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| Not the Samaritan woman. (c) 20th Century Fox |
In John 4 we meet a Samaritan woman, and the question of her heritage is an important one. Indeed, several times we encounter the people called the Samaritans in the NT, but we don't really know much of them and it's hard to say with much precision exactly who they are.
Bible
The OT references are mostly within 1-2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, although there are a smattering of references in Ezra-Nehemiah and in the prophets (Isa, Jer, Eze, Hos, Amos, Obad, Mic).
In the NT there are far fewer references. In Matthew 10 Jesus tells his missionaries to go nowhere among the Samaritans. In Luke 9 Jesus is not welcomed by a Samaritan village, although he rebuffs the suggestions of his disciples to nuke the town. In Luke 10 the Samaritan is portrayed positively against the unneighbourly Jews, and similarly, in Luke 17, in a border region between Galilee and Samaria only the Samaritan can be bothered thanking Jesus for his miraculous cleansing. Skipping, for the moment, over the extended discussion in John 4, in John 8 'Samaritan' is hurled as an epithet meant to discredit Jesus. Briefly, in Acts, Jesus' prohibition in Matthew 10 is overturned, as the disciples are commanded to go there in Acts 1, and this is followed up in chapter 8 with an official mission to the Samaritans.
If we might summarise, there is a movement from Samaritans and Samaria as a region where Jews are not welcome, where a Jew should expect no help from a Samaritan, and it is only the death and resurrection of Jesus that properly extends the good news to these people and this region.
It might be noted that geographically there is something of an oddity in the NT region we know as Israel/Palestine. The Jewish regions are in the north (Galilee) and south (Judea), while Samaria is in the centre of the land, causing an annoying detour for pilgrims from the north who would head to the temple for the festivals.
The disciples correcting ethnic stereotypes about Samaritans. From That Mitchell and Webb Look.
As a social media relationship status might indicate, 'it's complicated'.
Going Back
The region is in many ways the spiritual home of Israel. It is the geographical centre of Israel, and Shechem, in the centre, is where Jacob's well was bought. But then there was Joseph, Egypt, the Exodus, the period of the Judges, and then the early monarchy, and everything was (relatively) happy. But when Solomon's son Rehoboam took some poor advice, the ten northern tribes split from Judah, taking the name Israel as well as all the northern land (~930BC). For pragmatic reasons - the text makes very clear (1 Kg 12.28) - he set up two golden calves, repeating (doubling!) the sin of Israel in the Exodus (34), declaring them Israel's delivering gods. 2 Kings 17 explains this as one of the key reasons, two centuries later, that Yhwh delivered Israel into the hands of Assyria for destruction.
We know the same thing happened 150 years later to Judah by Babylon, but there was a difference in foreign policies. The Babylonians settled the Judahites largely together, while the Israelites were scattered, deprived of their national identity, and the region was resettled with similarly dispossessed peoples from other Assyrian conquests. All this meant there was very little identity left for those living in the land by the end of the 6th Century when Judah was returned and allowed to rebuild their temple.
However, and this is where it gets interesting, it seems the Samaritans (if we may call them that) had built their own temple now on Mount Gerizim, next to Shechem, and this stands behind their strong opposition to Judah rebuilding in Jerusalem - jealousy. The Judeans (as we might now call them) however prevailed, and what might have been a polytheistic and idolatrous worship was now a firmly established monotheism, with their scriptures what is now known as the Samaritan Pentateuch. This is much the same as the Pentateuch known elsewhere as the five books of Moses, but there are several additions and revisions to emphasise the importance of Gerizim and Samaria over Jerusalem (such as the extended verse following the Decalogue).
By Jesus' time there was no temple left, as the Judeans had destroyed this in 128BC as retribution for Samaria allying themselves against them in a war, which leads us to the discussion we see in John 4, which prompted this investigation.
John 4
After establishing that Jews and Samaritans have greatly impaired relationships (John 4.9), although not so bad that Jews may not purchase food from them (4.8), the Samaritan woman takes control of the conversation by asking Jesus to explain the riddle with which we began this investigation: how do you solve a problem like Samaria?
“Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”” (John 4.20 NIV11)
We don't have a temple on our mountain; you do; are you telling me that you're right and we're wrong? The question of 'where' one may worship is all important, as this has been the dividing factor for nine centuries. The Jewish (ironic) answer would have been yes, although their temple would only remain extant another 40 years. Jesus however has a different answer, as he explains that behind the 'where' is ultimately the 'who', and the 'who' to which the temple points is standing right in front of her.
It is probably fair to say the temple Jesus is saying refers to himself is the Jerusalem temple, but he does not seem at all concerned by this. Something greater than the temple is here, for Jews, for Samaritans, and indeed for the whole world.
