2 Kings 17:24

2 Kings 17:24 says, And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.  The king of Assyria, having taken the people of Israel captive, then brought in other people to replace them.  Sometimes today, those in power will do the same thing, moving people from where they have lived when the are defeated and replacing them with others who are loyal to them.  Verse twenty-five adds, And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them.  Those who replaced the people of Israel did not fear God, even though they were in His promised land, so He sent lions among them.  We should never be surprised if God sends punishment on those who do not believe in Him, especially if they are trying to possess His promised land.  Verse twenty-six continues, Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.  People spoke to the king of Assyria, telling him that the people who had replaced the people of Israel with were being destroyed by lions sent by God.  Even if they didn't know God, they recognized His power.  There are still people who profess not to believe in God today who still give Him credit, or blame Him we could say more accurately, when things go bad.  We as Christians should never do the same thing.  Verse twenty-seven states, Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.  The king of Assyria said to send one of God's priests to teach the people there the ways of God.  We as Christians are a part of the priesthood of believers, and He has sent us to the rest of the world to proclaim salvation through Jesus Christ alone, and we need to be doing this wherever we are.  We then need to teach them to follow God's law after they are saved.  Verse twenty-eight adds, Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.  One of the priests of God, who is not named here, returned lived in Bethel and taught them about how they should fear the Lord.  Still, fearing God and having a personal relationship with Him are not the same thing.  We need to teach people to come to God because of His love and redemption plan and not to just be afraid of Him.  God wants us in a loving relationship with Him and not one based on fear.  Verse twenty-nine continues, Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.  Even though a priest had been sent to teach them about God, the people occupying Israel, God's promised land, brought their own gods with them and placed them throughout Samaria.  We cannot serve God and bring our own gods along with us.  Once we learn about God, we must accept Him as the only God by putting our faith in Jesus Christ His Son.  Verse thirty says, And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,  Verse thirty-one adds, And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.  The gods that the various groups of people worshipped were listed here, and we are even told that some of them burned their children in sacrifice to their gods.  There are still many, many false gods that people worship in the world today, and all we can really do is point them to Jesus Christ.