Tight shoes, the Good Samaritan, and Our Lord Jesus Christ

https://merangue.com/kv1padiuwaq It will be helpful to look at the ten northern tribes of Israel, nicknamed the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” As with most nicknames there is some truth and some exaggeration to it. For those of you who may not have heard that nickname before, let me give you a very short summary of a lot of history. After Solomon died, his son Rehoboam became the next King of Israel. But, for various reasons, God sent the Prophet Ahijah to a man called Jeroboam to call him to rebel against the king. “About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. Then he said to Jeroboam, ‘Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes.””

Jeroboam was the first superintendent of the forced labor force of King Solomon. Uhm, wait, King Solomon used forced labor? Yes, he did, please read your Bible again. “Now King Solomon levied forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered 30,000 men. (1 Kings 5:13 NASB)” Apparently, Jeroboam’s time as supervisor “radicalized” him. The inevitable pain and suffering of forced labor somehow got through to him. But, here is the interesting part. Given Ahijah’s visit, it appears that God himself was less than pleased by Solomon’s use of forced labor to both build God’s Temple and to build up the defenses of the Kingdom and the other various works.

And so, what is now called the United Monarchy ceased to exist. Jeroboam led a successful revolt and the Kingdom of Israel was split into two parts. Interestingly enough, the 10 northern tribes retained the name of Israel, while the merged tribe of Judah and Benjamin became the Kingdom of Judah.

https://inteligencialimite.org/2024/08/07/fou3g7442uj The Kingdom of Israel now had a problem. The only approved temple was now in the rival Kingdom of Judah. So, Jeroboam made a mistake. He started a rival temple, actually two temples. In the long run, it led to God’s decision to allow the Assyrian Empire to invade the northern Kingdom and take it into exile. It is that exile that led to the nickname of the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” But, Assyria also had a policy that was later followed by the Soviet Union in certain parts of its country. They would not allow the exiled Israelites to come back. And, they also sent in people from other parts of the Assyrian Empire to settle into the area of the ten tribes. This policy meant that there was eventual intermarriage between the incoming resettled peoples and the remaining Israelites.

But, the people that had arrived and their intermarried children needed to worship somewhere. They adopted the “god” of the already existing local people. That God happened to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but worshiped in a mistaken way. Actually, you already knew that. It is documented in the New Testament. The “hybrid” people that resulted from the intermarriage turn up in the New Testament, both in one of Jesus’ unexpected encounters (at least unexpected by the Apostles) and in one of Jesus’ most beloved parables. Who are those people? The Samaritans.

https://transculturalexchange.org/qhg9sj5ra But, what does this have to do with Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church, and the reality of today’s “Christianity?”

https://oevenezolano.org/2024/08/6545435ml ===MORE TO COME===