Samaritans 

The Samaritans were one of six major groups of religious groups and political parties that were prominent in Jesus’ time. The Jews held a deep-seated hatred of them, although they believed many of the same teachings.

The Samaritans originated around 700 BCE. This group originally numbered twenty-five thousand Jews who had been placed into captivity in Samaria by King Sargon of Assyria when he ended a revolt in Palestine. In their place, he put descendents of other sects. Later, he sent other colonies to live in Samaria.

At the end of the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, these Samaritans opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Moreover, they became friendly with Alexander the Great and his armies. Alexander permitted the Samaritans to build a temple on Mount Gerizim. In this temple, their religious practices were much like those of the Jews in Jerusalem. But their temple was destroyed at the time of the Maccabees, by John Hyrcanus.

The hatred of the Samaritans by the Jews did not abate for over six hundred years, even up to the time of Jesus’ mission. Jesus harbored no animosity towards the Samaritans; however, the apostles were as antagonistic to the Samaritans as any other Jews. But after being with Jesus for some time, they gradually learned to transcend their hatred for the Samaritans because of their personal loyalty to him.

Jesus had great success winning over the Samaritans, preaching and teaching in their cities and towns. He honored a Samaritan woman by disclosing to her his divine nature, and one of his most beloved parables features a “Good Samaritan.” And his seventeenth resurrection appearance was made to the group of seventy-five Samaritans.

In Jesus’ time, there were six groups – political and religious – that were prominent and influential; the Samaritans were one of these groups and the other five were: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, the Zealots, and the Herodians.

For over six centuries, there existed a deep-seated animosity between the Jewish population and the Samaritans, even though they believed many of the same teachings. The origins of this hostility can be traced back to a historical event approximately seven hundred years before the Common Era. During this time, Sargon, the Assyrian king from 772-705 BCE, crushed a rebellion in central Palestine. In the aftermath, he deported more than twenty-five thousand Jews from the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity. To replace them, he settled a comparable number of individuals from the Cuthites, Sepharvites, and Hamathites in this region. Subsequently, Ashurbanipal, the Assyrian king from 669-631 BCE, dispatched additional groups of settlers to inhabit Samaria. This series of events laid the foundation for the enduring enmity between the Jewish and Samaritan communities.

During the period following the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, the Samaritans actively opposed the reconstruction of Jerusalem, causing considerable animosity among the returning Jews. Furthermore, tensions escalated when the Samaritans offered support to the armies of Alexander the Great, which deeply offended the Jewish community.

In appreciation of their assistance, Alexander granted the Samaritans permission to construct a temple on Mount Gerizim. At the temple, they practiced their worship of Yahweh alongside their tribal deities, following a sacrificial tradition that resembled the rituals performed at the Jerusalem temple. This form of worship persisted until the era of the Maccabees when John Hyrcanus, Maccabean leader/Jewish high priest from 134-104 BCE, ordered the destruction of the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim.

The deep-seated conflicts between the Jews and the Samaritans had a long and storied history, especially since the time of Alexander the Great. Over the years, these two groups had largely avoided any interactions with each other.

While the twelve apostles were willing to spread their message in Greek and other non-Jewish cities in the Decapolis and Syria, they faced a significant test of their devotion when Jesus proposed, "Let us go into Samaria."

However, during their times of close companionship with Jesus, the apostles cultivated a personal loyalty to Jesus that largely surpassed their biases against the Samaritans.

Jesus never harbored the animosity against the Samaritans that most Jews did. In fact, just before he sat down to rest by the well in the Samarian town of Sychar, he told his apostles: “Have no fear for me; these Samaritans will be friendly; only our brethren, the Jews, seek to harm us.” And it was while he rested there by the well that he had a significant encounter with Nalda, the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus made his first open declaration that he was a divine personality and the “water of life” to Nalda. Not only was she a Samaritan, but she was also a woman of “questionable character” to many. Nevertheless, Jesus saw the heart of a soul who desired salvation.

From June of 27 CE, when Jesus ministered to Nalda, through the end of August, he and his apostles camped on Mount Gerizim and preached the gospel of the kingdom to the Samaritans. This was productive work for the kingdom, and it cleared the path for the apostle Philip to carry out kingdom work in these regions following the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Another well-known and well-loved encounter that involved the Samaritans was the occasion in Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication in December of 29 CE. Jesus was accosted by a crafty lawyer who hoped to trap Jesus in a compromising position. He asked Jesus, “Just who is my neighbor?” The Jewish law proscribed that one’s neighbor could only be one of one’s own race; all others were considered “gentile dogs.” And this included the hated Samaritans.

Jesus proceeded to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the story, a man from Jerusalem was robbed in the road, beaten, and left for dead. Two priests passed him by and ignored his plight, but a Samaritan came along and ministered to him and bound up his wounds; furthermore, he took him to the inn and paid the bill for his lodging. At the end of the story, Jesus asked the lawyer who was the better neighbor, and the lawyer was forced to answer that the “merciful passerby” was the better neighbor; he could not even bring himself to say the word Samaritan, but he had been caught in his own trap. Over the centuries, this story has promoted brotherly love as few others have.

The hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans was not always one-sided; the Samaritans also felt hostility towards the Jews. For example, in September of 29 CE, when Jesus and his apostles were on their way to Jerusalem for the Feast Of Tabernacles, they planned to travel through Samaria. When it came time to stop for the night, Jesus sent Philip and Matthew to a nearby village to secure lodgings for them. But they were confronted with people who had greater hatred for the Jews than the average Samaritan. They didn’t know very much about Jesus, but they refused to provide lodging for him or his party simply because they were Jews. Matthew and Philip attempted to enlighten them about who Jesus was, but the villagers ran them out of town with sticks and stones.

When the two apostles returned to Jesus and told him what had happened, James and John stepped up and wanted to call down “fire from heaven” to destroy these Samaritans who were so disrespectful to Jesus. But Jesus rebuked their spirit of vengeance and directed them to travel to a different village. It is unfortunate that simply because of these ancient hatreds, this village of Samaritans missed the honor of hosting the Creator Son of the universe.

On May 13, 30 CE, Jesus made his seventeenth resurrection appearance. This appearance was to Nalda and about seventy-five other Samaritans in Sychar. These Samaritans had made a habit of meeting at Jacob's Well, where the Master had first declared his divinity to Nalda. On this day, just as they had finished a discussion of the reported resurrection of Jesus, he appeared in their midst and spoke to them. These Samaritans were greatly astonished at this

appearance of the Master, and they hastened off to the nearby towns and villages, where they published abroad the news that they had seen Jesus and that he had talked to them.