What is a Samaritan?
The Samaritans appear in the Gospels as a people the Jews avoided entirely, yet the Lord Jesus deliberately sought them out. To understand why that mattered, we have to go back to a deportation, a mixed settlement, and a rival temple on a mountain.
A Mixed People with a Mixed Religion
Their story starts when the northern kingdom of Israel was carried off by Assyria, and foreigners were moved into the emptied land. Trouble in the land pushed the settlers toward the God of that land, but they never let go of their own gods:
Hamilton SmithThe Samaritans of the Lord's day were rightly regarded as a corrupt race. The beginning of their history is recorded in 2 Kings 17:24-41. After the ten tribes were taken captive, the Assyrian king repopulated the land with men from Babylon and other pagan cities. Living in the land of the LORD, yet not fearing Him, they were troubled by Him. To deal with this trouble, the Assyrian king sent a priest of the LORD to teach them His ways. The result was a corrupt people who "feared the LORD, and served their own gods". So they had some dim knowledge of the Lord, and of the fact that the Messiah was coming.
Half Jews
By the time of Christ they were neither fully Israelite nor simply pagan. They held part of the Bible, kept part of the law, and expected the Messiah:
Church HistoryFor the origin of the mixed people and worship of Samaria, see 2 Kings 17. They were only half Jews, though they boasted of their connection to Jacob. They accepted the five books of Moses as sacred, but undervalued the rest of the Bible. They were circumcised, kept the law after a fashion, and were expecting a Messiah to come.
Why the Jews Kept Their Distance
The hostility had a definite starting point. When the exiles returned from Babylon to rebuild, these neighbours offered to help — and their own words gave them away:
Edward DennettThey say, "We do sacrifice unto Him" (God) "since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither." They revealed in this way their true origin; they were, by their own confession, not the children of Abraham, but Assyrians, and had therefore no claim to be of the children of Israel. These were, in fact, the fathers of the Samaritans (see 2 Kings 17:24-41), who continued right down to the end of the Jewish era to try to push themselves into the place of privilege and blessing. It was for this reason, and because of the strife it stirred up, that the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans.
Refused a share in Jerusalem's temple, they raised their own on Mount Gerizim, the hill where Israel's blessings had once been read out. Long after that building was gone, the quarrel and the site remained:
Morrish Bible DictionaryHistory records that after the temple was rebuilt in the time of Ezra, a Samaritan temple was built on this mountain, where they had priests and sacrifices, and this was the cause of great hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans. Though this temple was destroyed by Hyrcanus, the Samaritans held on to the mountain as the right place of worship, as the woman of Samaria said to the Lord. John 4:20. The Samaritans still eat the Passover lamb on the mountain.
An Insult in One Word
Calling someone a Samaritan was the worst name a Jew could throw — and they threw it at Jesus.
Morrish Bible DictionaryA Jew considered it the height of insult to be called a Samaritan, and the people of Judea added this to the other insults they heaped on the blessed Lord. John 8:48.
The Lord Did Not Flatter Them
Grace toward Samaritans never meant pretending their religion was right. At the well, He settled a centuries-old argument in a sentence:
C E StuartThe Samaritan worship was then all wrong. Their separation from the worship carried on at Jerusalem was completely unauthorised. Salvation was of the Jews. It had to come through them, and not through the upholders of the Samaritan schism, as we may well call it. Besides, they worshipped what they did not know.
The Name Jesus Chose for His Best Story
When a lawyer wanted the word "neighbour" narrowed down, the Lord picked the most offensive hero available:
William KellyThe Lord therefore told the beautiful parable of the good Samaritan. How cutting to Jewish pride! Not the "Good Israelite," but the "Good Samaritan!" Where did its force lie? It was not another Samaritan he saw needing help, but an Israelite whom everyone else turned away from except the Samaritan.
Commentators differ over whether that Samaritan pictures Christ Himself. Some read the parable as the gospel in miniature; Stuart argues against it, since the closing words are "Go and do thou likewise," a command no one could obey if the Samaritan were the Saviour.
Grace Valued Most by Those with No Claim
Ten lepers were healed; one came back. His nationality is the point of the story:
C E StuartAll had been lepers. All were healed. But nine of them were Jews, who as such could claim Messiah's help. The tenth was a Samaritan, who could not rightly claim it… He who was the most striking example of grace among them all valued it most.
Summary
- Origin. Foreign settlers placed in captured Israel produced a mixed people who "feared the LORD, and served their own gods" — half-knowledge, not no knowledge.
- Rejection. Turned away from helping rebuild the temple because they were not children of Abraham, they built a rival sanctuary on Gerizim, and the feud hardened into "no dealings."
- Insult. "Samaritan" became the sharpest slur a Jew could use, and it was used on Christ Himself.
- Grace. He corrected their worship without withholding Himself — telling the woman plainly that salvation is of the Jews, while offering her living water.
- Reversal. The despised outsider becomes the model neighbour and the one thankful leper: those with the least claim on grace prize it the most.