OCCUPIED ISRAEL
Text: 2 Kings 17
28 September 2010
(I) OCCUPIED ISRAEL
1. People (2 Kings 17:24a)
a) Babylon
b) Cuthah
c) Ava
d) Hamath
e) Sepharvaim
2. Land (2 Kings 17:24b)
a) Took possession of Samaria
b) Other cities of Israel
(II) NO RESPECT FOR THE LORD IN ISRAEL
1. The new occupants of the land did not have any respect for the Lord (2 Kings 17:25a)
2. God sent lions and some were killed by them (2 Kings 17:25b)
(III) SPECIAL REQUEST BY THE NEW INHABITANTS OF ISRAEL
1. They surmised that the God of Israel had sent lions to punish the new inhabitants (2 Kings 17:26a)
2. They wanted to learn “the rituals of the God of the land” (2 Kings 17:26b)
3. The king of Assyria sent one of the priests of Israel to teach about the rituals of the God of the land (2 Kings 17:27)
4. The priest taught the new inhabitants how to fear the Lord (2 Kings 17:28)
(IV) RESPONSE OF THE NEW INHABITANTS OF ISRAEL
1. The new inhabitants learned about the religious practices of Israel (2 Kings 17:29)
2. They preferred their own native religions and gods (2 Kings 17:29)
3. List of foreign gods (2 Kings 17:30-31)
4. Dualism practised
a) There was some fear of the Lord (2 Kings 17:32a, 33a)
b) But there was preference for their own national gods (2 Kings 17:33-41)
(V) CONCLUDING REMARKS
“So these nations feared the LORD, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day.” 2 Kings 17:41