Editing Samaritanism (section)

==History==

=== Traditional accounts ===
Samaritanism holds that the summit of [[Mount Gerizim]] is the true location of God's Holy Place. Samaritans trace their history as a separate entity to a period soon after the Israelites' entry into the [[Promised Land]]. Samaritan historiography traces the schism to [[High Priest of Israel|High Priest]] [[Eli (biblical figure)|Eli]] leaving Mount Gerizim, where stood the first Israelite altar in [[Canaan]], and building a competing altar in nearby [[Shiloh (biblical city)|Shiloh]]. The dissenting group of Israelites who had followed Eli to Shiloh would be the ones who in later years would head south to settle [[Jerusalem]] (the Jews), whereas the Israelites who stayed on Mount Gerizim, in Samaria, would become known as the Samaritans.{{sfn|Anderson|Giles|2002|p=11–12}}

[[Abu'l-Fath|Abu l-Fath]], who wrote a major work of Samaritan history in the 14th century, comments on Samaritan origins as follows:{{sfn|Anderson|Giles|2002|p=11–12}}
<blockquote>
A terrible civil war broke out between Eli son of Yafni, of the line of Ithamar, and the sons of Pincus ([[Phinehas]]), because Eli son of Yafni resolved to usurp the High Priesthood from the descendants of Pincus. He used to offer sacrifices on an altar of stones. He was 50 years old, endowed with wealth and in charge of the treasury of the Children of Israel. ...

He offered a sacrifice on the altar, but without salt, as if he were inattentive. When the Great High Priest Ozzi learned of this, and found the sacrifice was not accepted, he thoroughly disowned him; and it is (even) said that he rebuked him.

Thereupon he and the group that sympathized with him, rose in revolt and at once he and his followers and his beasts set off for Shiloh. Thus Israel split in factions. He sent to their leaders saying to them, ''Anyone who would like to see wonderful things, let him come to me.'' Then he assembled a large group around him in Shiloh, and built a Temple for himself there; he constructed a place like the Temple [on [[Mount Gerizim]]]. He built an altar, omitting no detail—it all corresponded to the original, piece by piece.

At this time the Children of Israel split into three factions. A loyal faction on Mount Gerizim; a heretical faction that followed false gods; and the faction that followed Eli son of Yafni in Shiloh.</blockquote>

Further, the ''Samaritan New Chronicle'' or ''Adler'', named after its editor [[Elkan Nathan Adler]] (1861-1946), which is believed to have been composed in the 18th century using earlier chronicles as sources, states:

{{quote|And the Children of Israel in his days divided into three groups. One did according to the abominations of the [[Gentile]]s and served other gods; another followed Eli the son of Yafni, although many of them turned away from him after he had revealed his intentions; and a third remained with the High Priest Uzzi ben Bukki, the chosen place.}}

=== Scholarly perspective ===
Modern genetic studies (2004) suggest that Samaritans' lineages trace back to a common ancestor with Jews in the paternally-inherited Jewish high priesthood ([[Kohen|Cohanim]]) temporally proximate to the period of the Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel, and are probably descendants of the historical Israelite population.<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=15300852|url=http://evolutsioon.ut.ee/publications/Shen2004.pdf|year=2004|last1=Shen|first1=P|last2=Lavi|first2=T|last3=Kivisild|first3=T|last4=Chou|first4=V|last5=Sengun|first5=D|last6=Gefel|first6=D|last7=Shpirer|first7=I|last8=Woolf|first8=E|last9=Hillel|first9=J|title=Reconstruction of patrilineages and matrilineages of Samaritans and other Israeli populations from Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA sequence variation|volume=24|issue=3|pages=248–60|doi=10.1002/humu.20077|journal=Human Mutation|s2cid=1571356|access-date=13 October 2017|archive-date=20 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420110753/http://evolutsioon.ut.ee/publications/Shen2004.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{sfn|Kiaris|2021|p=14}} The religion of the proto-Samaritans at this time was probably no different than that of their southern counterparts in [[Judea]]. This likely remained the case for several centuries after the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel, as Judean cultic reforms instituted by the kings [[Hezekiah]] and [[Josiah]] experience little opposition extending to the Samaritan people in the north, according to the biblical text.{{sfn|Knoppers|2013|pp=82–85}}

Though Samaritans certainly were culturally unique, they were closely intertwined with the Jews to the south. As such, Samaritanism likely did not emerge as a distinct tradition until the [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean]] and Roman era, by which point [[Yahwism]] had coalesced into [[Second Temple Judaism]].{{sfn|Knoppers|2013|pp=125–133}}{{prtb|date=February 2024}} The temple on Mount Gerizim, the central place of worship in Samaritanism, was built in the 5th century BCE,{{sfn|Knoppers|2013|pp=178–179}} as one of many Yahwistic temples in Samaria. However, the temple precinct experienced a centuries-long period of large-scale construction beginning around the 4th century BCE, which indicates that its status as the pre-eminent place of worship among Samaritans had only just been established. Likewise, theological debates between Jews and Samaritans are attested as early as the 2nd century BCE, indicating that the [[Samaritan Pentateuch]] had already taken shape, in some form.{{sfn|Knoppers|2013|p=177}}

The [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean]] king [[John Hyrcanus]] destroyed the Mount Gerizim temple and brought Samaria under his control around 120 BCE, which led to a longlasting sense of mutual hostility between the Jews and Samaritans.{{sfn|Knoppers|2013|pp=173–174}} From this point, the Samaritans likely sought to consciously distance themselves from their Judean brethren, and both peoples came to see the Samaritan faith as a religion distinct from Judaism.

The relationship between Jews and Samaritans only further deteriorated with time. By the time of [[Jesus]], Samaritans and Jews deeply disparaged one another, as evinced by Jesus' [[Parable of the Good Samaritan]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Samaritan {{!}} Definition, Religion, & Bible {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Samaritan |access-date=2022-05-25 |website=britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>