Editing Samaritans (section)

== Origins ==
{{Tribes of Israel}}

The origins of the Samaritans have long been disputed between their own tradition and that of the Jews. Ancestrally, Samaritans affirm that they descend from the tribes of [[Tribe of Ephraim|Ephraim]] and [[Tribe of Manasseh|Manasseh]] in ancient [[Samaria]]. Samaritan tradition associates the split between them and the [[Judean]]-led southern Israelites to the time of the biblical priest [[Eli (biblical figure)|Eli]],{{sfn|Fried|2014|p=148}} described as a "false" high priest who usurped the priestly office from its occupant, Uzzi, and established a rival shrine at [[Shiloh (biblical city)|Shiloh]], thereby preventing southern pilgrims from Judah and [[Tribe of Benjamin|the territory of Benjamin]] from attending the shrine at Gerizim. Eli is also held to have created a duplicate of the [[Ark of the Covenant]], which eventually made its way to the Judahite sanctuary in Jerusalem.{{efn|Shlomo Hofman paraphrases their traditional view as follows: "Until that time, the Ark of the Covenant had been kept at the sanctuary of YHWH on Mt. Gerizim. According to this tradition, the priest Eli was prevented from rising to the high priesthood because he was of the family of Itamar, not the high priestly family of Eleazar. Nevertheless, he took the Ark of the Covenant from Mt. Gerizim to Shiloh and established a rival cult there. As a result of this, two centers of the priesthood arose. One center was on Mt. Gerizim, at whose head stood the legitimate high priest, Uzzi (a descendant of Phineas and of the family Eleazar). The second (heretical) priesthood was at Shiloh, and the priest Eli, a descendant of Itamar, was at its head." {{harv|Hofman|2007|p=719}}}}

In contrast, [[Orthodox Judaism|Jewish Orthodox]] tradition—based on material in the Bible, Josephus and the [[Talmud]]—dates their presence much later, to the beginning of the [[Babylonian captivity]]. In [[Rabbinic Judaism]], for example in the [[Tosefta]] [[Berakhot (tractate)|Berakhot]], the Samaritans are called ''[[Cuthites]]'' or Cutheans ({{langx|he|כותים}}, ''Kutim''), referring to the ancient city of [[Kutha]], geographically located in what is today [[Iraq]].{{sfn|Gurevich|2010|p=156}} Josephus in both the ''[[Wars of the Jews]]'' and the ''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'', in writing of the destruction of the temple on Mt. Gerizim by [[John Hyrcanus]], also refers to the Samaritans as the Cuthaeans.{{efn|Josephus, [[Wars of the Jews]] 1:62; [[Antiquities of the Jews]] 13:154–256 {{harv|Pummer|2009|pp=200–210}}.}} In the biblical account, however, Kuthah was one of several cities from which people were brought to Samaria.{{efn|"The settlement upheaval and destruction of the Northern Kingdom occurred in the late eighth century BCE, followed by the Assyrian resettlement of peoples brought from neighbouring lands. Presumably these peoples joined the remnant that was left in Samaria. These fateful historical events hardly left any traces in the material culture of Samaria. ... (Challenging [[Adam Zertal]]'s use of Cuthean for this period, Magen continues) Cuth was one of several cities from which various peoples were brought to Samaria (2 Kings 17:24). To spite the Samaritans, the Sages dubbed them 'Cutheans'," {{harv|Magen|2007|p=177 and n.3}}}}

The similarities between Samaritans and Jews were such that the rabbis of the [[Mishnah]] found it impossible to draw a clear distinction between the two groups.{{sfn|Zsengellér|2017|p=157}} Attempts to date when the [[schism]] among Israelites took place—which engendered the division between Samaritans and Judaeans—vary greatly, from the time of [[Ezra]] down to the [[siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)]] and the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] (132–136 CE).{{sfn|Crown|1991|p=17}} The emergence of a distinctive Samaritan identity, the outcome of a mutual estrangement between them and Jews, was something that developed over several centuries. Generally, a decisive rupture is believed to have taken place in the [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean period]].{{sfn|Bourgel|2019|p=1}}

=== Samaritan version ===
The Samaritan traditions of their history are contained in the ''Kitab al-Ta'rikh'' compiled by [[Abu'l-Fath]] in 1355.{{sfn|Kartveit|2019|p=2}} According to this, a text which Magnar Kartveit identifies as a "fictional" [[apologia]] drawn from earlier sources (including Josephus but perhaps also from ancient traditions){{sfn|Kartveit|2019|p=3}} a civil war erupted among the Israelites when Eli, son of Yafni, the treasurer of the sons of Israel, sought to usurp the [[Kohen|High Priesthood]] of Israel from the heirs of [[Phinehas]]. Gathering disciples and binding them by an oath of loyalty, he sacrificed on the stone altar without using salt, a rite which made High Priest Ozzi rebuke and disown him. Eli and his acolytes revolted and shifted to Shiloh, where he built an alternative temple and an altar, a replica of the original on Mt. Gerizim. Eli's sons [[Hophni and Phinehas]] had intercourse with women and feasted on the meats of the sacrifice inside the [[Tabernacle]]. Thereafter Israel was split into three factions: the original Mt. Gerizim community of loyalists, the breakaway group under Eli, and heretics worshipping idols associated with Hophni and Phinehas. [[Judaism]] emerged later with those who followed the example of Eli.{{sfn|Kartveit|2019|pp=2–3}}{{sfn|Kartveit|2009|p=38}}{{efn|"A terrible civil war broke out between Eli son of Yafni, of the line of Ithamar, and the sons of Pincus ([[Phinehas]]), because Eli son of Yafni resolved to usurp the High Priesthood from the descendants of Pincus. He used to offer sacrifices on an altar of stones. He was 50 years old, endowed with wealth and in charge of the treasury of the Children of Israel. ...He offered a sacrifice on the altar, but without salt, as if he were inattentive. When the Great High Priest Ozzi learned of this, and found the sacrifice was not accepted, he thoroughly disowned him; and it is (even) said that he rebuked him. Thereupon he and the group that sympathized with him, rose in revolt and at once he and his followers and his beasts set off for Shiloh. Thus Israel split in factions. He sent to their leaders saying to them, 'Anyone who would like to see wonderful things, let him come to me.' Then he assembled a large group around him in Shiloh, and built a Temple for himself there; he constructed a place like the Temple (on Mount Gerizim). He built an altar, omitting no detail—it all corresponded to the original, piece by piece. At this time the Children of Israel split into three factions. A loyal faction on Mount Gerizim; a heretical faction that followed false gods; and the faction that followed Eli son of Yafni in Shiloh." {{harv|Anderson|Giles|2001|pp=11–12}}}}

Mount Gerizim was the original Holy Place of the Israelites from the time that [[Joshua]] conquered [[Canaan]] and the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel|tribes of Israel]] settled the land. The reference to Mount Gerizim derives from the biblical story of [[Moses]] ordering Joshua to take the Twelve Tribes of Israel to the mountains by Shechem ([[Nablus]]) and place half of the tribes, six in number, on Mount Gerizim—the Mount of the Blessing—and the other half on [[Mount Ebal]]—the Mount of the Curse.

===Biblical versions===
According to the Hebrew Bible, they were temporarily united under a [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|United Monarchy]], but after the death of King [[Solomon]], the kingdom split in two, the northern [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] with its last capital city [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]] and the southern [[Kingdom of Judah]] with its capital [[Jerusalem]]. The [[Deuteronomist|Deuteronomistic history]], written in Judah, portrays Israel as a sinful kingdom, divinely punished for its idolatry and iniquity by being destroyed by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] in 720&nbsp;BCE. The tensions continued in the post-exilic period. The [[Books of Kings]] is more inclusive than [[Ezra–Nehemiah]] since the ideal is of one Israel with twelve tribes, whereas the [[Books of Chronicles]] concentrate on the [[Kingdom of Judah]] and ignore the Kingdom of Israel.{{sfn|Coogan|2009|p=353}} Accounts of Samaritan origins in respectively 2 Kings 17:6,24 and Chronicles, together with statements in both Ezra and Nehemiah differ in important degrees, suppressing or highlighting narrative details according to the various intentions of their authors.{{efn|"The author of Chronicles conceals the information that is given prominence in Kings, and vice versa. [...] The books of [[Ezra]] and [[Nehemiah]] adopt a narrow sectarian approach that seeks to maintain the uniqueness and racial purity of the exiles in Babylonia, while Chronicles is more broad-minded and views the Israelite nation as a great people that includes all the tribes, both Judah and Israel." {{harv|Magen|2007|p=187}}}}[[File:100.Foreign Nations Are Slain by Lions in Samaria.jpg|thumb|''Foreigners eaten by lions in Samaria'', illustration by [[Gustave Doré]] from the 1866 ''La Sainte Bible'', The Holy Bible]] The narratives in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] about the rivalries among the 12 sons of Jacob, and other stories of brotherly discord, are viewed by historian Diklah Zohar as describing tensions between north and south, always resolving them in a symbolically favourable way for the Kingdom of Judah rather than Israel.<ref name="Zohar-2022">{{cite journal |last1=Zohar |first1=Diklah |title=Myths of Brotherly Animosity and the Civil Wars of Biblical Israel |journal=Religions |date=2022 |volume=13 |issue=8 |page=753 |doi=10.3390/rel13080753 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The emergence of the Samaritans as an ethnic and religious community distinct from other [[Levant]] peoples appears to have occurred at some point after the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel in approximately 721&nbsp;BCE. The [[Annals of Sargon II|annals of]] [[Sargon II]] of [[Assyria]] indicate that he deported 27,290 inhabitants of the former kingdom. Jewish tradition affirms the Assyrian deportations and replacement of the previous inhabitants by forced resettlement by other peoples but claims a different ethnic origin for the Samaritans. The Talmud accounts for a people called "Cuthim" on a number of occasions, mentioning their arrival by the hands of the Assyrians. According to 2 Kings 17:6, 24 and Josephus,<ref>Josephus, ''[[Antiquities of the Jews|Antiquities]]'' 9.277–91</ref> the people of Israel were removed by the king of the Assyrians (Sargon II)<ref>See the wording of 2 Kings 17 which mentions [[Shalmaneser V|Shalmaneser]] in verse 3 but the "king of the Assyrians" from verse 4 onward.</ref> to [[Halah]], to [[Tell Halaf|Gozan]] on the [[Khabur (Euphrates)|Khabur River]] and to the towns of the [[Medes]]. The king of the Assyrians then brought people from [[Babylon]], [[Kutha]], [[Ivah|Avva]], [[Hama]]th and [[Sepharvaim]] to place in Samaria.<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Kings|17:24|HE}}</ref> Because God sent lions among them to kill them, the king of the Assyrians sent one of the priests from [[Bethel]] to teach the new settlers about God's ordinances. The eventual result was that the new settlers worshipped both the God of the land and their own gods from the countries from which they came.<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Kings|17:25–33|HE}}</ref>

In the Chronicles, following Samaria's destruction King [[Hezekiah]] is depicted as endeavouring to draw the [[Ephraimites]], [[Tribe of Zebulun|Zebulonites]], [[Tribe of Asher|Asherites]] and [[Tribe of Manasseh|Manassites]] closer to Judah.<ref>{{Bibleverse|2 Chronicles|30:1}} {{Bibleverse|2 Chronicles|30:10–11}} {{Bibleverse|2 Chronicles|30:18}}</ref> Temple repairs at the time of [[Josiah]] were financed by money from all "the remnant of Israel" in Samaria, including from Manasseh, Ephraim, and Benjamin.<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Chronicles|34:9|9}}</ref> Jeremiah likewise speaks of people from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria who brought offerings of [[frankincense]] and grain to the House of [[Tetragrammaton|YHWH]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Jeremiah|41:5|9}}</ref> Chronicles makes no mention of an Assyrian resettlement.{{sfn|Magen|2007|p=186}} Yitzakh Magen argues that the version of Chronicles is perhaps closer to the historical truth and that the Assyrian settlement was unsuccessful; he asserts that a notable Israelite population remained in Samaria, part of which (following the conquest of Judah) fled south and settled there as refugees.{{sfn|Magen|2007|p=187}}[[Adam Zertal]] dates the Assyrian onslaught at 721&nbsp;BCE to 647&nbsp;BCE. From a pottery type he identifies as Mesopotamian clustering around the Menasheh lands of Samaria, he infers that there were three waves of imported settlers.{{sfn|Zertal|1989|pp=77–84}} Furthermore, to this day the Samaritans claim descent from the tribe of Joseph.{{efn|"The laymen also possess their traditional claims. They are all of the tribe of Joseph, except those of the tribe of Benjamin, but this traditional branch of people, which, the Chronicles assert, was established at Gaza in earlier days, seems to have disappeared. There exists an aristocratic feeling amongst the different families in this community, and some are very proud over their pedigree and the great men it had produced." {{harv|Montgomery|2006|p=32}}}}

The ''[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]'' (under "Samaritans") summarizes both past and present views on the Samaritans' origins. It says:

{{blockquote|sign=|source="Samaritans" in ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'', 1972, Volume 14, col. 727.|Until the middle of the 20th century it was customary to believe that the Samaritans originated from a mixture of the people living in Samaria and other peoples at the time of the conquest of Samaria by Assyria (722–721 BCE). The biblical account in II Kings 17 had long been the decisive source for the formulation of historical accounts of Samaritan origins. Reconsideration of this passage, however, has led to more attention being paid to the Chronicles of the Samaritans themselves. With the publication of Chronicle II (Sefer ha-Yamim), the fullest Samaritan version of their own history became available: the chronicles, and a variety of non-Samaritan materials.

According to the former, the Samaritans are the direct descendants of the Joseph tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, and until the 17th century CE they possessed a high priesthood descending directly from Aaron through Eleazar and Phinehas. They claim to have continuously occupied their ancient territory and to have been at peace with other Israelite tribes until the time when Eli disrupted the Northern cult by moving from Shechem to Shiloh and attracting some northern Israelites to his new followers there. For the Samaritans, this was the "schism" par excellence.
}}

===Josephus's version===
Josephus, a key source, has long been considered a prejudiced witness hostile to the Samaritans.{{efn|"if one considers the general framework, the Samaritans are used by Josephus as a group that forms a negative counterpart to the loyal Jews, an example of people who try to exploit the ruling powers and who are justly punished for that." {{harv|Kartveit|2009|p=72}}; "For many centuries, more precisely since the days of Flavius Josephus the account in 2 Kings 17:24–41 was accepted as accurate description of the origin of the Samaritans. They were seen as descendants of pagan colonist converts from Cutha in Persia, and were therefore called 'Cutheans' However, recent research has shown that this tradition was the result of polemics against the Samaritans, and cannot be accepted as historical."{{harv|Pummer|1997|p=118}}}} He displays an ambiguous attitude, calling them both a distinct, opportunistic ethnos and, alternatively, a Jewish sect.{{sfn|Kartveit|2009|pp=78,82}}

=== Dead Sea scrolls ===
The [[Dead Sea Scrolls|Dead Sea scrolls]]' proto-[[Book of Esther|Esther]] fragment 4Q550<sup>c</sup> has an obscure phrase about the possibility of a ''Kutha(ean)''(''Kuti'') man returning but the reference remains obscure.{{sfn|Kartveit|2009|p=74}} 4Q372 records hopes that the northern tribes will return to the land of Joseph. The current dwellers in the north are referred to as fools, an enemy people. However, they are not referred to as foreigners. It goes on to say that the Samaritans mocked Jerusalem and built a temple on a high place to provoke Israel.{{sfn|Kartveit|2009|pp=168–171}}

=== Modern scholarship ===
Contemporary scholarship confirms that deportations occurred both before and after the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel in 722–720 BCE, with varying impacts across [[Galilee]], [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]], and Samaria.{{sfn|Tobolowsky|2022|pp=69–70; 73–75}} During the earlier Assyrian invasions, Galilee and Transjordan experienced significant deportations, with entire tribes vanishing; the tribes of [[Tribe of Reuben|Reuben]], [[Tribe of Gad|Gad]], [[Tribe of Dan|Dan]], and [[Tribe of Naphtali|Naphtali]] are never again mentioned. Archaeological evidence from these regions shows that a large depopulation process took place there in the late 8th century BCE, with numerous sites being destroyed, abandoned, or feature a long occupation gap.{{sfn|Tobolowsky|2022|pp=69–70; 73–75}}<ref name=":5">{{harvnb|Knoppers|2013|loc=42–44, chapter The Fall of the Northern Kingdom and the Ten Lost Tribes: A Reevaluation}}</ref> In contrast, archaeological findings from Samaria—a larger and more populated area—suggest a more mixed picture. While some sites were destroyed or abandoned during the Assyrian invasion, major cities such as Samaria and [[Tel Megiddo|Megiddo]] remained largely intact, and other sites show a continuity of occupation.{{sfn|Tobolowsky|2022|pp=69–70; 73–75}}<ref name=":5" /> The Assyrians settled exiles from Babylonia, Elam, and Syria in places including [[Gezer]], [[Hadid]], and villages north of [[Shechem]] and [[Tirzah (Tell el-Farah North)|Tirzah]].<ref name=":7" /> However, even if the Assyrians deported 30,000 people, as they claimed, many would have remained in the area.{{sfn|Tobolowsky|2022|pp=69–70; 73–75}} Based on changes in material culture, [[Adam Zertal]] estimated that only 10% of the Israelite population in Samaria was deported, while the number of imported settlers was likely no more than a few thousand, indicating that most Israelites continued to reside in Samaria.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zertal |first=Adam |year=1990 |title=The Pahwah of Samaria (Northern Israel) during the Persian Period: Types of Settlement, Economy, History and New Discoveries |journal=Trans |issue=3 |pages=82–83}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Grabbe |first=Lester L. |title=Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It? |date=2009 |publisher=T&T Clark |isbn=978-0-567-03254-6 |edition= |location=New York |pages=125}}</ref>

[[Gary N. Knoppers]] described the demography shifts in Samaria following the Assyrian conquest as: "... not the wholesale replacement of one local population by a foreign population, but rather the diminution of the local population", which he attributed to deaths from war, disease and starvation, forced deportations, and migrations to other regions, particularly south to the Kingdom of Judah. The state-sponsored immigrants who had been forcibly brought into Samaria appear to have generally assimilated into the local population.<ref name=":5" /> Nevertheless, the [[Books of Chronicles|Book of Chronicles]] records that King [[Hezekiah]] of Judah invited members of the tribes of [[Tribe of Ephraim|Ephraim]], [[Tribe of Zebulun|Zebulun]], [[Tribe of Asher|Asher]], [[Tribe of Issachar|Issachar]] and [[Tribe of Manasseh|Manasseh]] to Jerusalem to celebrate [[Passover]] after the destruction of Israel. In light of this, it has been suggested that the bulk of those who survived the Assyrian invasions remained in the region. Per this interpretation, the Samaritan community of today is thought to be predominantly descended from those who remained.{{sfn|Tobolowsky|2022|pp=69–70; 73–75}}<ref name=":5" />

The Israeli biblical scholar [[Shemaryahu Talmon]] has supported the Samaritan tradition that they are mainly descended from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh who remained in Israel after the Assyrian conquest. He states that the description of them at 2 Kings 17:24<ref>{{Bibleverse|2 Kings|17:24}}</ref> as foreigners is tendentious and intended to ostracize the Samaritans from those Israelites who returned from the Babylonian exile in 520&nbsp;BCE. He further states that 2 Chronicles 30:1<ref>{{Bibleverse|2 Chronicles|30:1}}</ref> could be interpreted as confirming that a large fraction of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (i.e., Samaritans) remained in Israel after the Assyrian exile.{{sfn|Talmon|2002|pp=25–27}} [[E. Mary Smallwood]] wrote that the Samaritans "were the survivors of the pre-Exilic northern kingdom of Israel, diluted by intermarriage with alien settlers," and that they broke away from mainstream Judaism in the 4th century BCE.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Smallwood |first=E. Mary |title=The Jews under Roman Rule |publisher=Brill |year=1976 |isbn=90-04-04491-4 |series=Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity |location=Leiden, Netherlands |pages=120}}</ref> Archaeologist [[Eric H. Cline|Eric Cline]] takes an intermediate view. He believes only 10–20% of the Israelite population (i.e. 40,000 Israelites) were deported to Assyria in 720 BCE. About 80,000 Israelites fled to Judah whilst between 100,000 and 230,000 Israelites remained in Samaria. The latter intermarried with the foreign settlers, thus forming the Samaritans.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cline |first=Eric H. |title=From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible |date=2008 |publisher=National Geographic (US) |isbn=978-1426202087}}</ref>

The religion of this remnant community is likely distorted by the account recorded in the Books of Kings,<ref>{{Bibleverse|2 Kings|17}}</ref> which claims that the local Israelite religion was perverted with the injection of foreign customs by Assyrian colonists.{{sfn|Talmon|2002|pp=25–27}} In reality, the surviving Samaritans continued to practice [[Yahwism]]. This explains why they did not resist Judean kings, such as Hezekiah and Josiah, imposing their religious reforms in Samaria.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}} Magnar Kartveit argues that the people who later became known as Samaritans likely had diverse origins and lived in Samaria and other areas, and it was the temple project on Mount Gerizim that provided the unifying characteristic that allows them to be identified as Samaritans.{{sfn|Kartveit|2009|p=351}}

Modern genetic studies support the Samaritan narrative that they descend from indigenous Israelites. Shen et al. (2004) formerly speculated that outmarriage with foreign women may have taken place.{{sfn|Shen|Lavi|Kivisild|Chou|2004|pp=825–826, 828–829, 826–857}} Most recently the same group came up with genetic evidence that Samaritans are closely linked to [[Y-chromosomal Aaron|Cohanim]], and therefore can be traced back to an Israelite population prior to the Assyrian invasion. This correlates with expectations from the fact that the Samaritans retained [[endogamy|endogamous]] and biblical [[Patrilineality|patrilineal]] marriage customs, and that they remained a genetically isolated population.{{sfn|Oefner|Shen|Höltz|Shpirer|2013}}{{sfn|Appelbaum|Appelbaum|2008}}