Why did the Jews hate the Samaritans?
Who were the Samaritans? In the gospels, we catch glimpses of the tension between Jews and Samaritans. By the time the New Testament was written, there was about a millennia of history contributing to the extreme prejudice between these peoples.
In Luke 9:52, James and John were eager to destroy a Samaritan village for rejecting Jesus.
In John 4:9, a Samaritan woman was shocked when Jesus, a Jew, spoke to her. For, as John noted, Jews had no dealings with Samaritans.
In John 8:48, some Jews called Jesus a “Samaritan” and “demon-possessed” to insult him.
Why was there so much animosity between these people? Below is a quick timeline of major events that contributed to it.
930 BC – The kingdom divided into Israel (northern) and Judah (southern). The capital of Judah was Jerusalem. Israel had a few different
capitals until King Omri built the town of Samaria, which remained the capital until the kingdom fell (880-721 BC). (1 Kings 16:24, 28-29)
721 BC – Samaria was conquered by the Assyrians, who exiled many and brought exiles from other lands into Samaria. The Samaritans mixed with the other
peoples ethnically and religiously. (2 Kings 17)
620 BC – King Josiah extended his reforms into the old land of Israel. He purged idolatry and invited the people to the Passover. At some
point, the Samaritans turned back to God, and this was likely a factor.
536, 444 BC – When the Jews returned from exile to rebuild, the Samaritans asked to join them and help rebuild the temple. The Jews refused.
The angered Samaritans then made great efforts to stop the Jews, and they succeeded in delaying the temple rebuilding for some fifteen years. They also tried to prevent the
rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall. (Ezra 4; Neh. 2; 4)
c. 400 BC – The Samaritans developed their own version of Judaism and a slightly altered version of the books of Moses known as the
Samaritan Pentateuch. In the original writings of Moses, God foretold that he would select a place for the people to worship after they arrived in Canaan, but Moses never named it
(Deut. 12:5-6). Jerusalem was chosen in the reigns of David and Solomon, and the first permanent temple was built there (2 Sam. 24:18; 2 Chron. 3:1;
1 Kings 8-9). In the Samaritan Pentateuch, however, a substantial portion was added after the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:17, and Mt. Gerizim, conveniently
located in Samaritan territory, was named as the site of worship. The Samaritans built a temple there, probably around the end of the fifth century BC1. This explains
the conversation about worship between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, in which Jesus stated that the Samaritans had been wrong (John 4).
110 BC – The Jewish leader, John Hyrcanus, attacked Samaria and destroyed their temple. It was never rebuilt, but the Samaritans continued
to worship on Mt. Gerizim.
To the Jews, Samaritans were genealogically impure, religiously flawed, and long-time enemies. In Jesus’ time, the region of Samaria was located between Judea and Galilee. Many Jews traveling from one to the other would cross the Jordan and pass through Perea to avoid Samaria. Jesus’ interactions with Samaritans and his teachings which portrayed Samaritans in a good light were taboo. In these he showed his great love for all people and prepared his disciples to share the kingdom with Samaritans and Gentiles, overcoming centuries of prejudice and hatred.
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” John 4:7-10
Footnotes:
1 Archaeological evidence places the original construction of the temple on Gerizim during the Persian era, probably around the latter half of the fifth century BC,
and further work during the Hellenistic (Greek) era, around the late third or early second century BC. Josephus dated its construction to the conquest of Alexander the Great
in 332 BC, but there is a broad consensus that he was mistaken.
~ SR
Citation
Ruhmann, Scott. “Why did the Jews hate the Samaritans?” 27th Street Church of Christ. Access date: . http://www.churchofbend.com/art/samaritans.htm