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{{See also|Mystery: Was John a Samaritan}}''?''

{{See also|Mystery: Was John a Samaritan}}''?''

'''Samaritans''' today are a people of mixed ethnicity who live in [[Israel]], who practice a religion having similarities to and differences with the [[Jewish faith]]. They accept as their canon the [[Torah]] and the [[Book of Joshua]], as do [[Christian]]s, while rejecting other [[Jewish]] [[Scriptures]].

'''Samaritans''' today are a people of mixed ethnicity who live in [[Israel]], who practice a religion having similarities to and differences with the [[Jewish faith]]. They accept as their canon the [[Torah]] and the [[Book of Joshua]], as do [[Christian]]s, while rejecting other [[Jewish]] [[Scriptures]].

The Samaritan [[Pentateuch]] has a more [[pro-life]] translation of the ban on [[abortion]] in {{bibleref|Exodus|21|22-23}} than the Jewish Masoretic text does.  “Philo (Spec., 3:108) specifically prescribes the imposition of the death penalty for causing an abortion, and the text is likewise construed in the Samaritan Targum.”<ref>https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/abortion-in-judaism</ref>

The Samaritan [[Pentateuch]] has a more [[pro-life]] translation of the ban on [[abortion]] in {{bibleref|Exodus|21|22-23}} than the Jewish Masoretic text does.  “Philo (Spec., 3:108) specifically prescribes the imposition of the death penalty for causing an abortion, and the text is likewise construed in the Samaritan Targum.”<ref>https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/abortion-in-judaism</ref>

The Samaritans mentioned several times in the [[Gospels]] by [[Jesus]] were a mixed-race, part-[[Gentile]] and part-Jewish, who engaged in practices considered to be [[blasphemous]] by Jewish [[Pharisees]].  The references to Samaritans are nearly all favorable, particularly by the [[Gentile]] [[Luke]] but also by [[John]], while [[Matthew]] is critical of Samaritans at {{bibleref|Matthew|10|5}}<ref>"These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: 'Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.'" ([[ESV]])</ref>.  For example, one of the most famous references to Samaritans in the New Testament is in the [[Parable of the Good Samaritan]].  It is also said that Jesus first expressly revealed his divinity to a Samaritan woman at the well, despite how Samaritans were outcasts at the time:<ref>John 4:25-26 (NAS).</ref>

The Samaritans mentioned several times in the [[Gospels]] by [[Jesus]] were a mixed-race, part-[[Gentile]] and part-Jewish, who engaged in practices considered to be [[blasphemous]] by Jewish [[Pharisees]].  The references to Samaritans are nearly all favorable, particularly by the [[Gentile]] [[Luke]] but also by [[John]], while [[Matthew]] is critical of Samaritans at {{bibleref|Matthew|10|5}}<ref>"These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: 'Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.'" ([[ESV]])</ref>.  For example, one of the most famous references to Samaritans in the New Testament is in the [[Parable of the Good Samaritan]].  It is also said that Jesus first expressly revealed his divinity to a Samaritan woman at the well, despite how Samaritans were outcasts at the time:<ref>John 4:25-26 (NAS).</ref>

{{cquote|The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”<ref>{{bible ref|John|8|48-51}}</ref>}}

{{cquote|The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”<ref>{{bible ref|John|8|48-51}}</ref>}}

==Origin of the Samaritans==

==Samaritans, population==

 

Samaritans had a large population of three million at the time of [[Jesus]],<ref name="Samaritans">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/5/20/i-hope-there-are-still-samaritans-in-the-future</ref>

 

 

 

Today's Samaritans who are a mixture of immigrants as well, reject emigrating to other lands, and today do not consider themselves to be Palestinian Arab or Jewish.<ref name="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 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"/>

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 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, perhaps due to their mixed ethnicity.<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, perhaps due to their mixed ethnicity.<ref name="JE"/>

The (Judean) Jews destroyed the Samaritan holy temple in 112-111 [[B.C.]] The destruction date became a holiday (the 21st of Kislev) during which Jews have been forbidden to eulogize the dead.<ref>https://private-tours-in-israel.com/mount-gerizim/</ref>

Following Samaritans' seeking to sabotage the construction of the [[Temple]], (Judean) Jews destroyed the Samaritan holy temple in 112-111 [[B.C.]] The destruction date became a holiday (the 21st of Kislev) during which Jews have been forbidden to eulogize the dead.<ref>https://private-tours-in-israel.com/mount-gerizim/</ref>

==Anthropology==

==Anthropology==

==Samaritans and Israel==

==Samaritans and Israel==

Samaratins at Mount Gerizim, their equivalent of [[Jerusalem]], accepted and even promoted [[abortion]] as a result of receiving citizenship in [[Israel]]:

Samaratins at Mount Gerizim, their equivalent of [[Jerusalem]], accepted and even promoted [[abortion]] after receiving citizenship in [[Israel]]:

{{cquote|In the 1990s, when the Samaritans at Mount Gerizim were granted Israeli citizenship, they gained access to Israel's hi-tech hospitals, among the most advanced in the world. Routine genetic testing was introduced in the pregnancies of Samaritan women, and abortions were encouraged whenever the risk of birth defects was higher than 10%. ... Around one in five pregnancies is now terminated.<ref name="Guardian">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/11/ukrainian-women-samaritans-mount-gerizim</ref>}}

{{cquote|In the 1990s, when the Samaritans at Mount Gerizim were granted Israeli citizenship, they gained access to Israel's hi-tech hospitals, among the most advanced in the world. Routine genetic testing was introduced in the pregnancies of Samaritan women, and abortions were encouraged whenever the risk of birth defects was higher than 10%. ... Around one in five pregnancies is now terminated.<ref name="Guardian">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/11/ukrainian-women-samaritans-mount-gerizim</ref>}}

Sotheby’s dates the tablet to approximately 1,500 years ago, during the late Roman-Byzantine era. The artifact, weighing approximately 115 pounds and extending 24 inches in length, features the Ten Commandments carved in ancient Hebrew script.</small></blockquote></ref>

Sotheby’s dates the tablet to approximately 1,500 years ago, during the late Roman-Byzantine era. The artifact, weighing approximately 115 pounds and extending 24 inches in length, features the Ten Commandments carved in ancient Hebrew script.</small></blockquote></ref>

 

== See also ==

== See also ==

*[https://margmowczko.com/a-brief-history-of-the-samaritans/ History of Samaritans]

*[https://margmowczko.com/a-brief-history-of-the-samaritans/ History of Samaritans]