Transcript What We Believe About…

Introduction to the OT World
Samaria
• Week 12, 10/27/2013
• Gene Wright, [email protected]
Samaria
Samaria gets its name from the city Omri built that was
the capital of the Northern Kingdom.
This was after Zimri had burned the palace (and
himself) in the old capital of Tirzah.
Prior to this period the site appears to have been the
center of an extensive wine and oil production area,
which may have accounted for its choice as the new
capital.
The origin of the name of the site was from Shemer the
owner of the land that Omri purchased for two talents
of silver (1 Kings 16:23-24).
Samaria
Samaria
Samaria
Origin of Samaritans?
Originally Jews!
“Reigned over Israel in Samaria”
1 Kings 16:29, 22:51, 2 Kings 3:1, 10:36, 13:1, 13:10, 15:17, 15:23,
15:27, 17:1
931 B.C. Divided Kingdom - 1 Kings 11:26-12:26
King Omri – Bought Shameron Hill (Shameron originally meant
“watch” or “watch tower”) from Shemer -- 1 Kings 16:16-22
Samaria
Ancestrally, the Samaritans claim descent from
a group of Israelite inhabitants from the tribes of
Ephraim and Manasseh (the two sons of
Joseph) as well as some descendants from the
priestly tribe of Levi, who have connections to
ancient Samaria from the period of their entry
into the land of Canaan.
The Samaritans, however, claim to derive their
name not from this geographical designation,
but rather from the Hebrew term Shamerim,
“Keepers [of the Law]”.
Samaria
Assyrian Captivity / Enslavement
Settled at least 5 nationalities among them
2 Kings 17:24 – Babylon, Cuthah, Awa,
Hamath, Sepharvaim. Goal? “Pluralize”
Israelites call them “Cuthites” as from
“Cuthah”
Patchwork of different faiths existed with a
“form” of Judaism becoming prominent.
Samaria
Assyrian sources:
“The inhabitants of Samaria/Samerina, who agreed [and
plotted] with a king [hostile to] me, not to do service and not
to bring tribute [to Ashshur] and who did battle, I fought
against them with the power of the great gods, my lords…
I counted as spoil 27,280 people, together with their
chariots, and gods, in which they trusted. I formed a unit
with 200 of [their] chariots for my royal force…
I settled the rest of them in the midst of Assyria. I
repopulated Samaria more than before. I brought into it
people from countries conquered by my hands. I appointed
my eunuch as governor over them. And I counted them as
Assyrians.”
Why the hatred between?
Three primary causes for the hatred!
1) Ezra and the return
- the “sons of the Golah”, Ezra 4:1-5, Nehemiah 13:23
- Anyone who had intermarried, were NOT put on the lists!
- Ezra 4:3 - The offer of help with the temple
- “You have no part with us”
2) Manasseh and Mt Gerazim
- Manasseh - son of the high priest in Jerusalem but had
married the daughter of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria
- Nehemiah drives him out, Nehemiah 13:28
- Josephus says he built worship center on Mt Gerazim
Samaria
Three primary causes for the hatred!
3) Destruction of the Samaritan Temple by John Hyrcanus
- 330 B.C. Alexander the Great endorsed a temple on Mt Gerizim
- 168 B.C. Samaritans support Antiochus Epiphanes
- 128 B.C. Hasmonean John Hyrcanus destroyed the temple
- Had stood for 200 years
Evidence of this hatred in 180 B.C.
Wisdom of Ben Sirach 50:25-26 – 180 B.C. – OT Apocrypha
“Two nations my soul detests, and the third is not even a people:
Those who live in Seir, the Philistines, and the foolish people who
live in Shechem” --- Edom, Philistines, and Samaritans
Samaria and Samaritans
Evidence of this hatred in 30 A.D.
Near the climatic point of Jesus’ longest argument with the Jewish
leaders, they make this statement to him:
John 8:48 “The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying
that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?’ ”
The two most deadly insults they can hurl are that Jesus is a
Samaritan and has a demon.
The Aramaic word for Samaritan is “Shomeroni”
The Aramaic word for demon is
“Shomeron”
How interesting that in Jewish thinking these words have become
nearly identical.
Galilee
Solomon rewarded Hiram of Phoenicia by giving him the gift of an
upland plain among the mountains of Naphtali containing 20 cities.
Hiram called it "the land of Cabul.” (1 Kings 9:13)
Hiram was not pleased with the gift, however.
The name means “good for nothing.”
The region takes its name from the Hebrew word for “district”
“Galilee of the Nations,” Hebrew “galil goyim”
Properly called “the Galilee”
Isaiah 9:1: “In the former time he brought into contempt the land of
Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made
glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the
nations.”
The “nations” would have been the foreigners who came to settle
there, or who had been forcibly deported there.
Many more Gentiles here than Judea.
Galilee
Many more Gentiles here than Judea.
Josephus called the largest city in Galilee, the “ornament of all
Galilee”
This city was the first capital of the district under Herod Antipas.
It is named Sepphoris and was a Jewish and Gentile city.
Seventeen times the word "hypocrites" appears in the Gospels, and
three times in the Sermon on the Mount. Where would Jesus,
growing up in the small village of Nazareth, have come into contact
with “hypocrites,” a Greek word for actors? Perhaps four miles
away in Sepphoris.
Samaria
Religiously, they are the adherents to
Samaritanism, a religion closely related to
Judaism. Based on the Samaritan Torah,
Samaritans claim their worship is the true
religion of the ancient Israelites prior to the
Babylonian Exile, preserved by those who
remained in the Land of Israel, as opposed to
Judaism, which they assert is a related but
altered and amended religion brought back by
those returning from exile.
Samaria
Religion of the Samaritans
Much like the Sadducees – Manasseh link?
Little “traditions of the elders”
1) God is one
2) God created man in the image of the angels
3) Moses is God’s only prophet, but he received the law
on Mount Gerizim, not Sinai. Will never be another like
Moses – Deut 34:10?
4) Mount Gerizim true “House of God” and contains 12
stones of Israel Deut 27:4
5) The “Taheb” – the one who restores, will appear at the
end of time (John 4:25?). He is mortal and will live for only
110 years. He will destroy all who followed Ezra’s counsel.
Samaria
Samaria
Samaria
Although historically they were a large community — up to more than
a million in late Roman times, then gradually reduced to several tens
of thousands up to a few centuries ago.
Their unprecedented demographic shrinkage has been a result of
various historical events, including, most notably...
1) the bloody suppression of the Third Samaritan Revolt (529 AD)
against the Byzantine Christian rulers and
2) the mass conversion to Islam in the Early Muslim period of
Palestine.
According to their tally, there were 712 Samaritans as of November 1,
2007, living exclusively in two localities, one in Kiryat Luza on Mount
Gerizim near the city of Nablus in the West Bank, and the other in the
Israeli city of Holon.
Samaritans on Mount Gerizim, 2006
Samaritans
Samaritans celebrating Passover
The Good Samaritan Inn
Samaria
Note that Jesus did not consider the Samaritans to be Jews
-“Do not enter into any city of the Samaritans; but go rather
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” – Matt 10:5-8
So, Jews = lost sheep of house of Israel, but
Samaritans = found sheep of house of Israel? No
Samaritans cannot be part of the house of Israel, according
to the words of Jesus.
Next week, the Kingdom of Judah