IN THE TWELFTH year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. 2He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.
3Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up to attack Hoshea, who had been Shalmaneser’s vassal and had paid him tribute. 4But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, for he had sent envoys to So king of Egypt, and he no longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore Shalmaneser seized him and put him in prison. 5The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. 6In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes.
7All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods 8and followed the practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. 9The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. 10They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. 11At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the LORD had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that provoked the LORD to anger. 12They worshiped idols, though the LORD had said, “You shall not do this.” 13The LORD warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”
14But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the LORD their God. 15They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the LORD had ordered them, “Do not do as they do,” and they did the things the LORD had forbidden them to do.
16They forsook all the commands of the LORD their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. 17They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
18So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left, 19and even Judah did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced. 20Therefore the LORD rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.
21When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the LORD and caused them to commit a great sin. 22The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them 23until the LORD removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.
24The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns. 25When they first lived there, they did not worship the LORD; so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people. 26It was reported to the king of Assyria: “The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires.”
27Then the king of Assyria gave this order: “Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires.” 28So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the LORD.
29Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places. 30The men from Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the men from Cuthah made Nergal, and the men from Hamath made Ashima; 31the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32They worshiped the LORD, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. 33They worshiped the LORD, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.
34To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worship the LORD nor adhere to the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands that the LORD gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel. 35When the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. 36But the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices. 37You must always be careful to keep the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. 38Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods. 39Rather, worship the LORD your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”
40They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. 41Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.
THE FALL OF Samaria involves a critical correlation between Israelite and Assyrian history. The regnal summary of Hoshea records the final nine years of the nation of Israel, which begins in the twelfth year of Ahaz.1 The date for the accession of Hoshea can be calculated from the Assyrian records, which show that Shalmaneser conquered Samaria in 723 B.C. According to the Eponym Chronicle, Shalmaneser ascended the throne in Assyria and Babylonia and shattered Samaria; he died in his fifth year (722 B.C.).2 The mitigation of the usual criticism of Israelite kings in the case of Hoshea is perhaps an acknowledgment of limited independence for his rule (v. 2). His first obligations are to Tiglath-Pileser, who has appointed him, so he has little opportunity for religious matters.3 His virtue is born out of necessity.
Fall of Samaria (17:1–6)
THE EVENTS THAT lead to the fall of Samaria are only known in general sequence. The Assyrian records are fragmentary for these years; the accounts in Kings (cf. 2 Kings 18:9–12) are ambiguous about the events surrounding the capture of Hoshea and the three-year siege prior to Samaria’s fall. Cogan and Tadmor, for example, follow a chronology in which the capture of Hoshea and the subsequent siege are not included in the nine-year reign of Hoshea.4
Hobbs stresses the literary structure of this passage about the fall of Samaria (17:3–6).5 The end of Hoshea’s reign is described in two-verse pairs (17:3–4 and 5–6), each of which notes an invasion by Shalmaneser. The report begins with an emphatic irony: Hoshea, who did not sin as did the kings of Israel before him (17:2), is the king whom Shalmaneser attacks (v. 3). In verses 3–4 the author recalls the vivid memory of the attack that ended the nation of Israel and the reason for it. Hoshea rebelled from his servant status and with Egyptian assistance attempted to gain independence; as a result, the Assyrians invaded and imprisoned the king. The author then describes the effect of the invasion for the city of Samaria and the population of the country (vv. 5–6); after a three-year struggle, the city fell and large numbers of people were deported.
The identity of So as a king of Egypt is a further problem.6 Kitchen concludes that So is likely an abbreviation for Pharaoh Osorkon IV (ca. 730–715 B.C.), who ruled over Tanis (Zoan), the eastern part of the Egyptian delta directly adjacent to Palestine. Isaiah condemns the Israelite reliance on Zoan (Isa. 19:11, 13; 30:3–5). There was a longstanding alliance between the rulers of Tanis and Israel, stimulated initially by the campaigns of Shalmaneser III. The weak military of Osorkon IV explains why this alliance is no help to Hoshea.
Israel’s deportation takes place in the years following the fall of Samaria after the death of Shalmaneser V. That death delays the consequences for Israel; Sargon II recaptures the city, and the deportations follow.7 Tiglath-Pileser actually began deporting Israelites in the northern part of Israel years earlier (15:29). Some became part of the Assyrian army; Sargon claims to have captured fifty charioteers from them and taught the rest of the deportees their skills.
Others of the Israelites are deported to Halah and Gozan on the Habur River (17:6). These become skilled workers in building projects or are assigned as farmers to lands owned by state officials in the main part of Assyria.8 Several years later (after 716 B.C.), other deportees are less fortunate; they suffer the hardships of living in a frontier region described as “towns of the Medes” (i.e., in the Zagros Mountains). These are deported after Sargon has put down a revolt and exiled many people there.9 The defeat of Samaria was part of an extensive western campaign that extended to the Philistine cities supported by the Egyptians.
Punishment of Idolatry (17:7–23)
A PROPHETIC SERMON details the sins that are responsible for the fall of Israel (and Judah; cf. 17:19). The sermon is typical of others found in the Deuteronomistic History; it recalls the way in which God gave the land of Canaan to Israel and condemned idolatrous worship (cf. Josh. 23; Judg. 2:11–23). Conforming to the ways to the Canaanites causes Israel to be sold into the hands of its enemies and expelled from the land God gave them.
The sermon falls into two main sections (2 Kings 17:7–13 and 14–19), with a conclusion that recapitulates the sins of Jeroboam that started Israel on the path into idolatry (vv. 20–23).10 These two main sections are well balanced: Each begins with a general statement of the sins of Israel (vv. 7–9a and 14), followed by a detailed list of the misdeeds of the people (vv. 9b–12 and 15–18). The first section concludes with the warning that God gave Israel through the prophets (v. 13), the second with the warning that Judah received through the fall of Israel (v. 19). The warning against Judah is commonly regarded as intrusive, but this fails to take into account the function of the sermon in the Deuteronomistic History as a message to the exiles.
The only mention of Israel’s kings here is in the general introduction of the sins of Israel (17:8b). Syntactically it is a difficult clause because it interrupts the sequence in which Israel is the subject (cf. RSV, NRSV; NEB omits the clause as secondary). The translation in verse 9 that the Israelites “secretly did things against the LORD” is also doubtful (cf. RSV, NIV); the Hebrew word translated “secretly” occurs only in this verse, and its meaning must be inferred from context. It more likely means that the Israelites attributed to God things that are not true (cf. NEB),11 such as worshiping Yahweh under the image of a molten calf. This was the adoption of foreign practices introduced into the worship of Yahweh.
The erection of stone pillars and Asherah are also examples of this (v. 10). The wooden poles or trees of Asherah were symbols of the Canaanite fertility goddess of the same name.12 Her worship was particularly attractive to women (cf. 1 Kings 15:13; 2 Kings 23:13–14). The term for “idols” (gillûlîm in 2 Kings 17:12) is found frequently in Ezekiel, where it is a collective term for all cultically defiling sins.13 It denotes what is totally foreign to Yahweh, impurities that require cleansing.
Religions of Samaria (17:24–33)
THE EXILED ISRAELITES are replaced with people from other lands. Sargon II’s deportations differed from those of Tiglath-Pileser III, which were unidirectional. This apparently had to do with the divergent political goals of the respective kings.14 Egypt plays an important role in Assyrian strategy; the Assyrians need access to the Philistine coast and Egypt in order to realize their economic goals. Tiglath-Pileser was concerned with controlling the major trading centers on the Levantine coast. Gaza is prominent in the inscriptions and became a commercial center where Arabian tribes were forced to pay dues for its use.
Sargon II continued the policy of securing the Damascus-Megiddo-Egypt route and quick access to the Philistine states, but the rump state of Samaria was not particularly integral to that objective. Samaria was important as a trading center, and thus Sargon populated it with Arabians as well as those from the diverse areas of Assyria.15 Not only did this divert some of the Arabian trade to that area, in which nomads played an important role, it also repopulated desolate and impoverished areas to reinforce the western border of the Assyrian empire.
The list of peoples transported to the region of Samaria reflects historical reality and must derive from direct knowledge of the situation.16 The five nationalities noted in 17:24 correspond with Mesopotamian locations conquered by Sargon II in the latter part of the eighth century. The repatriation of a priest to Bethel to teach the newcomers how to fear Yahweh (vv. 27–28) also accords well with known Sargonic policy. The peoples brought to repopulate Israel add Yahweh to the gods from their homelands as another god to worship (v. 33).
The Bethel sanctuary continues to function as the place to worship Yahweh, but other temples at high places are built in various cities for the worship of other gods, led by their priests (17:28–29). The high places are of no single architectural type; worship takes place in “the shrines” on the high places, while sacrifices are offered on the altars, which presumes some type of sanctuary in the various locations.17 The historical source is remarkably tolerant of the worship practices of the mixed peoples of the region; there is no condemnation such as is common in the exclusive demands of the Deuteronomistic Historians for worship in Jerusalem.
Samaria is the name of the Assyrian province established in the hill country of Ephraim. Its repopulation takes place over several decades from scattered areas of the Assyrian empire. The people from various regions (v. 24) are identified with their particular religious practices (vv. 30–31). Succoth Benoth is not otherwise known as the name of a Babylonian divinity; the chief god was Marduk and his consort Sarpanitu. Banitu (the creatress) is sometimes an epithet of Ishtar; skwt bnwt may be translated as “image of Banit(u).”18 Cuthah in central Babylon is the sacred territory of Nergal, god of the plague and the underworld. Hamath may refer to the city on the Orontes or to Amate on the Uqnu River in Elam; Ashima is an unknown divinity.19 Avva is likely the Elamite city Ama, and the gods are Ibnahaza and Dirtaq.20 The territory of Sepharvaim cannot be identified, and the names Adrammelech and Anammelech as given in the Hebrew text do not represent known divinities in the Aramean or Assyro-Babylonian pantheons. Attar-melek, if the equivalent, is another version of Ishtar/Astarte; Anammelech may be the Mesopotamian sun god Anu, but human sacrifice is not normally associated with this deity.
Persistent Covenant Disobedience (17:34–41)
IN THE WORSHIP fostered at Bethel and the other high places before the deportation, the people did not “fear the LORD” (v. 34, NASB). They included unacceptable elements of other religions and, of course, did not accept or use the temple at Jerusalem. The end of Israel becomes the occasion for a concluding exhortation on the failure of the covenant from the time of the Exodus “to this day” (v. 34). This phrase resumes the prophetic sermon describing disobedience that led to the end of Israel “to this day” (v. 23; NIV, “and they are still there”), which was broken off by the description of the repopulation of Samaria (vv. 24–33). The final summary repeats the phrase: “To this day” the people fail to observe the loyalty of the covenant oath they have taken (vv. 40–41). Repetitive phrases are typical in Hebrew narrative to mark the beginning and end of a distinct literary unit within a larger composition.
Bridging Contexts
REASONS FOR THE demise of Israel. This chapter is characterized by the burden of the prophets of the Deuteronomistic History. A regnal summary (vv. 1–2) and records of annalistic sources (vv. 3–6) explain the fall of Samaria. A framing repetition marks an interruption in the main narrative: “carried Israel away into exile” (vv. 6b, 23b). The narrative resumes with an account of the resettlement of Samaria after the deportation of its citizens and the accompanying syncretistic practices (vv. 24–33). A lengthy prophetic homily in language typical of the Deuteronomistic writers reviews the reasons for the fall of Israel, recalling the practices that were violations of properly worshiping God as king at the temple (vv. 7–23).21
Long describes this as “a colossal anachrony,” in which the author interrupts the temporal sequence of a narrative. Information is supplied retrospectively (analepsis) to provide reasons for the catastrophe.22 The reach extends far back beyond the parameters of the monarchy (vv. 7–8), but it also extends proleptically to the demise of the southern kingdom (vv. 19–20). The author then reverts to analepsis to recall the precise moment when the northern kingdom went astray.
The chapter concludes with a double repetition. An outer frame repeats a connecting motif that ties the conclusion with the main subject of the narrative: “[These nations] feared the LORD” (vv. 33, 41, NASB). The inner frame encloses a proleptic commentary that extends the temporal reach far beyond the exile of the northern kingdom.23 The story overtakes the narration of the northern exile and its aftermath (vv. 1–6, 24–33). The commentary merges the past into the present of the authors, or at least their sources; the transgressions committed long ago continue “to this day.” This phrase occurs three times (vv. 23, 34, 41), at the junctures of the descriptions of cultic practices that characterize Israel. That day is reminiscent of a time like that of Josiah, when efforts are made to centralize worship at Jerusalem, to the extent that the altar at Bethel is destroyed along with other shrines in the high places (23:15–19).24 In the end Judah is included in this same indictment against Israel (17:19–20); the reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah do not spare Judah from the same judgment. The account of Israel’s fall becomes the occasion for summarizing the covenant failure that seals the destiny of both nations.
Two very different points of view are expressed in the main sections of this sermon (17:7–23). The conclusion expresses the standard view stated throughout the history of Israel, that the cause of Israel’s sin can be traced back to Jeroboam son of Nebat (vv. 18–22). He caused Israel to be separated from Judah and led Israel to sin in his ways. Special note is made of the warnings of the prophets and their fulfillment.
The two main sections of the sermon hold the people rather than the kings responsible for the idolatry (vv. 7–12, 14–17); they built the high places and worshiped there, and they rejected the covenant and its warnings. This is the assessment that is generally given to Judah; the kings are exonerated as following in the ways of David, but the people practiced at the illicit cult sites (1 Kings 22:44; 2 Kings 12:4; 14:4; 15:4, 35). The high places may have served as places of worship until the temple was built (1 Kings 3:2), but the Deuteronomists regarded it as idolatrous from that time forward. This sermon on the exile of Israel applies to Israel the standard of Judah, giving it precedence over the sins of Jeroboam. Not even the mention of the two smelted calves brings a condemnation of their perpetrator (v. 16).
The exhortation on the end of Israel reviews the concepts repeatedly illustrated in the Deuteronomistic History. Though the people fear Yahweh (v. 33a), they serve their own gods according to the rites of the nations that Yahweh drove out of the land (v. 33b). A standard word pair (“fear/serve”) is used to express the impropriety of syncretistic religion. Such incongruity—fearing Yahweh but serving other gods—does not begin with the Assyrian importation of foreign peoples. The whole history of Israel has been a failure to observe the covenant according to the exclusive standard required by Deuteronomy (vv. 34–35). The values of that covenant should have been their wisdom in the eyes of all the nations (Deut. 4:6–8); it should have set them apart and made them the envy of all the other nations. The requirement was that the Israelites not neglect (forget) this covenant, but teach it continuously throughout their generations (v. 9). The problem is that they failed to meet the obligation (2 Kings 17:38); they continuously returned to their earlier practices (17:40).
Sectarian Judaism. The lessons of covenant failure are not lost on later generations. The punishment of the Exile becomes the subject of much reflection on the proper observance of the covenant. It results in the development of various sects within Judaism whose goal is to rectify the failures that led to the Exile and to prepare for the advent of the kingdom of God. One such document is the charter of a group of sectarians first discovered in a medieval genizah (storage place for sacred texts) in Cairo that has come to be known as the Damascus Document.25 Ten fragmentary copies of this work are among the documents discovered in the Qumran caves (eight from Cave 4, one in Cave 5, and one in Cave 6). The document contains regulations for the life of a new covenant community formed in exile in the land of Damascus. The community took its name from the prophecy of Amos, which warned of an exile to Damascus (Amos 5:27).
The Damascus Document recalls the faithfulness of God to the covenant during the Exile: “For when Israel abandoned Him by being faithless, He turned away from them and from His sanctuary and gave them up to the sword. But when He called to mend the covenant He made with their forefathers, He left a remnant for Israel and did not allow them to be exterminated” (CD A1, 3–5).26 The community was formed in the second century before Christ, in the “era of wrath,” 390 years from the time the Israelites were handed over to the power of Nebuchadnezzar. God then caused to grow from Israel and from Aaron a “root of planting to inherit His land and to grow fat on the good produce of His soil. They considered their iniquity and they knew that they were guilty men” (A1 7–9). God raised up for them a teacher of righteousness to lead them “in the way of His heart. He taught to later generations what God did to the generation deserving wrath, a company of traitors. They are the ones who depart from the proper way. That is the time of which it was written, ‘Like a rebellious cow, so rebelled Israel’ (Hos. 4:16)” (A1 10–14).
The Damascus Document contains two principal parts. (1) The first is an exhortation in which the teacher urges the “sons of light” to separate from the wicked. (2) The legal section lists the rules for the community members. These include regulations for Zadokite priests, skin diseases, and feminine kinds of impurity, and laws connected with crops, purity and impurity, oaths, marriages, business transactions, purification, the Sabbath, the temple, blasphemers, Gentiles, and foods. The community involves men who have families, earn wages, and own property. The location of “Damascus” is not certain; it may refer to Babylon, to Syria, or to the wilderness area around Qumran. Members of the community regard themselves as true followers of the covenant, in opposition to a “Man of Mockery,” who “sprayed on Israel lying waters; he led them to wander in the trackless wasteland. He brought down the lofty heights of old, turned aside from paths of righteousness, and shifted the boundary marks that the forefathers had set up to mark their inheritance, so that the curses of the covenant took hold on them” (A1 15–16).
The Damascus Document is one of several that provide regulations for a strict covenant community, sometimes called a yaḥad (“unity”).27 Documents known as halakâ contain regulations for practicing covenant laws, such as prohibitions of carrying an object within a house to the outside, or something outside into a house (cf. Ex. 16:29). One of the first discovered and more extensive documents at Qumran is that known as the Rule of the Community. It begins with a statement about the nature and purpose of the community and continues with a ritual for entry into the covenant community, instructions for the yearly renewal of the covenant, a section on sincere repentance, an explanation of the community’s dualistic, predestinarian views, rules for meetings, and punishments for breaking community rules. The community is described as a temple, a spiritual sacrifice; the Rule of the Community details the duties of the Instructor and the times for praise. It ends with a hymn of praise offered by the Instructor.
Sectarian Judaism did not provide a solution for obedience to the covenant. It did breed a great deal of hostility between different groups and dissension over numerous practices. There was, for example, sectarian division over the function of the temple and its legitimate priesthood. Sects like the one at Qumran considered the temple to be defiled and unacceptable for worship; they retreated into the desert to wait for the wars of the end, which they believed would be soon. They disagreed over matters of halakâ, regulations for correct conduct.
An example of such an issue regards the purity of water. A question arose over the purity of water that was poured into an impure container. Did the impurity flow upward to the source of the water to make it impure, or was the impurity limited to the water that was in the container? There were also disagreements over the calendar. Certain groups held to a yearly calendar of 364 days, divided into quarters, with 91 days in each quarter. This provided for a continuous cycle of months of thirty days, with one day added in each quarter, so that festival days always fell on the same day of the week. Other groups followed a more lunar cycle, with six months of twenty-nine days and six months of thirty days, to provide for a year of 354 days. Every third year a month of thirty days was intercalated to restore the seasonal cycle.
True faith and submission to God. The goal of sectarian Judaism was to be true to the covenant in ways that those before them failed. According to Jesus, the various sects failed to understand the essentials of the covenant—true faith and submission before God—and were not better than those that preceded them. Jesus advises his listeners not to think he has come to destroy the teaching of Moses and the Prophets; rather, he has come to assist them to understand them correctly. His warning is essential; his teaching is so different from that of sectarian Judaism that they will conclude he is violating the Word of God.
Sects tended to focus on external rites; faith is a matter of the mind and heart. The tenth commandment warned against sins of the mind; obedience to Yahweh must begin in the mind. The Ten Commandments are summarized in covetousness. One must not, for instance, covet another’s wife, for that is the beginning of adultery (Ex. 20:17). Jesus in turn says to his hearers, “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:28). Sectarian Judaism managed to reduce the covenant requirements to externals. Jesus calls this hypocrisy. Religious leaders, for instance, would take an oath by the temple, which they regarded as not binding; however, if they took the oath by the gold on the temple, it was binding (Matt. 23:16). In this way they were able to nullify the third commandment; since they did not use the name of God, they believed they were somehow not bound by their word. That is why Jesus says that unless the righteousness (obedience) of his followers is superior to that of “teachers of the law and Pharisees,” they will have no part in the kingdom.
The failures of these sects was an unwillingness to trust God in faith as required by the covenant and in so doing to live with a commitment to covenant ethics. Instead, they wanted to follow their own ethics, to subscribe to an obedience of faith that was self-defined. Sectarianism did succeed in avoiding the syncretism so condemned by the Deuteronomistic prophets. But it did not succeed in bringing about the submission of faith; rather, it brought self-righteousness in their own world of truth. The sectarians approached the problem of the prophets much too narrowly. In their concern to avoid false worship, they created division and acrimony, but they did not generate submission and faith in God.
Contemporary Significance
THE CHURCH, THE new covenant, and a new exodus. The failures of the old covenant lamented by the Deuteronomists could not be corrected by greater resolution to obey precepts as a means to a relationship with God. This fundamental misunderstanding of the covenant relationship continued to distort a true understanding of a genuine relationship with God. The possibility of a relationship with God from the start was a divine initiative that made those of his covenant “his treasured possession” (Deut. 7:6). The apostle John states it correctly: “We love [him] because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
God created Israel to be his bride; he voluntarily entered into an oath with them. The fundamental requirement of that relationship is stated in the primary confession of the covenant book: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5). God never demands perfection in keeping the pledge; his love is perfect and abundant to pardon. At the occasion of the golden calf, God revealed his name to Moses as being gracious, loyal, and slow to anger (Ex. 33:19; 34:6). Our God is one who will always forgive our sins and heal our diseases (Ps. 103:3). God requires a loyalty to that promise; as with the oath of marriage, the covenant partner must always receive uncompromised fidelity.
The failure of the covenant relationship that resulted in the Exile did not bring an end to the promise of God or his love for his people. The church is that treasured possession established by the covenant oath at Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:5–6). Peter makes this plain in his requirement that we taste and see that the Lord is gracious (1 Peter 2:3). In 2:9 he quotes Exodus 19:5–6 to describe Christians as a temple made of living stones, a kingdom of priests, a treasured possession, proclaiming the praises of the one who called us into his marvelous light. The name Immanuel is the prophetic way of declaring that a remnant will turn to God (Isa. 10:20–21).
Matthew understands this remnant to be fulfilled and to continue in the followers of Jesus; he refers repeatedly to Isaiah’s promise of the dawning light that will come for all peoples (Matt. 4:15–16; cf. Isa. 9:1–2; 12:15–20; cf. 42:1–4). The Deuteronomistic speech on the end of Israel is a sober reminder that the conditions of a relationship with God have not changed for the church. Israel’s transgression was the failure of the people to love and trust God and instead to follow in the materialistic ways of the nations (2 Kings 17:7, 14). The church is called to be God’s faithful remnant.
Jesus self-consciously interprets his death as a fulfillment of the redemption begun at the Exodus, as a renewal of the covenant that was broken. Jeremiah said there would be such a “new covenant” (Jer. 31:31–34); it is a covenant of a new mind, written on our hearts, declaring that God is our God and we are his people. Jesus made his death the implementation of that new covenant and gave his church a perpetual confession of this new covenant. Note that when Jesus made the Passover celebration of redemption a memorial of his death, he said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). Jesus instituted the new covenant as a confession to the new Exodus.
The Passover celebrated salvation, which began with the Exodus from Egypt (2 Kings 17:7, 36). Isaiah promised redemption to the exiles; there would be another exodus in which the glory of Yahweh is revealed (Isa. 40:3–5). The exodus promised by Isaiah finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ: “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in Isaiah the prophet … a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make his straight paths for him’” (Mark 1:1–3, quoting from Isa. 40:3).
The Exodus was renewed in Jesus’ death and resurrection, as declared to Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration; Luke uses the word exodos to describe the events about to take place in Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). Christianity is this new exodus, Christians the members of this new covenant. The church continues the work of God, for which the prophets longed.
In this new covenant there is forgiveness of sins; each one teaches the other to know the Lord, as Jeremiah promised. Jesus turns the Passover into a confession of this new covenant. The wine is his blood of the covenant, shed for many for the forgiveness of sins (Matt. 26:28). Paul declares the cup of the Passover is the new covenant in the blood of Christ; eating the bread and drinking the wine must be done in remembrance of Christ until he comes (1 Cor. 11:25–26). The Eucharist is the confession of the new redemption that follows the failures of the old covenant.
Covenant obedience. The church continues to have its own challenge in attempting to exercise faith and obedience under the new covenant. From the beginning, the dangers of syncretism, so condemned by the Deuteronomistic Historians, has threatened the life of the church. Paul warned the Colossians not to let anyone judge them by what they ate or drank, or in regard to festivals, monthly celebrations, or Sabbath days (Col. 2:16). Some in Colosse had a false humility, delighting in the worship of angels (v. 18); they disqualified others from the kingdom, claiming special powers on the basis of the things they had seen. Their pride carried them away into idle speculations.
Sectarianism has been also a grave danger to the church from the beginning. Divisions and strife entered the Corinthian church, not long after Paul was there; certain groups preferred Paul, Apollos, or Cephas, and some claimed the supremacy of Christ (1 Cor. 1:10–13). Each claimed some superior knowledge in living the life of faith.
A covenant requires trust and faithfulness. Where there is trust in God and commitment to his kingdom, there is faithfulness to the relationship established by the covenant obligation. The Deuteronomistic Historians measured trust and faithfulness in specific terms of worship. Failure to reverence God alone according to the regulations of the temple in Jerusalem brought condemnation. This measure of covenant faithfulness was principally pertinent in judging the loyalty of the people collectively and explaining the cause of the Exile. Other measures of covenant faithfulness included individual measures of conduct. With the disappearance of Israel, these measures included the specific requirements of belonging to a particular community.
One of the most notable documents concerning such covenant obedience at Qumran uses the phrase “works of the law.”28 This phrase should not be interpreted as a works religion, for faith was indeed the fundamental requirement for entering the community. This document (4QMMT) has three sections: The first deals with calendar, the second deals with covenant obligations, and the third is an exhortation to covenant commitment. It is in this third section that the sect’s understanding of faith and covenant loyalty is expressed. It uses language like that of the New Testament to urge covenant fidelity.
Paul warns the Galatians against seeking salvation by such obedience to works of the law (Gal. 3:5); the gift of the Spirit is a fulfillment of the covenant promise. Redemption is received by faith, just as Abraham received it when he trusted God (3:6–8). The third section of 4QMMT has language similar to what Paul uses in applying to Christians the covenant trust required of Abraham (Gen. 15:6).29 “We have (indeed) sent you some of the precepts of the Torah according to our decision, for your welfare and the welfare of your people” (C 27). Observance of these works of the law “will be counted as a virtuous deed of yours, since you will be doing what is righteous and good for the welfare of Israel” (C 31).
The phrase “counted as righteousness” is first used of Abraham (Gen. 15:6); it is also used to describe the action of Phinehas in stopping the plague at Baal Peor (Ps. 106:31). The Qumran writer is probably echoing the Psalms reference. Acting on the promise in faith qualified Abraham to enter into the covenant (Gen. 15:6–21). The action of Phinehas was a similar demonstration of faith counted as righteousness for future generations. The Qumran covenanters believed that following their directives was an obedience of faith that would bring them the benefits of the covenant relationship.
The apostle James quotes the promise to Abraham in the same spirit as is found in the Qumran document:
Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions worked together, and faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. (James 2:21–23)
Faith is requisite to belonging to the new covenant. The evidence of faith is found in adherence to the oath obligation. In this respect the new covenant is not different from the old covenant as understood by the Deuteronomistic Historians or the later Qumran sectarians.
Paul and James would affirm the covenant concept as expressed in 4QMMT, but they would differ vigorously with the understanding of covenant obligations. Paul does not deal with the postbiblical regulations found in MMT in speaking about the “works of the law,” but he does deal with circumcision, Sabbath-keeping, and food laws. This has little to do with discussions of streams of liquids (MMT, B 55–58) or the presence of dogs in the temple precincts (MMT, B 58–62). In speaking of the “works of the law,” Paul deals with a different version of ritual obedience, but like the Qumran sectarians, it has to do with the rites and practices peculiar to a faith confession in the context of the temple presence.
Such rites have lost their significance with the absence of the temple and the presence of Jesus as the glory of God revealed among us (John 1:14). The difference of the new covenant is the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ. With the coming of Jesus, the old symbols and rituals have passed away and can have no role in making confession of faith in God.
James looks for the confession of faith along the lines of that required by the prophets in urging justice and care for the poor: “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:15–17). The new covenant expresses nothing new in its requirement for covenant faith. The former covenant always had as its priority respect for all people and care for the needy. These were “works of the law,” in the sense that the Torah and the prophets always required justice as the practice of faith. So James can conclude, “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone” (2:24). Profession of belief apart from commitment and obedience is not faith.
The ritual requirement of the Deuteronomistic Historians or the regulations of the sectarians that followed them are not relevant under the new covenant. Demanding that such rituals be observed is to fail to understand their symbolic significance for God’s presence and to deny the divine presence in Jesus Christ. This is why all such “works of the law” are so resisted and condemned by Paul. The principle of covenant faith, however, has not changed, nor has its essential requirement of care for all people, particularly those of “the family of believers” (Gal. 6:10). Those who neglect this covenant obligation cannot be said to have faith and trust in God.
Facing materialism. Modern Christians face all the perils of the ancient Israelites in the practice of faith. The danger in Israel was a compromise with Baal religion, essentially a materialist cult. Canaanite religions served gods of fertility; the quest of their religion was to serve the gods for the prosperity of their herds and crops. During the days of Jeroboam and Azariah, Israel and Judah did become extremely wealthy. Their materialism expressed itself in a failure of justice to care for the poor, as the prophets emphasized, but also in their neglect of the temple, as stressed by the Deuteronomistic Historians.
The apostle Paul has a similar warning to Christians: We must put away our former conduct corrupted by deceitful desires (Eph. 4:22). Those outside the covenant live in a vain way of thinking, their understanding is darkened; they are alienated from the life of God (vv. 17–18). We as Christians must be renewed in our thinking, for we are a new creation, restored to function as the image of God (vv. 23–24). Modern Christians, as easily as Israel, can be deceived by material desires and thus fail to keep our covenant with God.
Humans have a distinct role in this world. We belong to the material world and have material needs. We have been created to serve as God’s image-bearers in this world, to represent his rule and his presence. As the image of God, we participate in the holy—that which is separate from this world. Our lives as humans in the material world are not an end in itself; they are to serve the purpose of the holy, to make known the majestic name of Yahweh in all the earth (Ps. 8). Ancient Israel became caught up with the material in Baal worship and failed the requirement of the covenant. Baal is ever present in the materialism of human society and a threat to the faithful of the new covenant in the same way.