In 2 Kings 17, after warning them to change their ways, the LORD removed His people of the northern kingdom of Israel from the land, and sent them into exile in the hands of their captors and conquerors, the Assyrians, because they mixed the worship of idols with their worship of Him. They stiffened their necks and rejected the LORD's warning to turn from these ways, and they continued to follow idols. Israel chose to follow the ways of the nations around them. They rejected His covenant (v. 13-15).
The conquering Assyrians filled the now empty land of Samaria (meaning Watch mountain-to guard, protect, to keep watch, to preserve), in Israel, with foreign inhabitants from various cities under their rule. They did this so the land would not be empty and uninhabited (v. 24).
These various peoples brought by the Assyrians into the land of Samaria came with their gods and pagan practices.
The Assyrians brought people from Babylon (Confusion, to mingle by mixing) into the land. These Babylonians brought with them the practice of making Succothbenoth, a demonic version of a tabernacle, where booths are established as brothels to worship idols with promiscuous and perverse sexual activity.
The Assyrians brought in people from Cuttah (Crushing), who worshipped Nergal (Hero), the planet Mars.
People from Ava (Ruin, distortion, overthrow, twisted, perverted) were also brought to the land. They worshipped Nibhaz, an idol in the shape of a dog, representing the lord of darkness.
Foreigners from Hamath (Fortress, walls of defense) came. They brought with them the worship of Ashima (Guiltiness: "I will make desolate") and Tartak (prince of darkness in the form of an ass).
The Assyrians also brought in people from Sepharvaim (Enumeration), who practiced the burning of their children in fire to the gods of Adrammelech (glorious, majestic prince), and Anammelech (idolatrous image of the king).
So the territory, Samaria, that was meant to guard, preserve, keep watch over, and protect the ways of the LORD, became a land filled with idol and demon worshipping foreigners because Samaria did not fulfill their God-given purpose, and went after other gods themselves. They mixed the profane things of this world with the holy things of God. They mixed His truth with the lies of demons.
The foreign people who had been brought into the land of Samaria, began being attacked and killed by lions (v. 25). The king of Assyria was told that this was happening because the new-comers did not know the God of the land, the God of Israel. A priest was brought back to teach them about the LORD God. The foreigners learned the knowledge of the LORD, but also continued to practice their idolatry as well (v. 26-29). These practices continued generation after generation for many years (v. 41).
Like Samaria, we believers are equipped by God to be a watch mountain, a preserver, a protector of the truth of God's word, and His covenant. Even worse comes upon the land as the people of God forget their covenant truths, and mix the commandments of men and the world, with the word of God (Mt. 15:9, Col. 2:20-22). The land becomes filled with ungodly beliefs and practices that affect not only the present generation, but generations to come.
The responsibility for preserving the truth of God, lies not with the ignorant, but with the people of God. It was the Samarians who broke covenant and followed ungodliness, even after warnings, when they were the ones who should have been watching, guarding, protecting and preserving, according to the meaning of their name. Strangers to God, brought in by the enemy, who are only nominally knowledgeable in the ways of God, are not going to do this for us, though we blame them. We are to preserve the truth and covenant in our own lives as living epistles, as the Apostle Paul wrote about us. The word is to be preserved in us, and lived through us:
"Clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God." 2 Cor. 3:3-4
It is the covenant people of God who are to be faithful in our own lives to keeping and guarding the pure relationship with our Father that Jesus provided with His blood.
The Book of Proverbs tells us the value of keeping the word that is written in our hearts:
"My son, give attention to My words; Incline your ear to My sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life...Do not turn to the right or the left, remove your foot from evil."
Prov. 4:20-27
King David, mourning over the violence of the wicked, talks about how the LORD tests the righteous:
"When the foundations are destroyed, what hath the righteous wrought?"
Ps. 11:3, JPS Tanakh
Our Father has called us to be a "watch mountain", to guard, preserve, keep and protect.
"Find Us Faithful"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eERKnxzNzwg
We live in an age where the family is under attack as never before.
Abortion, abandonment, estrangement, suicide, divorce, single parenthood, no parents, too many parents, abusive parents, neglectful parents, troubled children, runaway children, addicted parents and children, the list of problems within the modern family can go on and on.
Almost all of us can site problems within our families, some minor, some tragic.
It is undeniably true that if the families of a society are destroyed, that society will eventually crumble also:
"If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?"
Psalm 11:3
"Some remove landmarks;
They seize flocks violently and feed on them."
Job 24:2
Job 24, teaches about things that hide in the darkness to steal, to rob, to destroy. The landmarks in the verse above, refer to protected territory. Throughout the chapter of Job, the thief moves the landmark in order to go into an area and steal. The enemy contrives and schemes to assault that territory. To steal from the fatherless, and the widow. Children are snatched and held for ransom.
The family is similarly like a fenced off, landmarked territory.The enemy assaults the family continually. We are vulnerable to these attacks because we do not understand the strategy of the enemy, or if we do understand, we do not know how to stand against it.
Even as the natural families come under increasing attack, how much more have we seen spiritual families and households attacked by the same evil? Countless churches suffer turmoil, strife, and are torn apart by these same things. Our brothers and sisters in church are our spiritual family. Our pastors are our spiritual fathers and mothers. We need to have a better understanding of the forces at work.
King David was a great king in Israel. God prophesied to David that the Messiah would come from David's family. But David's family was attacked continually. One son abused his step-sister. Another son avenged that act by killing that brother. Wives competed against each other in order that their children would be favored. One of David's sons treacherously plotted against David, and David was exiled from his kingdom for a time. That son was also eventually murdered. We can guess that David's family was so ruthlessly attacked by evil spiritual forces because of that Messianic prophetic word that had been spoken about David's coming descendant.
But today's families are attacked just as fiercely.
There is an interesting scripture in Ephesians:
"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named."
Eph. 3:14-15
In the original Aramaic language, this same scripture reads as the following:
For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
for whom all fatherhood in heaven and in earth is named."
Families are named after our Father in heaven. No wonder they become a target of the wrath of the enemy of God, Satan! As Satan attacks the family, he is attacking the very Name of God.
Our Father has always taken an interest in whole families in scripture. He has appointed Himself as caretaker of those who have lost family, like widows, and children:
"A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
God sets the solitary in families;"
Psalm 68:5-6a
"The LORD watches over strangers;
He relieves the fatherless and widow;
But the way of the wicked He turns upside down."
Psalm 146:9
"For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
For You Maker is your husband,
The LORD of Hosts is His name;"
Isa. 54:4b-5a
"Cursed is the one who perverts justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.
And all the people shall say "Amen!"
Deut. 27:19
Psalm 68 above, tells us that God even desires to set those who are alone into a family. How important the family, and each individual in it is to God.
In the Old Testament, the LORD intervened miraculously to provide for widows and the fatherless. By His prophet, He multiplied oil in a household in order to sustain the family against ruin. He raised the dead child of another woman, who had blessed His prophet.
In the New Testament, Jesus interceded in family tragedies, and made them triumphs. In one case, as Jesus came to the gate of the city of Nain, a widow was about to bury her only son. In losing her only son, she would also have no one to care for her. The scriptures continue the story:
"When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep."
Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried (him) stood still. And He said, "Young man I say to you, arise."
So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother."
Luke 7:13-14
Jesus felt compassion for the poor widow who had lost her only son, and gave her son back to her.
Jesus held the same compassion for His own mother, even as He hung on the cross:
When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!"
Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home."
John 19:26-27
Even while in the torture of His crucifixion,Jesus made sure His own mother would be looked after, and included in a believing family.
As the Holy Spirit began to fall on believers in the Book of Acts, scripture tells of a man named Cornelius, a Gentile, who sent for the Apostle Peter to come to his household, based upon a vision Cornelius had received from God (Acts 9). When Peter came to his home, he found that Cornelius had assembled his whole family, and many friends to hear what Peter would tell them. Peter began to tell them about Jesus, and as he was speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on all in the house. Cornelius' whole household was converted that day.
In another part of Acts, Paul and Silas was invited to their prison keeper's home, after the prison keeper had witnessed a great act of mercy. Paul and Silas said to the keeper of the prison:
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house."
Acts 16:31-32
The Lord desires to save whole families, just as much as He desires to save an individual.
As the End Times approach, the Father in heaven promises to send a special prophet, a returning Elijah, to bring reconciliation between fathers and children, even as He desires us, His children, to be reconciled to Him. It is the last prophetic promise from the last verses in the Old Testament, found in Malachi 4:5-6.
Families are very precious in the eyes of God. Families are named after Him.
Our Father is family.
"I Believe"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQBDtKC-cQ0
