From Splendor to Shadow

Chapter 46—Bitter Opposition Fails

Close by the Israelites dwelt 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 idolaters. True, they held that their idols were but to remind them of the living God, but the people were prone to reverence images. SS 292.1

These Samaritans came to be known as “the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin.” Hearing that the “children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel,” they expressed a desire to unite in its erection. “Let us build with you,” they proposed, “for we seek your God, as ye do.” But the leaders of the Israelites declared, “We ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.” Ezra 4:1-3. SS 292.2

Only a remnant had chosen to return from Babylon, and now, as they undertook a work seemingly beyond their strength, their nearest neighbors came with an offer of help. “We seek your God, as ye do,” the Samaritans declared; “let us build with you.” But had the Jewish leaders accepted this offer, they would have opened a door for idolatry. They discerned the insincerity of the Samaritans. SS 292.3

Regarding the relation that Israel should sustain to surrounding peoples, the Lord had declared through Moses: “Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them: ... for they will turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods.” “The Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above all the nations that are upon the face of the earth.” Deuteronomy 7:2-4; 14:2. SS 292.4

The result that would follow a covenant with surrounding nations was plainly foretold: “The Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods ... . And among these nations shalt thou find no ease.” Deuteronomy 28:64, 65. SS 293.1