Who Were the Samaritans?

Jesus used the example of the "Good Samaritan" to respond to a Jewish expert on the Law because he knew that the Jews hated the Samaritans and the Samaritans hated the Jews. Why? A fellow youth leader and I were discussing this on a recent trip so I decided to do a little research. Here's what I found.

Where the Samaritans Came From

When King Solomon died, the ten northern tribes, referred to as Israel, rebelled against the Davidic kingship (here King Rehoboam). The southern two-and-a-half tribes remained loyal to the Davidic line; we refer to them as Judah. Since Judah retained Jerusalem, and thus, the temple of God, the first king in Israel (Jeroboam) got to work setting up separate worship centers, priests, and even festivals (see 1 Kings 12:25-33). Samaria became the capital of this northern kingdom. And so religious division had begun, with Samaria squarely on one side.

Fast-forward about 200 years to 722 BC. The Assyrians conquered and destroyed the northern kingdom (2 Kings 17). Shortly after, they deported many Israelites and brought in foreigners. Intermarriage was inevitable and with it came the mingling of foreign religions with the worship of the one true God.

Now these foreigners "did not fear the LORD" (v. 25, ESV) so God sent lions to kill some of them. The Assyrian king heard of this and sent a Hebrew priest back to Samaria to reintroduce Yahwehism. This priest settled in Bethel and "taught them how they should fear the Lord" (v. 28, ESV).

Here comes the stinger: "But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made" (v. 29, ESV). As a result, "they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away" (v. 33, ESV). By mixing two peoples and two religions, there was then a new race and a new religion. Josephus, 2 Kings, and Jewish rabbis say that the Samaritans came from this group (Scott, p. 197).

The Controversy with the Jews

In Ezra 4, we find the Samaritans wanting to help in the rebuilding of the temple of God. Their help was refused because they did not fear the Lord. From this point on, the Samaritans opposed the rebuilding of the temple and of Jerusalem. The relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans later worsened when Manasseh, the brother of the high priest in Jerusalem, married the daughter of a Samaritan official. After that he was not allowed to serve in the temple so he and some other priests defected to the Samaritans. When Alexander the Great conquered their region, the religion of the Samaritans further separated from that of the Jews when they secured permission from Alexander's officials to build their own temple on Mount Gerizim.

Wait, the drama continues... When Alexander the Great's successor began persecuting the Jews, the Samaritans publicly denounced the Jews in front of the king, dissociating themselves from the Jews. You can imagine how this sounded in the ears of Jerusalem. At that time the Samaritans also claimed to be of Sidonian ancestry and to further make a show of their loyalty to the king, they dedicated their temple to Zeus Hellenios.

From disgust to hate: Finally, when John Hyrcanus ruled the Jews for a short while, he defeated and devastated the city of Samaria and most likely destroyed the Samaritan temple. (They were pretty much "Best Friends Forever" after that.)

Archeological tidbit: The Samaritans did not recognize any scripture except for the five books of Moses. The Samaritan editions of the Pentateuch differ significantly from that of the Jews. It is believed that they produced their own versions in the second century (after Jesus).

New Testament References to the Controversy

Here are a few.

In John 8:48, the Jews intend to totally insult Jesus when they say, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?"

In John 4:9, the woman at the well couldn't believe that Jesus would even associate with her.

In Luke 10:25-37, in the parable of the "Good Samaritan", Jesus plays on the Jewish hatred of Samaritans when he makes the Samaritan into the hero of the story to tell the law expert that he is to treat everyone as his neighbor, not just Jews.

In Luke 9:51-56, as Jesus was heading for Jerusalem, he sent some disciples ahead of him to prepare a place in a Samaritan village. The village would not "welcome them". Samaritans were somewhat hostile to Jews, but especially to Jews who were making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which Jesus and his disciples appeared to be doing. This episode is somewhat comical to the modern reader, however, because the disciples ask if they should call down fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritan town like Elijah did. ...Jesus declined their offer.


Notes:
Background outline and some direct quotes taken from J. Julius Scott Jr., as referenced below.

References:
J. Julius Scott Jr. Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1995 (reprint: 2007).

Scripture references without translation labels are from the Revised Standard Version (RSV)