21. Jos. Life, 52.
22. Ant. xx. 6. 1.
23. St. Matt. x. 5.
24. St. John iv. 4.
25. I cannot agree with Archdeacon Watkins, that the 'needs go' was in order 'to teach in
Samaria, as in Judæa, the principles of true religion and worship.'
26. So Bengel and Luthardt.
27. Much as has been written about Samaria, the subject has not been quite satisfactorily
treated. Some of the passages referred to by Deutsch (Smith's Dict. of the Bible, vol. iii.,
Art. Samaritan Pentat. p. 1118) cannot be verified, probably owing to printer's mistakes.
The Biblical history of that part of Palestine which bore the name of Samaria need not
here be repeated.28 Before the final deportation of Israel by Shalmaneser, or rather
Sargon,29 the 'Samaria' to which his operations extended must have considerably shrunk
in dimensions, not only owing to previous conquests, but from the circumstance that the
authority of the kings of Judah seems to have extended over a considerable portion of
what once constituted the kingdom of Israel. 30 Probably the Samaria of that time included
little more than the city o f that name, together with some adjoining towns and villages. It
is of considerable interest to remember that the places, to which the inhabitants of
Samaria were transported,31 have been identified with such clearness as to leave no
reasonable doubt, that at least some of the descendants of the ten tribes, whether mixed or
unmixed with Gentiles, must be sought among what are now known as the Nestorian
Christians.32 On the other hand, it is of no practical importance for our present purpose to
ascertain the exact localities, whence the new 'Samaritans' were brought to take the place
of the Israelitish exiles.33 Suffice it, that one of them, perhaps that which contributed the
principal settlers, Cuthah, furnished the name Cuthim , by which the Jews afterwards
persistently designated the Samaritans. It was intended as a term of reproach, 34 to mark
that they were of foreign race,35 36 and to repudiate all connection between them and the
Jews. Yet it is impossible to believe that, at least in later times, they did not contain a
considerable admixture of Israelitish elements. It is difficult to suppose, that the original
deportation was so complete as to leave behind no traces of the original Israelitish
inhabitants.37 Their number would probably be swelled by fugit ives from Assyria, and by
Jewish settlers in the troublous times that followed. Afterwards, as we know, they were
largely increased by apostates and rebels against the order of things established by Ezra
and Nehemiah. 38 Similarly, during the period of internal political and religious troubles,
which marked the period to the accession of the Maccabees, the separation between Jews
and Samaritans could scarcely have been generally observed, the more so that Alexander
the Great placed them in close juxtapositio n.39
28. Comp. 1 Kings xiii. 32; xvi. 24 &c.; Tiglath-Pileser, 2 Kings xv. 29; Shalmaneser,
xvii. 3-5; xviii. 9-11; Sargon. xvii. 6, &c.
29. Comp. Smith's Bible Dict., Art. Sargon; and Schrader, Keil-Inschr. u. d. Alte Test. p.
158 &c.
30. 2 Chron. xxx. 1-26; xxxiv. 6.
31. 2 Kings xvii. 6.
32. Of course, not all the ten tribes. Comp. previous remarks on their migrations.