Samaritans
These were
the inhabitants of the land during the time of the captivity and they persisted
there until the time of Jesus (John 4). The Samaritans had a syncretistic
worship. Their ancestry came from intermarriage with foreign immigrants in
Samaria after 722 B.C. After most of the people in Israel (north) were exiled
to Assyria, a settlement of Babylonian colonists took their place and
intermarried with the remaining Jewish women. These were their descendants.
“Then the king of Assyria brought people
from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel;
and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.”
“Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in
Bethel, and taught them how they should
fear the Lord.”
“However every nation
continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had
made, every nation in the
cities where they dwelt.”
“They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods—according to the rituals
of the nations from among whom they were carried away.”
“To this day they continue
practicing the former rituals; they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their
ordinances, or the law and commandment which the Lord had commanded the
children of Jacob, whom He named Israel,”
2 Kings 17:
24,28,29,33,34
They
approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the tribes of Israel when they first
returned and offered insincere requests at cooperation, claiming that they
worshipped the same God as the Israelites. Ezra refers to them as
adversaries/enemies. When they could not join them, although it was probably an
effort to thwart the work from the inside, they then opposed them by trying to
discourage them, trouble them, hire counsellors (lawyers) against them, and to
frustrate their purpose. “If you can’t
beat them, join them,” in this case became, “If you can’t join them, beat
them.” This legal action caused a 16 year delay. (Ezra 4:1-5) As a result, the
people took more of an interest in their personal affairs than spiritual
matters. (Haggai 1:2-6)
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