Samaritans
The Origins of the Samaritans
The Samaritans emerged as a distinct people following the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. When the Assyrian king Sargon II deported a portion of the Israelite population, he replaced them with colonists from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim (2 Kings 17:24). These settlers mixed with the Israelites who remained in the land, producing a population of blended ethnic and religious heritage. The colonists initially brought their own gods but also adopted the worship of the LORD after a plague of lions, which they interpreted as punishment from the local deity. A priest was sent back to teach them "the law of the god of the land" (2 Kings 17:27-28), resulting in a syncretistic religion that combined elements of Israelite faith with pagan practices.
The Samaritan-Jewish Rivalry
The enmity between Samaritans and Jews intensified during the post-exilic period. When the Jewish exiles returned from Babylon under Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple, the Samaritans offered to help, claiming, "Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do" (Ezra 4:2). The Jewish leaders rejected this offer, declaring, "You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God" (Ezra 4:3). This rejection transformed the Samaritans from would-be allies into active opponents. They worked to obstruct the rebuilding of both the temple and the walls of Jerusalem (Ezra 4:4-5; Nehemiah 4:1-8). Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, became one of Nehemiah's most persistent enemies.
The Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerizim
The Samaritans eventually established their own temple on Mount Gerizim near Shechem, creating a rival worship center to Jerusalem. According to Josephus, this temple was built with the permission of Alexander the Great, and Manasseh, a Jewish priest who had married Sanballat's daughter, became its first high priest (cf. Nehemiah 13:28). The Samaritans accepted only the five books of Moses (the Pentateuch) as Scripture, rejecting the prophets and writings. They pointed to Deuteronomy 27:4 (which in their version reads "Gerizim" rather than "Ebal") as proof that their mountain was God's chosen place of worship. This temple was destroyed by the Jewish ruler John Hyrcanus around 128 BC, deepening the hostility between the two communities.
Jesus and the Samaritans
Jesus' interactions with Samaritans were deliberately countercultural and theologically revolutionary. The Gospel of John records His extended conversation with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, where He addressed the central dispute between Jews and Samaritans: "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father... God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:21, 24). Many Samaritans from the nearby town came to faith in Jesus through the woman's testimony (John 4:39-42). Jesus also made a Samaritan the hero of one of His most famous parables — the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) — deliberately challenging Jewish prejudice.
The Samaritans in the Early Church
The book of Acts records the gospel spreading to Samaria as part of God's plan for the church's expansion. After persecution scattered believers from Jerusalem, Philip went to Samaria and preached Christ with great success. "When they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12). Peter and John were sent from Jerusalem to confirm the Samaritan believers, and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-17). This inclusion of the Samaritans in the church fulfilled Jesus' commission that His disciples would be witnesses "in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). The ancient barrier between Jew and Samaritan was being broken down by the gospel.
The Samaritan Community Today
Remarkably, a small community of Samaritans survives to this day, centered on Mount Gerizim near the modern Palestinian city of Nablus (ancient Shechem). Numbering only a few hundred, they continue to practice their ancient form of worship, observing the Passover sacrifice on Mount Gerizim and following the Samaritan Pentateuch. Their continued existence, after more than two thousand years, represents one of the longest-surviving religious communities in the world.
Biblical Context
The Samaritans' origins are explained in 2 Kings 17:24-41. Their opposition to Jerusalem's rebuilding is documented in Ezra 4 and Nehemiah 4. In the Gospels, Jesus' interactions with Samaritans appear in John 4:1-42 (the woman at the well), Luke 10:30-37 (the Good Samaritan parable), Luke 17:11-19 (the grateful Samaritan leper), and Luke 9:51-56 (the Samaritan village that rejected Jesus). Acts 8:4-25 records the gospel reaching Samaria. Acts 1:8 identifies Samaria as part of the disciples' mission field.
Theological Significance
The Samaritans in Scripture illustrate the gospel's power to overcome the deepest human divisions. Jesus deliberately crossed ethnic and religious boundaries that His contemporaries considered inviolable. His choice of a Samaritan as the moral hero in His parable directly challenged the exclusivism of His audience. The inclusion of Samaritans in the early church demonstrated that the gospel creates a new community that transcends inherited hostilities. The Samaritan woman's encounter with Jesus also establishes that true worship is not bound to any geographic location but is a matter of spirit and truth.
Historical Background
The Assyrian deportation and resettlement policy is well documented in Assyrian royal inscriptions. Sargon II's annals claim the deportation of 27,290 Israelites from Samaria. Archaeological evidence at Samaria confirms destruction and cultural change during this period. The Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim has been confirmed by excavations that revealed a substantial religious complex. The Samaritan Pentateuch, an independent textual tradition of the Torah, is an important witness to the early text of the Hebrew Bible. Josephus provides extensive accounts of Samaritan-Jewish relations in his Antiquities. The bitter hostility between the communities in the first century is confirmed by multiple sources, including the Gospels and Josephus.