John 4 Crossreferenced - The Samaritans

Why

Why are we looking into the Samaritans

Who were the samaritans

We learned of the Samaritans in this mornings sermon

How Jesus crossed barriers just to minister with them

But where did the this animosity come from

And how did Jesus use their example

This text explains where things really went sideways with the samaritans

Some other places we see them are in Nehimiah when they got in the way, kinda, of the rebuilding of the wall. But we can get into that some other time

For now, lets look at this passage

Then we will dive briefly into the Samaritans

2 Kings 17 24-28

The Samaritans were a group of people that believed they were the true descendants of Israel

Why exactly its hard to say seeing how they adopted their beliefs as a mixture of pagan and Jewish religions

First, lets discuss where exactly Samaria is how it came to be

Samaria is just as much a region as it is a city

There is actually a city named Samaria

But eventually the area that it was in ended being called that

In Hebrew, Samaria actually means “watch mountain”

Because, it pretty mountainous and very hilly

So, again, how did it get its borders and region

Well, it was actually part of the Northern Kingdom

As the Israelites were dividing up tribes

The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh were given this area

About 6 Kings into Israels history we see

how the capitol was established and named Samaria

in 1 Kings 16:23–24 “In the thirty-first year of Judah’s King Asa, Omri became king over Israel, and he reigned twelve years. He reigned six years in Tirzah, then he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for 150 pounds of silver, and he built up the hill. He named the city he built Samaria based on the name Shemer, the owner of the hill.”

This capitol city of Samaria is located about 30 miles north of Jerusalem

This city was actually once a pretty large

and thriving city

So much so that

Eventually the name of the capitol city was given to the entire region

Within this region

is the city of Sychar

Sychar is also called Shechem

That may actually sound more familiar

But in this same little area of Jacobs well

Abraham built an alter after God promised him the land of the Canaanites

Jacob also built an alter there after he purchased the land

I haven’t mentioned it yet, but the Samaritans only adopted the Pentateuch from the scriptures

So theses patriarchs meant a lot to them

That was the location of our sermon this morning

That is where Jacobs well is located

Hence why the samaritan woman this morning referred to Jacob

Now, This city of Sychar I just mentioned

was the location of our sermon this morning

That is where Jacobs well is located

Now, why the animosity that we see

As we just read in 2 Kings

It was a weird arrangement

Well, when the 10 northern tribes were taken into Assyrian Captivity

The King of Assyria sent people from several other regions down there

Pagan regions,

They are named in our in verses 29-33 I believe

and their names don’t really matter right now

The point is that King sent these foreigners into this land

And these foreigners intermarried with the remaining Israelite population that was still there

Their kiddos or off spring became known as the “Samaritans”

At first these “Samaritans” worshiped the idols and “gods” that were introduced when the pagans foreigners came

That why v 25 says

2 Kings 17:25 “When they first lived there, they did not fear the Lord.

Just a side shoot but one of these pagan rituals that they performed included the burning of their children in order to honor their god

So, these weren’t exactly good moral folks

But they also did this in the name of religion

Anyway, God was not happy about this going on in

so V 25 continues with 2 Kings 17:25 . So the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.”

So, these samaritans, after being bothered by these lions figured it was because they had not

honored the God of that territory

So, the king of Assyrian sent a Jewish priest there to help them get back on track for the religion that was supposed to be practiced in the region

They were pretty much only instructed on the books of Moses

as we mentioned earlier

Unfortunately, they also kept a lot of their idolatrous customs

So things finally settled in what became a mixture of Judaism and Idolatry

This is why the Jews despised them

Because they twisted compromised their religion

Here are a few more reasons fuel was added to the fire

1. (Nehemiah 6:1-14). The Jews, after their return from Babylon, began rebuilding their temple.

While Nehemiah was engaged in building the walls of Jerusalem,

the Samaritans vigorously attempted to halt the undertaking.

2. As was referred to this morning.

The Samaritans built a temple for themselves on “Mount Gerizim,” which the Samaritans insisted was designated by Moses as the place where the nation should worship.

The leader of the Samaritans, established his son-in-law, Manasses, as high priest.

Having their own place to worship just further continued their idolatrous ways

3. Samaria became a place of refuge for all the outlaws of Judea (Joshua 20:6-7; 21:21).

Remember a few weeks ago when we talked about an eye for an eye and the cities of refuge

They were in this area

The Samaritans willingly received Jewish criminals and refugees from justice.

The violators of the Jewish laws, and those who had been excommunicated, found safety for themselves in Samaria,

greatly increasing the hatred which existed between the two nations.

4. The Samaritans received only the five books of Moses and rejected the writings of the prophets and all the Jewish traditions.

Most of what we know about the Samaritans is written or recored by Josephus

Josephus was a jew hired by the romans to record the history

To say he was a little biased is an under statement

But, I am sure there was truth to what he said because

Well that was his job

Next week in our evening service we will most likely cover the parable of the Good Samaritan. Just to shine some light on this.

The interesting thing is that the overwhelming majority of the time that Jesus refers to the Samaritans,

It is in a positive light

Most likely this was to put the Pharisees in thier place,

but none the less

There is something to see in that