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SAMARITANS

(Heb. hachsšōmĕrōnîm; Gk. Samareítēs)

A Hebrew religious sect geographically focused on Mt. Gerizim and claiming to be descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh among the tribes of the northern kingdom. They believe they preserve the original Mosaic religion. Several hundred survive today, about equally divided between Nablus at the foot of Mt. Gerizim and Holon, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

Josephus traces their origins to the foreigners (he calls them Cutheans) forcibly brought into the territory of Israel after its defeat by the Assyrians in 722 b.c.e. (2 Kgs. 17). The earliest evidence of the schism between Jew and Samaritan comes from the Persian period. This includes the more ambiguous mention of Samaritans in Ezra 4, , which could be a geographical designation of peoples rather than a reference to a religious group. But the 5th-century b.c.e. Elephantine papyri contain explicit religious reference to Samaritans. Included are letters from both Samaritan and Jewish priests, each pleading for support to build temples for their respective communities. The only source of information on the Samaritans during the Greek period, Josephus claims a temple was built on Mt. Gerizim at that time. Both Jewish and Samaritan tradition affirm that it was the most sacred place for the Samaritans during this period, and most agree that it was devastated by the Hasmonean ethnarch and Jewish high priest John Hyrcanus in 111/110.

The NT includes several references to Samaritans. Jesus had trouble in the Samaritan villages (Luke 9:52-53) and instructed his disciples not to go there (Matt. 10:5-6). Nevertheless, he talked to the Samaritan woman (John 4) and used Samaritans as favorable characters in some of his stories, particularly the account of the 10 lepers (Luke 17:11-19) and the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37). Samaria was an early mission field for the growing Church (Acts 8).

Most of our knowledge of the Samaritans comes from their own literature produced during two major periods of renaissance, in the 3rd and the 14th centuries c.e. It is during the first period that Baba Raba organized a council of priests and laity and facilitated the building of several synagogues. Marqah wrote his theological work, Memar Marqah, which became the base of Samaritan theology, and Amram Darrah wrote poetry that became the core of the Samaritan liturgy.

In the 14th century a reformation was intentionally instituted by the high priest Phineas, in part to reconcile a variety of Samaritan sects. Abuʾl Fath, commissioned by Phineas to write a history of the sect, drew from the Bible, traditional stories, and previous chronicles to create a single, integrated narrative. The revered Abisha Scroll, a pentateuchal manuscript attributed to the great grandson of Aaron but generally considered to date from ca. 1000 c.e., was discovered in 1355 and survives today as the most important artifact of the Samaritan community. A historical commentary with parallels to the book of Joshua was also completed at this time. Dating shortly before this period is a book of stories (Asatir), parallel to the Pseudepigrapha, attributed to Moses which preserves stories of significant figures from Noah to Moses.

The Samaritans became a focus of modern European scholarship in the 17th century when a copy of their Pentateuch arrived in Paris. The text represented by this Pentateuch became the focus of continuing hostilities between Roman Catholics and Protestants. Roman Catholics under the leadership of Jean Morin, a scholar at the Oratory in Paris, argued that the Samaritan Pentateuch supported the LXX, the favored text of Roman Catholics, over against the Hebrew MT endorsed by Protestants. More recent scholarship demonstrates that the Samaritan Pentateuch derives readings from both the LXX and the Masoretic traditions and is not exclusively aligned with either. The text type of the Samaritan Pentateuch is represented at Qumran and becomes part of the discussion of the earliest textual development.

Only the Torah is canonical in Samaritan tradition, and the earliest manuscripts date from ca. the 10th century c.e. The period of greatest production of surviving manuscripts was during the 14th and 15th centuries. The Samaritan Pentateuch differs most dramatically from the MT in its exaltation of Mt. Gerizim as the site of Joshua’s altar (added as one of the commandments in Exod. 20:17) and the reading of “Gerizim” for “Ebal” at Deut. 27:4. It also protects the oneness of God by changing the word “God” (Elohim) from plural to singular and makes textual changes to protect the honor of Moses and to be more consistent with Samaritan beliefs and practices.

Samaritan religion focuses on five affirmations. Central to their faith is the one God, Yahweh (anglicized as Jehovah). His chief mediator is Moses. The vehicle of the mediation is the Torah. According to their version of the law (Deut. 27:4), Moses, at God’s command, instructed Joshua to build an altar on Mt. Gerizim, which thus became the central site of worship for the community. Finally, the Samaritans anticipate a coming Day of Vengeance and Recompense initiated by the Messiah (who was called Taheb).

Samaritans celebrate Passover, the feasts of Unleavened Bread, Weeks, the Seventh Month, Yom Kippur, Booths, and the “80 days of solemn assembly” in addition to regular sabbath services. Passover, chief among the annual festivals, is celebrated on Mt. Gerizim with animal sacrifice in accordance with the book of Deuteronomy.

During the 19th century the Samaritans were denied access to Mt. Gerizim, their literary efforts had dwindled, and approaching the 20th century their total population was less than 200. That number has more than doubled during the 20th century.

Bibliography. A. D. Crown, ed., The Samaritans (Tübingen, 1989); Crown, R. Pummer, and A. Tals, eds., A Companion to Samaritan Studies (Tübingen, 1993).

Robert T. Anderson

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SAMARITANS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)