Samaritans
SAMARITANS
The inhabitants of Samaria. But in the New Testament this name is the appellation of a race of people who sprung originally from an intermixture of the ten tribes with gentile nations. When the inhabitants of Samaria and of the adjacent country were carried away by Shalmanezer king of Assyria, he sent in their place colonies from Babylonia, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, with which the Israelites who remained in the land became intermingled, and were ultimately amalgamated into one people, 2Ki 17:24-41 . An origin like this would of course render the nation odious to the Jews. The new and mixed race indeed sent to Assyria for an Israelitish priest to teach them the law of Jehovah, and adopted in part the forms of the true religion; but most of them were but half converted from their native heathenism, Mat 10:5 Luk 17:16-18 . It was therefore in vain that, when the Jews returned from captivity and began to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, the Samaritans requested to be acknowledged as Jewish citizens, and to be permitted to assist in their work, Ezr 4:1-24 . In consequence of this refusal, and the subsequent state of enmity, the Samaritans not only took occasion to calumniate the Jews before the Persian kings, Ezr 4:4 Neh 4:1-23, but also, recurring to the directions of Moses, Deu 27:11-13, that on entering the promised land half of the people should stand on Mount Gerizim to respond Amen to the covenant pronounced by the Levites, they erected a temple on that mountain, and instituted sacrifices according to the prescriptions of the Mosaic law, although the original altar, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, stood on Mount Ebal, Deu 27:4 Jos 8:30-35 . Moreover, they rejected all the sacred books of the Jews except the Pentateuch. See SANBALLAT.From all these and other circumstances, the national hatred between the Samaritans and Jews, instead of being at all diminished by time, was, on the contrary, fostered and augmented Luk 9:52,53 . Hence the name of Samaritan became among the Jews a term of reproach and contempt, Joh 8:48, and all intercourse with them was carefully avoided, Joh 4:9 . The temple on Mount Gerizim was destroyed by Hyrcanus about the year 129 B. C.; but the Samaritans in the time of Christ continued to esteem that mountain sacred, and as the proper place of national worship, Joh 4:20,21, as is also the case with the small remnant of that people who exist at the present day. The Samaritans, like the Jews, expected a Messiah, Joh 4:25 and many of them became the followers of Jesus, and embraced the doctrines of his religion. See Mal 8:1 9:31 15:3.It is well known that a small remnant of the Samaritans still exists at Nabulus, the ancient Shechem. Great interest has been taken in them by the learned of Europe; and a correspondence has several times been instituted with them which, however, has never led to results of any great importance. They have a copy of the Pentateuch, professedly made by Abishua the son of Phinehas, 1400 years before Christ. Several copies of this have been taken, first in 1616, and compared with the received Hebrew text, with which it nearly coincides. There are various classes of different readings, but few or none in which the Samaritan does not appear to be a corruption of the original. Of late years the remnant of Samaritans at Nabulus have often been visited by travellers. They number about one hundred and fifty souls, and are devout observers of the law. They keep the Jewish Sabbath with great strictness, and meet thrice during the day in their synagogue for public prayers. For times in each year, at the Passover, the Pentecost, the feast of Tabernacles, and the day of Expiation, they all resort to the site of their ancient temple on Mount Gerizim to worship. See GERIZIM.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
SAMARITANS
An ancient sect among the Jews, whose origin was in the time of king Rehoboam, under whose reign the people of Israel were divided into two distinct kingdoms, that of Judah and that of Israel. The capital of the kingdom of Israel was Samaria, whence the Israelites took the name of Samaritans. Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, having besieged and taken Samaria, carried away all the people captives into the remotest parts of his dominions, and filled their place with Babylonians, Cutheans, and other idolaters. These, finding that they were exposed to wild beasts, desired that an Israelitish priest might be sent among them, to instruct them in the ancient religion and customs of the land they inhabited. This being granted them, they were delivered from the plague of wild beasts, and embraced the law of Moses, with which they mixed a great part of their ancient idolatry. Upon the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, it appears that they had entirely quitted the worship of their idols. But though they were united in religion, they were not so in affection with the Jews; for they employed various calumnies and stratagems to hinder their rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem; and when they could not prevail, they erected a temple on Mount Gerizim, in opposition to that of Jerusalem. (
See 2Ki 17:1-41 : Ezr 4:5-6 🙂 The Samaritans at present are few in number, but pretend to great strictness in their observation of the law of Moses. They are said to be scattered; some at Damascus, some at Gaza, and some at Grand Cairo, in Egypt.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
Samaritans
Modern. As already stated (under SAMARITAN), a small remnant of the old nation still dwell in their ancient capital, Shechem. There existed a tradition among them, which has yet hardly died out, that large numbers of their brethren were dwelling in various parts of the world in England, France, India, and elsewhere and they have instituted inquiries from time to time in the hope of becoming acquainted with these their brethren. In past ages we do find them not only inhabiting various cities in Palestine, but even in Egypt and Constantinople (El-Masudi, Hist. Encycl. 1, 114; Rabbi Benjamin, Itinerary). They are now, however, confined to Nablus, the ancient Shechem, and their sacred city through all ages. Here they live together, Ghetto-like, on the southwestern side of the town, at the very foot of Gerizim, their sacred mount. They have dwindled down to a very small number, consisting only of some forty families; and before many generations more have passed away, the ancient Samaritan nation will have become extinct. In 1872 they numbered 135 souls, 80 of whom were males; by the defection of Jacob Shellaby and his family, they have been reduced to a total of 130 souls. Perhaps no people have been persecuted and oppressed from age to age more than they have, yet it has served to knit them the more closely together. In appearance they are superior to their circumstances, as also to all others around them a straight and high forehead, full brow, large and rather almond-shaped eyes, aquiline nose, somewhat large mouth, and well-formed chin are their chief physiological characteristics; and, with few exceptions, they are tall and of lofty bearing. If the present small community is a fair specimen of what their nation was in ancient times, they must have been a fine race.
A deep interest is attached to this people, not only because they are the oldest and smallest sect in the world, but principally because they retain the opinions, ceremonies, and habits of their forefathers, and are, like their Jewish brethren, a living evidence of the truth of Bible history, especially that of the Pentateuch. Our object will be, therefore, to give a summary account of all the principal features of their life and manners, as exhibited by these remaining votaries; and for this purpose we chiefly follow Mills’s abridgment (in Fairbairn’s Dictionary) of his larger account (Three Months in Nablus, Lond. 1864).
I. Domestic Life and Duties.
1. Circumcision. The first and most important is to admit the male child into the Abrahamic covenant by circumcision. This ceremony must be performed on the eighth day, even should that be the Sabbath, as it was undoubtedly the practice of the Jews of old (Joh 7:22); and not in the synagogue, but always in the house of the parents. The performance of the rite devolves upon the priest; but should he happen to be absent, any one acquainted with the mode of operating may do it. During the celebration of the ceremony the name of the child is announced, as of old (Luk 1:59), and, when over, they celebrate it (as the Jews do) by a feast, enlivened by Arab music and singing. If the child be female, the only observance is that of naming, which takes place on the third day at the parents’ house, without any particular rite or gathering of friends, the priest simply announcing it in the hearing of those who may happen to be present. Formerly, they used to redeem the first-born child, as the Jews still do, according to the commandment (Exo 13:13), but now the ceremony is discontinued on account of the poverty of their people.
2. Marriage. Like most Easterns, the Samaritans have a strong desire for offspring, a feeling which is probably intensified by the paucity of their number. This, together with an early development in such a climate, leads them, like all their neighbors, to marry at a very early age, the males being eligible at fourteen and the females at ten years of age. But they never intermarry with persons of another creed, whether circumcised or uncircumcised; and never marry but on a Thursday, this in their estimation being a peculiarly propitious day. They have no betrothing, and the marriage rite is very simple. Upon the appointed day, two men who are witnesses of the agreement conduct the bride and her friends at midday to the bridegroom’s house, where the ceremony is performed by the priest. The service is in Hebrew an unknown tongue to those most concerned and consists of portions of the law interspersed with certain prayers; and the marriage agreement is read, by which the young bridegroom has to pay a fixed dowry to the father of the bride. In the evening a feast is made, followed by music, singing, and dancing, performed, however, not by themselves, but by hired Mussulmans. Here we may observe that they are not given to polygamy. There is nothing in their theology prohibiting it, but this virtue has grown upon them from necessity, on account of the unequal distribution of the sexes. Their present rule, and one which has existed for some ages past, is that any one may take an additional wife if the first wife be willing, but on that condition only.
3. Divorce. The Samaritans are not given to divorcement, and in this matter they stand in singular contrast to their Jewish and Mohammedan neighbors. Their modern theology at least forbids it, except only for the cause of fornication, but their strict conformity to this dogma under all circumstances is very doubtful.
4. Purifications. There are seven things that particularly defile a person, four of which relate to both sexes, the remaining three pertaining to the female: (1) the conjugal act; (2) nocturnal pollution; (3) touching any dead body; (4) touching unclean birds, quadrupeds, or reptiles; (5) a female from hemorrhage; (6) a female’s menstrual discharge, when she remains unclean for seven days; (7) childbirth, when the mother is accounted unclean for forty-one days if the child be male, but if female for eighty days. On account of these defilements they purify themselves most scrupulously. Formerly, when sacrifices used to be offered, the ashes of a burned heifer were kept to be mixed with running water and sprinkled on the unclean person by one that was clean according to the law (Num 19:17-19). Now running water only is used. The washing of hands as a rite of purification at rising and before eating, etc., as the Jews do, is never observed by the Samaritans; they simply do it for the purpose of cleansing, and not as a religious ceremony (comp. Mar 7:3-4).
5. Morning and Evening Prayer. The first duty on rising is to repeat the morning prayer, which is long and tedious. It is generally offered by each individual in private, although there is no law against its being performed in the presence of the family. Any one is at liberty to repeat this or any other prayer as often as he pleases during the day, but the morning and evening orisons must on no account be neglected, and must be said in the early morning and at sunset. This, like all their other prayers, is a set one in the Hebrew tongue, and consequently not understood except by some one or two besides the priest. Still, the sacredness of the language, combined with the antiquity of the formula, imparts to it a kind of hallowedness, which has a strange hold upon the conscience of the people. During the prayer they always turn towards Mount Gerizim.
6. Food. When they sit to eat, a blessing is pronounced before the food is served. This duty devolves upon the head of the family. They make the broadest distinction in articles of diet; adhering faithfully to the law of Moses, and attaching the greatest importance to its observance. They never eat the flesh of any beast that does not chew the cud and divide the hoof (Lev 11:3-8; Deu 14:6-8), and swine are held in the greatest detestation. All kinds of poultry, except those notified as unclean (Lev 11:13-25), are considered lawful, as well as all fish that have fins and scales (Lev 11:9-12). Like the Jews, they never partake of flesh and butter (or milk) at the same meal, nor do they even place them on the table at the same time. Six hours must elapse after partaking of meat before milk or butter can be taken. The Jews found this custom on the passage, Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk (Exo 23:19), but the Samaritans refuse it the importance of a law of Moses, and only observe it as a sanatory rule laid down by their sages. They hold it unlawful to eat anything prepared by either Jews or Gentiles, therefore they make their own bread, cheese, butter, etc. Cattle and poultry too must be slaughtered by their own shochet, or killer, who has to pass through a course of study and training before he is qualified to kill according to the numerous rules prescribed by their sages.
7. Duties towards the Dead. The Samaritans, like the Jews, teach the dying person to say as his last words, The Lord our God is one Lord. This last utterance must be in the Hebrew, therefore all their people, women and children, are most carefully taught this phrase. The relations of the dead never rend their clothes, as they consider it to be contrary to the will of God. Nor have they any fixed time to mourn, or formula to repeat over the departed. With them it is simply a matter of feeling; some mourn for a long and some for a shorter time. But to indulge in grief is discouraged, forasmuch as the high priest was forbidden to mourn for the dead (Lev 21:10); so they consider the refrainment from it to be a proof of a more thorough obedience to the will of God and a higher religious state of mind. As anciently, the house wherein the dead body lies is rendered unclean (Num 19:14), and the priest carefully avoids crossing its threshold (Lev 21:11).
As soon as the dying person has expired, they perform the ceremony of (taharah), purification, by washing the body carefully with clean running water. This is done by individuals appointed to that duty from among themselves, after which it is wrapped in a cotton shroud (Joh 11:44), and then placed in a wooden coffin. It is curious to observe that no other natives of any creed use coffins; the Samaritans, however, scrupulously follow the example set them by their father Joseph (Genesis 1, 26). When a death is expected, the law is read in the chamber of the sick, not by the priest, but by one appointed for that purpose. As soon as all hope of recovery is given up, the reading begins, is continued to the patient’s death, and again resumed after the taharah, and continued to Num 30:1. After arranging the funeral procession, the reading is once more proceeded with until the whole law be read.
II. Religion. The Samaritan idea of religion is a national one. To them their faith and people are synonymous. In this sense they are, according to their own belief, the only peculiar people of God, with whom the Almighty has entered into covenants, and which covenants they faithfully keep. These are seven in number, and are as follows:
a, the covenant of Noah (Gen 9:14);
b, the covenant of Abraham concerning circumcision (Gen 17:9-14);
c, the covenant of the Sabbath (Exo 31:12-17);
d, the covenant of the two tables of the ten commandments (Exo 20:2-17);
e, the covenant of salt (Num 18:19);
f, the covenant of the Passover (Exo 12:2);
g, the covenant of the priesthood (Num 25:12-13). By virtue of these they are separated, on the one hand, from all the Gentiles, and, on the other hand, from the Jews, who, they assert, are cursed since the time of Eli.
1. Constitution. Their people, according to the above idea, constitute a national religious community, over which two officers preside. The chief is the priest (). Upon him devolves the performance of all the duties prescribed in the law of Moses as pertaining to the priestly office. These are now but nominal, as they have no sacrifice because they have no temple; but certain prayers are offered instead of sacrifices. These, together with the priestly blessings, are given on all occasions by the priest himself, who is in reality but a Levite, for the last of the descendants of Aaron, according to their own chronicle, died in A.D. 1631. The second officer is the minister, (chazan), who is a member of a younger branch of the same family. It is his duty to read the public service generally, both in the synagogue and out of it. Upon him also falls the work of educating the children and instructing them in the law. These two officers sitting in assembly constitute their , or house of judgment. The priest sits supreme and the minister second, and before this tribunal all Samaritan matters, whether social or religious, are settled. Should a question of any difficulty arise, the priest calls other members of the priestly family to assist in deciding the case; otherwise all kinds of questions are determined by the two officers alone.
2. Creed. The Samaritans have no formula of belief or set articles of faith, excepting four great tenets: (1) to believe in Jehovah as the only God; (2) to believe in Moses as the only lawgiver; (3) to believe in the (Torah), Pentateuch, as the only divine book; (4) to believe in Mount Gerizim as the only house of God. These are the cardinal points of the Samaritan faith; but so far as a more detailed theological creed is concerned, the thirteen articles drawn up by Maimonides would as well express the Samaritan as the Jewish faith. These consist of a belief, in God as Creator and Governor; in one God only; in his not being corporeal; in God being first and last of all things; in God as the only object of prayer; in the truth of prophecy; in the truthfulness and superiority of Moses; in the law as the enactment of Moses; in the unchangeableness of the law; in the omniscience of God; in rewards and punishments; in the coming of the Messiah; and in a general resurrection (British Jews, p. 68). Here it is important to observe that their only authority in theology is the Pentateuch nothing is divine and binding but the Torah; all their dogmas are believed, whether rightly or wrongly, to be founded upon that sacred volume; and they are, in fact, strictly and wholly the disciples of Moses. It becomes, therefore, a subject of no little interest to the Biblical student to observe how many of the principal doctrines of revealed truth are held by the Samaritans to be the teaching of the law. For instance, they found the doctrine of a future state upon Exo 21:6 I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, ed the God of Jacob; being the very passage quoted by the Savior, and drawing from it the same conclusion that he is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living (Mar 12:26-27); and that of a resurrection they hold to be clearly revealed in Gen 9:5. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. But we cannot help thinking that the influence of Christianity is discernible in several points of modem Samaritanism, as well as of modern Judaism; and that some doctrines may be regarded as affiliated to the Torah rather than inducted therefrom. Their doctrine concerning the Messiah, although infinitely below the conception of the New Test., is yet far superior to that of the Jews. They never call him Messiah that name not being in the law but Tahebah, , or the Arabic equivalent, Al-Mudy, the Restorer. They believe him to be a man, a son of Joseph, of the tribe of Ephraim, according to the words of Moses (Deu 33:16). The promise of his coming was made by Moses The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken (Deu 18:15). He is to be not a king and conqueror, but a great teacher. His mission is not to shed blood, but to heal the nations; not to make war, but to bring peace. He will restore the law to its purity, preach it to the world, and bring all the nations over to its practice. In fact, he will be a great reformer, expressly sent by the Almighty, and endowed with the necessary qualifications to perform so great and glorious a work. Following his direction, they believe that the congregation will repair to Gerizim, where, under the twelve stones, they will find the Ten Commandments, and under the stone of Bethel the golden vessels of the temple and the manna. After one hundred and ten years the Prophet is to die and be buried beside Joseph in the valley. Soon afterwards, on the conclusion of seven thousand years from its foundation, the world is to come to an end.
3. Synagogue. They themselves never call it synagogue. Sometimes they use the Arabic term bit Allah, house of God, but the common appellation is kinshah, , place of assembly; equivalent to the Greek , and the Hebrew . At present they have but one, a small and unsightly building, but large enough for their community. Its extreme length measures thirty-seven feet five inches, with a breadth of eighteen feet. A part of the floor namely, that of the right hand division in the accompanying plan is raised a foot higher than the remaining portion. On the left-hand side is a recess some four feet square. The ceiling is vaulted, and from it hang two very primitive chandeliers and a small oil lamp. In the roof is a circular, dome-like window to admit light and air, the only opening besides the door. The small, square recess is the musbah, or altar, which is considered to be the most sacred spot in the building. It is here the Torah, or Law of Moses, is kept, in the form of a roll, and in this respect the musbah answers to the Jewish chel. But it has a further sacredness attached to it. During the existence of the temple on Gerizim sacrifices were slain on the altar, but since its demolition they are considered unlawful; therefore the musbale takes the place of the altar, and prayer that of sacrifice. Its place in the synagogue, therefore, fronts the spot whereon the temple formerly stood, so that when the worshippers, during service, look towards the sacred recess their faces may be turned to Mount Gerizim. A large, square veil hangs continually in front of the musbah, in order to screen it from the gaze of the people, as no one is permitted to enter it but the two officials. The congregation consists of males only; but in this particular the Samaritans do not stand alone, as it is common to the natives of all creeds, with the exception of the few Christian Protestants in the country. Should the females wish to be present, they are at liberty to gather outside the building in the court and listen to the service, but no more. On this point Jews and Samaritans agree, but not with regard to the number necessary to constitute a congregation. With the first there must be a minyan i.e. ten males of full age present before the congregation is legal and the service can be read; but with the Samaritans there is no rule, but, like the Christian practice, it may be formed of any number met together to worship. They never assemble in the synagogue during week days except on the feasts and fasts. On the Sabbath they have three services. The first is a short one at sunset on Friday, at which time their Sabbath commences. The second is early on the following morning, and is much the longest and most important, for during this service the law is shown. The minister takes it out of the musbah, removes its covering, opens the silver-gilt case in which it is kept, and exhibits to the congregation that column of the text which contains Aaron’s blessing (Num 6:24-27), when they step forward to kiss the sacred scroll. The last service is on Saturday afternoon a little before sunset, and consists of prayers interspersed with portions of the law, and arranged in one liturgy. The language being all Hebrew, the people understand the service but very imperfectly, the officials with one or two others excepted. It is performed in a kind of chant or cantillation most peculiar in its character. It differs nearly as much from the native Arab music as from that of Europeans, and seems to have an origin both ancient and peculiar. They have seventy different melodies, composed, according to their tradition, by the seventy elders of Israel in the time of Moses, which they have preserved and still use on various occasions.
4. Sacred Seasons. An important part of the Samaritan religion consists of the observance of certain sacred seasons. These are as follows:
(1.) The Sabbath. Like the Jews, they reckon their days from sunset to sunset, according to the expression in Genesis And the evening and the morning were the first day. The Sabbath, therefore, as already said, commences at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday. This day they keep most strictly as a day of rest, upon which no manner of work is to be done, according to the words of the law in Exo 20:8-10. To this command they adhere most faithfully, accepting it in its literal fullness. Unlike the Jews, they employ no gobim, or Gentiles, to light their fires or snuff their candles, but all within the gates keep the Sabbath alike. Consequently they never have any fire on that day, but scrupulously keep the command, Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day (Exo 35:3). Not a lamp or a candle ever burns in their houses or in the synagogue on that day. When darkness comes on during the reading of the opening service on Friday evening, they never introduce lights, but finish the service in the dark, and remain so in their houses until they retire to rest. Their first and great idea of keeping the Sabbath holy is to remain quiet never to go out of their dwellings except to the synagogue; and the second is, to live more generously than on ordinary days, but the cooking is all prepared on Friday. Although they carefully abstain from all kind of work, even the most trifling actions, they keep no such guard on their language nor check on their thoughts, but feel at liberty to talk about anything and everything; and of a higher and purer mode of sanctifying the day they have no idea.
(2.) The New Moon. Next in frequency, but not in importance, to the observance of the Sabbath is that of the new moon, the reosh hadesh, equivalent to the Jewish rosh chodesh. The new moon is sacredly watched for, and the afternoon immediately following its appearance, about half past four, the Samaritans assemble in the synagogue to perform the appointed service. It consists of prescribed prayers composed for the occasion, intermixed with portions of the law, especially those referring to the beginning of months (Num 10:10; Num 28:11-14). During the recital of the service, the whole of which lasts about two hours, the minister exhibits one of the roll copies of the Pentateuch to the congregation.
(3.) The Feasts and Fasts. The Samaritans are not given to festivals. In this they greatly differ from their Jewish brethren, as well as from some Christian communities. In the Jewish calendar there are above thirty such seasons of greater or less importance; but in the Samaritan only eight, six of which are commanded in the law, the other two being less important. These are the following:
(a.) Karaban Aphsah, or Jewish , Passover. This is the memorial of their great national deliverance from Egypt (Exodus 12). The time of its celebration is the fifteenth day of their month Nisan, in the evening of the day; but should that happen to be a Sabbath, the feast is held on the previous day. Its place of celebration is Mount Gerizim, which they found upon Exo 21:18. Therefore, early on the morning of the fourteenth day the whole community, with few exceptions, close their dwellings in the city, and clamber up the Mount, on the top of which, and in front of the ruins of their ancient temple, they pitch their tents in a circle. The lambs, five or six in number, and without blemish, are brought on the tenth day, and during the intervening days are carefully kept, and cleanly washed as a sort of purification to fit them for the paschal service (comp. Joh 5:2). On the sacred spot, near the tents, a fire is kindled, over which two caldrons full of water are placed. Another fire is kindled close by in a kind of circular pit sunk into the ground, where the lambs are to be roasted. At sunset the lambs are slaughtered by five or six young men dressed in blue robes of unbleached calico, having their loins girded, who dip their fingers in the streaming blood and with it mark the foreheads and noses of the children. The boiling water is carefully poured over the dead lambs, and, when fleeced, the right forelegs, which belong to the priest, are removed and placed on wood already laid for the purpose, together with the entrails; salt is added, and they are then burned. The lambs are now spitted and lowered into the oven. The spit is a long pole thrust through from head to tail, near the end of which is placed a transverse peg to prevent the carcass from slipping off. At midnight the lambs are taken up, when the paschal feast commences. A large copper dish filled with unleavened cakes and bitter herbs rolled up together is brought in and distributed among the congregation, all the adults wearing a kind of girdle around their waist, with staves in their hands, according to the command (Exo 12:11). The lambs are then laid upon carpets and strewn over with bitter herbs, all the congregation, i.e. the men, standing in two rows, one on each side of the lambs. During all this time, a long and tedious service peculiar to the day is recited by the two officials in turn, and when the reading has arrived at a certain point, all the expectant auditors stoop at once, and, as if in haste and hunger, tear away the flesh piecemeal with their fingers, and carry portions to the females and little ones in the tents. In a few minutes the whole disappears except some fragments, which are carefully gathered up, not a particle being left, which, with the bones, are all burned in a fire kindled for that purpose (Exo 12:10). On the following day rejoicings continue; fish, rice, and eggs are eaten, wine and spirits are drunk, and hymns, generally impromptu, are sung. Here we may observe that those who are unable to keep the Passover on this day may do so on the same day of the following month; but this second celebration is not kept on the hill, but in their own quarter in the city.
(b.) Moed Aphsah, answering to the Jewish ‘, or Feast of Unleavened Cakes. Although this feast is intimately connected with the former, still, strictly speaking, they are two distinct solemnities, the Feast of the Passover commemorating the protection given them when the first born of the Egyptians were slain, and that of the Unleavened Bread commemorating the beginning of their march out of Egypt. The distinction of the two feasts is more marked in the Samaritan than in the Jewish mode of their celebration. On the preceding day of the feast, every family removes all leavened bread out of its dwelling, and a most careful search is made, so that the least fragment may not remain. Thus by the evening of the fourteenth day, all leavened bread and fermented drink are laid aside, and unleavened bread alone must be used during the seven following days, according to the law (Exo 12:18-20). This bread they call masat, equivalent to the Hebrew matstsoth; and the cake is made in the same form as the Jewish matstsoth, except that it is a little larger, but of the same thickness. The Samaritans, like some of the strict Jews, hang up some of the cakes in their houses till the next Passover, believing them to have the power of charms in warding off evils and drawing many blessings upon the family. The first and seventh days of the feast are kept holy, according to Exo 12:16, but the seventh is considered the most sacred of the two. At early morn they form themselves into a procession and clamber up Gerizir, in honor of God. There, on the sacred spot, the priest repeats the service for the day, which consists of lengthy portions of the law interspersed with prayers and songs.
(c.) Chamsin, the fiftieth, equivalent to the , Pentecost, of the New Test. It is thus called because it falls upon the fiftieth day after the morrow of the Sabbath of the Unleavened Bread. The Samaritans differ from the Jews in reckoning these days. The latter begin to count them from the second day of the Unleavened Bread, on whatever day of the week it may happen; but the Samaritans commence on the morrow of the Sabbath which falls within the days of that feast, and cite as their authority Lev 23:15-16. It is kept as a day to rejoice before the Lord their God, on account of the bounties of his providence and the liberty to enjoy them in their own promised land (Deu 16:9-12). This day likewise they go up Gerizim in procession, and on the same place as before the service for the day is gone through, which contains all the references made in the law to the harvest, as well as prayers and songs.
(d.) Arish-sheni similar to the Jewish Rosh-hashanah, and always falls on the 1st of Tishri, that month being the commencement of the civil year with the Samaritans as with the Jews. They keep this day as a holy convocation, in which no servile work is done (Lev 23:24). They attend synagogue, and the service lasts about six hours; but they neither have blowing of trumpets, as in the Jewish synagogue, nor is the day regarded with the importance attached to it by the Jews.
(e.) Kibburim, equivalent to the Jewish Yom Kippur, , Day of Atonement of the Jews, which is held on the tenth day of Tishri, according to the command (Lev 23:27-32). In a strict point of view, this is the most important day in the Samaritan calendar. On the ninth day of the month, just two hours before sunset, all the community, both male and female, purify themselves by the free application of clean running water, after which they partake of the last meal before the great fast. The meal must be finished at least half an hour before sunset, when a rigid fast is observed until half an hour after sunset on the following day, making altogether a fast of twenty-five hours. During this time neither man, nor woman, nor child not even the sick or suckling is permitted to taste a morsel of bread or a drop of water. No indulgence, however trifling it may be, is permitted, and the whole fast is kept with such rigor that even medicine to the sick would on no account be administered. The day is therefore looked forward to with no little anxiety. They assemble at the synagogue a little before sunset, when the service commences and is kept up in solemn darkness through the night. It consists of the reading of the law, together with special prayers and supplications, portions of which are sung to their ancient melodies. The following morning they form a procession and visit the tombs of some of their prophets, where they repeat a portion of the service, and on their return at noon it is resumed in the synagogue. As it draws to a conclusion the principal ceremony takes place namely, the exhibition of the ancient roll of the law, believed by them to be written by Abishua, the great-grandson of Aaron. Before the roll is covered and replaced, all step forward with eagerness to kiss it, as the opportunity only occurs annually. The service is undertaken by the priest and minister alternately, with the occasional help of one of the congregation. A little after sunset the anxious and tedious duties of the solemn day are over.
(f.) Sekuth, the Jewish , Tabernacles. They begin this festival on the fifteenth day of the same month, and keep it for seven days, conforming literally to the injunctions in Lev 23:34-36; Lev 23:40-43. On the eleventh day they begin the erection of the booths, which must be finished by the morning of the fourteenth. These are raised in the courts of their houses, in the open air. On each day of this feast service is held in the synagogue both morning and evening, and they make in procession a daily ascent of Gerizim, in honor of God. No servile work is done, nor is any business transacted during these days, of which the eighth and last is held the most sacred.
Besides the sacred seasons already mentioned, they have two others of less important character. The first is Reosh-ashena, Rosh-hashanah of the Jews, the beginning of the year. It is held, not on the first day of Tishri, the beginning of the civil year, but on the first day of Nisan, the commencement of their ecclesiastical year. The day is not kept sacred, for they all follow their usual vocations; they simply attend a short service in the synagogue both morning and evening. The next is Purim, not, like that of the Jews, held in the month Adar to commemorate the national deliverance through queen Esther, but held in the preceding month, Shebat, in commemoration of the mission of Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt.
4. Sacred Places. The religious rites of Palestine, whether performed in honor of the true God or that of idols, were celebrated from the earliest ages on the top of the highest mountains. The Hebrew lawgiver felt it necessary to enjoin on the Israelites the duty of destroying all these sacred high places on their coming into possession of the land (Deu 12:2-5); but so deeply rooted was this form of worship in the religious feelings of Israel, as of the surrounding nations, that it proved a snare to them for many ages. It was these early sympathies that made Mount Gerizim so sacred to the children of Ephraim ever since the conquest, and in the same spirit have the Samaritans regarded it through all ages even to this day. Their great holy place is Gerizim. This mountain they hold to be the earth’s center, the house of God, the highest mountain on earth, the only one not covered by the flood, the site of altars raised by Adam, Seth, and Noah, the Mount Moriah of Abraham’s sacrifice, the Bethel or Luz of Jacob’s vision, and the place where Joshua erected first an altar, next the tabernacle, and finally a temple. On its slope the cave of Makkedah is also shown, though now closed up. Just as the Jew in all parts of the world turns his face in prayer towards the Temple mount at Jerusalem, so does the Samaritan to Gerizim, his temp mount. To him it is the house of God, the house of Jehovah, the mountain of the world, God’s mountain, the Sanctuary, the mountain of the Divine Presence, and other such like titles all flowing from their extravagant notions of its sacredness. They rarely write its name without the addition the house of God. It was this same spirit that moved the woman of Samaria to answer the Savior with such an air of pride Our fathers worshipped in this mountain (Joh 4:20). SEE GERIZIM.
But Samaritanism has other holy places. These are the tombs of their early prophets and holy men viz. Joseph, Eleazar, Ithamar, Phinehas, Joshua, Caleb, the seventy elders, and Eldad and Medad. All these, according to their tradition, are buried in the neighborhood of Shechem, and on certain occasions the congregation visit them, when portions of the law and prayers are repeated. This is especially the case with the tombs of Phinehas and Eleazar, but even more so with that of Joseph, which they visit frequently.
III. Local Literature. Before giving a summary of the books of the modern Samaritans, it is necessary to remark that they are, to a certain extent, a trilingual people. Of these languages the first is Hebrew. The fact of its being the language of the Law of Moses makes it to them, as to the Jews, the leshon hak-kodesh, or holy tongue. All their sacred books and their religious services are therefore in Hebrew, although it is to them, with few exceptions, a dead language. The second is the Samaritan. Its basis was the Hebrew, and it was thoroughly Shemitic in framework; but its superstructure contained many anomalies, some of which were harsh and foreign. SEE SAMARITAN LANGUAGE. From what now remains of it, its general construction seems very simple, and not unfrequently lucid and forcible; and, as pronounced by the Samaritans, it is much more euphonious than the Arabic. Soon after the Mohammedan conquest of Palestine, it gradually lapsed into a dead language. The only literature now remaining in it consists of the forms of the Pentateuch and a few other works, above noticed. The third tongue is the Arabic, the language of their conquerors. This soon supplanted the Samaritan, and has ever since remained their vernacular, and most of their works have been translated into Arabic for the sake of such of their people as understand no other.
It is difficult, at this time, to determine to what extent the ancient Samaritan literature was developed, though there is enough evidence to show that much mental activity existed among the people in former ages. Of their literary productions but little remains, owing in part to the destructive hand of time, but much more to the ravages they suffered during the first centuries of the Christian era, and again under the Mohammedan rule. The works now known as extant may be classified under four heads, and we arrange the lists according to the Samaritan dates, including some already enumerated under SAMARITAN LITERATURE.
1. Theological. It is to this class most belong, and the first on the list is the Torah, or Law of Moses. SEE SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH.
Risalat Achbor Israel, a work explaining the feasts, their object, and manner of keeping them, by Eleazaer, a priest who is said to have lived in the 5th century after the conquest of Palestine by the tribes. (Composed in Hebrew, of which there is an Arabic translation.)
Sharich, an exposition of the book of Exodus by various authors. (Written in Hebrew, with an Arabic translation. No date, but ancient.)
El-Amir, a commentary on portions of the law by Maraka, who flourished about fifty years before Christ. (Hebrew, with an Arabic translation.)
Sharich, an exposition of Genesis from the beginning to ch. 28; the author not known, but dates from the 2d century of our era. (Written in Hebrew, but, like the former, has an Arabic translation.)
El-Kaffi. This is a work discussing the doctrines contained in the law, written by Juseph el-Askari, A.D. 700. (Hebrew and Arabic.)
Masail Chilafi, a work discussing the differences between the Jews and Samaritans, by Munaji Naphes ed-Din, who lived in the 12th century. (Hebrew and Arabic.)
El-Mulhalal fi en-Nikahi, an explanation of the laws of marriage, by Abul- Barakat, who lived in the 12th century. (Hebrew and Arabic.) Kitab el-Mirath, a work on the laws and regulations of wills and testaments. (Written by the same author, in Hebrew, with an Arabic translation.)
Sharich, a historical exposition of the law, showing how the ancients observed it; written by El-Hhabr Jacub in the 12th century. (In Hebrew only.)
Sharich, an exposition of the book of Exodus, by Ghazal ed-Duik, of the 13th century. (In Hebrew and Arabic.)
Sharich, a book explaining the blessings and cursings of the law, by Ihbrahim el-Kaisi, of the 16th century. (Hebrew and Arabic.)
Risalat el-Arshad, a book on the days of the month upon which the feasts were to be held, written by Ibrahim il-Ahi, an author of the 18th century. (Hebrew and Arabic)
Sharich, an exposition of the whole book of Genesis, written by Musalem el-Murjam, of the last century. (Hebrew and Arabic.)
Sharich, an exposition of the books of Leviticus and Numbers, by Ghazal el-Matari who lived in the last century. (Hebrew and Arabic.)
Sharich, a work concerning the Eternal, together with certain social points, principally marriage and the Sabbath, by Ghazal ibn Ramiyahh. (Hebrew and Arabic, but without date.)
2. Liturgical. This class comprises all the books relating to their public and private services, such as the feasts and fasts, circumcision, marriage, and burial. They consist of passages from the Torah, interspersed with prayers and poetic compositions, the reading of which is principally performed with a kind of cantillation; hence the term Tartil generally applied to these books. This class is nearly as extensive as the theological, and contains much interesting matter and many beautiful passages, but the works have not yet received the attention they deserve. The most important are the services for the annual feasts and fasts, eleven in number- namely, one for the ordinary Sabbaths throughout the year; one for the two Sabbaths preceding Passover; one for the Passover; one for the days of Unleavened Bread; one for the fifty days following Passover; one for Pentecost: one for the 1st of Tishri; one for the Day of Atonement; one for the Tabernacles; one for the first day of the year, and one for the last day of the year.
All these liturgies exist only in Hebrew, as it would be unlawful to translate them into the vulgar tongue. They are all of ancient date, but the authors and compilers are unknown. SEE SAMARITAN LITURGY.
3. Historical. In this class there are but few works; these are:
Tarik. This is the Samaritan book of Joshua, as it is generally called, and is pretty well known to European scholars since the time of Scaliger, who, in A.D. 1584, received a copy from the Samaritans of Cairo, an edition of which was brought out by Juynboll (Leyden, 1848), with a Latin version and valuable annotations. It contains a brief history of themselves from the close of the Pentateuch down to modern times, and comprising some amount of valuable information mixed up with much that is fictitious and exaggerated.
Another historical work is extant, partly compiled from the above, by Abul-Fatah, an author of the 14th century, but is not held in esteem by the Samaritans themselves.
El-Tabak, a history of the Jews, principally relating the judgments that had befallen them; written by Abu Hassan es-Suri in the 12th century. (Hebrew and Arabic.)
Kitab es-Satir, a compendium of history from Adam to Moses. No author is named; but it is stated to have been written at the command of Moses. (Hebrew only.)
Ihlm Attawarik. This is simply a chronological table according to the Samaritan dates, extending from the creation of man to the present time. It is well known that the Samaritan copy of the Pentateuch differs in its dates from both the Jewish Hebrew text and the Sept. version, thus causing a difference in the date of all subsequent historical events. Independently of this, there is a further difference between this table and all other accepted data down to the commencement of the Christian era. For example, the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan took place, according to common chronology, in A.M. 2553; but, according to the Samaritan, it was in 2794, making a difference of 241 years. The same chronology gives the age of the world at the commencement of the Christian era as 4438 A.M., while the accepted date is 4004, thus making a difference of 434 years. But from this period the table generally agrees with our ordinary chronology.
4. Scientific. Under this head may be comprised the following:
El- Chubs, an astronomical work treating of the rules regulating the first month of the year, and the conjunctions of the sun and moon. It was written, we are told, under the direction of Adam. (Hebrew.)
Risalat. This is a sort of exposition of the former work, written by several authors, but whose names and times are unknown. (Hebrew and Arabic.)
To the foregoing list may be added the following works extant and known in Europe, but not now in the possession of the Samaritans themselves viz. Ghazal and Zadaka on parts of the law, Abul-Hassan and Zadaka el- Israili on religion and ceremonies; and Abu Said and Abu Itshak Ibrahim on language and grammar.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Samaritans
the name given to the new and mixed inhabitants whom Esarhaddon (B.C. 677), the king of Assyria, brought from Babylon and other places and settled in the cities of Samaria, instead of the original inhabitants whom Sargon (B.C. 721) had removed into captivity (2 Kings 17:24; comp. Ezra 4:2, 9, 10). These strangers (comp. Luke 17:18) amalgamated with the Jews still remaining in the land, and gradually abandoned their old idolatry and adopted partly the Jewish religion.
After the return from the Captivity, the Jews in Jerusalem refused to allow them to take part with them in rebuilding the temple, and hence sprang up an open enmity between them. They erected a rival temple on Mount Gerizim, which was, however, destroyed by a Jewish king (B.C. 130). They then built another at Shechem. The bitter enmity between the Jews and Samaritans continued in the time of our Lord: the Jews had “no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9; comp. Luke 9:52, 53). Our Lord was in contempt called “a Samaritan” (John 8:48). Many of the Samaritans early embraced the gospel (John 4:5-42; Acts 8:25; 9:31; 15:3). Of these Samaritans there still remains a small population of about one hundred and sixty, who all reside in Shechem, where they carefully observe the religious customs of their fathers. They are the “smallest and oldest sect in the world.”
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Samaritans
SAMARITANS.The descendants of the Cuthites, Avvites, Sepharvites, and Hamathites, established by Sargon in Samaria after he had put an end to the Israelite kingdom. They were instructed in a form of the Hebrew religion (which they grafted on to their own worships) in order to appease the God of the land (2Ki 17:24). To these colonists Ashurbanipal made considerable additions (Ezr 4:9-10). The enmity between Jews and Samaritans began to make its appearance immediately after the return from the Captivity. The Samaritans endeavoured to prevent the re-building of Jerusalem (Ezr 4:7, Neh 4:7), and from time to time their subsequent aggressions and insults to the re-founded Jewish State are recorded by Josephus. After the battle of Issus the Samaritans offered assistance to Alexander, and were allowed to build a temple on Gerizim, where they sacrificed after the manner of the Jewsthough they were quite ready to repudiate Jewish origin, rite, and prejudice whenever occasion arose (see Jos. [Note: Josephus.] Ant. XII. v. 5). This temple was destroyed by John Hyrcanus. The disputes between the Jews and the Samaritans were at last referred to Rome (BJ II. xii. 37). Throughout the Gospel history the ill-feeling is conspicuous: the Samaritans were strangers, (Luk 17:18), and their admixture of heathen worship seems still to have persisted (Joh 4:22). Vespasian inflicted a crushing blow upon them by massacring 11,600 on Mt. Gerizim. From this and other sufferings later inflicted by Zeno and Justinian they never recovered. They still persist, to the number of about 150, in Nblus. They acknowledge the Pentateuchal legislation only, and endeavour to preserve intact the Mosaic rites and ordinances.
R. A. S. Macalister.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Samaritans
Those were the inhabitants of Samaria. We have a most interesting account of the conversion of many of this people to the faith of Christ in consequence of the woman’s bringing them to Jesus, and hearing our Lord themselves. (See Joh 4:28-42)
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Samaritans
sa-mari-tanz (, shomeronm; , Samareitai, New Testament; (singular), Samartes): The name Samaritans in 2Ki 17:29 clearly applies to the Israelite inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom. In subsequent history it denotes a people of mixed origin, composed of the peoples brought by the conqueror from Babylon and elsewhere to take the places of the expatriated Israelites and those who were left in the land (722 BC). Sargon claims to have carried away only 27, 290 of the inhabitants (KIB, II, 55). Doubtless these were, as in the case of Judah, the chief men, men of wealth and influence, including all the priests, the humbler classes being left to till the land, tend the vineyards, etc. Hezekiah, who came to the throne of Judah probably in 715 BC, could still appeal to the tribes Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, Asher and Zebulun (2Ch 30:5, 2Ch 30:10, 2Ch 30:11, 2Ch 30:18 ff); and the presence of these tribesmen is implied in the narrative of Josiah’s reformation (2Ch 34:6 f). Although the number of the colonists was increased by Esar-haddon and Osnappar (Assur-bani-pal, Ezr 4:2, Ezr 4:9 f), the population, it is reasonable to suppose, continued prevailingly Israelite; otherwise their religion would not so easily have won the leading place. The colonists thought it necessary for their own safety to acknowledge Yahweh, in whose land they dwelt, as one among the gods to be feared (2Ki 17:24 ff). In the intermixture that followed their own gods seem to have fallen on evil days; and when the Samaritans asked permission to share in building the temple under Zerubbabel, they claimed, apparently with a good conscience, to serve God and to sacrifice to Him as the Jews did (Ezr 4:1 f). Whatever justification there was for this claim, their proffered friendship was turned to deadly hostility by the blunt refusal of their request. The old enmity between north and south no doubt intensified the quarrel, and the antagonism of Jew and Samaritan, in its bitterness, was destined to pass into a proverb. The Samaritans set themselves, with great temporary success, to frustrate the work in which they were not permitted to share (Ezr 4:4 ff: Neh 4:7 ff. etc.).
From the strict administration of the Law in Jerusalem malcontents found their way to the freer atmosphere of Samaria. Among these renegades was Manasseh, brother of the high priest, who had married a daughter of Sanballat, the Persian governor of Samaria. According to Josephus, Sanballat, with the sanction of Alexander the Great, built a temple for the Samaritans on Mt. Gerizim, of which Manasseh became high priest (Ant., XI, vii, 2; viii, 2 ff). Josephus, however, places Manasseh a century too late. He was a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah (Neh 13:28).
When it suited their purpose the Samaritans claimed relationship with the Jews, asserting that their roll of the Pentateuch was the only authentic copy (see PENTATEUCH, THE SAMARITAN); they were equally ready to deny all connection in times of stress, and even to dedicate their temple to a heathen deity (Josephus, Ant., XII, v, 5). In 128 BC, John Hyrcanus destroyed the temple (XIII, ix, 1). In the time of Christ the Samaritans were ruled by procurators under the Roman governor of Syria. Lapse of years brought no lessening of the hatred between Jews and Samaritans (Ant., XX, vi, 1). To avoid insult and injury at the hands of the latter, Jews from Galilee were accustomed to reach the feasts at Jerusalem by way of Peraea. Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a demon was an expression of opprobrium (Joh 8:48). Although Jesus forbade the Twelve to go into any city of the Samaritans (Mat 10:5), the parable of the Good Samaritan shows that His love overleaped the boundaries of national hatred (Luk 10:30 ff; compare Luk 17:16; Joh 4:9).
During the Jewish war Cerealis treated the Samaritans with great severity. On one occasion (67 AD) he slaughtered 11,600 on Mt. Gerizim. For some centuries they were found in considerable numbers throughout the empire, east and west, with their synagogues. They were noted as bankers money-changers, For their anti-Christian attitude and conduct Justinian inflicted terrible vengeance on them. From this the race seems never to have recovered. Gradually-dwindling, they now form a small community in Nablus of not more than 200 souls. Their great treasure is their ancient copy of the Law. See SAMARIA.
Literature.
The best account of the Samaritans is Mills, Nablus and the Modern Samaritans (Murray, London); compare Montgomery, The Samaritans (1907). A good recent description by J. E. H. Thomson, D. D., of the Passover celebrated annually on Mt. Gerizim will be found in PEFS, 1902, 82 ff.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Samaritans
Samaritans. In the books of Kings there are brief notices of the origin of the people called Samaritans. The ten tribes which revolted from Rehoboam, son of Solomon, chose Jeroboam for their king. After his elevation to the throne he set up golden calves at Dan and Bethel, lest repeated visits of his subjects to Jerusalem, for the purpose of worshipping the true God, should withdraw their allegiance from himself. Afterwards Samaria, built by Omri, became the metropolis of Israel, and thus the separation between Judah and Israel was rendered complete. The people took the name Samaritans from the capital city. In the ninth year of Hosea, Samaria was taken by the Assyrians under Shalmaneser, who carried away the inhabitants into captivity, and introduced colonies into their place from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim. These new inhabitants carried along with them their own idolatrous worship; and on being infested with lions, sent to Esarhaddon, king of Assyria. A priest of the tribe of Levi was accordingly dispatched to them, who came and dwelt in Bethel, teaching the people how they should fear the Lord. Thus it appears that the people were a mixed race. The greater part of the Israelites had been carried away captive by the Assyrians, including the rich, the strong, and such as were able to bear arms. But the poor and the feeble had been left. With them, therefore, the heathen colonists became incorporated. As the people were a mixed race, their religion also assumed a mixed character. In it the worship of idols was associated with that of the true God. But apostasy from Jehovah was not universal. On the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, the Samaritans wished to join them in rebuilding the temple (Ezr 4:2). But the Jews declined the proffered assistance; and from this time the Samaritans threw every obstacle in their way. Hence arose that inveterate enmity between the two nations which afterwards increased to such a height as to become proverbial. In the reign of Darius Nothus, Manasses, son of the Jewish high-priest, married the daughter of Sanballat the Samaritan governor; and to avoid the necessity of repudiating her, as the law of Moses required, went over to the Samaritans, and became high-priest in the temple which his father-in-law built for him on Mount Gerizim. From this time Samaria became a refuge for all malcontent Jews; and the very name of each people became odious to the other. About the year B.C. 109, John Hyrcanus, high-priest of the Jews, destroyed the city and temple of the Samaritans; but B.C. 25, Herod rebuilt them at great expense. In their new temple, however, the Samaritans could not be induced to offer sacrifices, but still continued to worship on Gerizim. At the present-day they have dwindled down to a few families. Shechem now called Nabulus, is their place of abode. They still possess a copy of the Mosaic law, which, it is well known, forms the only portion of Scripture the Samaritans have ever received or acknowledged. The opinion that copies of the Pentateuch must have been in the hands of Israel from the time of Rehoboam, as well as among Judah, has been held by many distinguished critics, and appears to be correct. The prophets, who frequently inveigh against the Israelites for their idolatry and their crimes, never accuse them of being destitute of the law, or ignorant of its contents. It is wholly improbable, too, that the people, when carried captive into Assyria, took with them all the copies of the law. Thus we are brought to the conclusion, that the Samaritan, as well as the Jewish copy, originally flowed from the autograph of Moses. The two constitute, in fact, different recensions of the same work, and coalesce in point of antiquity.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Samaritans
The only place in the O.T. where these are mentioned gives their origin, and the mixed character of their worship. The king of Assyria had peopled the cities by colonists from the East, they were then in Jehovah’s land, but they did not fear Him, therefore He sent lions among them. On the king of Assyria being informed of this, a priest who had been carried away from Samaria was sent thither, to teach them how they should fear the God of that land. The result was that they feared Jehovah, and served their own gods! 2Ki 17:24-41.
When Ezra returned from exile to build the temple, some of these people came and said, “Let us build with you: for we seek your God as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him, since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither.” Ezra refused to let them have anything to do with building the temple, and this aroused their hatred and opposition. Ezr 4:1-4. We further read that Nehemiah ejected one of the priests who had defiled the priesthood by marrying the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite. Neh 13:28. Josephus speaks of him as Manasseh, and relates that Sanballat built a temple for him at Gerizim, which became a refuge for apostate Jews. This naturally increased the hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans.
This temple was destroyed by John Hyrcanus, son of Simon Maccabaeus, about B.C. 109. The animosity, however, was not removed. The woman of Samaria in John 4 alluded to the differences between Jews and Samaritans, and in Luk 9:52-53 it is said of a village of the Samaritans that the inhabitants would not receive the Lord because His face was turned towards Jerusalem. A Jew regarded it as the extreme of opprobrium, to be called a Samaritan, and those of Judaea added this to the other insults they heaped on the blessed Lord. Joh 8:48.
The Samaritans claimed to be true Israelites. The woman of Samaria said to the Lord, “Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well?” As to their religion, she spoke of ‘this mountain’ as the proper place to worship; but the Lord said, “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.” The hour had however arrived when they that worship God must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Many of the Samaritans believed and received the Holy Spirit. Joh 4:9-42; Act 8:5-17.
It is remarkable that while the Jews have lost all means of keeping their feasts at Jerusalem, a few, still calling themselves Samaritans, at Nablus, in a humble synagogue at the foot of the mountain, continue their worship, and annually ascend the mountain and keep the feast of the Passover with a roasted lamb: a marked instance of imitation, now so common in Christendom. They have an ancient MS called the SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH (q.v. ), for which they claim great antiquity.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Samaritans
Samaritans (sa-mr’i-tanz). 2Ki 17:29; comp. vs. 9-12. In the New Testament the word denotes the mixed race which sprang from the remnant of Israel and the colonists brought from various parts of Assyria at the captivity. 2Ki 17:23-24. The colonists lived at first in heathenism; but they afterwards sought to propitiate “the god of the land” by bringing back an Israelitish priest to Bethel, and mingling with their own idolatries a corrupt worship of Jehovah. 2Ki 17:25-33; 2Ki 17:41. The Jews, on their return from captivity, b.c. 636, declined the Samaritans’ request to be permitted to help build the temple. Ezra In consequence of this refusal the Samaritans hindered the erection of the temple and afterwards the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, b.c. 445. Neh 4:6. The enmity was increased by the erection of a rival temple on Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritans offered sacrifices according to the Mosaic law, referring to Deu 27:11-13, as proof that this was the proper site for the temple. The bitter animosity between the two races must be understood in order to understand many facts in New Testament history.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Samaritans
Samar’itans. Strictly speaking, a Samaritan would be an inhabitant of the city of Samaria, but the term was applied to all the people of the kingdom of Israel. After the captivity of Israel, B.C. 721, and in our Lord’s time, the name was applied to a peculiar people, whose origin was in this wise. At the final captivity of Israel by Shalmaneser, we may conclude that the cities of Samaria were not merely partially, but wholly depopulated of their inhabitants in B.C. 721, and that they remained in this desolated state until, in the words of 2Ki 17:24, “the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah, and from Av, (Ivah), 2Ki 18:34, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria, instead of the children of Israel, and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.” Thus, the new Samaritans were Assyrians by birth or subjugation.
These strangers, whom we will now assume to have been placed in “the cities of Samaria” by Esar-haddon, were, of course, idolaters, and worshipped a strange medley of divinities. God’s displeasure was kindled, and they were annoyed by beasts of prey, which had probably increased to a great extent, before their entrance upon the land. On their explaining their miserable condition to the king of Assyria, he despatched one of the captive priests to teach them, “how they should fear the Lord.” The priest came accordingly, and henceforth, in the language of the sacred historian, they “Feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do the unto this day.” 2Ki 17:41.
A gap occurs in their history, until Judah has returned from captivity. They then desire to be allowed to participate in the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem; but on being refused, the Samaritans throw off the mask, and become open enemies, frustrating the operations of the Jews, through the reigns of two Persian kings, and are only effectually silenced in the reign of Darius Hystaspes, B.C. 519. The feud, thus, unhappily begun, grew year by year more inveterate.
Matters, at length, came to a climax. About B.C. 409, a certain Manasseh, a man of priestly lineage, on being expelled from Jerusalem by Nehemiah for an unlawful marriage, obtained permission from the Persian king of his day, Darius Nothus, to build a temple on Mount Gerizim for the Samaritans, with whom he had found refuge. The animosity of the Samaritans became more intense than ever. They are said to have done everything in their power to annoy the Jews. Their own temple on Gerizim, they considered to be much superior to that at Jerusalem. There, they sacrificed at Passover.
Toward the mountain, even after the temple on it had fallen, wherever they were, they directed their worship. To their copy of the law, they arrogated an antiquity and authority greater than attached to any copy in the possession of the Jews. The law, (that is, the five books of Moses), was their sole code; for they rejected every other book in the Jewish canon. The Jews, on the other hand, were not more conciliatory in their treatment of the Samaritans. Certain other Jewish renegades had, from time to time, taken refuge with the Samaritans; hence, by degrees, the Samaritans claimed to partake of Jewish blood, especially if doing so happened to suit their interest. Very far were the Jews from admitting this claim to consanguinity on the part of these people.
The traditional hatred in which the Jew held the Samaritan is expressed in Sir 50:25-26. Such were the Samaritans of our Lord’s day; a people distinct from the Jews, though lying in the very midst of the Jews; a people preserving their identity, though seven centuries had rolled away, since they had been brought from Assyria by Esar-haddon, and though they had abandoned their polytheism for a sort of ultra Mosaicism; a people who, though their limits had gradually contracted, and the rallying-place of their religion on Mount Gerizim had been destroyed one hundred and sixty years before by John Hyrcanus (B.C. 130), and though Samaria, (the city), had been again and again destroyed, still preserved their nationality; still worshipped from Shechem, and their impoverished settlements toward their sacred hill, still retained their peculiar religion, and could not coalesce with the Jews.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
SAMARITANS
inhabitants of Samaria
(1) Facts concerning:
They were colonists whom the king of Assyria sent to inhabit the Land
of Israel after the captivity, and hence were despised by the Jews:
2Ki17:24-41; Joh 4:9
In the time of Zerubbabel they sought to form an alliance with the
returned captives and to unite with them in building the temple, but
were rejected:
Ezr 4:2; Ezr 4:3
They had a temple on Mt. Gerizim:
Joh 4:20
They were treated with charity by Christ, see Parable of Good
Samaritan:
Luk 10:30
–Healing of the Ten Lepers:
Luk 17:12-18
–Instruction of the Samaritan woman:
Joh 4:3-43
–Two Days’ work in Samaria:
Joh 4:40
Philip did a successful work among them
Act 8:5-8
(2) Marginal Chain of texts
2Ki17:24; Ezr 4:2; Neh 4:2; Mat 10:5; Luk 9:52; Luk 10:33; Luk 17:16
Joh 4:9; Joh 4:39; Joh 8:48; Act 8:25
Fuente: Thompson Chain-Reference Bible
Samaritans
an ancient sect among the Jews, still subsisting in some parts of the Levant, under the same name. Its origin was in the time of Rehoboam, under whose reign a division was made of the people of Israel into two distinct kingdoms. One of these kingdoms, called Judah, consisted of such as adhered to Rehoboam and the house of David; the other retained the ancient name of Israelites, under the command of Jeroboam. The capital of the state of these latter was Samaria; and hence it was that they were denominated Samaritans. Some affirm that Salmanazar, king of Assyria, having conquered Samaria, led the whole people captive into the remotest parts of his empire, and filled their places with colonies of Babylonians, Cutheans, and other idolaters. These finding themselves daily destroyed by wild beasts, it is said, desired an Israelitish priest to instruct them in the ancient laws and customs of the land they inhabited. This was granted them; and they thenceforth ceased to be incommoded with any beasts. However, with the law of Moses, they still retained somewhat of their ancient idolatry. The rabbins say, they adored the figure of a dove on Mount Gerizim. As the revolted tribes had no more of the Scriptures than the five books of Moses, so the priest could bring no others with him beside those books written in the old Phenician letters.
Upon the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, the religion of the Samaritans received another alteration on the following occasion; one of the sons of Jehoiada, the high priest, whom Josephus calls Manasseh, married the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite; but the law of God having forbidden the intermarriages of the Israelites with any other nation, Nehemiah set himself to reform this corruption, which had spread into many Jewish families, and obliged all that had taken strange wives immediately to part with them, Neh 13:23-30. Manasseh, unwilling to surrender his wife, fled to Samaria; and many others in the same circumstances, and with similar disposition, went and settled under the protection of Sanballat, governor of Samaria. Manasseh brought with him some other apostate priests, with many other Jews, who disliked the regulations made by Nehemiah at Jerusalem; and now the Samaritans, having obtained a high priest, and other priests of the descendants from Aaron, were soon brought off from the worship of the false gods, and became as much enemies to idolatry as the best of the Jews. However, Manasseh gave them no other Scriptures beside the Pentateuch, lest, if they had the other Scriptures, they should then find that Jerusalem was the only place where they should offer their sacrifices. From that time the worship of the Samaritans came much nearer to that of the Jews, and they afterward obtained leave of Alexander the Great to build a temple on Mount Gerizim, near the city of Samaria, in imitation of the temple at Jerusalem, where they practised the same forms of worship. To this mountain and temple the Samaritan woman of Sychar refers in her discourse with our Saviour, Joh 4:20. The Samaritans soon after revolted from Alexander, who drove them out of Samaria, introduced Macedonians in their room, and gave the province of Samaria to the Jews. This circumstance contributed in no small degree to increase the hatred and animosity between those two people. When any Israelite deserved punishment on account of the violation of some important point of the law, he presently took refuge in Samaria or Shechem, and embraced the worship at the temple of Gerizim. When the affairs of the Jews were prosperous, the Samaritans did not fail to call themselves Hebrews, and of the race of Abraham. But when the Jews suffered persecution, the Samaritans disowned them, and alleged that they were Phenicians originally, or descended from Joseph, or Manasseh his son. This was their practice in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. It is certain, the modern Samaritans are far from idolatry; some of the most learned among the Jewish doctors own, that they observe the law of Moses more rigidly than the Jews themselves. They have a Hebrew copy of the Pentateuch, differing in some respects from that of the Jews; and written in different characters, commonly called Samaritan characters; which Origen, Jerom, and other fathers and critics, ancient and modern, take to be the primitive character of the ancient Hebrews, though others maintain the contrary. The point of preference, as to purity, antiquity, &c, of the two Pentateuchs, is also much disputed by modern critics.
The Samaritans are now few in number; though it is not very long since they pretended to have priests descended directly from the family of Aaron. They were chiefly found at Gaza, Neapolis or Shechem, (the ancient Sichem or Naplouse,) Damascus, Cairo, &c. They had a temple, or chapel, on Mount Gerizim, where they performed their sacrifices. They have also synagogues in other parts of Palestine, and also in Egypt. Joseph Scaliger, being curious to know their usages, wrote to the Samaritans of Egypt, and to the high priest of the whole sect, who resided at Neapolis. They returned two answers, dated in the year 998 of the Hegira of Mohammed. These answers never came to the hands of Scaliger. They are now in the library at Paris, and have been translated into Latin by Father Morin, priest of the oratory; and printed in the collection of letters of that father in England, 1662, under the title of Antiquitates Ecclesiae Orientalis. M. Simon has inserted a French translation in the first edition of Ceremonies et Coutumes des Juifs, in the manner of a supplement to Leo de Modena. In the first of these answers, written in the name of the assembly of Israel, in Egypt, they declare that they celebrate the passover every year, on the fourteenth day of the first month, on Mount Gerizim, and that he who then did the office of high priest was called Eleazar, a descendant of Phinehas, son of Aaron. In the second answer, which is in the name of the high priest Eleazar, and the synagogue of Shechem, they declare, that they keep the Sabbath in all the rigour with which it is enjoined in the book of Exodus; none among them stirring out of doors, but to the synagogue. They add, that they begin the feast of the passover with the sacrifice appointed for that purpose in Exodus; that they sacrifice no where else but on Mount Gerizim; that they observe the feasts of harvest, the expiation, the tabernacles, &c. They add farther, that they never defer circumcision beyond the eighth day; never marry their nieces, as the Jews do; have but one wife; and, in fine, do nothing but what is commanded in the law; whereas the Jews frequently abandon the law to follow the inventions of their rabbins. At the time when they wrote to Scaliger, they reckoned one hundred and twenty-two high priests; affirmed that the Jews had no high priests of the race of Phinehas; and that the Jews belied them in calling them Cutheans; for that they are descended from the tribe of Joseph by Ephraim.