{"id":3322,"date":"2021-05-22T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-22T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/?p=3322"},"modified":"2025-10-14T12:55:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T17:55:56","slug":"%e6%92%92%e7%8e%9b%e5%88%a9%e4%ba%9a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/bible-faith\/devotional-notes\/2021\/05\/%e6%92%92%e7%8e%9b%e5%88%a9%e4%ba%9a\/","title":{"rendered":"Samaria, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. “Omri…bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city on the hill, calling it Samaria, after Shemer, the owner of the hill” (1 Kings 16:24). The city was strategically built on the Samaria hill, overlooking the Jezreel Valley and adjacent to the central Palestinian plateau. It controlled military and trade routes from north to south and west to the Mediterranean coast, making it an excellent location for a capital. Three archaeological excavations have revealed a magnificent ancient city, with foundations including the royal palaces of Omri and Ahab. The city was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC and subsequently changed hands several times, enduring Assyrian, Persian, Babylonian, and Greek empires, serving as their colonial and military-administrative center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the New Testament era, the region of Samaria referred to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean coast, south of Galilee and north of Judea. During the Roman Empire, it was a northern district of the province of Judea. The Lord Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well; Christ’s parable features the good Samaritan; and after His ascension, Christ called His disciples to preach to the Gentiles, starting from Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and extending to the ends of the earth. “Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ” (Acts 8:5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Assyrian king destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel, he exiled almost all the Israelites to Assyria and moved people from Assyria and its other territories into the land. The remaining Israelites soon mixed with these newcomers, which gave rise to the Samaritans. After the Jews returned from Babylonian exile, they considered the Samaritans to be unholy because they had intermarried with foreigners. Furthermore, the Samaritans only followed the Pentateuch and had built their own temple on Mount Gerizim, leading to significant religious differences. Their hatred deepened, particularly because the Samaritans had tried to obstruct the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple, and the two groups refused to associate with each other. Today, about 700 Samaritans remain in Israel, with some still living on Mount Gerizim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image: The Samaritan High Priest with the Abisha Scroll, 1905. The Abisha Scroll is an early manuscript of the Samaritan Pentateuch (a version of the first five books of the Old Testament). It is traditionally believed to have been written by Abishua, the great-grandson of Aaron.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image: The Samaritan Decalogue Marble Slab from AD 300-500, the oldest discovered Decalogue stone tablet, which was auctioned for $850,000 in 2016. However, Moses would not have recognized this Decalogue, because he commanded, “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2). But the Samaritans intentionally removed the commandment, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,” and added the words, “You shall set up on Mount Gerizim the stones about which I command you today.”
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Image: Roman forum ruins in Samaria. (Used with permission from Sacred Light Bible Geography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image: A semicircular tribunal in front of an ancient building in Samaria. (Used with permission from Sacred Light Bible Geography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image: Stone carvings near the ancient church in Samaria. (Used with permission from Sacred Light Bible Geography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image: The ancient theater in Samaria. (Used with permission from Sacred Light Bible Geography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image: The Hellenistic tower behind the ancient theater in Samaria. (Used with permission from Sacred Light Bible Geography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image: Entrance to the memorial of John the Baptist in Samaria. (Used with permission from Sacred Light Bible Geography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image: The steps of the Temple of Augustus in Samaria. (Used with permission from Sacred Light Bible Geography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image: Another view of the Temple of Augustus in Samaria. (Used with permission from Sacred Light Bible Geography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image: The ruins of King Ahab’s palace in Samaria. (Used with permission from Sacred Light Bible Geography)
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Image: A delicious meal of local flavors from Samaria. (Used with permission from Sacred Light Bible Geography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Edited and compiled based on the Chinese Union Version Bible, Sacred Light Bible Geography, and Comprehensive Biblical Interpretation.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. “Omri…bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city on the hill, calling it Samaria, after Shemer, the owner of the hill” (1 Kings 16:24). The city was strategically built on the Samaria hill, overlooking the Jezreel Valley […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-quick-pulse","category-devotional-notes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3322"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11995,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3322\/revisions\/11995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}