A LOOK INSIDE THE SAMARITANS

 SAMARITANS: THE REAL “JEWS”?

  Whenever anyone hears of a Samaritan in scripture, they think of the good Samaritan. Why would a Samaritan be called “good” when only God is good (Mat 19:17)? Jesus said that and in the same breath that He added, “but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” He was thinking of loving Him and others, not all the Mosaic regulations, one of which is staying away from the unclean.

  Lepers were so unclean that they had to yell out a warning, “Unclean!  Unclean” from under their masks (Lev 13:45). Well, Samaritans were considered that unclean. Now, consider at least one good Samaritan:

³³ But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, ³⁴ And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. (Luke 10:33-34)

  Luke chapter 10 begins with God issuing directions for his seventy deacons to do unto the world two by two into every city and place (v.1). Stop there for a moment; Samaria was both a city and a place — and much of the northern kingdom of Israel. The deacons were to go forth, and perhaps specifically to Samaria. Why so? They were the harvest for the deacons to harvest. (v. 3).

  Jesus instructed them to go unto every house and even to eat unclean things (v. 7-8). Finally, Jesus said what they were to do to even the Samaritans — to heal the sick (v.9). The “sick” included the unclean but specifically any sinner. Jesus recognized sin as a sickness. When Jesus made someone whole, he restored both their physical and spiritual health.

  Chorazin and Bethsaida had apparently rejected the gospel, and it is implied that the deacons should shake the dust from their feet and move on and compared those cities to Sodom (v.12), leaving the other to be like “Gomorrah.” Those two cities were cursed along with Capernaum because they had even rejected Jesus (Mat 11:20-24). The place Samaria was not the entirety of the old northern kingdom. Chorazin and Bethsaida were quite a distance north of Samaria near the Sea of Galilee. All the apostles except Judas were from Galilee and they would be rejected.

  Jesus forewarned, “It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell” (v. 14-15). That city (the latter) was in Galilee as well.

  The Samaritans often claimed to be Sidonians and Tyrians when confronted by the enemies of the Jews. They would tell a lie when it was expedient for them to do so. Israelites by blood had mostly been dispersed throughout Assyria centuries before when their temple was torn down on Mount Gerizim. Therein they worshiped their own way. For years the place Samaria had been places of Baal worship before they were dispersed. Alternately they would worship God on the same high places as Baal.

  The Samaritans were historically syncretic; they were a coalition of cretin (offensive) cities with their various offensive gods.

  It is true that some of the Israelites remained in the northern kingdom when most of them were taken to Babylon, and it is likely that Tyrians and Sidonians did migrate there, but they would not be the majority.

  Josephus wrote that when the Israelites were taken away, that they were replaced by Cutheans (Kutheans) from somewhere in Mesopotamia, either part of the old city of Babylon as some say or what is now Kurdistan. The former is a long-gone city, and the latter sort of an invisible empire along the northern realm of the fertile crescent. It would be in the proximity of Noah and his city.

  Nobody knows for sure the racial identity of the Cutheans but they were from near the river Cutha. They were not Jews at all, but throughout their history, they were known for two things, according to Josephus: When the Jews prospered, they were “Jews” and when the Jews were under attack, they suddenly became Sidonians. As such, they would worship Yahweh and Baal as the need arose for their own preservation to keep their adversaries from destroying them with the Jews.

  The Samaritans were considered unclean because they were a mixed and impure race of people, and because they would “mold” their god to be what they wanted Him to be. All the while that there was Yahweh worship in Judah, there were all types of worship in Samaria. Even the seed of David. beginning with Ahab and wife Jezebel. made Samaria known for its fornication.

  Samaria and Judah always competed as the true religion. Gerizim was the Holy Mountain of Samaria where the Israelites performed blessings on their entry to the Promise Land according to the instructions of Moses (Deut 11). Samaritans believed that God had designated that mountain to be the location of His Temple, so at one time there was a Temple to God there that was torn down during the defeat of the Israelites.

  When Cyrus returned the Jews from Babylon to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, the Samaritans fought them all the way until its reconstruction was halted. Samaritans had become the “Jews” and they wanted the Jews to stay away! If any Temple would be rebuilt it should have been theirs, they thought.

  In addition to that, the Samaritans, what few that are left, to this day still believe that Gerizim is where Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, not in the mountains of Moriah in Jerusalem.

  What happened was that two races were created each claiming to be the real “Jews” and two religions both worshiping Yahweh in different ways. In its last days, Judah would nearly dismantle true Yahweh worship and worship as the Samaritans would.

  Theologians to this day still disagree on which religion is legitimate for the Israelites, especially since Israel (Jacob) was in whom they would be blessed.

  By the time of Jesus, both the Jews and Samaritans had it wrong, but the Jews more so because they rejected both Christ and the apostles for the most part.

  Just as Paul would later turn from the Jews to the Gentiles, Jesus would point the deacons toward Samaria, and toward the mixed race of people. When He pointed to Samarians, Jesus was making it happen: (1) “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16) and (2) “He is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart” (Rom 2:29).

  Thus, the story is more than about the good Samaritan that showed compassion on the man victimized by thieves and left for dead, but about who are the real “Jews.” After the priest and the Levite avoided the man who had been left for dead, the good Samaritan healed, took him to a dirty inn, and took care of him.

  The “dirty” mixed race Samaritan took the man into his “dirty” place and healed the man. He was not taken back to the Temple where the priests would try to heal him but to a dirty hostel where Jesus from afar would have compassion on him and do the healing.

  The point is that the priest and the Levite were not of God but more so of the Wicked One. Jesus wanted them to come near the unclean and make them clean. They too were syncretic as they endeavored to worship God and themselves at the same time. By staying away from a “dead” man would preserve their lives and they were more worried about their own preservation than the man’s. They had become the “gods” and their religion was no better than the Samaritan’s.

  At that time, there was no Temple of God at Shechem in Samaria. Jesus did not need a clean “hospital” with finely dressed priests to heal. He did it right there in an unclean place. If the priest and Levite had taken him back, it would not have been to Jesus but to the Temple in Jerusalem. They would have done the healing and not Jesus.

  But did Jesus heal the victim or was it the good Samaritan. He was not very good because only God is, but he did have compassion just as Jesus. The Samaritan would have cared for him, but Jesus still would have healed the man, and not the priest nor Levite.

  Who had the compassion? Just who had the faith? Which one of the three practiced their religion truly? The one who demonstrated love for Jesus by loving his fellow man; even an enemy and a deplorable one at that.

  Throughout the years the Samaritans had been what the world expected them to be to preserve their mixed-race skins. But when the time came for Jesus — God in the flesh — one of the Samaritans was on the right side of Jesus. It was not the Law after all — to stay clear of the unclean, but to minister to them. The Law was meant to be metrics for compassion, but one Samaritan recognized the Law correctly — that they were not “commands” at all but ways to show compassion. They were more prescriptions for spiritual health and long life and not commands at all.

  The Samaritan was not following the Law and doing what he must do, but out of the goodness of his heart, he was doing what he should do as a humane being belonging to God!

  As far as racism is concerned who were the racists? Those who made the Law and those who enforced it. Who was not the racist? The one who had compassion without regard to what they saw on the outside. It is the same to this day, is it not?

  That, however, is not the point to this commentary, but to be Jews inwardly and do the right thing. The priest and Levite were not even “Jews” (Judeans) outwardly since they were both of Levi not Judah. How could they have been Jews? By having compassion on the Samaritan.

  As far as the syncretism is concerned, it turned out that even the Jews were just as bad. They became “gods” when they judged Jesus wrongly and had Him crucified. All the while that they thought that they were killing God, and many believed that to be true, it was the real God that was sacrificing His only Son.

  Jesus said that those who killed Him did not know what they were doing (Luke 23:34). Implied there is that the priests, Levites, and Jews knew exactly what they were doing. If Jesus was God and King, then they would lose their rule, prestige, and power.

  Is that not what governors still do? All the while they say they serve God and have compassion; it is them serving themselves with compassion (self-esteem) for their own flesh.

  When the priest and Levite passed the victim and crossed the road, they knew exactly what they were doing as well! They were disobeying the Law of God to love one another, even their enemies. They knew that because they had heard Jesus say that.

  In their hearts they would have known that Jesus is truly God and that He could heal and make the man whole. They had seen that example many times, but when their time came, they walked another path than the Samaritan walked. As the Samaritan walked the Way of Jesus, strict obedience to the Law was the wrong Way and apparently the broad path to destruction.

  Now apply that to yourselves. Are you syncretic? Do you worship both God and yourself? Do you focus more on self-love than the love of God?

  Is your worship more for show only in a Temple or do you practice it along the way? Are you inwardly a good Samaritan or just a “Jew” who understands compassion but keeps it for yourself? 

  Are you like one of the Samaritans who were one person when with the Jews and another person when with the world, or are you like the good Samaritan who is the same on the road as in the Temple?

  Admit it: We all struggle with self-love. Even when professing God is our focus not on preserving ourselves all the while? Rather than adorn ourselves as the Jews did when they were with Moses, the ornament of adornment must be hung on the cross with Jesus.

  Just as Simon carried the burden of Jesus, we too are to pick up crosses and follow him. That day on the road, the near dead man was the “cross” that the good Samaritan would carry, even though on his own beast. It does not matter how compassion is carried but that compassion is inside.

(picture credit: Photoshop Lady; "Making a Two-faced Man")