Pen of Iron

II Kings 17:33 They feared the Lord, and served gtheir own gods, after the manner of the nations who they carried away from thence.
v. 41 So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

The context of the above verses is the captivity and origin of the Samaritans (remember the Samaritan woman or the woman at the well). God rejects the seed of Israel and removes them out of his sight (v30) then the King of Assyria brings people over from Babylon, Cuthah, Avan, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and places them in Samaria to replace those whom he had taken captive. These settle there and inter-marry with the jews.

But these people "feared not the Lord, therefore the Lord sent lions among them,which slew some of them"(v.25). Notice the reference to lions (plural of assad in Arabic). In order to remedy the situation the King of Assyria is advised to bring back a priest and teach them the manner of the God of the land and how they should fear the Lord.

v.29 "Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places..."

v.30 "And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Mergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places....


v.34 Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, of after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded......

I pondered at these verses this morning. A lesson could be learnt. How true it is that unto this day we have nominal Christians and others who do after the former manners and they refuse to go back to the scriptures (the law and the prophets and the epistles) as their ultimate authority. People pick their own saints, from our part of the world even to its far end. Starting with the mother of Jesus all the way to heavenly beings they have chosen a god for themselves. In every Catholic/Orthodox/or other home I've been to there are idols of Mary and pictures and the so-called saints and pagan gods. They have set up groves (mazar in Arabic) in the gardens with a statue (graven images) of a woman inside it. They cling to these as they cling to life. My best friend is one of them. There is no way I can convince her that this is an abomination in the sight of our Holy God. They claim to fear the Lord, but the Bible is not their authority. I go to church, said my Spanish teacher (a stauch catholic) to me. They read passages of the gospels. That's not all I answered. "I don't need the Bible" was her sharp reply.

Look at the following paradox. In v. 33 the Holy script says they feared the Lord and served their own gods, but in v.34 God described this behaviour by "they fear not the Lord".

Before you get upset at the above, may be you should stop and think about it for a minute?

Posted by Consecrated at 7:07 AM |