Ancient Samaria and Central Israel
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Map of Ancient Samaria
(Hill Country) in Ancient Israel
John 4:5-10 "Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with [his] journey, sat thus on the well: [and] it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water."
The above map includes some of the geographical locations within the ancient Hill Country region in Israel. According to Josephus, on the north the Hill Country descends to a very steep 2000 foot slope into the Valley in the Upper Galilee region. The Hill Country was filled with mountains and was divided into four parts: Upper and Lower Galilee, the Hill Country of Samaria, and the Hill Country of Judah. The south end sloped into the Negev region.
The hills and mountains in Upper Galilee were 3000 to 4000 feet above sea level, while the Lower Galilee and Samaritan hills were about 2000 feet above sea level. The large to smaller hills come down sort of like a staircase. Upper Galilee had many forests and difficult terrain, and it was more typical for people to live in the Lower Galilee region. The Samaritan region was part of this hill country. Mt Gerazim was the highest mountain in the Samaritan region.
Samaria in Smith's Bible Dictionary
Samaria, Country of
Samaria at first included all the tribes over which Jeroboam
made himself king, whether east or west of the river Jordan. 1Ki
13:32 But whatever extent the word might have acquired, it
necessarily be came contracted as the limits of the kingdom of
Israel became contracted. In all probability the territory of Simeon
and that of Dan were very early absorbed in the kingdom of Judah. It
is evident from an occurrence in Hezekiah's reign that just before
the deposition and death of Hoshea, the last king of Israel, the
authority of the king of Judah, or at least his influence, was
recognized by portions of Asher, Issachar and Zebulun and even of
Ephraim and Manasseh. 2Ch 30:1-26 Men came from all those tribes to
the Passover at Jerusalem. This was about B.C. 728. Samaria (the
city) and a few adjacent cities or villages only represented that
dominion which had once extended from Bethel to Dan northward, and
from the Mediterranean to the borders of Syria and Ammon eastward.
In New Testament times Sa maria was bounded northward by the range
of hills which commences at Mount Carmel on the west, and, after
making a bend to the southwest, runs almost due east to the valley
of the Jordan, forming the southern border of the plain of
Esdraelon. It touched toward the south, is nearly as possible, the
northern limits of Benjamin. Thus it comprehended the ancient
territory of Ephraim and that of Manasseh west of Jordan. The
Cuthaean Samaritans, however, possessed only a few towns and
villages of this large area, and these lay almost together in the
centre of the district. At Nablus the Samaritans have still a
settlement, consisting of about 200 persons. [SHECHEM]
Full Article
Country of Samaria in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE
Samaria, Country of
(shomeron; he Samareitis chora): The name of the city was
transferred to the country of which it was the capital, so that
Samaria became synonymous with the Northern Kingdom (1 Ki 13:32; Jer
31:5, etc.). The extent of territory covered by this appellation
varied greatly at different periods. At first it included the land
held by Israel East of the Jordan, Galilee and Mt. Ephraim, with the
northern part of Benjamin. It was shorn of the eastern portion by
the conquest of Tiglath-pileser (1 Ch 5:26). Judah probably soon
absorbed the territory of Dan in the Samaria. In New Testament times
Samaria had shrunk to still smaller dimensions. Then the country
West of the Jordan was divided into three portions: Judea in the
South, Galilee in the North, and Samaria in the middle. The
boundaries are given in general terms by Josephus (BJ, III, iii, 1,
4, 5). The southern edge of the Plain of Esdraelon and the lands of
Scythopolis, the city of the Decapolis West of the Jordan, formed
the northern boundary. It reached South as far as the toparchy of
Acrabatta (modern `Aqrabeh), while on the border between Samaria and
Judea lay the villages of Annath and Borceos, the modern Khirbet `Aina
and Berqit, about 15 miles South of Nablus. The Jordan of course
formed the eastern boundary. On the West the coast plain as far as
Acre belonged to Judea. The country thus indicated was much more
open to approach than the high plateau of Judah with its steep rocky
edges and difficult passes. The road from the North indeed was
comparatively easy of defense, following pretty closely the line of
the watershed. But the gradual descent of the land to the West with
long, wide valleys, offered inviting avenues from the plain. The
great trade routes, that to the fords of Jordan and the East,
passing through the cleft in the mountains at Shechem, and those
connecting Egypt with the North and the Northeast, traversed
Samarian territory, and brought her into constant intercourse with
surrounding peoples. Full
Article
The Samaritan Woman
As Jesus journeyed through
Samaria he met a woman:
John 4:7-10
"There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto
her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the
city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is
it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of
Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus
answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who
it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked
of him, and he would have given thee living water."
Also See: The Story of the Good Samaritan in the Bible
The Bible Mentions a lot Concerning "Samaritan"
John 8:48 - Then
answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art
a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
Luke 17:16
- And fell down on [his] face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he
was a Samaritan.
Luke 10:33
- But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where
he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion [on him],
The Bible Mentions a lot Concerning "Samaria"
Ezekiel 16:55 - When
thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former
estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to
their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to
your former estate.
Ezekiel
16:53 - When I shall bring again their captivity, the
captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of
Samaria and her daughters, then [will I bring again] the
captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:
Ezekiel
16:51 - Neither hath Samaria committed half of
thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than
they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which
thou hast done.
1 Kings
20:34 - And [Benhadad] said unto him, The cities, which my
father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make
streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria.
Then [said Ahab], I will send thee away with this covenant. So he
made a covenant with him, and sent him away.
Ezekiel
16:46 - And thine elder sister [is] Samaria,
she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger
sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, [is] Sodom and her
daughters.
Ezekiel
23:4 - And the names of them [were] Aholah the elder, and
Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and
daughters. Thus [were] their names; Samaria [is]
Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.
1 Kings
16:29 - And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of
Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the
son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and
two years.
Amos 3:9
- Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land
of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of
Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof,
and the oppressed in the midst thereof.
2 Kings
23:18 - And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his
bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet
that came out of Samaria.
Obediah
1:19 - And [they of] the south shall possess the mount of
Esau; and [they of] the plain the Philistines: and they shall
possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria:
and Benjamin [shall possess] Gilead.
2 Kings
18:9 - And it came to pass in the fourth year of king
Hezekiah, which [was] the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of
Israel, [that] Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against
Samaria, and besieged it.
2 Kings 7:1
- Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the
LORD, To morrow about this time [shall] a measure of fine flour [be
sold] for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the
gate of Samaria.
2 Kings
17:26 - Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying,
The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of
Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land:
therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay
them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
2 Kings
6:25 - And there was a great famine in Samaria:
and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was [sold] for
fourscore [pieces] of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's
dung for five [pieces] of silver.
2 Kings
14:23 - In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash
king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to
reign in Samaria, [and reigned] forty and one years.
2
Chronicles 22:9 - And he sought Ahaziah: and they caught
him, (for he was hid in Samaria,) and brought him to
Jehu: and when they had slain him, they buried him: Because, said
they, he [is] the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all
his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the
kingdom.
Isaiah
10:11 - Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria
and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
Micah 1:5
- For the transgression of Jacob [is] all this, and for the sins of
the house of Israel. What [is] the transgression of Jacob? [is it]
not Samaria? and what [are] the high places of Judah?
[are they] not Jerusalem?
2
Chronicles 28:15 - And the men which were expressed by name
rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that
were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave
them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the
feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of
palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.
Hosea 10:5
- The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the
calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and
the priests thereof [that] rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof,
because it is departed from it.
2
Chronicles 28:9 - But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose
name [was] Oded: and he went out before the host that came to
Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the LORD God of
your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your
hand, and ye have slain them in a rage [that] reacheth up unto
heaven.
2 Kings
17:6 - In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took
Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and
placed them in Halah and in Habor [by] the river of Gozan, and in
the cities of the Medes.
2
Chronicles 18:9 - And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat
king of Judah sat either of them on his throne, clothed in [their]
robes, and they sat in a void place at the entering in of the gate
of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before
them.
1 Kings
22:10 - And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of
Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void
place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all
the prophets prophesied before them.
1 Kings
22:51 - Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel
in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of
Judah, and reigned two years over Israel.
2 Kings
7:18 - And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to
the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure
of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in
the gate of Samaria:
2 Kings
21:13 - And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of
Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will
wipe Jerusalem as [a man] wipeth a dish, wiping [it], and turning
[it] upside down.
2
Chronicles 28:8 - And the children of Israel carried away
captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and
daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the
spoil to Samaria.
Ezra 4:17
- [Then] sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor, and [to]
Shimshai the scribe, and [to] the rest of their companions that
dwell in Samaria, and [unto] the rest beyond the
river, Peace, and at such a time.
Micah 1:6
- Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the
field, [and] as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the
stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations
thereof.