I've been doing a bit of reading about the Samaritans that tied a number of things together for me across the Old Testament to the New and into present day.

What I remembered from Sunday School days was really just that in Jesus day - they and the Jews hated each other and treated each other something like a bad bad smell!

What I read was fascinating… vastly summarized, this is what I understood (I’ll pop some links below if you want to read more depth).

When Israel was under the rule of  King Saul (1^stking), then David and then Solomon, it was one united Kingdom.  Under Solomon’s son Rehoboam (who became the 4^th King), there was a separation of the Kingdom when 10 of the 12 tribes rebelled and separated to form a second province due to Rehoboam increasing the taxes and work demands that were already heavy even under his father Solomon.  They sought some easing from Rehoboam and instead received increased difficulty.

The 10 tribes that left Jerusalem settled around Samaria (in the North) – hence Samaritans. 

That was the first major rift. 

335 years after Solomon died both Kingdoms had fallen – 10 tribes in the North to the Assyrian Empire and the 2 tribes in the South (Judea) taken captive to Babylon with the Temple in Jerusalem now destroyed.  70 years later those taken to Babylon were released, allowed to return to Jerusalem and began rebuilding the Temple. 

The Samaritans considered themselves to be Jews and the Temple was sacred to them also, but the Jews at Jerusalem felt the Samaritans were no longer Jews, through intermarriage in another region and differences that had emerged in their practice of the Torah.  (The Law – namely the first 5 books of the Bible recorded by Moses).

The Samaritans were keen to come and help rebuild the Temple but they wererejected.

That was the second major rift.

Then things got nasty – like siblings trying to outdo each other.  The Samaritans tried to stop the building of the Temple and 100 years after it was finished, built their own at Mount Gerizim where they practiced religion similarly to the ways of the Jerusalem Temple.

What were the differences that had emerged in their practice of Torah I hear you ask? 

Well – the Samaritans followed solely the first 5 books of the OT with some differences in the ancient text of those books. 

Also:

Unlike Judaism, which regards "I am the Lord your God..." (Ex. 20:2) as the first of the Ten Commandments, the Samaritan TenCommandments begin with the next verse ("You shall have no other godsbefore Me") and the tenth commandment, known as "Mount Gerizim,"declares this mountain as the site where an altar is to be built to God.http://www.answers.com/topic/samaritan

…which resulted in the incorporation of other gods into the religious system, and adaptations of the Jerusalem Temple  systems.

This – like all the other Biblical history I’ve read this year – has been so totally fascinating as it blows away a blanket of fog revealing new understanding over the Scriptures as I read them.  We see the origins and continuances of this ‘sibling rivalry’ and understand the words of Jesus and the reactions of the biblical characters so much more.

What staggers me with each area of interest and study, is that layer upon layer of understanding is available to us! 

I remember specifically where and when it was that I prayed that God would make His Word ALIVE to me… it was in a church service in a country town which we visited while on holiday 6 years ago. I felt the words being read were not even penetrating my head inunderstandable sentences though I tried and tried to concentrate.

Some of the Biblical stories follow…

In this reference the Jews weren’t just insulting Jesus – due to the incorporation of other gods into the Samaritan system and their lackof acceptance of Jesus as Messiah, they were making an accusation rather than a mere insult but Jesus gave as good as He got here!  One of the reasons I can't stand most religious films it that the portrayal of Jesus is so insipid and passionless (I'll blog about that one day) - I'm sure nothing could be further from the truth:

JN 8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning,not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can any of youprove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? 47 He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."    JN 8:48 The Jews answered him, "Aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?"    JN 8:49 "Iam not possessed by a demon," said Jesus, "but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but thereis one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."

In this next reference the disciples spoke out of their love for Jesus but also (I suspect) with extra vehemence due to the source of the insult towards Him being from the Samaritans - again, Jesus was hardly passionless: 

LK 9:51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him,because he was heading for Jerusalem.54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56 and they went to another village.

In the next reference we can see better the reasons for the reactions of the key players and we also begin to see that Samaria was also ripe ready for the Saviour!

JN 4:1 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2 although infact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.    JN4:4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well.It was about the sixth hour.    JN 4:7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me adrink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)    JN 4:9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. )    JN4:10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."   JN 4:11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"    JN 4:13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."    JN4:15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."    JN 4:16 He told her,"Go, call your husband and come back."    JN4:17 "I have no husband," she replied.  Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is,you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."   JN 4:19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."   JN4:21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, atime is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worshipin spirit and in truth."    JN 4:25 Thewoman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming.When he comes, he will explain everything to us."     JN4:26 Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."    JN 4:27 Just then hisdisciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But noone asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking withher?"    JN 4:28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.   JN 4:31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."    JN 4:32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."    JN4:33 Then his disciples said to each other,"Could someone have brought him food?"    JN4:34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say,`Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look atthe fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying`One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not workedfor. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."    JN 4:39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony,"He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.    JN 4:42 They said tothe woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now wehave heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."