Reading for January 12th

 Read 2 Kings 17.29-41. In verses 29-34a: The newcomers, however, also retained the gods of their homelands and worshipped them along with the Lord. The names of the gods in vv. 30-31 are distortions or misspellings of the names of gods from different parts of the ancient Near East. However, the errors do not seem to be intentional. Rather, they betray an author (probably the deuteronomistic) who is unfamiliar with these  different gods and who also writes at a later date, as indicated by the to this day statement in v. 34a. In verses 34b-40: These verses were added by a later writer who viewed the religion of the Samaritans (residents of the province of Samaria) as illegitimate. Verse 34b, therefore, directly contradicts v. 33. many faithful Jews hated the Samaritans in part because of their religious practice, which mixed elements from other religions into Jewish observances. Samaritans were also regarded as practicing a form of Judaism, however, particularly at later periods. The  animosity between the two groups surfaces in Ezra 4.1-3 and is clearly reflected in stories in the New Testament Gospels (Lk 10. 29-37; Jn 4.7-42). In verse 41: The verse summarizes vv. 29-34a and may have been their original conclusion. It agrees with the viewpoint that the settlers worshipped both the lord and other gods. Comments or Questions..