Instead of ‘they feared the Lord, BUT they also…’, his Spirit yearns for  ‘they feared the Lord, AND they…’ Double-minded becomes single-minded; half-hearted becomes whole-hearted.…they feared the Lord, AND they lived for him.’

Syncretism. A big word that simply means blending beliefs, mixing them into something new.

It sounds very modern: choose your own story, believe what you want, who’s to say otherwise? But it’s also very old. Let’s look at 2 Kings 17.

The Problem

Israel had split into two: Judah in the south, Israel (retaining the name) in the north. Tracing the story of the kings of both nations, by 2 Kings 17 the northern kingdom is taking its final breath.

After generations of rejecting the LORD despite repeated warnings, God removes them from his presence (v.18, 23). And Assyria is the arm of his judgment, either wiping out or exiling the Israelites. Then, to fill the void, Assyria repopulated that land with the deported people of other nations (v. 24).

And here the story gets a little unusual. These new settlers ‘did not fear the LORD’ (v. 25). So, the LORD sent lions among them – a living roar of judgment. As Hosea puts it: when the lion roars, who will not fear?

The Solution

The people cry out to the king of Assyria, basically saying: we don’t know the requirements of the god of this land, and so he’s sent lions to kill us. Help!

It’s interesting language, isn’t it? The god of this land. A local deity. Tied to a place. Limited. Not the LORD Almighty. They’re crying out to the wrong King.

So, one of the priests of Israel is sent back. He returns, lives in Bethel, and ‘began to teach them how they should fear the LORD’ (v. 28).

But, a big but, the people of the nations still made their own gods in the cities, and they put them in the places where the Israelites used to carry out their own false worship (v. 29). It’s deity designer week and we’re told:

• The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth
• The men of Cuth made Nergal
• The men of Hamath made Ashima

And so on and so on, with the list ending ‘and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire’ (v. 31).

Did the priest do his job wrong? Maybe. But if the priest was one of the corrupt northern priests (which had already led to the destruction of Israel), then perhaps he simply taught them the land’s already broken religion.

The Result

Whatever the priest taught, the final mixed result is given three times: ‘they feared the LORD, but they also…’ (v. 32, 33, 41). The start gives hope; the ending, despair.

• They feared the LORD, but they also… made from their ranks priests for the high places (v. 32)

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