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Samaritans
Samaritans The people settled by the Assyrians in the district of Samaria (according to 2 Kgs. 17: 29) and who were alleged by Jews to practise a form of Hebrew worship contaminated by combination with their previous cult. However, the evidence is rather that there was no one decisive event which established the breach. The characteristic beliefs and conservative customs were consolidated from the 3rd century BCE after the campaigns of Alexander the Great had created new political conditions throughout the Near East. In NT times Samaritans were despised by Jews as foreigners (Luke 17: 18) though in fact they still had much in common with Jews. While the Samaritan Bible consisted only of the Pentateuch, the group claimed to observe it more strictly than the Jews, especially in the regulations for the Sabbath. The Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim was destroyed by Jews in 128 BCE and thereafter the priests conducted the Passover sacrifices on the site (John 4: 20). In 6 CE some Samaritans crept into the Jerusalem Temple and scattered human bones in it. After the uproar and other subsequent disturbances Pontius Pilate ordered a massacre on Mount Gerizim, which led to the Samaritans' demand for his deposition in 37 CE. The common heritage of Jews and Samaritans combined with the history of friction and dissent adds to the piquancy of Jesus' friendliness towards them (Luke 17: 18; John 4: 7) and the astonishing anti-racism of the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 33). In the expansion of the Church from Jerusalem to Rome, the Samaritans occupy a midway position between the evangelization of Palestinian Jews and Hellenistic Jews on the one hand, and Gentiles on the other (Acts 8: 12). In spite of persecution and the political and military upheavals of Palestine, a small Samaritan community has survived to modern times.
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Cite this article
W. R. F. BROWNING. "Samaritans." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. W. R. F. BROWNING. "Samaritans." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O94-Samaritans.html W. R. F. BROWNING. "Samaritans." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O94-Samaritans.html |
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Samaritans
Samaritans. A tribe descended from Israelites who were regarded as heretics by Jews. The Samaritans themselves believe they are descended from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and, until the 17th cent. CE, their high priest was a direct descendant of Aaron. After they were rejected by the returning exiles in the Persian period, Sanballat, the Samaritan ruler, built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim (Nehemiah 13). This was destroyed by John Hyrcanus in 128 BCE, but it was said to have been rebuilt by the Romans as a reward for Samaritan help against the Bar Kokhba revolt. By the 19th cent. only a very small community remained in Shechem. In 1842, they were recognized by the Jerusalem Chief Rabbi as ‘a branch of the Jewish people that confess to the truth of the Torah’, and, after the establishment of the State of Israel, they were recognized as citizens under the Law of Return. The Samaritans have their own version of the Pentateuch, and they claim that their most ancient scroll dates back to the thirteenth year of the Israelite settlement of Canaan. They have their own liturgy and various expositions and commentaries on the Pentateuch. They keep all the festivals mentioned in the Torah. Passover, Shavuʿot, and Sukkot involve pilgrimage to Mount Gerizim, and sacrifices are made at Passover.
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Cite this article
JOHN BOWKER. "Samaritans." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN BOWKER. "Samaritans." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Samaritans.html JOHN BOWKER. "Samaritans." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Samaritans.html |
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Samaritan
Samaritan a member of a people inhabiting Samaria in biblical times, or of the modern community claiming descent from them, adhering to a form of Judaism accepting only its own ancient version of the Pentateuch as Scripture.
In the New Testament, the enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans gave especial point to the story (in John ch. 4) of Jesus's asking for water from the woman of Samaria, and to the parable of the good Samaritan (see below). In the UK, the Samaritans (taking their name from the parable) are an organization which counsels the suicidal and others in distress, mainly through a telephone service. good Samaritan a charitable or helpful person, with reference to the parable told by Jesus in Luke ch. 10 about a man who ‘fell among thieves’ when travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho. He was left lying by the side of the road, and the first two people who saw him, a priest and a Levite, ‘passed by on the other side’. It was the third traveller, a Samaritan, who took pity on him and succoured him. |
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Samaritan." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Samaritan." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Samaritan.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Samaritan." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Samaritan.html |
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Samaritan
Sa·mar·i·tan / səˈmaritn; -ˈme(ə)r-/ • n. 1. (usu. good Samaritan) a charitable or helpful person (with reference to Luke 10:33). 2. a member of a people inhabiting Samaria in biblical times, or of the modern community in the region of Nablus claiming descent from them, adhering to a form of Judaism accepting only its own ancient version of the Pentateuch as Scripture. 3. the dialect of Aramaic formerly spoken in Samaria. • adj. of or relating to Samaria or the Samaritans. DERIVATIVES: Sa·mar·i·tan·ism / -ˌizəm/ n. |
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Cite this article
"Samaritan." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Samaritan." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-samaritan.html "Samaritan." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-samaritan.html |
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Samaritans
Samaritans (organization): see SUICIDE.
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Cite this article
JOHN BOWKER. "Samaritans." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN BOWKER. "Samaritans." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Samaritans1.html JOHN BOWKER. "Samaritans." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Samaritans1.html |
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