Samaria
Categories: Geography of Israel | Hebrew Bible/Tanakh places | Palestine | Samaritan culture and history
Samaria, Sumaria or Shomron (Hebrew שֹׁמְרוֹן, Standard Hebrew Šoməron, Tiberian Hebrew Šōmərôn, Arabic سامريّون Sāmariyyūn (but commonly called in Arabic جبال نابلس Jibal Nablus), in the New Testament Greek Σαμαρεία) is a term used for the mountainous northern part of the area on the west bank of the Jordan River. The word is perhaps from shâmar, 'to watch,' hence meaning something like 'outlook'; but, according to 1 Kings 16:24, derived from the individual [or clan] Shemer, from whom Omri purchased the site.
In modern times, Samaria may be used by people who want to emphasize Israel's relationship with the area, though the parcel of land Samaria is located on is more widely known as the West Bank. See Palestinian territories and Judea and Samaria.
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Geographical location
To the north, Samaria is bounded by the Esdraelon valley; to the east by the Jordan River; to the west by the Carmel Ridge (in the north) and the Sharon plain (in the south); to the south by Judea (the Jerusalem mountains). Samarian hills are not very high, seldom reaching the height of over 800 meters. Samaria's climate is more hospitable than the climate of Judea.
Major cities in this region include Ariel, Jenin, Nablus/Shechem, Qalqilya and Tulkarm.
Political control
Samaria was taken by Israeli forces from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War. Jordan subsequently withdrew its claim to the West Bank, including Samaria, in 1988, which was later confirmed by the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty of 1993. Jordan instead recognizes the Palestinian Authority as sovereign in the territory. In the 1994 Oslo accords, responsibility for the administration over some of the territory of Samaria was transferred to the Palestinian Authority.
Israel has been criticized for the policy of establishing settlements in Samaria. Israel's position is that the legal status of the land is unclear, while the United Nations and the European Union disagree. See Israeli settlements.
Samaria today
It is now represented by the hamlet of Sebustieh, containing about three hundred inhabitants. The ruins of the ancient town are all scattered over the hill. The shafts of about 100 of what must have been grand Corinthian columns are still standing, and attract much attention, although nothing definite is known regarding them. (compare Micah 1:6.)
Samaria and Jerusalem, the capitals of the two kingdoms, lie 35 miles apart as the crow flies.
Samaritans
Ethnically, the Samaritans are the inhabitants of Samaria after the beginning of the Jewish Babylonian Exile. 2 Kings 17 and Josephus (Ant 9.277–91) When Assyria overran the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.E, much of the population was departed, and other nationalities were resettled in Israel. Sargon claimed in Assyrian annuls that he carried away 27,290 inhabitants from Samaria, the capital of Northern Israel. The new inhabitants worshipped their own gods, but when the then-sparsely populated areas became infested with dangerous wild beasts, they appealed to the king of Assyria for Israelite priests to instruct them on how to worship the "god of that country." The result was a syncretistic religion, in which national groups worshipped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought. Some Samaritans claim to be descendants of Israelites from the Northern Kingdom who escaped deportation and exile.
Samaritanism is a religion related to Judaism in that it accepts the Torah as its holy book, though little of later Jewish theology. Their temple was at Mount Gerizim, not Jerusalem, and was destroyed by the Macabbean (Hasmonean) John Hyrcanus late in the second century BCE, although their descendants still worship among its ruins. The purported antagonism between Samaritans and Jews is important in understanding the New Testament stories of The Good Samaritan" and the Samaritan Woman.
Capital of the Kingdom of Israel
Shomron (Samaria) is literally a watch-mountain or a watch-tower. In the heart of the mountains of Israel, a few miles north-west of Shechem, stands the "hill of Shomeron," a solitary mountain, a great "mamelon". It is an oblong hill, with steep but not inaccessible sides, and a long flat top.
Omri, the king of Israel, purchased this hill from Shemer its owner for two talents of silver, and built on its broad summit the city to which he gave the name of "Shomeron", i.e., Samaria, as the new capital of his kingdom instead of Tirzah (1 Kings 16:24). As such it possessed many advantages. Omri resided here during the last six years of his reign.
As the result of an unsuccessful war with Syria, Omri appears to have been obliged to grant to the Syrians the right to "make streets in Samaria", i.e., probably permission to the Syrian merchants to carry on their trade in the Israelite capital. This would imply the existence of a considerable Syrian population.
It was the only great city of Palestine created by the sovereign. All the others had been already consecrated by patriarchal tradition or previous possession. But Samaria was the choice of Omri alone. He, indeed, gave to the city which he had built the name of its former owner, but its especial connection with himself as its founder is proved by the designation which it seems Samaria bears in Assyrian inscriptions, "Beth-khumri" ("the house or palace of Omri"). (Stanley)
Samaria was frequently besieged. In the days of Ahab, Benhadad II came up against it with thirty-two vassal kings, but was defeated with a great slaughter (1 Kings 20:1-21). A second time, next year, he assailed it; but was again utterly routed, and was compelled to surrender to Ahab (20:28-34), whose army, as compared with that of Benhadad, was no more than "two little flocks of kids."
In the days of Jehoram Benhadad again laid siege to Samaria. But just when success seemed to be within their reach, they suddenly broke off the siege, alarmed by a mysterious noise of chariots and horses and a great army, and fled, leaving their camp with all its contents behind them. The famished inhabitants of the city were soon relieved from the abundance of the spoil of the Syrian camp; and it came to pass, according to the word of Elisha, that "a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gates of Samaria" (2 Kings 7:1-20).
Shalmaneser V invaded Israel in the days of Hoshea, and reduced it to vassalage. He laid siege to Samaria (723 BC), which held out for three years, and was at length captured by Sargon II, who completed the conquest Shalmaneser had begun (2 Kings 18:9-12; 17:3), and removed vast numbers of the tribes into captivity. See Lost ten tribes.
Ancient occupation
Samaria was given by the emperor Augustus to Herod the Great, who rebuilt it, and called it Sebaste (the Greek form of Augustus) in honour of the emperor.
New Testament reference
The New Testament mentions Samaria in Luke Chapter 17:11-20, in the miraculous healing of the ten lepers, which took place on the border of Samaria and Galillee. Is in Acts 8:5-14, where it is recorded that Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached there. In the time of Jesus, Syria Iudaea of the Romans was divided into three provinces, Judea, Samaria, and Galillee. Samaria occupied the centre of Syria Iudaea (John 4:4). (Syria Iudaea was later renamed Syria Palaestina in 135, following the Bar Kokhba revolt.) In the Talmud, Samaria is called the "land of the Cuthim".
See also
- Lost Ten Tribes = specifically relating to the Kingdom of Israel with its capital at Samaria and the wars that took place with the Kingdom of Judah before the fall of the Kingdom of Judah and its occupants becoming lost to the pages of history. However, many theories abound as to what became of the "lost ten tribes" and the advocates do not necessarily agree with each other.
- The name of samarium is not related to Samaria.
- Samaritan - a similar article concentrating more on the ethnic and religious group.de:Samaria
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