LEARNING FROM THE SAMARITANS

I tend to get drawn into huge searches that result from my Bible reading. This one began as I read II Kings 17 recently. 

It tells of the Assyrian king, Shalmanezer coming to obliterate Samaria because its last king, Hoshea, had ceased paying tribute and had sought an alliance with the king of Egypt. 

The attack on Samaria lasted three years with the simple statement that Shalmanezer "...took the Israelites away to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes" [v.6].  This took place in 720 B.C.

[All quotes are from the NCV, unless otherwise noted]

This was a common strategy for the Assyrians. To reduce the likelihood of a rebellion, they removed the majority of inhabitants of conquered lands to far off places while replacing them with refugees from other parts of their empire. 

As a result, many Samaritans were displaced to the above mentioned locations which were far distant from their homeland [see also II Kings 18:11-12].

• The location of Halah is unknown, but suspected to have been in the territory of the Medes [2,000 miles to the east]!
• Gozan was an Assyrian city several hundred miles to the northeast.
• The cities of the Medes would have been far distant to the east where the culture would have been drastically different.

At the same time, The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and put them in the cities of Samaria to replace the Israelites [v.24].

• Babylon was a thousand miles to the southeast of Samaria.
• Cuthah would have been in Babylon.
• The location of Avva is uncertain, but suspected to be several hundred miles north in Aramean or Hittite regions.
• Hamath was a region to the extreme north - due east of Turkey.
• Sepharvaim was in Assyrian/Babylon region [very close to modern-day Baghdad].

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All of this may seem irrelevant, but it vividly portrays the utter desolation of Samaria because of its spiritual corruption. God was done with their rebellious ways and made it impossible for them to ever recover!

This devastating displacement and replacement also gives us a foundation for understanding the deep hatred that Judeans had for Samaritans. After all, the 'new breed of Samaritans' were - at best - half-breeds [pagans].  It is assumed that NOT ALL Samaritans were relocated.

In light of all this, we can better understand the shock of Jesus' disciples when He led them into Samaria and engaged them in evangelism with the woman at the well and the people of Sychar [John 4]!  

We can only imagine the shocked and revolting reaction of Jesus' disciples and the crowd that witnessed Jesus telling the story of 'The Good Samaritan' [Luke 10:25-37]. 

When the disciples began to understand that Jesus had every intention of saving the Samaritans along with the Jews, they had to have been stretched beyond imagination by this realization!

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What a message of reconciliation this is for the modern-day church!  

He did not come for just us! He came for all! John 3:16 makes this abundantly clear!

It leaves compelling and convicting questions for us to cope with:

• Why are our churches almost exclusively segregated?
• How are we to overcome our natural proclivity for seeking company that is similar to us?
• How can we hold prejudice in our hearts and claim to love Jesus and serve His purposes?
• Why is the Church not leading in the areas of reconciliation and forgiveness?
• If we could have a face-to-face talk with Jesus, what long-held animosities would He lay His finger on in our lives?
• What allows us to think of ourselves as 'chosen' while disregarding the eternal destiny of others?

The Samaritan issue is far more relevant than most of us have ever considered!