SAMARIA and the Samaritans, Sylvester Hassell The land of Israel was not left desolate when the king of Assyria depopulated the country. He brought in others to fill their places, men, women, and children, from different provinces of his empire, to secure the country which he had conquered; and in this way Samaria was settled. Here originated a most remarkable people, both in regard to their religion and their perpetuity.
The zealous king of Judah, Josiah, undertook to destroy the idols in the lands once occupied by the ten tribes, ninety-three years after their captivity. He met with resistance elsewhere, but not in Samaria. There he killed the idolatrous priests, which they were willing to, and had no objection to the worship set up by Josiah. Ninety-two years afterwards, viz., in the year B.C. 536, when Ezra under the decree of Cyrus was laying the foundation of the second temple, these people desired to assist him in the work on the ground of a common religion. Said they, “Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar-haddon, king of Asshur, who brought us hither.” But the Jews replied, “Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel as Cyrus, the king of Persia, hath commanded us” (Ezra 4). Upon this refusal of their assistance they became much displeased, and did what they could ever afterwards to hinder the work, and actually prevailed with the king of Persia to put a stop to it for awhile. The bitterness engendered on that occasion has never passed away. It continued between the two people all the time during the existence of the second temple. In the days of our Savior “the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans,” and we presume the prejudice remains to this day, whenever they come in contact.
The Jewish nation has been broken up for eighteen hundred years [as of 1885 Ed.], and their descendants are now dispersed abroad among the nations of the earth without the least sign of nationality; while the Samaritans occupy their old ground still, hold fast to their old religion, and are full of their old prejudices. They worship on Mount Gerizim, and hold to the five books of Moses, with the books of Joshua and Judges in a corrupted form. The Pentateuch, however, is their Bible, and they still look for a Savior to come.
Their copy of the Pentateuch is very ancient, and written in the ancient Hebrew or Phoenician character. When they received it or what is the date of it is unknown—perhaps a little before the Babylonian captivity.” (Hassell’s History ppg 123, 124)