The Samaritans of Samaria ( see map at Iudaea Province ), had their temple on Mount Gerizim, and along with some other differences, see Samaritanism, were in conflict with Jews of Judea and Galilee and other regions who had their Temple in Jerusalem and practiced Judaism.

On one occasion he ordered some Samaritan wine, but subsequently learning that there were no longer any strict observers of the dietary laws among the Samaritans, with the assistance of his colleagues, Ḥiyya b. Abba, Rav Ammi, and Rav Assi, he investigated the report, and, ascertaining it to be well founded, did not hesitate to declare the Samaritans, for all ritualistic purposes, Gentiles ( Yer.

At first the beginning of each Jewish month was signaled to the communities of Israel and beyond by fires lit on mountaintops, but after the Samaritans began to light false fires, messengers were sent.

Nevertheless, the unwalled cities and towns that remained were subject to slave raids by the Phoenicians and intervention in their internal affairs from Samaritans, Arabs and Ammonites.

There were also a small number of Jews and Samaritans.

Justin wrote that nearly all the Samaritans in his time were adherents of a certain Simon of Gitta, a village not far from Flavia Neapolis.

In the Biblical account, however, Cuthah was just one of several cities from which people were brought to Samaria, and the Samaritans were later called " Cutheans " to spite them, with the added assertion that the men of Kuth made Nergal their god.

Historically, Samaritans were a large community — up to more than a million in late Roman times, but were then gradually reduced to several tens of thousands a few centuries ago — their unprecedented demographic shrinkage has been a result of various historical events, including, most notably, the bloody suppression of the Third Samaritan Revolt ( 529 CE ) against the Byzantine Christian rulers, and mass conversion to Islam in the Early Muslim period of Palestine.

According to their tally, there were 751 Samaritans as of January 1, 2012, living exclusively in two localities, one in Kiryat Luza on Mount Gerizim near the city of Nablus in the West Bank, and the other in the Israeli city of Holon.

Also eight families in Gaza City were found to be Samaritans.

Unlike the Chronicler, the Samaritans claimed that they were the true Israel who were descendants of the " lost " tribes taken into Assyrian captivity.

The text is not clear on this matter, but one possibility is that these " people of the land " were thought of as Samaritans.

The term " Cuthim " applied by Jews to the Samaritans had clear pejorative connotations, implying that they were interlopers brought in from Kutha in Mesopotamia and rejecting their claim of descent from the ancient Tribes of Israel.

It has been posited that an ancient belief existed among the Jews and Samaritans that both the wisest and most aged among them would grow caprine horns, which were known euphemistically as " rays of light " ( נקודת אור ), hence the following ancient Hebrew dictums:

The Israelites (, Standard: ; Tiberian: ; ISO 259-3: ) were a Semitic Hebrew-speaking people of the Ancient Near East, who inhabited part of the Land of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods ( 15th to 6th centuries BCE ), later evolving into Jews and Samaritans of the Hellenistic and Roman periods, inhabiting the territories of Judea and Galilee, and Samaria respectively, though a Jewish diaspora had already developed outside of Judea and Galilee.

The Samaritans consider themselves ( and some biblical scholars consider them ) to be the remaining population of the Northern Kingdom of Israel who were not exiled during the ten tribes exile and who joined with the exiled people that the Assyrians brought into the land instead of the exiled Israelite population ( such as the people of Kutha ), forming the Samaritan community.

Attempts were also made to incorpoarate the Samaritans, following takeover of Samaria.

According to the Bible, other people were brought to Samaria, the Samaritans, under his predecessor Shalmaneser V ( 2 Kings 18 ).

Tensions were particularly high in the early decades of the first century because Samaritans had desecrated the Jewish Temple at Passover with human bones.

As the story reached those who were unaware of the oppression of the Samaritans, this aspect of the parable became less and less discernible: fewer and fewer people ever heard of them in any context other than as a description.

The Samaritans in turn hated the Jews.

The city was sacked by the Samaritans in 529, but rebuilt by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. Bethlehem was conquered by the Arab Caliphate of ' Umar ibn al-Khattāb in 637, who guaranteed safety for the city's religious shrines.

** Samaritan Hebrew – Form of Hebrew used by the Samaritans

While the gentile peoples, seduced by demons, had deserted the true God for idols, the Jews and Samaritans possessed the revelation given through the prophets and awaited the Messiah.

Karaite Jews and Samaritans use different versions of the Jewish calendar, which are often out of sync with the modern Jewish calendar by one or two days.

On the calendars used by Karaites and Samaritans, Abib or Aviv 15 ( as opposed to ' Nisan ') corresponds to April 11 in 2009.

The sacrifices may only be performed in a specific place prescribed by God ( for Judaism, Jerusalem, and for Samaritans, Mount Gerizim ).

Payment by Samaritans or Gentiles was rejected.

:* John 4: 9 – ( Jews have no dealings with Samaritans ), it is one of so-called Western non-interpolations ; omission is supported by D, a, b, d, e, j, cop < sup > fay </ sup >, it was supplemented by the first corrector ( before leaving scriptorium );

Based on the Samaritan Torah, Samaritans claim their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites prior to the Babylonian Exile, preserved by those who remained in the Land of Israel, as opposed to Judaism, which they assert is a related but altered and amended religion, brought back by those returning from exile.

With the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language by Jews in Israel, and its growth and officialization following the establishment of the state, most Samaritans in Israel today speak Modern Hebrew.

The Samaritans have insisted that they are direct descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BCE.

During the New Testament period, although the tensions went unrecognized by Roman authorities, Josephus reports numerous violent confrontations between Jews and Samaritans throughout the first half of the first century.

Based on the Samaritan Torah, Samaritans claim their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites prior to the Babylonian Exile, preserved by those who remained in the Land of Israel, as opposed to Judaism, which they assert is a related but altered and amended religion brought back by those returning from exile.

* Save money on sex-lines by phoning up the Samaritans and threatening to kill yourself unless they talk dirty

As a biblically-mentioned holiday, Shemini Atzeret is also observed by Karaites and Samaritans:

The Samaritans, who in the classic times comprised a comparatively large group, now count 745 people, who live in two communities in Israel and the West Bank, and still regard themselves as descendants of the tribes of Ephraim ( named by them as Aphrime ) and Manasseh ( named by them as Manatch ).

Unexpectedly, since Jesus was a Jewish Galilean, the Samaritans are shown favorably in Luke-Acts.

Here, Jesus ' compassion extends to all who are needy, women are important among his followers, the despised Samaritans are commended, and Gentiles are promised the opportunity to accept the gospel.

In John, Jesus has an extended dialogue with a Samaritan woman, and many Samaritans come to believe in him.

In the Gospels generally, " though the Jews of Jesus ' day had no time for the ' half-breed ' people of Samaria ," Jesus " never spoke disparagingly about them ," and " held a benign view of Samaritans.

In Johannine Christology the proclamation " who takes away the sin of the world " begins the unfolding of the salvific theme of the redemptive and sacrificial death of Jesus followed by his resurrection which is built upon in other proclamations such as " this is indeed the Saviour of the world " uttered by the Samaritans in John 4: 42.

Some of its inhabitants were of the number of the " Samaritans " who believed in Jesus when he tarried two days in the neighborhood, and the city must have been visited by the Apostles on their way from Samaria to Jerusalem ( Acts 8: 25 ).

Samaritans, positioned between Jesus ' Galilee and Jerusalem's Judea, were mutually hostile with Jews.

In Luke and John, Jesus extends his ministry to Samaritans.

In Johannine Christology the proclamation " who takes away the sins of the world " begins the unfolding of the salvific theme of the redemptive and sacrificial death of Jesus followed by his resurrection which is built upon in other proclamations such as " this is indeed the Saviour of the world " uttered by the Samaritans in John 4: 42.

For example, he attributes positive references to Samaritans in the gospels not to Jesus himself but to early Christian editing.