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==Origin of the Samaritans==

==Origin of the Samaritans==

On the separation of Israel and Judah, the ancient city of [[Shechem]], which had been from the first so intimately connected with the history of Israel, became naturally the religious center of the Northern Kingdom.<ref name="JE">Jewish Encyclopedia'a article on Samaritans</ref> The political capital, however, was transferred by [[Omri]] to his newly built city of [[Samaria]] about 883 B.C., and the Israelitish kingdom continued to exist there until it fell before [[Assyria]].<ref name="JE"/> In the fourth year of [[Hezekiah]] "[[Shalmaneser]], King of Assyria, came up against Samaria, and besieged it. And at the end of three years they took it" <ref>(II Kings xviii. 9)</ref><ref name="JE"/> The inhabitants were deported to various parts of [[Assyria]] and to "the cities of the Medes"; and colonists were sent to take their place.<ref name="JE"/> The colonists were soon after troubled by [[lions]], which they regarded as a divine visitation due to their ignorance of the "manner of the god of the land."<ref name="JE"/> At their request an Israelitish priest was sent to them, who settled at Beth-el <ref>(II Kings xvii. 28)</ref>, with the result that a mixed form of religion was established, partly Israelitish and partly idolatrous.<ref name="JE"/>

On the separation of Israel and Judah, the ancient city of [[Shechem]], which had been from the first so intimately connected with the history of Israel, became naturally the religious center of the Northern Kingdom.<ref name="JE">Jewish Encyclopedia'a article on Samaritans</ref> The political capital, however, was transferred by [[Omri]] to his newly built city of [[Samaria]] about 883 B.C., and the Israelitish kingdom continued to exist there until it fell before [[Assyria]].<ref name="JE"/> In the fourth year of [[Hezekiah]] "[[Shalmaneser]], King of Assyria, came up against Samaria, and besieged it. And at the end of three years they took it" <ref name="JE"/><ref>(II Kings xviii. 9)</ref> The inhabitants were deported to various parts of [[Assyria]] and to "the cities of the Medes"; and colonists were sent to take their place.<ref name="JE"/> The colonists were soon after troubled by [[lions]], which they regarded as a divine visitation due to their ignorance of the "manner of the god of the land."<ref name="JE"/> At their request an Israelitish priest was sent to them, who settled at Beth-el,<ref>(II Kings xvii. 28)</ref> with the result that a mixed form of religion was established, partly Israelitish and partly idolatrous.<ref name="JE"/>

The next reference to the people of Samaria, regarded as the remnant of Israel, is when Josiah suppressed the high places among them <ref>(II Kings xxiii. 15, 19 et seq.)</ref> and collected money to repair the house of the Lord, from "Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel" (II Chron. xxxiv. 9).<ref name="JE"/> That the Israelitish element still held its own in the north, is shown by the incidental mention "That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria," in the time of Jeremiah, desiring to join in the offerings at the Temple <ref>(Jeremiah xli. 5)</ref><ref name="JE"/> Later on (and this is the last mention of the Samaritans in the Old Testament), their claim to a participation in the building of the Temple was rejected by Zerubbabel, no doubt on the ground of their mixed origin.<ref name="JE"/>

The next reference to the people of Samaria, regarded as the remnant of Israel, is when Josiah suppressed the high places among them <ref>(II Kings xxiii. 15, 19 et seq.)</ref> and collected money to repair the house of the Lord, from "Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel" (II Chron. xxxiv. 9).<ref name="JE"/> That the Israelitish element still held its own in the north, is shown by the incidental mention "That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria," in the time of Jeremiah, desiring to join in the offerings at the Temple <ref name="JE"/><ref>(Jeremiah xli. 5)</ref> Later on (and this is the last mention of the Samaritans in the Old Testament), their claim to a participation in the building of the Temple was rejected by Zerubbabel, no doubt on the ground of their mixed origin.<ref name="JE"/>