Samaritan

(sa-mar'e-tan.) (Jewish Hist.) An inhabitant of Samaria, or one that belonged to the sect which derived their appellation from that city. After the fall of the kingdom of Israel, the people remaining in its territory, and consisting of the tribes of Ephraim and Mana eh, mingled with some A yrian colonists, were called S. by the Greeks, from the city of Samaria, around which they dwelt. When the Jews, on their return from captivity, rebuilt the temple of Jerusalem, the S. desired to aid in the work; but their offers were rejected by the Jews, who looked upon them as unclean, on account of their mixtures with heathens; and the S. revenged themselves by hindering the building of the city and temple. Hence the hatred which prevailed between the Jews and the S., which, in the time of Jesus, when the latter were confined to a narrow strip of country between Judea and Galilee, prevented all intercourse between them, and still continues. In their religious opinions and usages they resemble those Jews who reject the Talmud, and differ from the rabbinical Jews, in receiving only the Pent a teuch, and in rejecting all the other portions of the Bible, as well as the Talmud and rabbinical institutions; but in their manners, rites, and religious ceremonies, they adhere strictly to the Mosaic law. [s. 793]