Samaritan Temple Remains at Mount Gerizim
Samaritan Temple Remains on Mount Gerizim
The New Testament makes no attempt to hide the immense hostility that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans. Passover ceremonies continue to this day by the Samaritan locals on this mountain.
Ancient Samaritans
The only place in the
entire Old Testament where the word "Samaritan" appears is in 2
Kings 17:29 where it refers to a person of the Kingdom of Northern
Israel:
"However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put
them in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had
made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt." – 2 Kings 17:29
In later Hebrew writings the word Samaritan speaks of the people of
the district of Samaria in central Israel. They came from
intermarriages of certain Israelites with the colonists from Babylon
and other parts of Mesopotamia and Syria. These colonists had been
placed there by the Assyrian kings Sargon II and Esarhaddon, after
the Northern Kingdom of Israel had been conquered and the stronghold
at Samaria fell to the Assyrians. It resulted in thousands of
Israelites being deported away, never to be heard from again, and
colonists being chosen by the Assyrians and placed in Samaria along
with a governor.
Later when the Temple at Jerusalem was being rebuilt, the Samaritans
offered to help but their offer was rejected. As a result they not
only tried to prevent the rebuilding of the temple and the city
walls but, in the time of Nehemiah, built a temple themselves on
Mount Gerazim near Shechem. These disputes resulted in further
hostile relations between the Samaritans and the Jews. The Jews, for
example, would not allow the Samaritans to sacrifice in the Temple
at Jerusalem and considered marriages between Samaritans and Jews
illegal. Also because of the fact that the Samaritans were
considered "half Jews" and "a mixed race", many conflicts existed
between the Jews and the Samaritans during the time of Christ.
Jesus and the Samaritans:
During the ministry of Jesus Christ, there were three Samaritans who stand prominent:The Good Samaritan
The Samaritan Leper
The Samaritan Woman at the Well
The good Samaritan showed exceeding kindness by doing as much as he possibly could by helping his neighbor who was in need.
The Samaritan leper, when he realized he was healed, immediately went to Jesus, glorified God and gave thanks, is an outstanding example of gratitude.
The Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well listened to Jesus and believed what He told her. Then she went to tell others about Him.
Jesus went out of His way to show that Samaritans were among those who exercised compassion, gratefulness and faith. They were hated by the Jews but what Christ came for was much more important than their walls of separation.
Jesus said "I have come to seek and to save that which was lost" and His message of the "gospel" (good news) was one that would penetrate far deeper than man had ever seen before.
Jesus would not submit to the tyranny of those who were closing the door to God. Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God, and Judaism had become a dead system of works that blinded men from the truth and placed heavy burdens on God’s sheep.
The ministry of Christ began with the Jews and yet He excluded no one. He ministered to Samaritans, to gentiles and to anyone who was willing to believe the truth.
To understand what Jesus thought about the Samaritans, and the attitude of Jesus to the lost, is to understand God’s heart for mankind. No one is excluded, and no matter how lost they seem, and how deep sin has entered into their lives Jesus loves them and He came to die for their sins.
The Samaritans were despised among the
Jews along with the tax collectors and prostitutes. The Jewish
religious authorities made certain that these would be excluded from
all fellowship and even eternal life. But when Jesus appeared on the
scene, He revealed God’s true heart for all mankind. He was not
ashamed to violate man-made hostile traditions.
He touched lepers, even though they were considered unclean.
He passed through Samaria, even though everyone else went around.
He made companions of tax collectors and sinners, even though they were hated and despised.Jesus, by the look in His eye and the tone of His voice, gave every man and woman hope. Those who had been looked down upon previously, when they heard the words of Jesus, were suddenly transformed and knew that they had been accepted by God. The attitude of Jesus toward sinners and the forgiveness that He offered was a treasure that could only be found by those who had truly realized that they were in desperate need of salvation.
Scriptures
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],
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.