Who Were the Samaritans?

Keywords

Samaritan religious identity, Israelite heritage, Jewish-Samaritan relations

Abstract

There once was an ancient temple society, led by hereditary high priests from the lineage of Levi who taught and transmitted the sacred words of God as preserved in the Torah (the five books of Moses). Each year at Passover the community gathered in a solemn assembly to perform the rituals on the Paschal Lamb in remembrance that God had saved them from bondage. And through the years this community worshiped God as Creator and Sustainer of all life. Yet this group was vilified and marginalized over the centuries, their beliefs mocked, their people scapegoated and eventually their holy temple destroyed by outside forces. Presently their numbers have dwindled to some 4000 active adherents.

But wait, are there not more than 4000 faithful Jews today? Yes, indeed! But we are not talking about the Jews, we are talking about the Samaritans! If we look closely, we discover that the Samaritans carry all of the important identifying features that would lead us to believe that they are faithful Israelites.

Yet, our scriptures tell us otherwise and our popular lessons generalize them as mongrels, impure and religiously vacuous. But can we help ourselves? Our view of the Samaritans is entirely shaped by the perspective that is offered to us—a perspective that is prevalent throughout both the Old and New Testament scriptures. How would our perspective and understanding of the Samaritans be enhanced if we heard their story through their own voices? How would this inform our understanding of the cultural and religious tensions that played an ongoing role in Palestinian society between the years of the Jewish return from exile to New Testament times (539 BC – 70 AD)?

Our present day scriptures have only preserved the Jewish perspective of the origin and beliefs of the Samaritans. Yet we are quite fortunate that the Samaritans preserved their own version of their origin and beliefs. By reading the Jewish and Samaritan version side by side we gain a fuller picture of the cultural and religious tensions active in Palestinian society over many centuries and our understanding of New Testament characters’ interaction with Samaritans is enhanced.

Original Publication Citation

“Who Were the Samaritans?” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. 2013.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2013

Publisher

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Marketing

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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