Editing Samaritans (section)

=== 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}}