Having captured Israel, the king of Assyria deported the people from Samaria and brought people from “Babylon and from Cuthah and from Avva and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria.” This forms the backdrop to how we have the Samaritan. The foreigners who were brought to intermarry with the Israelites and their children came to be the Samaritans.
These
new settlers filled Israel and lived in the cities. Being foreigners they had
no respect for the Lord
and did not fear Him. He then sent lions among them which killed some of them.
Troubled they came to the king of Assyria and reported the situation to him. The
king of Assyria then commanded that some of the exiled priests be brought back
home to teach the people about the worship of the Lord. Somehow these foreigners seemed to understand the warning better
than the people of God.
From
this incident, we learn that being religious is not true worship. The people of
the land had their own custom of serving
their gods. But being religious is one thing and truly worshipping God is
another. We must truly worship God and not just engage in religious practices.
Do not mistake the forms for reality.
Real worship connects us with the true God. If we don’t truly connect with Him,
we are merely going through the motion. What God truly desires is worship and
not empty practices that may make us look religious but do not touch the
heart of God. Don’t go through the motion.
No comments:
Post a Comment