Ep. 143. 2 Kings 16-17 | Exile

EPISODE 143

EXILE: 2 KINGS 16-17

Chapter seventeen of today's study gives us insight into the future people known as the Samaritans in the New Testament. Remember that Samaria became the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel. Obviously, the people from Samaria would be known as Samaritans. Still, beyond that, in the first-century world, we see that there is an entire people group known as Samaritans that the Jews despise as a whole. These people were part Jewish and part foreign in their genealogy. Jesus famously spoke to the woman at the well in John 4, and she discussed with him where the appropriate place for worship was found. "Our people say to worship on this mountain, but you people say to worship in Jerusalem." Remember again that the King of Assyria, after taking over Israel, sent foreigners to live there. They didn't know how to honor God, so God sent lions to kill them. Jews were then sent back to the land to teach the foreigners how to worship God. Instead, the people of the land worshipped their idols and added God to the mix. Fast forward five hundred years or so, and you have the Samaritan people who are essentially idolaters. They were mixed people, the offspring of Jews and pagans. But the people of Israel had already abandoned God centuries earlier. 

A decent understanding of 2 Kings 17 will give you great insight into the division between the Jews and the Samaritans in the New Testament. A decent understanding also brings John 4 and the parable of the Good Samaritan into more precise focus. 

ADDITIONAL READING: 1 Kings 12:25-33; Psalm 115: 4-8; Psalm 135:15-18; John 4; Luke 10:25-37