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Bitter Opposition Fails
Close beside the Israelites lived the Samaritans, a race that had
sprung up through intermarriage of heathen colonists from Assyria
with the remnant of the ten tribes left in Samaria and Galilee. In
heart and practice they were idol worshipers. True, they held that
their idols were only to remind them of the living God, but the people
tended to worship images.
These Samaritans came to be known as “the adversaries of Judah
and Benjamin.” Hearing that the “descendants of the captivity were
building the temple of the Lord God of Israel,” they expressed a
desire to unite in its construction. “Let us build with you,” they
proposed, “for we seek your God as you do.” But the leaders of the
Israelites declared, “We alone will build to the Lord God of Israel,
as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”
Ezra 4:1-3
.
Only a remnant had chosen to return from Babylon, and now,
as they began a work seemingly beyond their strength, their nearest
neighbors came with an offer of help. “We seek your God as you do,”
the Samaritans declared. “Let us build with you.” But if the Jewish
leaders had accepted this offer, they would have opened a door for
idolatry. They discerned that the Samaritans were not sincere.
Regarding Israel’s relationship to surrounding peoples, the Lord
had declared through Moses: “You shall make no covenant with
them nor show mercy to them. ... For they will turn your sons away
from following Me, to serve other gods.” “The Lord has chosen you
to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples
who are on the face of the earth.”
Deuteronomy 7:2-4
;
14:2
.
Moses had plainly foretold the results of making a covenant with
surrounding nations: “The Lord will scatter you among all peoples,
from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve
other gods. ... And among those nations you shall find no rest.”
Deuteronomy 28:64, 65
.
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