This hetd for about two hundred and fixty years. In the time of Itſhs2 their lait King, the Aing of Ajjv i, after a Siege of three years, takes Samariz their head City. Of this we have an account, 2 Kinzs 17. 6. as alfo of thoſe Sins which had provoked God to give them up into iis hands. v. 24. of that Chapter, we read that thefiing of A4j]j1;2 brought men from B,bylon, Cuihah, Avah, Hamath, Se- pharcaim, and placed them in the Cities of Samaria, inſtead of the children of Ijrael ; he removed the moit of the Jews, v. 6. of that ckap. and placed them in Hal, and in Habor, by the River of Go- zan, ia the Cities of the Medes, Aftcr this there were ſeveral Mutati- ous in the Government of thoſe Countrics, We muſt not imagine that all the Jews were carried away, but the chief and principal men : and we read in that 17th chap. that a Piic/} was ſent back to inſtru the new Colonies how to worſhip the God of the Country 3 becauſe the Lyons infeiting them, they conceived their non-acquaintance with the methods of Worſhip ufed toward the God of that Country, was the cauſe of it, 2 Kings 17. 25, 275. But yet v 25. the people of the ſeveral Nations brought thither, worſhipped their ſeveral Idols, as may be rezd there : After this,about an hundred and fixty years,theſe Places came under the Dominion of Cyri@, who gave the Fews a li- berty to return; but it chietly concerned thoſe that belonged to the Kingdom of Judah ;, for we read Exra 1. 5. that they were the Fathers of Tuda, and Benjamin that roſe up to return. The Samaritans were their Enemies as to the Building of the Temple, Exra 4. 5: Afffter this, they fell under the Power, firſt of the Grecians, then of the Romans (under which they at this time were :) This old Feud, both upon the account of their former civil Difference, and their diffe- rence in Religion, ſtill held, ſo as there was a great Enmity (eſpect- ally occaſioned by their difference in Religion_) betwixt thoſe who belonged to the 7r4bes of Fadah, and Benjamin, and the Samaritans who were indeed Idolaters. The Jews (for ſo now were they only called who adhered to the Houſe of David ) had no dealings with them, John 4. g. tho it be the opinion of ſome, that there were com- mon C1yilities betwixt them, and that the rigidneſs lay on the Few- iſh part, rather than the Samaritans. Galilee lay beyond Samara, and it ſhould ſeem was more generally inhabited by Native Fews. The King of Ajſjria planted his Colomies (C1t 15 probable) more in that which was now more ſtrifaly called Samaria, which Jay in the Heart of the Land, which might be the reaſon that the Inhabitants of that part now called $.maria, were more abſurd and grofs in their Worſhip than the Inhabitants or Galzfee, amongſt whom Chriſt ſo long preached. From whence (as was before ſaid_) Chriſt going to Feruſalem to the Feaſt, was to paſs. The Samaritans refuſed to receive him, which ordinarily, it is ſaid, they did not to Paſſengers 3 but potſibly, their knowing that he was going to the Feaſt, was the cauſe, or his Attendants might be more than they liked. When we come to Fohn g. we thall hear more of the Religious differences betwixt the Fews, and the Samaritans. This is enough to have at preſent Noted.
54 And when his diſciples James and John ſaw this, they ſaid, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire ro come down from heaven, and contume them even * as Elias did ?
The Hiftory of Elrzs (to which the Diſciples refer) 1s doubtleſs that, 2 Kings 1. 10, where Elzx, not without direftion from God, called tor Fire from Heaven to deſtroy thoſe Captains and their Fif- ties, which the King ſenc to take him.
55 Bur he turned, and rebuked them, and ſaid, Ye know not what manner of ſpirit ye are of.
56 For * the fon of man is not come to deſtroy mens lives, bur to fave rhem. And they went to another village. - | |
The term Sp;rit ſometimes f:gnifies the inward Motions, Propen- 1:ons, and Inclinations of the Soul, influenced either from the holy Spirit of God, or from the Evil Spirit. So the Term is uſed 2 Tim. i. 7. You do not (ſail our Saviour) confider what kind of motions theſe are which you indulge your felves in. The Caſe of Eltas, and this Caſe, had threc remarkable Differences. 1. The People of 1/rael at that time had been in an Apoſtacy,but of few years (comparatively) to theſe Samaritans; they were fallen into it in the ſight of the true Worſhip of Ged at that time upheld in JFuda. They were not only ftiff in it, but the King ſends theſe Captains to apprehend Elzas, for declaring what God had commanded him to declare. Theſe Suma- 7:tans were under the Prejudices of Antiquity and Preſcription for many hundreds of years. kiiſtories tell us, that the Samaritan Tem- ple, on Mount Gerazzim, builded in oppoſition to the Temple at Feru-
Salem, was builded by one Sanballat, Darius's Governour in thoſe