an ancient sect among the Jews, still subsisting in some
parts of the Levant, under the same name. Its origin was in the time of
Rehoboam, under whose reign a division was made of the people of Israel
into two distinct kingdoms. One of these kingdoms, called Judah,
consisted of such as adhered to Rehoboam and the house of David; the
other retained the ancient name of Israelites, under the command of
Jeroboam. The capital of the state of these latter was Samaria; and
hence it was that they were denominated Samaritans. Some affirm that
Salmanazar, king of Assyria, having conquered Samaria, led the whole
people captive into the remotest parts of his empire, and filled their
places with colonies of Babylonians, Cutheans, and other idolaters.
These finding themselves daily destroyed by wild beasts, it is said,
desired an Israelitish priest to instruct them in the ancient laws and
customs of the land they inhabited. This was granted them; and they
thenceforth ceased to be incommoded with any beasts. However, with the
law of Moses, they still retained somewhat of their ancient idolatry.
The rabbins say, they adored the figure of a dove on Mount Gerizim. As
the revolted tribes had no more of the Scriptures than the five books of
Moses, so the priest could bring no others with him beside those books
written in the old Phenician letters.
Upon the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, and the
rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, the religion of the Samaritans
received another alteration on the following occasion: one of the sons
of Jehoiada, the high priest, whom Josephus calls Manasseh, married the
daughter of Sanballat the Horonite; but the law of God having forbidden
the intermarriages of the Israelites with any other nation, Nehemiah set
himself to reform this corruption, which had spread into many Jewish
families, and obliged all that had taken strange wives immediately to
part with them, Neh. xiii, 23–30. Manasseh, unwilling to surrender his
wife, fled to Samaria; and many others in the same circumstances, and
with similar disposition, went and settled under the protection of
Sanballat, governor of Samaria. Manasseh brought with him some other
apostate priests, with many other Jews, who disliked the regulations
made by Nehemiah at Jerusalem; and now the Samaritans, having obtained a
high priest, and other priests of the descendants from Aaron, were soon
brought off from the worship of the false gods, and became as much
enemies to idolatry as the best of the Jews. However, Manasseh gave them
no other Scriptures beside the Pentateuch, lest, if they had the other
Scriptures, they should then find that Jerusalem was the only place
where they should offer their sacrifices. From that time the worship of
the Samaritans came much nearer to that of the Jews, and they afterward
obtained leave of Alexander the Great to build a temple on Mount
Gerizim, near the city of Samaria, in imitation of the temple at
Jerusalem, where they practised the same forms of worship. To this
mountain and temple the Samaritan woman of Sychar refers in her
discourse with our Saviour, John iv, 20. The Samaritans soon after
revolted from Alexander, who drove them out of Samaria, introduced
Macedonians in their room, and gave the province of Samaria to the Jews.
This circumstance contributed in no small degree to increase the hatred
and animosity between those two people. When any Israelite deserved
punishment on account of the violation of some important point of the
law, he presently took refuge in Samaria or Shechem, and embraced the
worship at the temple of Gerizim. When the affairs of the Jews were
prosperous, the Samaritans did not fail to call themselves Hebrews, and
of the race of Abraham. But when the Jews suffered persecution, the
Samaritans disowned them, and alleged that they were Phenicians
originally, or descended from Joseph, or Manasseh his son. This was
their practice in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. It is certain, the
modern Samaritans are far from idolatry; some of the most learned among
the Jewish doctors own, that they observe the law of Moses more rigidly
than the Jews themselves. They have a Hebrew copy of the Pentateuch,
differing in some respects from that of the Jews; and written in
different characters, commonly called Samaritan characters; which
Origen, Jerom, and other fathers and critics, ancient and modern, take
to be the primitive character of the ancient Hebrews, though others
maintain the contrary. The point of preference, as to purity, antiquity,
&c, of the two Pentateuchs, is also much disputed by modern critics.
The Samaritans are now few in number; though it is not very long since
they pretended to have priests descended directly from the family of
Aaron. They were chiefly found at Gaza, Neapolis or Shechem, (the
ancient Sichem or Naplouse,) Damascus, Cairo, &c. They had a temple, or
chapel, on Mount Gerizim, where they performed their sacrifices. They
have also synagogues in other parts of Palestine, and also in Egypt.
Joseph Scaliger, being curious to know their usages, wrote to the
Samaritans of Egypt, and to the high priest of the whole sect, who
resided at Neapolis. They returned two answers, dated in the year 998 of
the Hegira of Mohammed. These answers never came to the hands of
Scaliger. They are now in the library at Paris, and have been translated
into Latin by Father Morin, priest of the oratory; and printed in the
collection of letters of that father in England, 1662, under the title
of “_Antiquitates Ecclesiæ Orientalis_.” M. Simon has inserted a French
translation in the first edition of “_Ceremonies et Coutumes des
Juifs_,” in the manner of a supplement to Leo de Modena. In the first of
these answers, written in the name of the assembly of Israel, in Egypt,
they declare that they celebrate the passover every year, on the
fourteenth day of the first month, on Mount Gerizim, and that he who
then did the office of high priest was called Eleazar, a descendant of
Phinehas, son of Aaron. In the second answer, which is in the name of
the high priest Eleazar, and the synagogue of Shechem, they declare,
that they keep the Sabbath in all the rigour with which it is enjoined
in the book of Exodus; none among them stirring out of doors, but to the
synagogue. They add, that they begin the feast of the passover with the
sacrifice appointed for that purpose in Exodus; that they sacrifice no
where else but on Mount Gerizim; that they observe the feasts of
harvest, the expiation, the tabernacles, &c. They add farther, that they
never defer circumcision beyond the eighth day; never marry their
nieces, as the Jews do; have but one wife; and, in fine, do nothing but
what is commanded in the law: whereas the Jews frequently abandon the
law to follow the inventions of their rabbins. At the time when they
wrote to Scaliger, they reckoned one hundred and twenty-two high
priests; affirmed that the Jews had no high priests of the race of
Phinehas; and that the Jews belied them in calling them Cutheans; for
that they are descended from the tribe of Joseph by Ephraim.
parts of the Levant, under the same name. Its origin was in the time of
Rehoboam, under whose reign a division was made of the people of Israel
into two distinct kingdoms. One of these kingdoms, called Judah,
consisted of such as adhered to Rehoboam and the house of David; the
other retained the ancient name of Israelites, under the command of
Jeroboam. The capital of the state of these latter was Samaria; and
hence it was that they were denominated Samaritans. Some affirm that
Salmanazar, king of Assyria, having conquered Samaria, led the whole
people captive into the remotest parts of his empire, and filled their
places with colonies of Babylonians, Cutheans, and other idolaters.
These finding themselves daily destroyed by wild beasts, it is said,
desired an Israelitish priest to instruct them in the ancient laws and
customs of the land they inhabited. This was granted them; and they
thenceforth ceased to be incommoded with any beasts. However, with the
law of Moses, they still retained somewhat of their ancient idolatry.
The rabbins say, they adored the figure of a dove on Mount Gerizim. As
the revolted tribes had no more of the Scriptures than the five books of
Moses, so the priest could bring no others with him beside those books
written in the old Phenician letters.
Upon the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, and the
rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, the religion of the Samaritans
received another alteration on the following occasion: one of the sons
of Jehoiada, the high priest, whom Josephus calls Manasseh, married the
daughter of Sanballat the Horonite; but the law of God having forbidden
the intermarriages of the Israelites with any other nation, Nehemiah set
himself to reform this corruption, which had spread into many Jewish
families, and obliged all that had taken strange wives immediately to
part with them, Neh. xiii, 23–30. Manasseh, unwilling to surrender his
wife, fled to Samaria; and many others in the same circumstances, and
with similar disposition, went and settled under the protection of
Sanballat, governor of Samaria. Manasseh brought with him some other
apostate priests, with many other Jews, who disliked the regulations
made by Nehemiah at Jerusalem; and now the Samaritans, having obtained a
high priest, and other priests of the descendants from Aaron, were soon
brought off from the worship of the false gods, and became as much
enemies to idolatry as the best of the Jews. However, Manasseh gave them
no other Scriptures beside the Pentateuch, lest, if they had the other
Scriptures, they should then find that Jerusalem was the only place
where they should offer their sacrifices. From that time the worship of
the Samaritans came much nearer to that of the Jews, and they afterward
obtained leave of Alexander the Great to build a temple on Mount
Gerizim, near the city of Samaria, in imitation of the temple at
Jerusalem, where they practised the same forms of worship. To this
mountain and temple the Samaritan woman of Sychar refers in her
discourse with our Saviour, John iv, 20. The Samaritans soon after
revolted from Alexander, who drove them out of Samaria, introduced
Macedonians in their room, and gave the province of Samaria to the Jews.
This circumstance contributed in no small degree to increase the hatred
and animosity between those two people. When any Israelite deserved
punishment on account of the violation of some important point of the
law, he presently took refuge in Samaria or Shechem, and embraced the
worship at the temple of Gerizim. When the affairs of the Jews were
prosperous, the Samaritans did not fail to call themselves Hebrews, and
of the race of Abraham. But when the Jews suffered persecution, the
Samaritans disowned them, and alleged that they were Phenicians
originally, or descended from Joseph, or Manasseh his son. This was
their practice in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. It is certain, the
modern Samaritans are far from idolatry; some of the most learned among
the Jewish doctors own, that they observe the law of Moses more rigidly
than the Jews themselves. They have a Hebrew copy of the Pentateuch,
differing in some respects from that of the Jews; and written in
different characters, commonly called Samaritan characters; which
Origen, Jerom, and other fathers and critics, ancient and modern, take
to be the primitive character of the ancient Hebrews, though others
maintain the contrary. The point of preference, as to purity, antiquity,
&c, of the two Pentateuchs, is also much disputed by modern critics.
The Samaritans are now few in number; though it is not very long since
they pretended to have priests descended directly from the family of
Aaron. They were chiefly found at Gaza, Neapolis or Shechem, (the
ancient Sichem or Naplouse,) Damascus, Cairo, &c. They had a temple, or
chapel, on Mount Gerizim, where they performed their sacrifices. They
have also synagogues in other parts of Palestine, and also in Egypt.
Joseph Scaliger, being curious to know their usages, wrote to the
Samaritans of Egypt, and to the high priest of the whole sect, who
resided at Neapolis. They returned two answers, dated in the year 998 of
the Hegira of Mohammed. These answers never came to the hands of
Scaliger. They are now in the library at Paris, and have been translated
into Latin by Father Morin, priest of the oratory; and printed in the
collection of letters of that father in England, 1662, under the title
of “_Antiquitates Ecclesiæ Orientalis_.” M. Simon has inserted a French
translation in the first edition of “_Ceremonies et Coutumes des
Juifs_,” in the manner of a supplement to Leo de Modena. In the first of
these answers, written in the name of the assembly of Israel, in Egypt,
they declare that they celebrate the passover every year, on the
fourteenth day of the first month, on Mount Gerizim, and that he who
then did the office of high priest was called Eleazar, a descendant of
Phinehas, son of Aaron. In the second answer, which is in the name of
the high priest Eleazar, and the synagogue of Shechem, they declare,
that they keep the Sabbath in all the rigour with which it is enjoined
in the book of Exodus; none among them stirring out of doors, but to the
synagogue. They add, that they begin the feast of the passover with the
sacrifice appointed for that purpose in Exodus; that they sacrifice no
where else but on Mount Gerizim; that they observe the feasts of
harvest, the expiation, the tabernacles, &c. They add farther, that they
never defer circumcision beyond the eighth day; never marry their
nieces, as the Jews do; have but one wife; and, in fine, do nothing but
what is commanded in the law: whereas the Jews frequently abandon the
law to follow the inventions of their rabbins. At the time when they
wrote to Scaliger, they reckoned one hundred and twenty-two high
priests; affirmed that the Jews had no high priests of the race of
Phinehas; and that the Jews belied them in calling them Cutheans; for
that they are descended from the tribe of Joseph by Ephraim.