arrives it will not be plagued by crime: “They will not do any harm or cause any ruin in all my holy mountain.”​—Isa. 11:9.

Wisdom that comes from God can show men how to use their learning and science aright. With a study of the Bible you will find that it shows you how to solve or better cope with the real problems that you face every day. Too, it offers you a dependable hope for the future. Are these not the things that you want? Surely. Consult Jehovah’s witnesses; they will gladly help you to learn more about this true godly wisdom.

A Look at the Ancient Samaritans

THE greatest teacher ever to walk the earth, Jesus Christ, once related a heartwarming illustration about being neighborly. He spoke of a kind and compassionate man, one who was willing to expend himself in behalf of a total stranger. Both a priest and a Levite ignored the plight of this stranger who had been beaten up by robbers and left behind half-dead on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. But the compassionate man attended to the stranger’s immediate needs and paid out the equivalent of two days’ wages for his care. He even obligated himself to pay any expense incurred beyond that amount. (Luke 10:30-35) The compassionate man of Jesus’ illustration was a Samaritan. What did that mean? Just who were the Samaritans?

Other statements made by Jesus Christ about the Samaritans reveal that they had a partly foreign, non-Jewish heritage. He specifically excluded them when instructing his apostles to concentrate their efforts on the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt. 10:5, 6) On another occasion he spoke of a Samaritan as a “man of another nation” or “race.”​—Luke 17:16-18, Kingdom Interlinear Translation.

But how did a people not of the “house of Israel” come to live in a large section of Israelite territory? This happened after the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians in the eighth century B.C.E. The Assyrians carried many Israelites into exile, thereafter replacing them with foreign peoples.​—2 Ki. 17:22-24; Ezra 4:1, 2.

These foreign peoples in time came to share certain religious beliefs of the Israelites. How did this happen? Because the Assyrian conquest devastated much Israelite territory, lions increased in the land and began to roam closer to towns and villages. (Compare Exodus 23:29.) Apparently for this reason many foreigners fell prey to lions. The new settlers reasoned that this was happening because they did not worship the God of the land, and notified the king of Assyria accordingly. In response, the Assyrian monarch sent back a calf-worshiping Israelite priest from exile. This priest taught the transplanted population about Jehovah. But he did so in the same manner as had the first king of the toppled ten-tribe kingdom, Jeroboam, who introduced calf worship. So although knowing something about Jehovah, the foreign people still continued worshiping false gods.​—2 Ki. 17:24-31.

Eventually the beliefs of these foreigners