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Quick Summary
The Samaritans were a people who lived in Samaria, the hill country between Galilee in the north and Judea in the south. They worshiped the God of Israel and kept the five books of Moses, but they worshiped on Mount Gerizim instead of in Jerusalem, and they did not accept the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures. Jews regarded them as compromised outsiders, partly descended from foreigners the Assyrians settled in the land after 722 BC. The Samaritans saw themselves as the faithful descendants of the northern tribes. By Jesus' day the hostility ran deep: "Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans" (John 4:9). That is what makes Jesus' dealings with them so striking. He spoke with a Samaritan woman at a well, made a Samaritan the hero of one of his best-known parables, and praised a Samaritan leper as the only one of ten who came back to thank God. After the resurrection, the gospel spread to Samaria before it reached the Gentiles (Acts 8). A small Samaritan community still lives today near Mount Gerizim.
Who Were the Samaritans in the Bible?
The name comes from the region of Samaria and its capital city, also called Samaria. King Omri of Israel founded the city as the capital of the northern kingdom around 880 BC (1 Kings 16:24). For about 150 years it was the royal city of the kings of Israel. See the kings of Israel and Judah.
In New Testament times, Samaria was the territory that lay between Galilee and Judea. A Jew from Galilee traveling to Jerusalem had two choices: go straight south through Samaria, which took about three days, or cross the Jordan and go the long way around. John says Jesus "had to go through Samaria" (John 4:4). Luke places Jesus' first steps toward Jerusalem on that road (Luke 9:51-53). The lines were not always as clean as the hostility suggests: Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee in Jesus' day, had a Samaritan mother.
| Passage | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Luke 9:51-56 Samaritans Reject Jesus | A village turns Jesus away. James and John want to call down fire; Jesus rebukes them. |
| Luke 10:25-37 The Good Samaritan | A Samaritan shows mercy where a priest and a Levite passed by. |
| Luke 17:11-19 Jesus Heals Ten Lepers | Only one of ten returns to give thanks, and he is a Samaritan. |
| John 4 The Woman at the Well | Jesus offers living water; many in Sychar believe he is "the Savior of the world." |
| John 8:48 | Jesus' opponents use "Samaritan" as an insult. |
| Acts 1:8 The Great Commission | Jesus sends his witnesses to "Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." |
| Acts 8:4-25 Philip in Samaria | Samaria receives the gospel; Peter and John pray for the believers to receive the Spirit. |
Where Did the Samaritans Come From?
There are two stories of Samaritan origins, and which one you hear depends on who is telling it.
The account in 2 Kings. In 722 BC, the Assyrian Empire conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, captured Samaria, and deported much of the population. "The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria in place of the people of Israel" (2 Kings 17:24). These newcomers learned to worship the Lord but kept their own gods as well: "So they worshiped the Lord but also served their own gods" (2 Kings 17:33). Later Jewish writers drew on this passage to describe the Samaritans as a mixed people with a mixed religion. See who wrote 2 Kings.
The Samaritans' own account. The Samaritans call themselves Shamerim, "keepers" of the law. They trace their ancestry to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, and they hold that they are the Israelites who never left the land. In their view, it was the Jews of Jerusalem who departed from the original faith.
Most historians think the truth includes elements of both. Many Israelites remained in the north after 722 BC and intermarried with the newcomers. The decisive split between the two communities came later, over where God was to be worshiped.
Why Did the Jews and Samaritans Hate Each Other?
The hostility built up over centuries.
The rebuilding of Jerusalem. When the Jewish exiles returned from Babylon in the late sixth century BC, the people of the land offered to help rebuild the temple. The Jewish leaders refused, and the offer turned to opposition (Ezra 4:1-5). A century later, Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, led the resistance to Nehemiah's rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls (Nehemiah 4:1-2). See who wrote Ezra and who wrote Nehemiah.
The temple on Mount Gerizim. The Samaritans built their own temple on Mount Gerizim, above the ancient city of Shechem. In the late second century BC, the Jewish ruler John Hyrcanus destroyed it. The Samaritans never forgot.
Scripture and worship. The Samaritans accepted only the first five books of the Bible, in their own version known as the Samaritan Pentateuch. They rejected the prophets and the writings, and they rejected Jerusalem as the place God had chosen. The Samaritan woman put the dispute plainly to Jesus: "Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem" (John 4:20).
By the first century, the contempt was open on both sides. The Jewish wisdom book Sirach calls them "the foolish people that live in Shechem" (Sirach 50:26). When Jesus' opponents wanted to insult him, they said, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" (John 8:48). Samaritans, for their part, sometimes harassed Jewish pilgrims passing through their land.
The Samaritans in the Gospel of Luke
Luke takes a special interest in the Samaritans. They appear in three stories, and each one turns expectations upside down.
A Samaritan Village Rejects Jesus (Luke 9:51-56)
When Jesus "set his face to go to Jerusalem," he sent messengers ahead into a Samaritan village, "but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51-53). The Samaritans wanted nothing to do with a Jewish teacher headed for the rival temple.
James and John, the Sons of Thunder, asked, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" (Luke 9:54). They were thinking of Elijah, who called down fire on the soldiers of a king of Samaria (2 Kings 1:9-12). Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village. See Samaritans Reject Jesus (Luke 9:51-56).
The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)
A lawyer asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus told the story of a man beaten by robbers and left for dead. A priest passed by. A Levite passed by. Then "a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity" (Luke 10:33). The Samaritan bandaged him, carried him to an inn, and paid for his care.
For a Jewish audience, the hero of the story was the last person they expected. Jesus asked which of the three had been a neighbor, and the lawyer could not bring himself to say "the Samaritan." He answered, "The one who showed him mercy" (Luke 10:37). See the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) and my sermon The Good Samaritan.
The Thankful Samaritan Leper (Luke 17:11-19)
On the way to Jerusalem, "going through the region between Samaria and Galilee," Jesus healed ten lepers. Only one came back, praising God and falling at Jesus' feet. "And he was a Samaritan" (Luke 17:16). Jesus asked, "Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" (Luke 17:18). See Jesus Heals Ten Lepers (Luke 17:11-19).
Read together, the three stories form an arc. In Luke 9, Samaritans reject Jesus and the disciples want them destroyed. In Luke 10 and 17, Samaritans become examples of mercy and gratitude.
The Samaritan Woman at the Well (John 4)
John tells the longest Samaritan story in the Gospels. At Jacob's well near the town of Sychar, Jesus asked a Samaritan woman for a drink. She was astonished: "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (John 4:9). In the conversation that followed, Jesus offered her living water, answered her question about the two mountains by speaking of worship in spirit and truth, and revealed that he was the Messiah. She went back to town and told everyone, and many Samaritans believed. They said, "we know that this is truly the Savior of the world" (John 4:42).
The well itself traced back to the patriarch Jacob, whom both Jews and Samaritans claimed as their ancestor. I go through the story in The Woman at the Well (John 4) and the John 4 summary.
The Samaritans in Acts
Before Jesus ascended, he told his followers, "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). See The Great Commission of Acts (Acts 1:8). Samaria was the gospel's first step beyond the Jewish heartland.
When persecution scattered the Jerusalem church, Philip the evangelist "went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them," and "there was great joy in that city" (Acts 8:5, 8). See Philip, Samaria, and the Spirit's Expansion (Acts 8:4-13).
Then the apostles in Jerusalem sent Peter and John to Samaria, where they prayed for the new believers to receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-17). This is the same John who once wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan village. Now he came to call down the Spirit. See Simon Magus and the Gift That Cannot Be Bought (Acts 8:14-25).
Are There Samaritans Today?
Yes. A small Samaritan community survives today, numbering fewer than a thousand people. About half live on Mount Gerizim, near the city of Nablus in the West Bank, and the rest in Holon, near Tel Aviv. They still read the Samaritan Pentateuch in their ancient script, still regard Mount Gerizim as the holy place, and still sacrifice lambs there every Passover, as Exodus 12 describes.
What the Samaritans Teach Us
The Samaritans show how easily God's people can draw lines that God does not draw. Jews and Samaritans shared Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the law, and they still despised each other. Jesus crossed that line again and again. He would not let his disciples call down fire. He made a Samaritan the picture of a true neighbor. He offered living water to a Samaritan woman whom others avoided.
The question Jesus asks the lawyer in Luke 10 still stands. The lawyer wanted to know who counted as his neighbor. Jesus turned the question around: which person acted as a neighbor? For Luke, the people we least expect are often the ones who understand God's mercy best.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who were the Samaritans in the Bible? The Samaritans were a people of Samaria, the region between Galilee and Judea. They worshiped the God of Israel and followed the five books of Moses, but they worshiped on Mount Gerizim instead of in Jerusalem.
Why did the Jews hate the Samaritans? The hostility grew from their mixed ancestry after the Assyrian conquest (2 Kings 17), Samaritan opposition to the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Ezra 4; Nehemiah 4), the rival temple on Mount Gerizim, and disputes over Scripture and worship.
What was the difference between Jews and Samaritans? The Samaritans accepted only the five books of Moses and worshiped on Mount Gerizim. Jews accepted the prophets and writings as well and worshiped at the temple in Jerusalem (John 4:20).
Where is Samaria today? Ancient Samaria lies in the central hill country of the modern West Bank, around the city of Nablus (ancient Shechem).
Why is the Good Samaritan story so important? Jesus made a Samaritan, a member of a despised group, the example of what it means to love your neighbor (Luke 10:25-37). The story teaches that mercy crosses every boundary.
What did Jesus say to the Samaritan woman? Jesus offered her "living water," spoke about worship "in spirit and truth," and told her he was the Messiah (John 4:10, 23-26).
Are there still Samaritans today? Yes. Fewer than a thousand Samaritans live today, on Mount Gerizim near Nablus and in Holon, Israel.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Works Consulted
Reinhard Pummer, The Samaritans: A Profile
Gary N. Knoppers, Jews and Samaritans: The Origins and History of Their Early Relations
Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (New International Commentary on the New Testament)
Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John I-XII (Anchor Bible)
