Trials of the Samaritans - Caught Between Two Fires

I'll admit. I'd heard of the Samaritans from stories in the Bible such as the parable of the "good Samaritan". But, I didn't know they were an actual religious sect that was still around in the Middle East.

Wikipedia - Samaritan

The Samaritans (Hebrew: שומרונים‎ Shomronim, Arabic: السامريون‎ as-Sāmariyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Religiously, they are the adherents to Samaritanism, an Abrahamic religion closely related to Judaism. 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 the exiled returnees.

However, they are caught in the middle of the Israel / Palestine conflict. They celebrate many of the same festivals as Jews, can speak ancient Hebrew and tend to worship in synagogues they are often labeled Jewish. But, as they tend to live in the Arab sections and speak Arabic they tend to be mistaken for Arabs by the Jewish population.

This can lead to problems such as illustrated below.

The modern trials of the ancient Samaritans

Consider what happened to this poor guy. Shot by Palestinians and Israelis in the same day.

On 8 November 2001, during the second intifada (uprising), Joseph Cohen, a 56-year-old Samaritan, was driving home from the Palestinian town of Nablus.

"When I was almost home, I came across two Palestinian boys and they shot me," he says. "The blood ran from me like water."

He lost control of his car and drove into an Israeli roadblock. The Israeli soldiers shouted at him to stop.

"But I couldn't stop the car. And so they also shot me."

There are probably few people in the world who have been shot by both Palestinians and Israelis within minutes of each other.

But, as Mr Cohen says, "this is a short story of our problem."

Once they numbered over a million. Now there are less than 700. I don't make any claims to agree or disagree with their beliefs. I don't claim they are right or they are wrong. They are trying to stay neutral in the conflict and even though they are small in number they should not be forgotten. Yet before I stumbled across the above this morning I'd never heard of them.

I know we have many here on ATS who are quite passionate about both sides of the conflict. Where do the Samaritans fit in it all?

They are legitimate , the samaritans are part of the tribe of Benjamin .It is not a religion as such , they were the people of Samaria .This was the land given to the Tribe of Benjamin.So what I am saying is the Samaritans came from Samaria , just like New Yorkers hailing from New York .The Tribe of Benjamin/Samaritans are one and the same and were given their land along with the other 12 tribes ( yes a total of thirteen tribes not twelve ) , their territory encompassed Jerusalem known as Jersu .They are the rightful inheritors of Jerusalem .If you read the Old Testament you will know the the first king of Israel was a Benjamite call King Saul .Jerusalem was stolen from them by the Danites and the tribe of Judah .

Here are some clues for you to follow up .In the New Testament Christ ( Benjamin Josepth ) states the first shall become the last .
The Old Testament states that the Lord Loves Benjamin, shall protect him and dwell between his shoulders .

Christ said he shall return when Shilo comes .Shilo were the wives of Benjamin .The Daughters of Shilo were given to Benjamin when the other twelve tribe murdered their women and children in a dispute .

Also research maps and overlay the territories of Samaria and Benjamin .

You my friend have stumbled on something very special here , don't stop .Many secrets here now find them.

Excuse my typing it is 2 in the morning here .Good night .

I actually never realised there was an actual Samaritans religious sect. It's good to see they remain neutral and try to create links to both sides.

From the BBC article:

In the 1920s their numbers dropped to just over 100 and it was predicted that they would die out.

The community was struggling with birth defects because of their tradition of marrying other Samaritans, and they were not open to new converts.

But some now say that to survive, they must open up to outsiders.

Mr Cohen tells me that since there are many more men than women, they have to look outside their own community to find potential wives.

Time to open up people! All that inbreeding isn't good for anyone. Interesting though that they are having to take wives from outside due to a lack of women. I wonder how that fits in with the Judaic belief that you are only a proper Jew if your mother was, considering their Jewish roots.

I would love to read the translation of there texts once complete.

Here's some more info if anyone is interested:

The Samaritans

reply to post by 13th Zodiac




Thanks for the information. I saw your post before you edited it and was hoping you would add some more information.

A couple of quick thoughts from your post - (its not 2am here but I do have a meeting in 2mins)..

The Lord shall protect Benjamin - Surely some good news for the Samaritans despite their situation.

On the brides of Benjamin - the article mentions they have started looking for outside wives and those are converting. Any tie in there or am I being too literal?

This looks to be symbolic that if the Israel / Palestine conflict is not resolved soon they will destroy each other as they lose all connection to their common bonds.