The Life of Jesus in Harmony | Index

Samaritan

Heb. shomeronim). Mentioned in (2 Ki 17:29) as "the people of Samaria."

The inhabitants of the region of Samaria. After the captivity of the Northern Kingdom of Israel colonists were brought in by the king of Assyria in place of the deported Israelites (II Ki 17:24-34 who intermarried with remnants of Jews in Samaria.

They were held in contempt by the Jews (Neh 4:1-3; Mt 10:5; Jn 4:9-26).

If their origin can be traced to any single event, possibly we should have to go back to the year 722 B.C. when Sargon deported nearly 30,000 Israelites to Assyria, and sent a mixed group to take their place. In the course of time the Israelite number grew faster than the rest, mostly due to the influence of Judea. But when the Samaritans built their own temple on Mount Gerizim in 332 BC the rivalry could be felt. John Hyrcanus destroyed the Samaritan temple in 128 BC. Herod the Great regarded the province with great favor.

There are certain peculiarities to their beliefs that make them distinct from that of the Jews. They based their religion exclusively on the five Books of Moses; this was partly because, at the time of the final separation between Samaria and Judea, those books alone were regarded as authoritative scripture, and partly because the prophets belonged to the tradition that circled round David, Jerusalem, and Judea. But still, their religion was essentially Jewish in character in spite of certain minor differences. Like the Jews, they worshipped Yahweh (Jehovah), and until the 5th century of the Christian era they refused to accept belief in a doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. The Samaritans were, and are still, more conservative than the Jews. They looked for the coming of the Messiah, but had characteristic views about Him, they held Him in lower esteem than Moses, believed that He would die at the age of one hundred and ten, and that His character and work would be those of a secular monarch. At the end of the world, the righteous would go to the Garden of Eden, but the wicked would be burned.