Difference between revisions of "Samaria"

<p> ("a watch mountain".) The oblong terraced hill in the center of a basinshaped, valley, a continuation of the Shethem valley, six miles N.W. of Shechem. The owner, Shemer, sold it for two silver talents to Omri king of [[Israel]] (925 B.C.), who built on it a city and called it after [[Shomer]] (&nbsp;1 Kings 16:23-24). Shechem previously had been the capital, [[Tirzah]] the court residence in summer (&nbsp;1 Kings 15:21; &nbsp;1 Kings 15:33; &nbsp;1 Kings 16:1-18). The situation combines strength, fertility and beauty (Josephus, Ant. 15:8, section 5; B.J. 1:21, section 2). It is 600 ft. high, surrounded with terraced hills, clad with figs and olives. There is abundant water in the valley; but the city, like Jerusalem, is dependent on rain cisterns. The view is charming: to the N. and E. lie its own rich valleys; to the W. fertile Sharon and the blue Mediterranean. ''(On The "Glorious Beauty" Of Ephraim (Samaria), '' &nbsp;Isaiah 28:1 '', See Meals.)'' Its strength enabled it to withstand severe sieges by the [[Syrians]] (1 Kings 20; 2 Kings 6; 7). [[Finally]] it fell before [[Shalmaneser]] and Sargon, after a three years' siege (&nbsp;2 Kings 18:9-12), 721 B.C. </p> <p> Called from its [[Baal]] worship, introduced by Ahab, "the city of the house of Ahab" (&nbsp;1 Kings 16:32-33; &nbsp;2 Kings 10:25). Alexander the Great replaced its inhabitants with Syro Macedonians. John [[Hyrcanus]] (109 B.C.) destroyed the city after a 12 months' siege (Josephus, Ant. 13:10, section 2-3). Herod the Great rebuilt and adorned it, naming it Sebaste from Sebastos, Greek for Augustus, his patron (Ant. 14:5, section 3; 15:8, section 5; B.J. 1:20, section 3, 21, section 2). The woman of Samaria and several of her townsmen (John 4) were the firstfruits gathered into Christ; the fuller harvest followed under Philip the evangelist deacon (Acts 8, compare &nbsp;John 4:35). Septimius [[Severus]] planted a Roman colony there in the third century A.D.; but politically it became secondary to Caesarea. Ecclesiastically it was of more importance; and Marius its bishop signed himself "Maximus Sebastenus" at the council of Nice, A.D. 325. The Mahometans took it, A.D. 614. The Crusaders established a Latin bishop there. </p> <p> Now ''Sebustieh'' ; its houses of stone are taken from ancient materials, but irregularly placed; the inhabitants are rude but industrious. The ruin of the church of John the [[Baptist]] marks the traditional place of his burial; the original structure is attributed to Helena, Constantine's mother; but the present building, except the eastern Greek end, is of later style: 153 ft. long inside, 75 broad, and a porch 10 ft. wide. Within is a Turkish tomb under which by steps you descend to a vault with tessellated floor, and five niches for the dead, the central one being alleged to have been that of John (?). [[Fifteen]] limestone columns stand near the hill top, two others lie on the ground, in two rows, 32 paces apart. Another colonnade, on the N. side of the hill, in a ravine, is arranged in a quadrangle, 196 paces long and 64 broad. On the W.S.W. are many columns, erect or prostrate, extending a third of a mile, and ending in a heap of ruins; each column 16 ft. high, 6 ft. in circumference at the base, 5 ft. at the top: probably relics of Herod's work. (See [[Hoshea]] .) </p> <p> Its present state accords with prophecy: (&nbsp;Hosea 13:16) "Samaria shall become desolate"; (&nbsp;Micah 1:6) "I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard, and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley (a graphic picture of its present state which is 'as though the buildings of the ancient city had been thrown down from the brow of a hill': Scottish [[Mission]] Enquiry, 295), and I will discover the foundations thereof." The hill planted with vines originally should return to its pristine state. SAMARIA is the designation of northern Israel under [[Jeroboam]] (&nbsp;1 Kings 13:32; &nbsp;Hosea 8:5-6; &nbsp;Amos 3:9). Through the depopulations by [[Pul]] and Tiglath Pileser (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 5:26; &nbsp;2 Kings 15:29) the extent of Samaria was much limited. The pagan pushed into the vacated region, and "Galilee of the Gentiles" ("nations") became an accepted phrase (&nbsp;Isaiah 9:1). After Shalmaneser's capture of Samaria and carrying away of Israel to [[Halah]] and Habor, and in the cities of the [[Medes]] (&nbsp;2 Kings 17:5-6; &nbsp;2 Kings 17:23-24), Esarhaddon or [[Asnapper]] planted "instead" men of [[Babylon]] ''(Where Esarhaddon Resided In Part: '' &nbsp;2 Chronicles 33:11 '')'' , Cuthah, Ava, and [[Sepharvaim]] (&nbsp;Ezra 4:2-3; &nbsp;Ezra 4:10). (See [[Esarhaddon]] ; ASNAPPER.) </p> <p> So completely did God "wipe" away Israel (&nbsp;2 Kings 21:13) that no [[Israelite]] remained able to teach the colonists "the manner of the God of the land" (&nbsp;2 Kings 17:26). Isaiah (&nbsp;Isaiah 7:8) in 742 B.C. foretold that within 65 years Ephraim should be "broken" so as "not to be a people"; accomplished in 677 B.C. by Esarhaddon's occupying their land with foreigners. Josephus (Ant. 10:9, section 7) notices the difference between the ten and the two tribes. Israel's land became the land of complete strangers; Judah not so. The lions sent by [[Jehovah]] (who still claims the land as His own and His people's: &nbsp;Jeremiah 31:20; &nbsp;Leviticus 26:42), in consequence of the colonists worshipping their five deities respectively, constrained them through fear to learn from an imported Israelite priest how to "fear Jehovah." But it was fear, not love; it was a vain combination of incompatible worships, that of Jehovah and of idols (&nbsp;Zephaniah 1:5; &nbsp;Ezekiel 20:39; &nbsp;1 Kings 18:21; &nbsp;Matthew 6:24). Luke (&nbsp;Luke 17:18) calls them "strangers," foreigners ( '''''Allogeneis''''' ). In Ezra's (&nbsp;Ezra 4:1-4) time they claim no community of descent, but only of religion, with the Jews. Baffled in their wish to share in building the temple, they thwarted the building by false representations' before Ahasuerus and [[Artaxerxes]] until the reign of DARIUS (Ezra 5; 6). (See [[Ahasuerus]] ; ARTAXERXES.) </p> <p> The Samaritans gradually cast off idols. In 409 B.C. Manasseh, of priestly descent, having been expelled for an unlawful marriage by Nehemiah, built a temple on Mount Gerizim for the Samaritans by [[Darius]] Nothus' permission. [[Henceforward]] the Samaritans refused all kindness to the pilgrims on their way to the feasts at Jerusalem, and often even waylaid them (Josephus, Ant. 20:6, section 1, 18:2, section 2). John Hyrcanus destroyed the Gerizim temple, but they still directed their worship toward it; then they built one at Shechem. The [[Pentateuch]] was their sole code; for their copy they claimed an antiquity and authority above any Jewish manuscript Jewish renegades joined them; hence they began to claim Jewish descent, as the Samaritan woman (&nbsp;John 4:12) says "Jacob our father." </p> <p> Possibly ''(Though There Is No Positive Evidence)'' [[Israelites]] may have not been completely swept from the fastness of the Samaritan hills, and these may have intermarried with the colonists. The Jews recognized no Israelite connection in the Samaritans. The Jews' charge against Jesus was, "Thou art a Samaritan" (&nbsp;John 8:48), probably because He had conversed with the Samaritans for their salvation (John 4). Then He was coming from Judaea, at a season "four months before the harvest," when the Samaritans could have no suspicion of His having been at Jerusalem for devotion (&nbsp;John 4:8; &nbsp;John 4:35); so the Samaritans treated Him with civility and hospitality, and the disciples bought food in the Samaritan town without being insulted. But in &nbsp;Luke 9:51-53, when He was "going to Jerusalem," the Samaritans did not receive Him: a minute coincidence with propriety, confirming the gospel narratives. </p> <p> In sending forth the twelve Christ identifies the Samaritans with Gentiles (&nbsp;Matthew 10:5-6); He distinguishes them from Jews (&nbsp;Acts 1:8; &nbsp;John 4:22). Samaria lay between Judaea and Galilee. (See Josephus, B. J. 3:3, section 4). Bounded N. by the hills beginning at [[Carmel]] and running E. toward Jordan, forming the southern boundary of the plain [[Esdraelon]] (Jezreel); including Ephraim and the [[Manasseh]] W. of Jordan. [[Pilate]] chastised them, to his own downfall (Josephus, Ant. 18:4, section 1). Under [[Vespasian]] 10,600 fell (B. J. 3:7, section 32). [[Dositheus]] an apostate Jew became their leader. [[Epiphanius]] (Haer. 1) mentions their hostility to Christianity, and numerous sects. Jos. Scaliger corresponded with them in the 16th century; DeSacy edited two of their letters to Scaliger; Job Ludolf received a letter from them in the 17th century. (See them in Eichhorn's Repertorium, 13) At Nablus (Shechem, or Sychar) the Samaritans have a settlement of 200 persons still, observing the law, and celebrating the [[Passover]] on Gerizim. </p>

<p> [[Samaria]] ( ''Sa-Mâ'Ri-Ah'' ; Lat. ''Săm'A-R'' ''Î'Ah'' ), ''Watch-Post'' . A city and district of Palestine. The city was founded by Omri. &nbsp;1 Kings 16:23-24 The palace at Tirzah, where the preceding monarch had resided, was burnt by Zimri. A hill admirably adapted for the site of a great city and capital belonged to Shemer. Omri purchased it for two talents of silver; and the city that he built thereon he called "Samaria," after the name of the former owner. &nbsp;1 Kings 16:18; &nbsp;1 Kings 16:23-24. [[Thenceforth]] it was the metropolis of the northern kingdom, the rival of Jerusalem, and generally the residence of the [[Israelitish]] monarchs, &nbsp;1 Kings 16:29; &nbsp;1 Kings 20:43; &nbsp;2 Kings 1:2, though they had also a palace at Jezreel. &nbsp;1 Kings 21:1; &nbsp;2 Kings 8:29. The worship of Baal was set up in Samaria by Ahab, who built there an altar and a temple to the idol-god, &nbsp;1 Kings 16:32, which were destroyed by Jehu. &nbsp;2 Kings 10:18-28. Samaria was unsuccessfully besieged by the Syrians in the reigns of Ahab and Joram. &nbsp;1 Kings 20:1-21; &nbsp;2 Kings 6:24-33; &nbsp;2 Kings 7:1-20. It was ultimately taken by the Assyrians after a siege of three years in the reign of Hoshea. &nbsp;2 Kings 17:6; &nbsp;2 Kings 18:9-10. The inhabitants were carried into captivity and colonists put in their place. &nbsp;2 Kings 17:24; &nbsp;Ezra 4:9-10. The city was taken by Alexander the Great, who placed a body of Syro-Macedonians in it. Subsequently Samaria was utterly destroyed by John Hyrcanus. It must, however, have been rebuilt; for in the time of Alexander Jannæus it was reckoned one of the cities possessed by the Jews. Pompey assigned it to the province of Syria. Augustus gave it to Herod the Great, who adorned it, settled a colony of veterans there, and strengthened its defences. He also gave it the name of Sebaste in honor of the emperor—Sebastos being the Greek equivalent of Augustus. But it began to decay, overshadowed by its neighbor Nablous, and it is now but a mass of ruins, adjacent to the modern village of Sebustieh. Samaria was gloriously beautiful, "a crown of pride," &nbsp;Isaiah 28:1, upon its fruitful hill. "The site of this celebrated capital," says Dr. Thomson, "is delightful, by universal consent." The name Samaria is often applied to the northern kingdom. Thus the sovereigns are called kings of Samaria as well as of Israel, &nbsp;1 Kings 21:1; &nbsp;2 Kings 1:1-18; &nbsp;2 Kings 3:1-27; and we also read of "the cities of Samaria." &nbsp;2 Kings 17:24. In New Testament times Samaria was one of the Roman divisions of Palestine lying between Galilee and Judæa; so that any one who would pass straight from one of these provinces to the other "must needs go through Samaria." &nbsp;John 4:4. It occupied the ancient territories of the tribes of Ephraim and western Manasseh. </p>

<p> This city was built by Omri, king of Israel, and came into prominence by becoming the capital of the kingdom of the ten tribes. It was situated on the side of a hill, and was adorned and fortified by the kings of Israel. Ben-hadad, king of Syria, besieged Samaria in the reign of Ahab, but by the intervention of God it was not taken. &nbsp;1 Kings 20:1-34 . In the days of Jehoram it was again besieged by Ben-hadad, and the famine became so great that they were on the point of capitulating when some lepers brought word that the enemy had fled, and abundance of provision was to be found in the camp. &nbsp;2 Kings 6:24-33; &nbsp;2 Kings 7:1-20 . </p> <p> It was besieged again by Shalmaneser, about B.C. 723, but held out for three years, being eventually taken by Sargon. The people were now carried into captivity. &nbsp;2 Kings 18:9-12 . Among the Assyrian inscriptions there is one in which Sargon says, "The city of Samaria I besieged, I captured; 27,280 of its inhabitants I carried away." It was partly re-peopled by the colonists imported by Esar-haddon. Samaria was again taken by John Hyrcanus, who did his best to destroy it. </p> <p> The city was rebuilt by Herod the Great, and named <i> Sebaste </i> (the Greek form of Augusta) in honour of his patron the emperor Augustus; but on the death of Herod it gradually declined. It is now only a miserable village, called <i> Sebustieh, </i> 32 17 N, 35 12' E, but with some grand columns standing and relics of its former greatness lying about. </p> <p> THE [[District Of Samaria]] is often alluded to in the N.T. It occupied about the same territory as that of Ephraim and Manasseh's portion in the west. It had the district of Galilee on the north, and Judaea on the south. &nbsp;Luke 17:11; &nbsp;John 4:4; &nbsp;Acts 1:8; &nbsp;Acts 8:1-14; &nbsp;Acts 9:31; &nbsp;Acts 15:3 . </p>