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400 Years Of God’s Silence

THE INTERTESTAMENTAL PERIOD. 400 Years Of God’s Silence. The Samaritans. Their Origin and Brief History Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. It was captured by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. ( 2Kings 17:3-6; 18:9-11 ).

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400 Years Of God’s Silence

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  1. THE INTERTESTAMENTALPERIOD 400 Years Of God’s Silence Lesson Eleven

  2. The Samaritans • Their Origin and Brief History • Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. • It was captured by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. (2Kings 17:3-6; 18:9-11). • Many of the Israelites were taken away by Assyria and put in Halan, and on the Habor, the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

  3. The Samaritans • Their Origin and Brief History • Foreigners from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharavim were brought by Assyria and placed in the cities of Samaria. • These people inter-married with the remaining Israelites and became known as the Samaritans (2Kings 17:24, 29). • Kelso suggests that more likely the Samaritans "were the descendants of the Israelites left in the land, for Samaritan theology shows no sign of the influence of paganism among the colonists sent by the Assyrians. • If there was intermarriage, the children became true Israelites.”

  4. The Samaritans • Their Origin and Brief History • When the Jews returned from captivity (536 B.C.) the Samaritans offered to help rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. • Their offer was refused by Zerubbabel and Joshua (Ezra 4:3, 10,17--520-561 B.C.). • In Maccabean times Jewish tradition represents the Samaritans as joining with the Seleucid oppressors. • While Antiochus IV Epiphanes was ruling the Samaritans saw the suffering of the Jews and no longer claimed kin with them, nor with their religion.

  5. The Samaritans • Their Origin and Brief History • Josephus quotes a letter they wrote to "King Antiochus the God, Epiphanes, a memorial from the Sidonians, who live at Shechem" saying that their superstitious forefathers had observed the Jews “Sabbath and had built a temple” without name," but that they were originally Sidonians, and would like to have their temple named, “Temple of Jupiter Hellinus.” • Antiochus complied and declared them free from such "accusations" as that of being kin to the Jews! • This is another reason the Jews so despised the Samaritans.

  6. The Samaritans • Their Origin and Brief History • John Hyrcanus destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mt.Gerizim in 128 B.C. • We do not know when it was built. • Note the statement of the Samaritan woman, John 4:20 "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you {Jews} say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." (NKJV) • Archaeologists think this temple (ruins of which can be seen on Mt. Gerizim) was visible from Jacob's well. • By N.T. times the Jews and Samaritans had no dealings with each other John 4:9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. (NKJ)

  7. The Samaritans • Their Origin and Brief History • "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 the exiled returnees." [wikipedia: Samaritans]

  8. The Samaritans • Their Origin and Brief History Mount Gerizim on the Left and Mount Ebal on the Right – Shechem Between Them

  9. The Samaritans • Their Origin and Brief History Mount Gerizim– Shechem At The Base

  10. The Samaritans • Where Did the Samaritans Come From? • When Babylon conquered Judah in 586 B.C., they exiled the upper classes in Babylon, leaving the lower classes to till the land. • Despite God’s law on marriage, the remaining Jews around the city of Samaria (from the tribes of Ephraim & Manasseh) intermarried with the foreigners transplanted there by the Assyrians (2Kings 17:24). • The resulting mixed race was known as Samaritans, named after the area in which they lived. • When Cyrus let the captive Jews return to Jerusalem in 536 B.C., these Samaritans offered to help rebuild the temple but were abruptly rejected. • An intense enmity resulted. In 409 B.C. Sanballet, Persian governor of Samaria, built the Samaritans a temple on Mt. Gerizim. • The brother of Judah’s high priest became high priest of the Mt. Gerizim temple. • Hatred ran so deep that many Jews would take no food or drink from a Samaritan, nor even use their utensils. This is the background of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman, in John 4.

  11. The Samaritans • The Samaritan Religion • The Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch. • Manuscripts of the "Samaritan Pentateuch" differ from the Masoretic Hebrew text in several places. • Preference is given to Mt. Gerizim than Jerusalem. • A small group of Samaritans still live in the city of Nablus (near ancient Shechem, between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal). • The Samaritans still observe the passover annually on Mt. Gerizim.

  12. The Samaritans Ancient Samaritan Sect Celebrates Passover Festival NABLUS, WEST BANK - MAY 7: The High Priest of the ancient Samaritan sect holds aloft a silver-encased Torah scroll as the community holds prayers at dawn on the last day of their Passover celebrations on top of Mount Gerizim May 7, 2007 near the northern West Bank city of Nablus. The Samaritan religion is based on four principles of faith, One God - the God of Israel, One Prophet - Moses Ben Amram, belief in the Torah - the first five books of the Hebrew bible and One Holy Place - Mount Gerizim. Despite its similarity to Judaism there are differences.

  13. The Samaritans • The Samaritan Religion • Judean/Samaritan shared beliefs/history • One God who made a covenant with the people of Israel centering on the Law of Moses. • The priesthood is a central office Torah (with some differences) • Celebration of Passover, Pentecost, Yom Kippur, Sabbath, circumcision of male children, ritual purity. • Judean/Samaritan differences • Samaritans continue to sacrifice a paschal lamb at Passover, do not celebrate Purim or Hannukkah. • Samaritan lineage is patrilineal, Jewish is matrilineal Samaritans focus on Torah, reject all later writings—led to ancient tensions. • Samaritan Temple is located at Mt. Gerizim and they deny the religious importance of Jerusalem—which led to ancient tensions

  14. The Samaritans • The Samaria Papyri • A collection of about 20 frag-mentaryAramic documents were discovered by the Ta'amireh Bedouin at WadiDaliyeh (9 miles north of Jericho) in 1962-1964. • About 300 skeletons were found in the same cave. • The papyri have added considerable information about the inter-testamental period.

  15. The Samaritans • The Samaria Papyri • The papyri, mostly administrative, is dated between 375 and 335 B.C. reference is made to Artaxerxes II (404-359 B.C.) and Darius III (335-330 B.C.). • This places the documents just prior to Alexander's invasion in 332 B.C. • There is also reference to "Sanballat, governor of Samaria." • This is thought to be Sanballat III, and not Sanballat I of the book of Nehemiah (2;10, 19; 3:33; 4:1, etc.). • Frank Moore Cross, who was the first to read the Samaria Papyri, suggests the historical setting:

  16. The Samaritans • The Samaria Papyri • “Although the people of the city of Samaria initially ingratiated themselves with their foreign ruler Alexander the Great, they later burned alive Andromachus, Alexander's perfect in Syria. The act was not only a heinous crime, it was the first sign of revolt in Syria-Palestine. Alexander returned in all haste to Samaria and took vengeance on the murderers who were `delivered up to him', according to the ancient historian Curtius Rufus."

  17. The Samaritans • The Samaria Papyri • "Alexander destroyed the city of Samaria. Archaeologists have uncovered the late fourth century towers at Samaria which were built in Greek design rather than Palestinian. • This suggests that Samaria was resettled by Greek Macedonians after this destruction; and indeed both Eusebius and Jerome tell us that this was the case. • In addition, excavations at Shechem reveal that that city was rebuilt in the late fourth century after a long abandonment.

  18. The Samaritans • The Samaria Papyri • This is probably to be explained by the fact that the Samaritans who fled Samaria rebuilt Shechem as their new capital.“ • Cross thinks that some Samaritans went to Wadi-Daliyeh where they found temporary refuge in the cave. • Alexander's men found them in the cave, lit a fire at the mouth of the cave and waited for the occupants to suffocate.

  19. The Samaritans • Miscellaneous Information • Herod the Great built Samaria as one of his magnificent cities. • He dedicated a temple to the Emperor Augustus. • One of his wives was a Samaritan. • She was mother of Herod Antipas. • Archelaus proved a poor ruler, so Samaria fell under the control of the Roman procurators. • Josephus states that Pilate's handling of a fanatical assembly on Mt. Gerizim led to his removal as procurator in A.D. 36.

  20. The Samaritans • Miscellaneous Information • Travel in first century Palestine was affected by the Samaritan-Jew conflict (Lk. 9:52-56). • Many Jews of Galilee travelled along the Jordan Valley or through Perea on their way to Jerusalem. • The Samaritans gave a favorable reception to the gospel (Acts 8:1-25).

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