Mercy Met The Miserable

“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.” (2Ki 17:27 AV)

 God is merciful, even when we least deserve it.  Assyria, or modern-day Iran, invaded the ten northern tribes of Israel and carried the majority away to Nineveh, their capital city.  It would be there the ten tribes would begin to lose their identity.  The king left in Samaria a remnant.  Their responsibility was to care for the land so it did not revert to wilderness.  They maintained the farmland, sent back crops to Nineveh, and guarded the land against intruders.  The King of Assyria was kind enough to send back priests who would then remind and train the remnant in the Jewish religion.  This remnant was still subject to the Assyrian government, but they were also provided the means by which they might worship the one true God.

God’s mercy is a wonder to experience.  By design, mercy is not exercised unless the individual needs it.  That is why it is called mercy.  One writer expressed mercy this way. “Compassion for the miserable. Its object is misery.” – Easton’s Bible Dictionary.  Mercy is for the miserable.  The miserable are usually so because they have made themselves that way.  This was certainly true of the ten northern tribes of Israel.  From the very inception of the split of the kingdom, the ten northern tribes did their own thing.  Not wanting any of his citizens to visit Jerusalem for worship lest their hearts return to the LORD resulting in reunification, Jeroboam erected two golden calves for them to worship.  Things went downhill from there.  Idol worship replaced biblical worship.  Sodom ran rampant.  Alliances with heathen nations were the norm.  Outside of retaining their language, every other trait of their Hebrew culture was abandoned.  Especially their God.  So, off they went into captivity.  An end which they had earned.

To send priests was a big deal.  The normal custom was the invading force would completely eradicate the gods of the nations they defeated.  They would assume their gods were greater than the gods of their defeated foes.  There would be no need to honor them because they were a lesser god.  Something extraordinary happened here.  The enemies of Israel believed in their hearts of the God of Israel.  They even equated their success against Israel as Israel’s God being angry with them.  Therefore, the leave with Israel priests who were to instruct them in the ways of the word of God was a testament the heathen believed in the existence of Israel’s God.  One cannot escape the fact Israel was shown mercy when they least deserved it.  The same is true for the saint today.  The more I observe our condition, the more I am convinced we have gone after the customs of the world. God is no longer in our thoughts.  We are far from prayer.  We are cold in our walk.  Yet, the LORD will not completely abandon us.  He is still there trying to get our attention.  He is there with a message for our souls.  He is there to bring us back to Himself if we would just repent of what we are and have done.  He is there to forgive.  He is there to show mercy.  No matter how far we have fallen or how distant we have become, the LORD is there to draw us to Himself.  He always is.  He always was.  He always will be.