Reading for October 6th

Read 2 Kings 17.29-41 In verses 29-34a: The newcommers, 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 deuteronomist) who is unfamilar with these different gods and who also writes at a later date, as indicated by the to this day statement in 34a. In verses 34b-40: These verses were added by a later writer who viewed the religion of the Samartan (the residents of the province of Samaria) as illegitimate. Verse 34b, therefore, directly contridicts v. 33. Many faithful Jews hated the Samaritans in part because of their religous 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: This verse summarizes vv. 29-34a and may have been their orginal conclusion. It aggress with the viewpoint that the settlers woshipped both the Lord and other gods. Comments or Questions..