AN APPRAISAL OF THE MISSIONARY VIEWS
The some people and apologists have had some difficulty in coming to terms with Samaritan scholarship. Although this is partly due to basic errors in comprehension, more seriously, it is primarily due to the fact that contemporary scholarship including the archaeological evidence undermines the veracity of the biblical account. Recognising these basic problems of method, those have attempted to synthesise their views on the Samaritans into one coherent account; resultantly we are left with nothing more than a mishmash of interpretations with little validity. For instance, consider the Christian missionary Andrew Vargo's "three views " of the Samaritan origins:
The Jewish view. The Samaritans are the descendants of the colonists that King Shalmaneser, of Assyria, brought from Cutha, Babylon, Hamath, and other foreign regions after he conquered Samaria in 722 B.C.. King Shalmaneser then deported the native population according to II Kings 17.
Samaritan view: The Samaritans are remnants of the northern Israelite tribes who were left behind when their brethren were deported by the Assyrians.
Modern Scholars: The Samaritans are descendents of Mesopotamian tribes who were deported by the Assyrians and Babylonians to Samaria.
He claims that "all three explanations of the origins of the Samaritans are correct, at least to some degree". It is hard to see why all the three "explanations" can be true to "some degree" at the same time. Simple logic dictates that if the "Samaritans are remnants of the northern Israelite tribes" then they could not have been simultaneously "the descendants of the colonists" resettled by the Assyrian rulers. Furthermore, Vargo claims on behalf of unnamed and unknown "modern scholars" that the Samaritans are "the descendents of Mesopotamian tribes who were deported by the Assyrians and Babylonians to Samaria". In fact, we have not come across this view at all in modern scholarship on the Samaritans. What we know is that modern Samaritan scholarship has firmly rejected equating shomronim in II Kings 17:29 with Samaritans. Shomronim means the "inhabitants of Samaria" and it has nothing to do with shamerin, "keepers" or "observers" of the Torah, which the Samaritans use for themselves. Moreover, it was seen that there are serious historical problems with II Kings 17:18-24 which severely undermines the biblical account concerning the claims of the Samaritan origins.
To complete the argument what does modern scholarship say about II Kings 17 being the alleged source of the Samaritans' origins? Let us start with A Companion To Samaritan Studies published in 1993. One can consider it as a dictionary 'desk reference' for Samaritan studies. As for II Kings 17 and the origins of the Samaritans, it says:
Older scholarship took 2 Kings 17 as a reliable account of the origins of Samaritanism and in many translations that is the only place where the word Samaritans is found in the Hebrew Bible (e.g. KJV, RSV). The idea that this passage can give us information about the Samaritan origins is now abandoned though it is undeniable that at an early date the text of understood in this sense. Thus Josephus (Ant. 9:291) states that the heterodox community formed after the Assyrian capture of Samaria was the direct forerunner of the Samaritan or Cuthaean community of his day. Egger has shown how many of Josephus' references to the Samaritans cannot properly be understood of the Samaritan religious community. Josephus' work is a clear example of anti-Samaritan polemic at work extrapolating materials from one setting to another as part of his condemnation of the Samaritans.[32]
Similar conclusions were also reached by Lester Grabbe. He says:
The origins of the [Samaritan] community and cult are still uncertain. The origins according to interpretations of 2 Kings 17 (pagan foreigners brought in) and Josephus (dissident Jerusalem priests) are the product of considerable bias and cannot be taken at face value.[33]
Writing in 2002, Anderson and Giles in their book The Keepers: An Introduction To The History And Culture Of The Samaritans say that II Kings 17 cannot be considered an objective account of Samaritan history:
The Cutheans are simply the inhabitants of the north, not the Samaritan sect. Sargon's deportation of the indigenous Israelite population probably affected primarily the aristocracy within the city of Samaria. The people groups brought into the region replacing the deportees remained a minority. The invectives of the 2 Kings account address this select few and not the general population, and certainly not a religious sect [i.e., the Samaritans] that had, according to the bulk of evidence, not yet attained a sense of self-awareness.
...
It is generally recognized that the account in 2 Kings 17 is not objective and unbiased history. The purpose of 2 Kings 17, as well as other passages in the Hebrew Bible (particularly in Chronicles and Ezra), is to highlight the primacy of Jerusalem over any potential rivals.[34]
After examining the evidence, Anderson and Giles conclude that the Samaritans did exist during the time of Assyrian invasion, not as a separate sect but as a part of the northern kingdom of Israel. In other words, Samaritans did not emerge after the exile of the northern kingdom of Israel and the resettlement of the area under king Sargon II after 722 BCE.
After doing a detailed discussion on the alleged presence of the Samaritans in II Kings 17, Coggins concluded that:
The simple truth is, as it is hoped that the first main part of the study has shown, that there is no reference to the Samaritans in the Hebrew Old Testament. Some of the allusions in the work of the Chronicler may point to a situation which would later develop into Judaeo-Samaritan hostility, but that is most that can be said.[35]
The New Bible Dictionary under the entry "Samaritans" says:
... Samaritans are mentioned only in 2 Ki. 17:29, a passage which describes the syncretistic religion of those peoples whom the king of Assyria transported to the N kingdom of Israel to replace the exiled native population after the fall of Samaria (722/721 BC).
Several reasons argue strongly against the identification, favoured by Josephus and many others since, of this group with the Samaritans as they are more widely known from the NT..., some of whose descendents survive to the present day in two small communities at Nablus and Holon: (i) the word used (hamrnîm) seems merely to mean 'inhabitants of (the city or province of) Samaria (mrôn)', and this fits the context of 2 Ki. 17 best; (ii) there is no evidence that the later Samaritans inhabited Samaria. The earliest certain references to them, by contrast, all points clearly to their residence at Shechem..., whilst one of the Josephus' sources refers to them as 'Shechemites'...; (iii) nothing whatever that is known of later Samaritan religion and practice suggests the pagan influence of 2 Ki. 17 or Ezr. 4.[36]
It is worthwhile adding that modern biblical scholarship has recognized that antagonism between the kingdoms of Judah and Israel existed for many centuries which goes back to the period of the united monarchy. The account in II Kings 17 was written from a southern viewpoint and was quick to highlight the primacy of Jerusalem over any potential rivals. Independence from Jerusalem, an identifying characteristic of Samaritanism, draws unqualified criticism in the Hebrew Bible.[37] Modern Samaritan scholarship also realizes that there was no sudden break that separated Jews and Samaritans. Rather, the rift developed over a long period of time with certain events causing more hostility than others.[38] Perhaps it was after John Hyrcanus destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim in 2nd century BCE, the two communities went separate ways.
To summarize, modern scholarship conclusively refutes the claim of Samaritan origins based on II Kings 17. The Christian missionary and apologist views, including Vargo's "Jewish view" and the views of his unknown and unnamed "modern scholars", can now be safely discarded.
4. What Do The Samaritans Say About Their Origins?
As we have seen from our discussion on II Kings 17, until the middle of the 20th century it was widely believed that the Samaritans originated from a mixed race people living in Samaria at the time of the Assyrian conquest in 722 BCE. Scholarship has moved ahead since then and in recent years research based on the study of the Chronicles of the Samaritans has led to a re-evaluation of their origins. The Encyclopaedia Judaica (under "Samaritans") summarizes both past and the present views on the Samaritans' origins. It says:
Until the middle of the 20th Century it was customary to believe that the Samaritans originated from a mixture of the people living in Samaria and other peoples at the time of the conquest of Samaria by Assyria (722/1 B.C.E.). The Biblical account in II Kings 17 had long been the decisive source for the formulation of historical accounts of Samaritan origins. Reconsideration of this passage, however, has led to more attention being paid to the Chronicles of the Samaritans themselves. With the publication of Chronicle II (Sefer ha-Yamim), the fullest Samaritan version of their own history became available: the chronicles, and a variety of non-Samaritan materials.
According to the former, the Samaritans are the direct descendants of the Joseph tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, and until the 17th century C.E. they possessed a high priesthood descending directly from Aaron through Eleazar and Phinehas. They claim to have continuously occupied their ancient territory in central Palestine and to have been at peace with other Israelite tribes until the time when Eli disrupted the Northern cult by moving from Shechem to Shiloh and attracting some northern Israelites to his new cult there. For the Samaritans, this was the 'schism' par excellence.[39]
Furthermore, even to this day the Samaritans still claim descent from the tribe of Joseph:
The laymen also possess their traditional claims. They are all of the tribe of Joseph, except those of the tribe of Benjamin, but this traditional branch of people, which, the Chronicles assert, was established at Gaza in earlier days, seems to have disappeared. There exists an aristocratic feeling amongst the different families in this petty community, and some are very proud over their pedigree and the great men it had produced.[40]
Clearly, if the Samaritans trace their origins from the time of Joseph's descendants, then they were certainly in existence in the time of Moses. However, the Samaritan Chronicles, just like the books of the Hebrew Bible, especially the book of Kings, are late compilations.[41] Moreover, as observed earlier, the literature of both the Jews and Samaritans have their own inherent bias in them. They were written from their own point of view and thus exhibit to varying degrees a polemicizing of the events.[42] Nevertheless there are some indications that the Rabbis were aware of the Samaritans' ancient origins and conceded that they were of genuine Israelite stock. An interesting narration is found in Genesis Rabbah, part of which involves Rabbi Meir discussing the plausibility of the Samaritan claim to have a continuous ancestral link to the tribe of Joseph. The discussion proceeds as follows:
R. Meir met a Samaritan and asked him: 'Whence are you descended?' 'From Joseph,' he replied. 'That is not so,' he said. 'Then from whom?' 'From Issachar,' he told him. 'How do you know this?' he countered. - Because it is written, AND THE SONS OF ISSACHAR: TOLA, AND PUVAH, AND IOB, AND SHIMRON - the last name referring to the Samaritans.'[43]
Although disputing the Samaritan version of the account, Rabbi Meir concurs with their claim to be of genuine Israelite origin. Therefore, according to Rabbi Meir, the Samaritans can in fact trace their lineage to a time that precedes the advent of Moses.
The problem of establishing the authenticity of the claims of the Jews and Samaritans concerning the origins of the latter is not as insurmountable as it seems. We have already seen that II Kings 17 has nothing to do with the Samaritan origins. On the other hand, the Samaritans claim that they have continuously occupied their ancient territory in central Palestine and to have been at peace with other Israelite tribes until the time when Eli disrupted the Northern cult by moving from Shechem to Shiloh. Perhaps the most crucial question now is whether the Ten Tribes, especially the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh from which Samaritans claimed to have directly descended, survived the Assyrians onslaught? The answer to this question has been dealt with in detail by Nathan Schur using information gleaned from the Hebrew Bible and corroborating it with the archaeological records. His observations can be summarized as follows.[44]
From the Assyrian and biblical records, it is clear that Sargon II moved settlers to the city of Samaria in 722 BCE. If all or most of the new settlers went to the city of Samaria, obviously most of the rest of the country was left basically untouched. This is confirmed by the Hebrew Bible itself in II Chronicles 30:1, 10 which says that King "Hezekiah [727-698 BCE] sent word to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel... The couriers went from town to town in Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but the people scorned and ridiculed them. Nevertheless, some men of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem." If the people of the northern kingdom of Israel had been completely replaced, as claimed in II Kings 17, there would have been no point to try and get them to come to Jerusalem for Passover. Moreover, the old tribal names would have lost their meaning. What is more interesting is that in the above passages the new foreign upper classes are not even mentioned, which can be taken to mean that their numbers and influence could not have been very sizeable. Ephraim's old attitude to Jerusalem seems to have been quite unchanged, and only members of the peripheral tribes agreed to come to Jerusalem and follow the lead of the king of Judah. It has been claimed that the disdainful attitude of Ephraim was due to a massive implant of foreign settlers, but if so, why call them by the Israelite tribal name? Furthermore Ephraim's attitude here is not much different from the traditional one of previous centuries. There is no need, therefore, to stipulate foreign settlers, though their presence, at least in the capital, is of course well established.
In the Book of Ezra further plantations of foreign settlers are mentioned from the times of Assyrian kings Esarhaddon [681-669 BCE] (Ezra 4:2) and Assurbanipal [669-627 BCE] (Ezra 4:10). However in the 12th year of Josiah [628 BCE], after his initial reforms in Jerusalem, he extended them also to the area of the northern kingdom, which he had occupied after the collapse of the Assyrian empire in the west. II Chronicles 34:6 mentions again the old tribes: "And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali ..." Thus a hundred years after the fall of Samaria and after the latest Assyrian settlements the old tribal names were still in use and no new, foreign ones had superseded them. It has to be assumed therefore that the old inhabitants were mostly still residing in their old homes and had not been displaced by new settlers.
This conclusion is strengthened by the attitude of Jeremiah. He is reported to have said in chapter 31 that Ephraim is still enjoying the love of God and prophesises its complete restoration jointly with Judah. Nowhere does he allude to Ephraim's having been supplanted by newcomers. The same goes for Ezekiel. He speaks in the same terms of Ephraim as of Judah. There, too, is no allusion to a strange people having displaced the original settlers.[45]
We lack information of what passed in Samaria during the time of the Babylonian rule. However, even in Judah no new settlers were brought in instead of those exiled to Babylon. The Babylonians do not seem to have taken over the Assyrian concept of replacing local populations by others - or might have lacked the power and resources to do so. Thus it does not seem likely that there were any further settlements in Samaria after those of Assurbanipal. If the old tribal framework was basically intact after the time of this last important Assyrian ruler, the resident Israelite population, with a slight admixture of foreign settlers in the main towns, cannot have changed its composition till the time of Persian rule and the initial Jewish return from Babylonian exile. After making this detailed argument, Schur concludes by saying:
Our conclusion is therefore that the Samaritan tradition is generally correct in claiming direct descent from the Ten Tribes of Israel.
This conclusion can be checked now also by archeological evidence. Except for the destruction of the towns sacked by the Assyrians, such as Samaria and Shechem, other places, where occupation was continuous, show no trace of a different material culture intervening in the later Assyrian period. In the 1967/8 survey ceramic remains of 81 sites were also examined in the province of Samaria, and no differences of nuances could be discovered between the Assyrian period on the one hand and the Persian on the other. The same results were obtained in the 1978/9 survey of the Dotan region, in the exploration of western Samaria and by further archeological excavations of the last 15 years in Samaria.[46]
Nearly similar conclusions were also reached by Frank Cross concerning the uninterrupted existence of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh before and after the Assyrian invasion, although he considers that the earliest form of Samaritanism to be an old Israelite religion.
Accordingly, the later Jewish tradition comes to call the Samaritans en bloc Kutians (kwtym), or sardonically, "lion-proselytes" in light of the anecdote in 2 Kings 17:25-28. For their part, the Samaritans of the later times claimed to be the remnants of Ephraim and Manasseh, authentic Israelites who alone preserve the ancient faith and service of the god of Israel unsullied by Judaean innovations.
In fact, neither of these two polemical positions can stand close critical scrutiny. On the other hand, there are very strong arguments to support the conclusion that the bulk of the men of Ephraim and Manasseh remained in the land; on the other hand, there is equally strong evidence... that Samaritanism in the form we find it in the Roman Age and later is not a survival of old Israelite religion, pure or syncretistic, but rather is essentially a sectarian form of Judaism.[47]
Thus, it can be said the Samaritan tradition is correct in claiming direct descent from tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Since the Samaritans trace their origins from the time of Joseph's descendants, then they were certainly in existence during the time of Moses. However, it is not known from the Samaritan Chronicles or the Hebrew Bible as to when the label shamerin was first used by the Samaritans to identify themselves as a distinct group. The Qur'an suggests that this label was already in place during the time of Moses.
The claims of the Samaritans about their Israelite origins were partially corroborated by a recent study involving genetics which we will now turn to.
5. A Genetic Perspective
The Samaritans are a distinct religious and cultural minority in the Middle East. They number slightly over 500 and they reside in Holon, a suburb of Tel Aviv and Nablus, near their holy site of Mount Gerizim.[48] The Samaritans, according to their origins, are divided into three large clans: children of Ephraim (the Danafi and Joshua-Marhiv families), the children of Manasseh (Tsdaka family), and the Priests (Cohanim). As for the priests, the Samaritan Chronicle tells us that in 1624 CE, the priestly house descended from Aaron became extinct, and that since then their sacred functions devolved upon the Levites. Thus the modern-day priestly Cohen lineage is from the tribe of Levi.[49]
Throughout the whole of their history, the Samaritans adhered to an endogamous marriage system that was practised not only within the limits of the community but also within the limits of the lineage. Female Samaritans who marry non-Samaritans are expelled from the sect, while the children of male Samaritans who marry non-Samaritans are regarded as Samaritans. Recent studies have shown that around 84% of marriages occur between cousins, producing the highest inbreeding coefficient recorded for any population.[50] This gives a good opportunity to study their genetic character and compare it with Jewish and non-Jewish populations.
Before we go into the issue of genetics, let us first clarify some terms used. A haplotype is the genetic constitution of an individual chromosome and is a contraction of the phrase "haploid genotype". A haplogroup is a large group of haplotypes. In human genetics, the haplogroups most commonly studied are Y-chromosome haplogroups and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups, both of which can be used to define genetic populations. Both these haplogroups have their distinct advantages. The Y-chromosome has the advantage of being passed solely along the patrilineal line (i.e., only via father), while mtDNA is passed solely on the matrilineal line (i.e., only via mother). Hence these haplogroups can be used to study the lineage especially of those groups/sects who marry within their own groups/sects.
The haplogroups were used to study cohanim who are descended from Aaron. According to biblical tradition, after the Jewish exodus from Egypt, Moses' brother Aaron was selected as the first cohen. The designation was bestowed upon his sons, providing the basis for a firmly entrenched Jewish tradition in which a male cohen bestows the status upon his children. A daughter of a cohen can become a priest, but she cannot pass on the honour. The Y-chromosome passes solely from father to son, akin to the cohen status. If all modern cohanim were indeed descendants of Aaron, or a relative of him, their Y-chromosomes should have an ancient common origin. Skorecki and his colleagues have found that the cohanim indeed have some Y-chromosome features distinct from other Jews, implying that the cohanim do share some common ancestry.[51] This shared genetic material comes from an ancestor who lived several thousand years ago, roughly the time estimated for the beginning of the Jewish priesthood. This led to the development of a set of Y-chromosomal markers called the "Cohen modal haplotype" that might have been shared by Aaron. A similar study was used to support the claim of the Lemba clan, an endogamous group from southern Africa, that they were a tribe of Jews. One of the Lemba clans carries a particular Y-chromosome which is "Cohen modal haplotype," at a very high frequency, which is known to be characteristic of the paternally inherited Jewish priesthood and is thought, more generally, to be a potential signature haplotype of Judaic origin.[52]
What about the Samaritans? As we have noted earlier, the Samaritans have the highest inbreeding coefficient as they have an endogamous marriage system that is practised not only within the limits of the community but also within the limits of the lineage. The Samaritans claim that they possessed a high priesthood descending directly from Aaron through Eleazar and Phinehas. If this is true, it should be reflected in their Y-chromosome haplogroup and it should have close relationship with the "Cohen modal haplotype". This is precisely what has been observed. Shen et al. concluded from Y-chromosome analysis that Samaritans descended from the Israelites; and mtDNA analysis shows descent from the foreign women. This effectively has validated both local and foreign origins of the Samaritans. Shen et al. say:
Principal component analysis suggests a common ancestry of Samaritan and Jewish patrilineages. Most of the former may be traced back to a common ancestor in the paternally-inherited Jewish high priesthood (Cohanim) at the time of the Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel.[53]
Furthermore, they conclude:
This study confirms the strong male-based endogamy of the Samaritan culture... [T]he data ... indicate that the Samaritan and Jewish Y-chromosomes have a much greater affinity than do those of the Samaritans and their longtime geographical neighbors, the Palestinians. However, this is not the case for the mtDNA haplotypes. In fact, Table 4 shows that distances of Samaritans to Jews and Palestinians for mtDNA are about the same. Further, the low mitochondrial haplotype diversity suggests that the rate of maternal gene flow into the Samaritan community has not been very high despite their tradition to regard children of male Samaritans born to females from outside as Samaritan... Based on the close relationship of the Samaritan haplogroup J six-microsatellite haplotypes with the Cohen modal haplotype, we speculate that the Samaritan M304 Y-chromosome lineages present a subgroup of the original Jewish Cohanim priesthood that did not go into exile when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 BC, but married Assyrian and female exiles relocated from other conquered lands, which was a typical Assyrian policy to obliterate national identities. This is in line with biblical texts that emphasize a common heritage of Jews and Samaritans, but also record the negative attitude of Jews towards the Samaritans because of their association with people that were not Jewish. Such a scenario could explain why Samaritan Y-chromosome lineages cluster tightly with Jewish Y-lineages..., while their mitochondrial lineages are closest to Iraqi Jewish and Palestinian mtDNA sequences... Finally, the high degree of homogeneity in each of the four male Samaritan lineages, which holds with two exceptions even over 13 microsatellite loci..., underscores the strong male-based endogamy of the Samaritan culture that has effectively limited any male-driven gene flow between the four families.[54]
Vargo did not like this evidence and he tried to dismiss it by saying:
All humans on this planet are descendents of people who were alive during the time of the Exodus, however, all of the ethno-religious groups, which developed over time, cannot/do not seriously claim to have been present at the foot of Mount Sinai when Moses was receiving the law! Another problem is that there are many other groups which carry the Cohen modal haplotype. Among the Bantu speaking Lemba of southern Africa nearly fifty-two percent of males carry the Cohen modal haplotype! The Cohen Modal haplotype is also found in significant numbers among Italians and Kurds.
Obviously, the missionary has not taken the opportunity to read the paper carefully enough. The paper clearly says that the Samaritan Y-chromosome lineages cluster tightly with Jewish Y-lineages, the reason being the close relationship of the Samaritan haplogroup J six-microsatellite haplotypes with the Cohen modal haplotype. The issue is not about just having the Cohen modal haplotype, it is about how closely the Samaritan haplogroup J six-microsatellite haplotypes relates with the Cohen modal haplotype. Similarly, the Lemba tribe from sub-Saharan Africa carries a particular Y-chromosome which is a Cohen modal haplotype, at a very high frequency. This suggests a close genetic relationship between the cohanim and the Lemba tribe. The Cohen modal haplotype is also found in Kurds and Italians. Why should this be surprising? There was a Jewish Kingdom of Adiabene in ancient Kurdistan, where the royals and some of the common people converted to Judaism. Nebel et al. have studied the genetic landscape of the Middle East. Concerning the Kurds, they concluded that:
The dominant haplotype of the Muslim Kurds (haplotype 114) was only one microsatellite-mutation step apart from the CMH [Cohen modal haplotype]... The acceptance of Judaism by the rulers and inhabitants of the Kurdish Kingdom of Adiabene in the first century of the Common Era resulted in the assimilation of non-Jews into the community (Brauer 1993). This recorded conversion does not appear to have had a considerable effect on the Y chromosome pool of the Kurdish Jews.[55]
Perhaps Vargo is under the illusion that genetic information disappears if a Jew, who had a long illustrious lineage, converts to either Islam or Christianity. If this person marries with people from a different genetic stock, there will be some genetic changes but not profound. It is only when there is a lack of endogamy over a few generations, the genetic information slowly gets diluted. The case of the cohanim, the Samaritans and the Lemba clan in sub-Saharan Africa is different from the Kurds. Unlike Kurds, the cohanim, the Samaritans and the Lemba clan are tightly knit groups and marriages are usually endogamous (especially the last two groups) and hence the genetic information is preserved, from which one can make reasonable conclusions about their ancestry.
In other words, the conclusion of this study is that the origins of an endogamous community of Samaritans can be traced back to a common ancestor in the cohen or the Jewish priestly family which was paternally inherited. This study establishes a common ancestry for both Jews and Samaritans as well as the mixed descent of Samaritans due to marriages with foreign women and corroborates the Samaritan claims of Israelite origins.