SAMARITANS (sa-mar'i-tans), (Heb.
sho-mer-o-neeve ; Gr. Ealzapeirat, tahee), a name found in the Old Testament only in 2 Kings xvii:29.
The ten tribes which revolted from Rehoboam, son of Solomon, chose Jeroboam for their king. After his elevation to the throne he set up golden calves at Dan and Bethel, lest repeated visits of his subjects to Jerusalem, for the purpose of wor shiping the true God, should withdraw their alle giance from himself. Afterwards Samaria, built by Omri, became the metropolis of Israel, and thus the separation between Judah and Israel was rendered complete. The people took the name Samaritans from the capital city.
(1) The Capture and the Captivity. In the ninth year of Hosea, Samaria was taken by the Assyrians under Shalmaneser, who carried away the inhabitants into captivity, and introduced col onies into their place from Babylon, Cuthab, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim. These new inhabit ants carried along with them their own idolatrous worship ; and on being infested with lions, sent to Esarhaddon, king of Assyria. A priest of the tribe of Levi was accordingly dispatched to them, who came and dwelt in Bethel. teaching the peo ple how they should fear the Lord. Thus it ap pears that the people were a mixed race. The greater part of the Israelites had been carried away captive by the Assyrians, including the rich, the strong, and such as were able to bear arms. But the poor and the feeble had been left. The country had riot been so entirely depopulated as to possess no Israelite whatever. The dregs of the populace, particularly those who appeared in capable of active service, were not taken away by the victors. \Vith them. therefore, the heathen colonists became incorporated.
(2) A Mixed Religion. As the people were a mixed race, their religion also assumed a mixed character. In it the worship of idols was associ ated with that of the true God. But apostasy from Jehovah was not universal. On the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, the Sa maritans wished to join them in rebuilding the Temple, saying, 'Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assur, which brought us up hither' (Ezra iv:2). But the
Jews declined the proffered assistance; and from this time the Samaritans threw every obstacle in their way. Hence arose that inveterate enmity between the two nations which afterwards in creased to such a height as to become proverbial.
(3) A Refuge for Malcontent Jews. in the reign of Darius Nothus, Manasses, son of the Jewish high-priest, married the daughter of San the Samaritan governor; and to avoid the necessity of repudiating her, as the law of Moses required, went over to the Samaritans, and be came high-priest in the temple which his father in-law built for him on Mount Gerizim. From this time Samaria became a refuge for all mal content Jews; and the very name of each people became odious to the other. About the year B. C. tog, John Hyrcanus, high-priest of the Jews, de stroyed the city and temple of the Samaritans; but, B. C. 25, Herod rebuilt them at great expense. In their new temple, however, the Samaritans could not be induced to offer sacrifices, but still continued to worship on Gerizim. At the present day they have dwindled down to a few families. Shechem, now called Nabulus, is their place of abode. They still possess a copy of the Mosaic law.
\Vith the remnant above referred to a corre spondence was formerly maintained by several learned Europeans, but without leading to any important result. It was commenced by Joseph Scaliger, in 1559: and resumed, after a century, by several learned men in England, in 1675; and by the great Ethiopic scholar. Job Ludolf. in 16S4. The illustrious orientalist, De Sacy, also held correspondence with them. All their letters to England and France, and all that was then known respecting them, he published in a work entitled. Correspondancc des Samaritains, etc., in Notices et Extr. des MSS. de la Biblioth. die Roi, torn. xii). The best accounts of them given by modern travelers are by Pliny Fisk (American Missionary Herald for 1824). who visited them in 1823; and by Robinson and Smith, who visited them in 1838. (See Biblical Researches and Travels in Palestine, iii :1 13-1 16.) S. D.