Samaritans

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SAMARITANS

A religious group in Palestine related to the Jews. They were known up to the time of the early Islamic writers (7th and 8th centuries). Thereafter silence fell until the 16th century, when the first scholarly contacts were established (J. J. Scaliger, Pietro della Valle). The Samaritans reserve for themselves the name Israel, allow the name Samerim only as an equivalent to the Hebrew Shomerim, "those who observe (the Law)," and have done so since pre-Christian times. The name derives from the place name Samaria, which was extended to the entire territory only after the Assyrian conquest of Galilee and part of Transjordan. Today Samaria signifies what was originally the highlands of ephraim. The modern Samaritans, however, are associated with only a small part of this area, modern Nablus, between Mt. Garizim (Gerizim) and Mt. Ebal; this area has been their center since Hellenistic times.

Before New Testament Times. Reconstruction of their early history is disputed; the main generally accepted conclusions follow. The people are largely the descendants of the Ten Tribes of Israel that broke away from Juda at the death of Solomon. Jewish contentions that they were merely descendants of imported Babylonians (hence their use of the name Kuthim; see 2 Kgs 17.24) are exaggerated and polemical. The Assyrians had indeed colonized Ephraim with captives, but the peasant population remained, and was definitely Israelite (see 2 Chr 34.9; Jer 41.5). The newcomers adopted the religion of the land; shechem became their national shrine. Between this new hybrid people and the Judaites only religion subsisted as a link. When the Jewish exiles returned from Babylon, the Samaritans made at least one attempt to join them, perhaps demanding that the Temple be built in Shechem (Ezr 4.1–5). The Jews naturally refused. The split was increased by the ruthlessness with which Ezra prevented intermarriage and even destroyed already existing marriages. The Samaritans opposed the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (Ezr 4.7–23) and actually stopped the work by decree of Artaxerxes until Nehemiah intervened (Neh 2.1–8). With the completion of the walls (despite the opposition of the Samaritan governor Sanaballat), the prohibition of intermarriage, and doctrinal differences (Jerusalem vs. Garizim; Samaritan rejection of the prophetic books), the rift widened continually. By the time of Christ, for a Jew to call someone a Samaritan was an insult (Jn 8.48). In Jewish noncanonical writings there are few references to Samaritans, all disparaging. The Samaritans, as well as the Jews, were persecuted by antiochus iv epiphanes (2 Mc 5.23; 6.2). After a brief respite John Hyrcanus again captured their shrine and destroyed it (c. 128 b.c.).

In New Testament Times. Jesus encountered both courtesy and discourtesy at the hands of the Samaritans (Jn 4.39–42; Lk 9.51–56). One of the 10 lepers healed by Jesus was a Samaritan, and all were told to show themselves to the Jewish priests in accordance with what we know of their division of religious jurisdiction (Lk 17.11–19). In His answer to the question "Who is my neighbor" Jesus pointedly chose the despised Samaritan (Lk 10.25–37), but to a Samaritan He was careful to point out that "salvation is of the Jews" (Jn 4.22). In restricting the first mission of the Apostles He also distinguished the Samaritans from pagans (Mt 10.5; cf. Acts 1.8). There are indications in Acts 8.5; 9.31; 15.3 of a flourishing Christian community at Samaria. The Fathers of the Church regarded the Samaritans as a branch of the chosen people.

After New Testament Times. Under the Romans, a Council of Elders governed the Samaritans and they possessed a native militia. Their religion was religio licita within the imperial framework. Vespasian built a new city a short distance from ancient Shechem and renamed it Flavia Neapoils, which is modern Nablus. trajan's Declaration hit Christian and Samaritan alike. Only their book of the Law and their priestly succession survived the destruction of a.d. 135 (see bar kokhba, simon). Christian influence on Constantine introduced a period of repression, and life was not easier under Islam until Harun ar-Rashid (Caliph 786–809). The Samaritans emerged under Turkish rule as a small, self-contained religious community. Accounts of the intervening centuries by Arabic historians and Samaritan chroniclers still await comprehensive study. In 1623–24 the priestly succession (supposedly from Aaron) failed, and now Levitical priests of the house of Uzziel officiate. The Samaritans are now pitifully reduced. Since the 1970s, their number has hovered around the 500s.

Samaritan Religion. The Samaritans have only the Pentateuch (in Hebrew and in an Aramaic Targum) as their Sacred Scripture. The five constituents of their belief are: faith in Yahweh, in Moses, in the Holy Law (the Pentateuch and it alone), in Mt. Garizim-Bethel-Luza, and in the Day of Vengeance and Recompense (showing some Islamic influence). Salvation history is divided into uneven periods of Rahuta (divine favor) and Fanuta (divine disfavor). The first Rahuta ended with the sin of Adam; a second began with Moses and ended with the apostasy of Eli. Only with the coming of the thb (variously pronounced, but generally explained as "He Who Shall Return"), the Samaritan Messiah, will the definitive Rahuta be inaugurated.

The Samaritans have a rather developed angelology. Creation was the single act of God alone; the giving of the Law was a second creation through Moses, who holds much the same position as Muḥammad in Islam, and no other prophet is allowed on equal footing with him. Patriarchs and other OT heroes are the Guiltless, the Meritorious Ones. Using Dt 27.4 (reading Garizim for Ebal) they maintain that Mt. Garizim was the site of the first altar of God, and the real Bethel of patriarchal history. Before the time of Marqah (4th Christian century) it seems they held the normal OT (Sadducean) doctrine on sheol. Thereafter the doctrine of the resurrection of the body appears. They await an eschatological battle against the forces of evil. The Messiah will be a man specially instructed by Yahweh. After the millennium, the wrath of God will be loosed on the Day of Vengeance; then the good will pass on to the Garden of Eden forever, the bad down into the fire.

Bibliography: l. finkelstein, The Pharisees: The Sociological Background of Their Faith, 2 v. (3d ed. rev. Philadelphia 1962). j. bowman, The Samaritan Problem: Studies in the Relationships of Samaritanism, Judaism, and Early Christianity (Pittsburgh 1975). r. j. coggins, Samaritans and Jews: The Origins of Samaritanism Reconsidered (Atlanta 1975). r. pummer, The Samaritans (Leiden 1987). a. d. crown, The Samaritans (Tübingen 1989). n. schur, History of the Samaritans, (2d rev. and enl. ed. New York 1992). i. hjelm, The Samaritans and Early Judaism: A Literary Analysis (Sheffield, England, 2000). r. t. anderson, The Keepers: An Introduction to the History and Culture of the Samaritans (Peabody, Mass. 2002).