Promised Land.
He said, "You drive out your enemies.
You drive them away.
Don't do after their manners.
Don't mix with their daughters and their sons, because if you do, you'll go a-horring after their gods, and then I'll deliver you into the hand of nations, of the enemies, the Gentiles.
" And now those Gentiles in our text are receiving what Israel had rejected.
Looking in our text there in verse 24, it says this about the replacements, the Gentiles.
Look at the last part of verse 24.
It says, "And they possessed Samaria.
" Now that word "possessed" is a strong word in the Hebrew language, because it means Samaria, which means Israel, not just the city of Samaria, but all the cities of Samaria.
Israel was now theirs.
It belonged to them now.
It shouldn't have been theirs.
God didn't give it to them.
He gave it to His children, to the children of Israel.
But at this time, it was possessed by the Gentiles whom Assyria put in that land.
And the Hebrew word translated as "possessed" is first used in the book of Genesis chapter 15 and verse 3, if you want to write that down.
But it's translated as a different word, and this word tells you how strong the word "possessed" is in our text.
And I think looking at the first use of the Hebrew word will give you a better idea.
Genesis 15.
3, "And Abram said, 'Behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
'" That word "mine" is the same word as "possessed" in our text.
Now, when Abraham was talking about one born in his house being his heir, which hadn't happened yet, but it would, that was going to be his son.
That was going to be the son who had inherited all things that pertained to Abraham.
That wasn't a borrowed son.
That wasn't an adopted son.
That's how strong that word is.
I think somebody moves the Kleenex box around under here so I can't look as, it doesn't look as effortless when I find one.
So you saw me reaching.
Now, Israel, by looking at this word "possessed," it tells us that Israel had not only forfeited its right to live in Samaria and possess it because they did possess it, but those whom the Assyrians placed in their stead assumed ownership of it instead, just like Abram would when his son was born.
He would say, "That's my son, mine heir," as the text told us in Genesis.
Look back in your text in verse 24.
Not only did the Gentiles possess Samaria, it said they dwelt in the cities thereof.
They dwelt in the cities thereof.
They lived where Israel once lived.
They farmed where Israel once farmed and raised cattle and ran businesses and all of that.
They didn't just come to stay for a few days for a day trip or an overnighter.
And you know none of this would have happened without God ordaining it and arranging for it to happen because no one could touch God's Israel without God's permission.
And the truth we're looking at is geographical, and that involves land.
You have people moved from one land to another and someone else coming into that same land and living there.
But the truth we're looking at is also political because it involves a change in government.
The king of Assyria is now in charge of Samaria, and he wasn't before.
We had King Hoshiah of Israel and King Ahaz of Judah who were in charge at that time.
And they were sellouts, weren't they?
But the truth we're looking at is also spiritual.
And that's what I want you to see about this Gentile bunch of people coming in to take what God had originally given to Israel.
Romans chapter 10, just write this down so you don't have to try to find it hurriedly.
Romans 10 verse 21 through 11 verse 5.
Romans 10 verse 21 through chapter 11 verse 5.
Here's what Paul wrote.
I say then, "Have God cast away his people?
" Now he's talking about the racial children of Israel here.
Those who were born of the tribes of the children of Israel.
"Have God cast away his people?
God forbid.
For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin.
" So there Paul gives us his genealogy.
That is, he's not talking about something spiritual yet.
He's about to.
But he said, "I'm also a Jew.
I'm an Israelite of the seed of Abraham in the tribe of Benjamin.
" He said, "God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.
Why ye not what the Scriptures saith of Elias?
" Now that's Elijah.
How he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, "Lord, they have killed the prophet, thy prophets, and dig down thine altars, and I am left alone and they seek my life.
" Now stopping right there, we've studied about Elijah.
And Elijah had the same attitude in his day as some do in our day.
"Oh, we're the only ones serving God.
" No we're not.
Thank God we're not the only ones serving God.
Why, for the last couple of weeks, we've shown you little short videos of others who are serving God and trying to preach the Gospel.
They are preaching the Gospel to people in their nations.
But Elijah said, "It's just me.
I'm alone and they seek my life.
" But what saith the answer of God unto him?
Now here's what God told Elijah, "I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
" In other words, Elijah, they're just like you.
Even so, as Paul concluded, then at this present time, there is also a remnant according to the election of grace.
That means there is still a group of people, even though the question he began with was, "Has God cast away his people?
" That's what people are asking him in that day.
He said, "No, he has not.
" Just because you don't see them, you haven't laid eyes on them, you don't know who they are.
God does.
He foreknew them.
He knew them before he ever created all things.
Just like he foreknew you, you're a Christian, God foreknew you.
Both in Paul's day and in our text in 2 Kings, chapter 17, the question may be asked.
As we see Israel carried away captive and God saying, "Get him out of my sight.
" The question may be asked, "Has God completely written off Israel?
Is he done with them?
" You might ask that today.
You think, "Boy, Israel cannot stay out of war.
Their enemies have attacked them on all sides and they're still doing it.
When they fight back, the devil's crowd says they shouldn't fight back.
They might kill innocent people.
" Is he done with them?
Well, that's a good question.
Let's look at it.
The Romans text tells us that back in Isaiah's day, which was hundreds of years before Paul, that God was not done with them and they weren't all in unbelief, just most of them.
And Paul said, "In my day, he's not done with them.
There's a remnant according to the election of grace.
" And it's the same way worldwide today.
Just as it was then, just as it was in Noah's day, there's a remnant who are believers.
Now, if you think back to our text, where the Gentiles possess and dwell in a place to which they previously had no access, God could have simply delivered those disobedient Israelites into the hands of the Assyrian spoilers and left Israel vacant.
He could have said, "Nope, if it's not the children of Israel, nobody gets this blessing.
" Or God could have delivered disobedient Israel into the hands of the Assyrians like he did, and then destroyed every speck of land in Israel and Judah.
He could have done that.
So nobody else could inhabit it, but he didn't.
Being Gentiles, the Assyrians were the same as any other people group.
They were non-Jews.
They were not of the children of Israel.
So, in that respect, well, let's read about it in Ephesians 2, verses 11-12.
Mark that down in your notes, Ephesians 2, verses 11-12.
Think about these Gentiles, these unclean people who were heathen, who worshipped idols, and all of that.
And Paul wrote, "Wherefore, remember that ye," now he's talking to Gentiles in the Ephesian church.
These were Gentiles.
"Wherefore, remember that ye, being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision, by that which is called the circumcision," that's the Jews, "in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
" Now, if you stopped right there, that'd be the most hopeless condition to be, and you'd say, "Well, I've been born a Gentile.
I don't have a chance.
I'm without God.
I don't have access to God.
I don't have access to His covenants, to His promises.
" But that's not the end of this news, is it?
They were without circumcision, which was a token of the putting away of the filth of the flesh.
When we went over that, which has been a few years now when we were in Exodus, I believe is where we covered it.
So they were filthy still.
They were without Christ, so they were without a Savior.
These were idol worshipers.
They were aliens from the commonwealth, or that word is also translated "freedom," the liberty of Israel.
So they didn't belong in Israel's society.
They didn't belong in their government.
They were strangers, the text tells us, or foreigners, to the covenants of promise that God made with Israel.
And they had no hope.
They had no relationship with God.
Now, all of that describes the Assyrians in our text.
God could have wiped them out before they ever set foot in some area.
He could have put up the world's most advanced geofence to keep them away from the children of Israel.
But He allowed them to come in, not just to pass through, but to come in and to possess and to dwell in the Promised Land for a time.
And as we're going to see, unfortunately, later in our study, and maybe not today, the Assyrians had no intention of worshipping the one true God and walking according to His statutes and commandments.
That would have been a great time to do it.
For them to say, "Look what God has done to those disobedient Israelites.
He sent them into our hands and we moved them to the cities of Assyria.
Took them out of their land.
And we're going to go in here and we're going to study His Word and figure out what it takes to be accepted by Him and we're going to do that.
We're going to believe that way.
" They had the opportunity to do that.
However, in spite of the fact that we will find them to continue to be disobedient, idol worshippers, these Assyrians came and possessed Samaria.
And the fact that they were able to do that, the fact that God allowed that, indeed He ordained it, teaches us a little bit more about what the Apostle Paul wrote as he continued in Ephesians 2.
Now let me reread.
He said, "Wherefore remember the ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision.
" Remember they were without Christ, outside the covenants of promise, strangers, no hope.
Now I'm going to go to Romans 11 and I want to reread verse 2 and then I'm going to skip down and read you some more verses.
Hang in there and be patient.
This is good stuff.
It takes a while to put it together sometimes because it's a heavy doctrine.
Romans 11 verse 2 as I read a moment ago, "God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew.
"Wought ye not that the Scripture saith of Elias how He maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying.
.
.
" Now I'm going to go to Ephesians chapter 2 and skip down to verses 13 through 18.
Just write that down if you're not already there.
God didn't just cast away Israel.
There was something else He had planned.
And you fit into this by the way.
Ephesians 2 verses 13 through 18, "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off.
.
.
" He's talking to Gentiles.
That's every one of us in here.
"Ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
" You're made near by the blood of Christ.
"For He is our peace who hath made both one.
" Gentile and Jew.
"Made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.
"Having abolished in His flesh," that is in Christ in His flesh, "the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances.
"For to make in Himself of twain one new man so making peace.
"And that he might reconcile both unto God.
" Jew and Gentile alike.
Now you have a friend that tells you, "Oh no, the Jews are going to be saved a different way.
" That's not what the Bible says.
He reconciled both unto God in one body by the cross.
"Having slain the enmity thereby and came and preached peace to you which were far off," that's the Gentiles, "and to them that were nigh," that's the Jews.
"For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
" Israel and Assyria were two peoples, two nations.
They were separated by geographical boundaries, by city walls, and by religious practices at one time when Israel was obeying the Lord and walking according to His statutes and commandments under much of Solomon's reign, under much of David's reign.
But one of those groups had the covenants and promises of God and the other did not.
Does that mean they could not be saved?
No, it doesn't.
And that's for another day.
Assyria had no right of access to Samaria or any of its cities because of those differences.
But as they came to, possessed, and dwelt in Samaria, that pointed us to a truth that one day all of those boundaries and all of those national distinctions would be broken down.
There would be no more partition, no wall, because there would be one who would abolish all of that and make the two into one.
And the Gentiles were afar off.
That's what the Apostle Paul said to the Ephesians.
The Gentiles were afar off.
And in our text they were in Assyria geographically and in unbelief spiritually.
So in both ways they were afar off, those Gentiles.
The Gentiles and Ephesians before they believed were far off geographically and spiritually.
They were once in unbelief.
Paul told them that.
Ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
You used to be a far off.
But no wall, no partition, no geographical boundary, no racial distinction, exists because Jesus tore all that down.
He made access to the cross for everyone the same way.
And they who were once without hope, these Ephesians, would have hope and be made one because of the blood of Jesus Christ.
And in our text, Assyria's possession of Samaria won't last forever.
It'll be temporary because as God has done before, will do again, He will deliver His people from the hands of these Assyrians and return them to the land of promise.
And then they'll disobey Him again and He'll do it again.
And the spiritual truth here is just as clear and just as sure as the fact that God will return His people and dispossess that land of those who came illegitimately.
You've got to keep the earthly truth and the spiritual truth separate, but remember one teaches the other.
The spiritual truth here, as far as I can tell, the authors of the Bible were Jewish except for Luke.
I don't think there's much disagreement about that.
But it was the Jewish apostles.
Now think about this.
It was the Jewish apostles who carried the message of Christ to the world, even giving their lives for the gospel.
It wasn't a bunch of independent Baptists or Methodists like Charles Spurgeon.
It wasn't like, or excuse me, D.
L.
Moody.
It wasn't Charles Spurgeon.
It wasn't John Gill.
It was the Jews, the Jewish apostles who carried the gospel to the world.
But now it's no longer the Jews as a whole who are trying to evangelize the world.
It's the Gentiles.
And thank God for right-believing Jews, those who are Christians and those who are trying to evangelize their own people and others.
They are our Christian brothers and sisters, just as much as anyone who is a Gentile by race.
But the Gentile Christians have filled a vacancy that the Jews have left when it comes to preaching God's Word to the world.
Do you see what happened here?
The Assyrians who were Gentiles came and filled a vacancy that occurred when Israel refused to do what God said to do and they got evicted from their land.
So the Gentiles came and said, "We're going to live here.
" And God let them dwell there and possess it.
They possessed something that they once had no right to.
In fact, even the Apostle Paul, who was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin, had something to say about the vacancy left by the Jews and that which would be taken up by the Gentiles concerning the gospel.
And it's found in Acts 13, verses 44 through 47.
Acts 13, verses 44 through 47.
"And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
" So Paul's preaching the gospel to all these people and the Jews come.
They're jealous because the Apostles drew a crowd, as actually God drawn a crowd, by the way.
That's who draws the crowds to feed on the truth.
It's not me or Brother Filton, that's the Lord.
And that's him giving you a hunger for the truth.
And he gave people a hunger for the truth.
And the ones who were unbelievers were at least interested in it.
But the Jews stood there and their own countrymen, a Jew, Paul, the tribe of Benjamin, who was trying to tell them, this is what the prophets and all of the Old Testament writers were saying.
This is who it's pointing to.
They said, "No, you're blaspheming.
" They contradicted him.
Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, "It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you.
" Now stop right there.
"It was necessary that the Promised Land first be given to you, to the children of Israel.
" That's what God did.
Now back to the Acts text.
"But seeing ye put it from you," you rejected it, "and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
" Hey, he moved Israel out of that land and sent them somewhere else.
And he said, "Gentiles are going to live here for a while.
They're going to have access to something that they had no access to before.
"For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, 'I have set thee,'" He's talking to the Jews.
"'I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
'" The original plan right there in the book of Acts was that the Jews would testify of the gospel to the Gentile world.
They ought to be our preachers right now.
Did you know that?
Paul said it was supposed to be the Jews first telling the people about eternal life, but the Jews rejected.
So he said, as I go back into that same passage from Acts, "Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
" And the last part of that verse is even more chilling.
Paul, a Jew, said God commanded the Jews to be a light to the Gentiles.
Yet today it is the Gentiles who are a light to the Jews.
It is the Israel of God preaching to the Israel without God.
But just as God would be faithful to bring His people out of captivity in the chapters following the one we're in, in 2 Kings 17, He's also going to be faithful to bring out of spiritual captivity the Jews, all of them who will believe on His Son, who came from the seed of David, whom Jesus came to seek and save because they were lost.
And God will do that.
He will deliver them the same way He always has through the preaching of His Word, the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, both Jew and Gentile alike.
And that's the true Israel of God.
The Israel of God is not the twelve tribes.
The Israel of God is all those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ.
You study the book of Galatians, you study the book, well you can just stop in Galatians, but you study the book of Romans.
In fact, you study anywhere in the Bible, but particularly in the Old Testament where it becomes more clear to you.
And you'll see that the Israel of God is Jew and Gentile alike.
It's not our racial distinction, it's our faith.
It's where we put our faith.
Look in verse 25.
We're back in 2 Kings 17 if you've lost your place.
Verse 25, "And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there," that is of these Gentiles, "that they feared not the Lord.
Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
" So they got to come to the place to which they previously had no access.
And what was their choice?
They feared not the Lord.
They feared not the Lord.
It says at the beginning of their dwelling there that they feared not the Lord.
And that was usually the case with Gentiles.
They had their own gods.
They did not fear or regard the one true God.
And we've read of some Gentile generals who've said to the children of Israel, "How's your God going to deliver you?
" "He hadn't delivered you yet.
" They've mocked God.
And that's the way they felt about him when they went to live in Samaria.
So it was no surprise that they would have this attitude about God.
Even though they presumed to possess and to dwell in the land that God had given to Israel.
If they would have seen what a blessing that was, they'd have never wanted to leave.
And it should have been a great surprise that Israel did not fear God, and not a surprise that Assyria did not fear God.
Now look down in verse 25, it said, "Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
" The original, if you take out the italics, it says, "which slew of them.
" So they didn't all get slain.
Either way you look at it.
And I want you to see that in this, now you may be thinking, "Boy, the lions went in there and they tore some hide up.
They ate well.
" There's blood and bones everywhere.
But in all of that, if you can just put aside the imagery just for a second, what you actually see is mercy and judgment at the same time.
Mercy and judgment.
Judgment in killing those who did not fear the Lord.
Well that's a righteous reward.
If you don't fear the Lord and God kills you, you have no argument.
God didn't have to do anything except be who He is, a righteous judge.
But then He showed mercy in that He spared some of them from that certain death.
Was there anything that they did that made them better candidates to be spared from the lions?
No.
They feared not the Lord.
And it was the mercy of God that He poured out His judgment on two innocent animals and spared Adam and Eve from a righteous judgment upon them.
He could have killed them on the spot when they sinned with no hope of redemption.
And as that act showed us, it would be God's mercy upon mankind that He would pour out His judgment upon an innocent substitute, His son, rather than killing all of us off with no hope of redemption.
He certainly had the right and had the right to do that.
Now look back at the Assyrians who were slain.
Could they have a case against God?
No.
They were without excuse because they received the just recompense for their sin.
That's what was coming.
What does the Bible say the wages of sin is?
It's death.
So you don't, I mean it tells you ahead of time, you don't have an argument to make.
Well, wait a minute.
You said death?
Is that for everybody?
Yes.
Are you a sinner?
Yeah.
Well, then the wages of sin is death.
How else are we going to preach the gospel to somebody if we tell them that there may be some exclusionary clause for them depending on how bad they are or what country they're from or whether their daddy was a preacher?
The wages of sin is death.
And the Assyrians who were left alive were also without excuse because they had not only seen the judgment of God upon their fellow unbelievers, but they'd also seen the mercy of God in sparing their lives.
So the ones whom the lions didn't kill should have immediately fallen on their face and said, "God, we don't know You very well, but thank You.
What can we do to be accepted by You?
What is it that we need to do?
Because obviously we haven't done right.
We were no different than those who were killed in that we did not fear You.
" Look at verse 26.
"Wherefore, they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, 'The nations which thou hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land.
Therefore He has sent lions among them, and behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
' Wherefore, they spake to the king of Assyria.
" Now, I don't know about you, but I can't stand not to know who they are.
Who is that when you say "they"?
What does that mean?
And so let's look at the text a little and study, see if we can figure it out, because it's not immediately clear.
First of all, the word "they" suggests that the speakers are not in Samaria, or they might say "we.
" It's not conclusive, but it'll get us a step further.
And that opinion that I have there is bolstered further by these words that say, "The nations which thou hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria.
" Now, this is somebody who's writing or speaking about something happening over yonder, not right here, in my view.
And so it suggests that the speakers or the messengers, the ones who are telling this to the king of Assyria, are not actually in Samaria.
The implication is that the problem lies with the people in Samaria who live there, not in all the lands over which Assyria has dominion.
Now look at verse 26 where it says, "They know not the manner of the God of the land, rather than they know not the manner of God.
" The phrase "of the land" is very important here.
So the messengers seem to be saying to the king that the problem is not that all people know not the manner of God, but that the ones in Samaria don't know the manner of the God who's over that part of the world.
See their image of God, their perspective on God?
It's totally incorrect.
So at least according to those geographical boundaries, those people within those geographical boundaries, not the ones in Assyria, because no lions killed anybody there at that time.
It was in Samaria.
And then in verse 26 where it says, "Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
" So again we see the words "them", "them", "they", and "the God of the land".
So it seems to be the case that the king of Assyria received messages from other Assyrians about why the occupiers of Samaria were being killed by lions.
And the doctrine that it appears those messengers held suggested that the God of the land of Samaria has certain requirements that are in force that aren't in force in other parts of the world.
Now we know that's not the case, don't we?
But we're trying to understand from the perspective of these Gentile unbelievers, these messengers, these Assyrians, where they're coming from as they plead with the king.
And that's why I think the word "they" applies to that group of people.
Now you might ask, "Well, why would the king of Assyria or anyone else care about what happens to the people he placed in Samaria?
" Well as a king, it does matter, because the people he placed in Samaria are supposed to run that part of the kingdom, not leave everything vacant and unwatered and untended to and unfarmed.
They're the protectors, the governors, the citizens, the laborers, the producers, and so on.
But don't kid yourself, as we're going to see in the next few verses, we'll start next week.
"The Assyrians and their Gentile allies that I read you about," the ones who were put there, "are not the least bit concerned about being a holy people before God.
" They were just trying to figure out how to keep from getting killed by lions.
With that we'll stop, and let's pray.
Father, thank you for those who came and gave their attention to the teaching of your word.
And Lord, we pray that you would find it a faithful exposition, and that only truth would be that which we take away from this place.
And Lord, that we'd meditate upon it and act upon it according to what your desire is for us.
That the church would be edified, the sinners would be evangelized, and the prideful and the unbeliever would fear the Lord.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
