Your Thoughts on why Samaritans were considered half breeds.

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A

Ariel82

Guest
#21
#21
John 4 tells us how Jesus preached to the Samaritans and the disciples also preached to them.

Acts 8:25
So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

So what is a Samaritan that the Jews would accuse Jesus of being one? Why did he not refute it?
 
Hizikyah

Hizikyah

Senior Member
#22
Aug 25, 2013
11,634
372
0
#22
Ariel82 said:
John 4 tells us how Jesus preached to the Samaritans and the disciples also preached to them.

Acts 8:25
So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

So what is a Samaritan that the Jews would accuse Jesus of being one? Why did he not refute it?
Click to expand...
Did the Messiah not have Edom, and Moab blood as well as Jewish? Are not Samaritians related to Edomites. (i think?)

just thinking out loud
 
A

Ariel82

Guest
#23
#23
I was doing some research in the Bible because this question has made me wonder and found some answers in 2 Kings 17.

It explains how the people of Israel were carried away and destroyed for worshiping idols and following the laws of other people. Then Assyria people came to live in the land, but were being destroyed by lions until a priest taught them how to worship God.

2 kings 17
[SUP]28 [/SUP]Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

However the nations still worshiped their own gods but were afraid of the Lord so tried and worship Him too.

" [SUP]33 [/SUP]They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods—according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away."

They did not understand the commandment to worship ONLY God and not to fear the other gods. That the only one they should worry about being afraid of is God.

Their gods demanded that they make child sacrifices, worship demons and perform other acts that God forbids His people from doing because its a perversion of His plan and His love.

So I think that Samaritans are looked down as half-breeds because they did not have any blood ties to Abraham and many people did not understand the spiritual descent that Jesus spoke about in these verses:

John 8
[SUP]39 [/SUP]They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. [SUP]40 [/SUP]But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. [SUP]41 [/SUP]You do the deeds of your father.”
Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”
[SUP]42 [/SUP]Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. [SUP]43 [/SUP]Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. [SUP]44 [/SUP]You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. [SUP]45 [/SUP]But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. [SUP]46 [/SUP]Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? [SUP]47 [/SUP]He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
 
Hizikyah

Hizikyah

Senior Member
#24
Aug 25, 2013
11,634
372
0
#24
Ariel82 said:
I was doing some research in the Bible because this question has made me wonder and found some answers in 2 Kings 17.

It explains how the people of Israel were carried away and destroyed for worshiping idols and following the laws of other people. Then Assyria people came to live in the land, but were being destroyed by lions until a priest taught them how to worship God.

2 kings 17
[SUP]28 [/SUP]Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

However the nations still worshiped their own gods but were afraid of the Lord so tried and worship Him too.

" [SUP]33 [/SUP]They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods—according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away."

They did not understand the commandment to worship ONLY God and not to fear the other gods. That the only one they should worry about being afraid of is God.

Their gods demanded that they make child sacrifices, worship demons and perform other acts that God forbids His people from doing because its a perversion of His plan and His love.

So I think that Samaritans are looked down as half-breeds because they did not have any blood ties to Abraham and many people did not understand the spiritual descent that Jesus spoke about in these verses:

John 8
[SUP]39 [/SUP]They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. [SUP]40 [/SUP]But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. [SUP]41 [/SUP]You do the deeds of your father.”
Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”
[SUP]42 [/SUP]Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. [SUP]43 [/SUP]Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. [SUP]44 [/SUP]You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. [SUP]45 [/SUP]But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. [SUP]46 [/SUP]Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? [SUP]47 [/SUP]He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
Click to expand...
Yes makes sense. And Israylites would not want to be around them.
 
oldhermit

oldhermit

Senior Member
#25
Jul 28, 2012
9,144
613
113
70
Alabama
#25
Parts of this I took off the internet at some point but I cannot remember when or where.

The Samaritans occupied the country formerly belonging to the half-tribes of Ephraim Manasseh. Who actually vegan to decline religiously in the days of Jeroboam after the division of the nation. Jeroboam established Dan and Bethel as centers of worship setting up a golden calf at each site. He then adopted Mt. Gerizim at Shechem, where Abraham sacrificed Isaac, as the holy place for a temple. What Jeroboam did was to create a culture of religious perversion which persisted until their exile in 722 BC by Shalmaneser, of Assyria. In 2 Kings 17:7-23, God blamed Jeroboam for leading the nation into idolatry and bringing them to their fate.


When Shalmanezer dispersed the Jews from the nation of Israel, he moved Gentile natives of Assyria and other places into Samaria to occupy and control the land. According to 2Kings 17:24-28, God became angry with those inhabitants because they worshiped other gods in the land so God sent lions among them to kill the people. The king then sent priests from among the Israelites to teach the people how to worship the God of Israel. What this produced was a mixture of idolatry and Jehovah worship.


The remnants of Israel who remained in the land intermarried with the foreigners who had been placed in the land thus creating a mixed race. Later, after the return of Judah from captivity in 516 BC, the Samaritans asked to be included in the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem but Judah refused to allow them any participation in that effort, Ezra 4. There had always been tension between the two nations but this refusal set in motion an attitude of intolerance for one another that persisted until after the time of Christ.


The Jews at the time of Christ viewed the Samaritans as nothing more than half-breed undesirables. As a social class, they were regarded as dogs, as something to be considered unclean. This climate of hostility between these two classes was certainly not a one way street. There was as much animosity among the Samaritans for the Jews as there was among the Jews for the Samaritans. In the beginning of these hostilities when Judah returned from captivity the Samaritans were regarded as traitors to the religion of Jehovah having adopted many heathen practices of worship that dated from the time of Jeroboam and then later from the time of Shalmaneser. Also was the issue of their inner-marriages with the Gentile population. The Samaritans were NEVER referred to by the Jews in the OT as a Jewish sect but as enemies of Judah, Ezra 4:1. Nehemiah 4:2 shows how the "wealthy men of Samaria" mocked Nehemiah's efforts to rebuilt Jerusalem. John 4:9 tells us that the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans.
 
A

Ariel82

Guest
#26
#26
most Jews might not have had dealings with Samaritans, but Jesus and His disciples did.
 
Timeline

Timeline

Senior Member
#27
Mar 20, 2014
1,826
17
38
#27
Ariel82 said:
John 4 tells us how Jesus preached to the Samaritans and the disciples also preached to them.

Acts 8:25
So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

So what is a Samaritan that the Jews would accuse Jesus of being one?
Click to expand...
A Samaritan was the result of Israel intermarrying with other nations. But, more importantly, they represented (to the Jew) turning away from God. It seems to me that they were trying to associate Jesus with those that had turned away from God.


Ariel82 said:
Why did he not refute it?
Click to expand...
Proverbs 26:4-5
[SUP]4 [/SUP]Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
Or you will also be like him.
[SUP]5 [/SUP]Answer a fool as his folly deserves,
That he not be wise in his own eyes.

Because they were thinking like men, condemning others for not being righteous when they were not any better. We see them trying to tie Jesus to things that were perceived to be bad several times: giving to Caesar, healing (working) on the Sabbath, the greatest commandment. Basically, imo, they were trying to discredit Jesus by getting Him to say something that they could use against Him. But Jesus always knew how to answer in a way that shut them up...and shed light on their ignorance.

Most likely Jesus, or more specifically, God did not have anything to gain by refuting their claim that Jesus was or was not a Samaritan. There was no profit in it:).
 
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