The Samaritans during the Hasmonean Period: The Affirmation of a Discrete Identity (original) (raw)
2019, Religions 10(11):62
The Hasmonean period is increasingly seen in current scholarship as formative for Samaritan identity and, in particular, as the moment when the Samaritans emerged as a self-contained group separate from the Jews. The first aim of this paper is to give an overview of the condition of the Samaritans during this period. In largely chronological order, the first part of the article discusses the situation of the Samaritans on the eve of the Hasmonean revolt, at the outbreak of the uprising, and under the rule of the first Hasmoneans. The second aim is to review the commonly held causes of the emergence, at this time, of the Samaritans as a discrete community, such as, for instance, the destruction of the Samaritan temple, the production of the Samaritan Pentateuch and the appearance of anti-Samaritan polemics in Jewish literature. The paper concludes that the Hasmoneans' attitude toward the Samaritans cannot simply be seen as one of hatred and rejection as is generally assumed. Besides; although some of the historical processes beginning in the Hasmonean period had far-reaching implications for the parting of the ways between Jews and Samaritans; their immediate effects should not be overstated.
Sign up for access to the world's latest research.
checkGet notified about relevant papers
checkSave papers to use in your research
checkJoin the discussion with peers
checkTrack your impact
Related papers
What do Samaritans and Jews have in Common? Recent Trends in Samaritan Studies
Currents in Biblical Research, 2004
Apart from the later period of the Hasmonaean kingdom, Samaritans and Jews were always separate peoples who had either Gerizim or Jerusalem as their main cult place. While Jewish perspectives on Samaritan origin and history still prevail in recent research, future research will have to broaden the perspective and take into consideration Samaritan claims for authenticity in respect to origin, belief and traditions. These claims have recently been substantiated by excavations on Mount Gerizim, which have unearthed structures of a major Persian Period cult place that may date as early as the sixth century BCE. These finds, as well as finds of about 400 inscriptions and 13,000 coins, have just begun to be published. The present article presents the most recent development in research on Samaritan history and literature, in order to offer a base for the necessary rewriting of both Samaritan and Jewish history.
The Construction of Samaritan Identity (2013)
The question of why the cooperation of Jews with the Persian and Ptolemaic empires achieved some success and why it failed with regard to the Seleucids and the Romans, even turning into military hostility against them, has not been sufficiently answered. The present volume intends to show, from the perspectives of Hebrew Bible, Judaic, and Ancient History Studies, that the contrasting Jewish attitudes towards foreign powers were not only dependent on specific political circumstances. They were also interrelated with the emergence of multiple early Jewish identities, which all found a basis in the Torah, the prophets, or the psalms. The wide range of theological and ethical concepts, which were already enshrined in the Torah and even enlarged by the prophets, helped different Jewish groups to construct their identities in a way that enabled them to conform to or put up resistance against the demands of foreign rule in a non-violent way. Their different interpretations, however, involved likewise the danger of violent internal and external quarrels, which became apparent under specific social and political conditions, especially when any public control of interpretation failed.
Theories of the Origin of the Samaritans—Then and Now
Religions
The article describes the different models for understanding the origin of the Samaritans: the Samaritans’ own view; Flavius Josephus’ two stories; a model based upon the results of the excavations of the cities of Samaria and Shechem, plus information from ancient authors; new insights from the Dead Sea Scrolls; and models based on the results of the Mount Gerizim excavations; and the Delos inscriptions. Each of these models has its modern followers in scholarship, and their various adherents are named. A last part of the article is devoted to the state of the question of the origin of the Samaritans. The presentation is organized according to the sources because the material at hand has produced different solutions to the pertinent questions. Through quoting the texts and presenting the results of the excavations, the author gives the reader an opportunity to form her or his own opinions, both on the different theories and on the origin of the Samaritans.
The phrase 'Jews have no dealings with Samaritans' is the Johannine summary of the sour relations that existed between Jews and Samaritans during the time of Jesus Christ. Relations between Jews and Samaritans were at the level of conflicts during the time of Christ. These conflicts are reflected especially in the Gospels (see John 8:48; Luke 9:53-54). This work is primarily an attempt to identify the bases for these conflicts. Understanding the nature of the relations between these two groups will therefore assists students and interpreters of the New Testament appreciate and comprehend the negative signals emitted by these biblical texts. The work is a historical-critical method of study applied to biblical texts in their synchronic forms. It implies an inquiry into who the Samaritans were; what their beliefs and practices were and why there was such enmity between them and the Jews. The study identifies the non recognition of the Jewish origin of the Samaritans as the basis for the conflicts. It also identifies the intricacies of religion and politics in the diversification of the conflict, highlights some instances of class distinctions and religious conflicts in modern society as contemporary equivalents of the Samaritan-Jewish conflicts. It recommends respects for the dignity of the human person, emphasis on, and widening of the borders of kinship and the encouragement of multi-culturalism as the foundations for building a less discriminatory society.
The Samaritans as an Islamicate Minority, c. 750-950
Journal of Religious Minorities under Muslim Rule 2, 1-27, 2024
This article examines the testimony of the Arabic Samaritan Chronicle to examine the lachrymose account of the decline of the community. It compares this narrative to those of contemporary Christian sources and argues that the impression of crisis is appreciable worse than for most Christian populations. This rests in part on the small size of the Samaritan population, which made it vulnerable to natural disasters, and its separation from a wider Mediterranean diaspora, which might have allowed the community in Samaria to generate resources. It further argues that the strict exclusion of non-Samaritans made collaboration with Muslim authorities very hard for Samaritan leaders, which reduced its flexibility in dealing with authoritarian structures that might change rapidly.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.
Related papers
Israelites, Samaritans, Temples, Jews
in : József Zsengellér (ed.), Samaria, Samarians, Samaritans. Studies on Bible, History and Linguistics, Berlin, W. de Gruyter, 2013, p. 121-172