Samaritans

The Samaritans were the mixed population that resulted from the Assyrian resettlement of the former northern kingdom of Israel following Sargon II's deportation of the Israelites in 722 BC. The Assyrians brought colonists from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, who intermingled with the remaining Israelite population and blended their pagan religious practices with the worship of Yahweh (2 Kings 17:24–41). When the Jewish exiles returned from Babylon under Zerubbabel, they rejected the Samaritans' offer to help rebuild the temple, creating a lasting breach (Ezra 4:1–5). The Samaritans built their own temple on Mount Gerizim, which the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus destroyed around 128 BC. By the New Testament era, the animosity was deep-rooted: "Jews have no dealings with Samaritans" (John 4:9). Jesus deliberately crossed these boundaries: he spoke with the Samaritan woman (John 4), healed ten lepers including one Samaritan (Luke 17:16), and made a Samaritan the hero of one of his most famous parables (Luke 10:33). Philip's mission to Samaria (Acts 8:5–8) extended the gospel across this ethnic and religious divide.