Sunday, July 3, 2011
Jesus The Proselyte
Jesus Could Not have Been A Real Jew
I am indeed one of the first people in history to theorize and research this issue with meticulous detail.
Using both the Old and New Testament I will show that neither Jesus nor the Jews of the time in Judea(Southern Kingdom) were real Jews.
I have not wasted my time with rubbish argument, but get straight to the facts.
I welcome all debate on the issue and have no found one minister at any level to have a proper argument against these facts.
Jesus was in fact of Samaritan stock like all Jews of the time.
Lets start in the beginning... Who Are The Samaritans?
And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
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.
Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel
(So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.)
- 2 Kings 17
The Old Testament claims that they are not an ethnic group. but group of Proselytes, who converted to Israel's ancient religion half way. These are actually called Half-Proselytes.
"They themselves, to the contrary, claimed to be authentic "Israelites,"
the posterity of Jacob-Israel. Since they had no other prophet but Moses, and the Pentateuch was their unique Holy Book, they might appear as the true guardians of the ancient monotheistic belief. In fact, they were a Jewish sect whose members continued to observe
the essential rites of Judaism, but held divergent views concerning the localization of the sanctuary in which the Eternal had ordained that the Hebrews offer Him their sacrifices: for the Samaritans, this sacred site was not Jerusalem but Mount Gerizim"
Even after the invasion of the Southern Kingdom close to 1.4 Million Israelite people as scholars suggest were exiled to Egypt.
23 Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
24 And Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said unto them: 'Fear not because of the servants of the Chaldeans; dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.' {P}
25 But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah.
26 And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces, arose, and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
2 Kings Chapter 25
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6 Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land. {P}
7 Now when all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children, and of the poorest of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon;
8 then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
9 And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore unto them and to their men, saying: 'Fear not to serve the Chaldeans; dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
10 As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans that may come unto us; but ye, gather ye wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken.'
11 Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the children of Ammon, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan;
12 then all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance. {S}
Jeremiah 40
In the Elephantine papyri, caches of legal documents and letters written in Aramaic amply document the lives of a community of Jewish soldiers stationed in there as part of a frontier garrison in Egypt for the Achaemenid Empire. Established at Elephantine in about 650 BC during Manasseh's reign, these soldiers assisted Pharaoh Psammetichus I in his Nubian campaign. Their religious system shows strong traces of Babylonian polytheism, something which suggests to certain scholars that the community was of mixed Judaeo-Samaritan origins, and they maintained their own temple, functioning alongside that of the local deity Chnum. The documents cover the period 495 to 399 BC.
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What would happen to those Jews In Egypt?
One film has an excellent depiction...
he Christians and the Jews come into conflict, committing violent acts against each other, with the Christians ultimately wresting power from the only other religious group remaining. Davus, remembering how Hypatia forgave him, suggests that perhaps the Christians should forgive the Jews, as Jesus did, but the Christians respond by rebuking him for comparing himself with Jesus.
The leader of the Christians, Cyril (Sami Samir), views Hypatia as having too much influence over Orestes and stages a public ceremony intended to force Orestes to subjugate her. Hypatia's former pupil, Synesius, now the Bishop of Cyrene, comes to her rescue as a religious authority counterweight, but says he cannot help her unless she accepts Christianity; she refuses. Hypatia makes a great discovery, finding that the Earth orbits around the Sun in an elliptic, not circular, orbit with the Sun at one of the foci. Cyril convinces a mob of Christians that Hypatia is a witch and they vow to kill her. Davus tries to run ahead to warn Hypatia, but she is captured by the mob. They strip Hypatia naked and are about to skin her alive until Davus persuades the mob otherwise, settling to stone her instead. When everyone goes outside to collect stones, Davus, with Hypatia's consent, secretly suffocates her and tells the mob that she fainted. Since she is already dead, she does not feel anything when the crowd begins to stone her.
http://en.wikipedia....gora_%28film%29
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power when the city was at its height of influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the later 4th and 5th centuries. He was a central figure in the First Council of Ephesus in 431, which led to the deposition of Nestorius as Patriarch of Constantinople.
Cyril is counted among the Church Fathers and the Doctors of the Church, and his reputation within the Christian world has resulted in his titles Pillar of Faith and Seal of all the Fathers, but Theodosius II, the Roman Emperor, condemned him for behaving like a proud pharaoh, and the Nestorian bishops at the Council of Ephesus declared him a heretic, labelling him as a "monster, born and educated for the destruction of the church".[1]
Cyril is controversial because of his involvement in the expulsion of Novatians and Jews from Alexandria and the murder of the hellenistic philosopher Hypatia. Historians disagree over the extent of his responsibility for these events.
http://en.wikipedia....l_of_Alexandria
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Indeed there is proof that even the leadership of "Israel" in Judea at the time were nothing short of Proselytes which the Levites or any Jews especially the southern Kingdom would allow at the time.
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"Sh'maya (Hebrew: ?????, or Shemaiah, Samaias or Sameas) was a rabbinic sage in the early pre-Mishnaic era who lived at the same time as Avtalyon. They are known as one of the zuggot ("couples"): Sh'maya and Avtalyon. Both Sh'maya and Avtalyon were converts to Judaism and were both descendants of King Sancheriv of Assyria who destroyed the northern Kingdom of Israel."
"He was a leader of the Pharisees in the first century BC; president of the Sanhedrin before and during the reign of Herod the Great."
http://en.wikipedia....a_%28Mishnah%29
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"bht'alyon, also Avtalyon, Avtalion and Abtalion (Hebrew: ???????) was a rabbinic sage in the early pre-Mishnaic era who lived at the same time as Sh'maya."
"A leader of the Pharisees in the middle of the first century BC and by tradition vice-president of the great Sanhedrin of Jerusalem. He was of heathen descent (Bab. Yoma, 71b; 'Eduy. v.6; Gi?. 57b; Yer. M. ?. iii.81b; see Weiss, Dor Dor we-Dorshaw, i.1, and Landau, p. 319). Despite this fact, Abtalion, as well as his colleague, Shemaiah, the president of the Sanhedrin, was one of the most influential and beloved men of his time."
"He was a leader of the Pharisees in the first century BC; president of the Sanhedrin before and during the reign of Herod the Great."
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Onkelos (???????) is the name of a famous convert to Judaism in Tannaic times (c.35-120 CE). He is considered to be the author of the famous Targum Onkelos (c.110 CE).
The Talmud states that "a person should complete his portions of scripture along with the community, reading the scripture twice and the targum once." This passage is taken by many to refer to Targum Onkelos.
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Helena was queen of Adiabene and wife of Monobaz I. With her husband she was the mother of Izates II and Monobaz II. She died about 56 CE. Her name and the fact that she was her husband's sister indicate a Hellenistic origin. Helena became a convert to Judaism about the year 30 CE.
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"Izates II or Izates bar Monobaz (also known as Izaates) (ca. 1-55 CE) was a proselyte to Judaism who became King of the Parthian client kingdom of Adiabene. He was the son of Queen Helena of Adiabene and Monobaz I. During his youth he was sent by his father to the court of King Abennerig of Characene in Charax Spasinu. While in Charax Izates became acquainted with a Jewish merchant named Ananias"
Ananias of Adiabene was a Jewish merchant and mendicant proselytizer, probably of Hellenistic origin, who, in the opening years of the common era, was prominent at the court of Abinergaos I, king of Characene.
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Symacho (fl. early 1st c. CE) was the daughter of King Abinergaos I of Characene. She was converted to Judaism by Ananias of Adiabene. Symacho married Izates bar Monobaz during the latter's sojourn in Charax as a youth. She presumably went with him when he left to take up his throne in Adiabene.
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Aquila of Sinope was a 2nd Century CE native of Pontus in Anatolia known for producing an exceedingly literal translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek around 130 CE. He was a proselyte to Judaism and a disciple of Rabbi Akiba (d. circa 135 CE).
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*323 BCE. Alexander the Great died. In the power struggle after Alexander's death, the part of his empire that included Israel changed hands at least five times in just over twenty years. Babylonia and Syria were ruled by the Seleucids, and Egypt by the Ptolemies.
*281-246 BCE Ptolemy II Philadelphus: also ruled Israel, Septuagint translation begun in Alexandria, beginning of the Pharisees party, and other Jewish Second Temple sects such as the Sadducees and Essenes.
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It goes on and on, and even Herod himself was a Proselyte, not a real Jew
"Herod was born around 74 BCE. He was the second son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high-ranked official under Ethnarch Hyrcanus II, and Cypros, a Nabatean. A loyal supporter of Hyrcanus II, Antipater appointed Herod governor of Galilee at 25, and his elder brother, Phasael, governor of Jerusalem. He enjoyed the backing of Rome but his excessive brutality was condemned by the Sanhedrin."
"For about 100 years there has been a consensus among scholars that Herod the Great reigned from 37 to 4 BCE. However, there have been several challenges to this consensus over the past four decades, the most notable being the objection raised by W.E. Filmer. This paper argues that Herod most likely reigned from late 39 BCE to early 1 BCE, and that this reconstruction of his reign can account for all of the surviving historical references to the events of Herod's reign more logically than the current consensus can. Moreover, the reconstruction of Herod's reign proposed in this paper accounts for all of the datable evidence relating to Herod's reign, whereas the current consensus is unable to explain some of the evidence that it dismisses as ancient errors or that it simply ignores."
http://en.wikipedia....Herod_the_Great
http://www.ingentaco...br...1/art00001
http://www.mideastweb.org/christ.jpg
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For about 43,000 real Israelite people who migrated back to Jerusalem during Persian rule, they would always deal with Samaritan opposition
Letter of the Samaritans to Artaxerxes, and reply of Artaxerxes: The "enemies of Judah and Benjamin" offer to help with the rebuilding, but are rebuffed; they then work to frustrate the builders "down to the reign of Darius." The officials of Samaria write to king Artaxerxes warning him that Jerusalem is being rebuilt, and the king orders the work to stop. "Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia."
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What would happen to those Jews later?
Other Jewish communities fared better, and under the Ptolemies they received legal status. The Letter of Aristeas claims that Ptolemy I carried off over 100,000 Jews from Palestine and used them as mercenaries in the Egyptian armed forces. These Jews continued to worship GOD, but they were able to adjust to the Graeco-Roman way of life.
The ancient historian Philo says that 1,000,000 Jews lived in Egypt. They knew little Hebrew or Aramaic. For this reason, the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, the Septuagint version. The Jews of Alexandria were the first to use the Septuagint; later it was read in synagogues throughout the Roman Empire.
Philo of Alexandria was a Jewish philosopher who adopted the Greek ideas of Stoicism and Platonism. He dressed Jewish beliefs in the categories of Greek philosophic thought.
From Alexandria came the allegorical interpretation of Scripture. This Egyptian city became an important center of Jewish scholarship in the intertestamental period. (See "Jews in New Testament Times.")
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58. Samaritan Temple
342 Now (in 333 BCE) all (Jews) to whom (Alexander the Great) presented himself, received him with a friendly mind. At that time the Samaritans had their capital at Shechem, which lies beside Mount Gerizim and is inhabited by apostates from the Jewish people. When these saw that Alexander had so clearly honored the Jews, they thought to claim that they were Jews. So, while he was still very near Jerusalem, they presented themselves to the king with a splendid display...
343 And when Alexander encouraged them, the Shechemites came to him...calling upon him to come to their city and honor their temple also. And he promised to submit to their request when he came back again. But when they begged him to forgive their tribute every seventh year, because they did not sow during it, he asked who they were to ask these things. And when Alexander encouraged them, the Shechemites came to him...calling upon him to come to their city and honor their temple also. And he promised to submit to their request when he came back again. But when they begged him to forgive their tribute every seventh year, because they did not sow during it, he asked who they were to ask these things. And when they said they were Hebrews...he again asked if they were Jews. And they said that they were not.
346 Now when Alexander died, his realm was divided among his twelve generals. And the [Samaritan] temple remained on Mount Gerizim. But if anyone was charged by Jerusalemites with eating unclean things, or with violating the Sabbath or some other such sin, he fled to the Shechemites, saying he had been unjustly banished.
--- Josephus, Antiquities 11.342-346
Several centuries before Christ, the Samaritans had built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim to rival the Temple in Jerusalem. Here, they offered sacrifices according to the Mosaic code. Anderson notes that during the reign of Antiochus IV (175–164 BC):[17]
the Samaritan temple was renamed either Zeus Hellenios (willingly by the Samaritans according to Josephus) or, more likely, Zeus Xenios, (unwillingly in accord with 2 Macc. 6:2) Bromiley, 4.304).
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NEW TESTAMENT
Jesus’ Claims About Himself
48 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”
49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”
52 At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
John 8
Indeed we see one of the most notable references to Jesus being a Samaritan even in the New Testament, and Jesus doesn't even deny it. Only the idea that he was demon possessed.
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Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Matthew 10
Does Jesus have something against the Samaritans? Indeed we will see how he feels about them now, what is the point of this direction?
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The Church Persecuted and Scattered
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Acts 8
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The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10
We see that Jesus has nothing against the samaritans as other scholars may claim, but establishes the modern day attitude of samaritans actually being good.
This is a shot at Priests, and levites were are not allowed to touch those who has passed away by torah law.
And jesus actually considers himself a good "Samaritan", and is actually trying to be the Samaritan in his own parable
Does Jesus send his apostles to Jerusalem because he feels that this is the center of god's worship? Well not according to a conversation he has with a Samaritan.
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Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.
John 4
He in fact claims that Jerusalem is no interest to god over, Samaria.
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There is some historic inaccuracy in John 4 which makes any scholar question the validity of this chapter. Samaritans would in fact settle in every part of what is formally Israel.
As anyone can see Proselytes would continue to live in Judea before and after the rise of Christianity
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Monobaz II or Monobaz bar Monobaz was the son of Helena of Adiabene and Monobaz I. Like his brother Izates bar Monobaz and his mother, Monobaz became a convert to Judaism. He ruled as king of Adiabene after the death of his brother Izates around 55 CE.
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Titus Flavius Clemens was a great-nephew of the Roman Emperor Vespasian. He was the son of Titus Flavius Sabinus (consul 69), brother to Titus Flavius Sabinus (consul 82) and a second cousin to Roman Emperors to Titus and Domitian.
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Fulvia, the wife of Tiberius' 'amicus' Saturninus, lived during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. (She is sometimes confused with Fulvia the wife of Marcus Antonius who died before the Principate began.)
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Paulina Beturia was a Roman covert to Judaism (about the year 50), known under the name "Sarah," who, according to her Latin epitaph, was eighty-six years and six months old at the time of her death. For sixteen years she was a Jewess, a mother of the synagogues ("mater synagogarum") of the Campesian and Volumnian communities in Rome.
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Tub'a Abu Kariba As'ad (Abu Kariba) was the Himyarite king of Yemen. He ruled Yemen from 390-420 CE.[2] Abu Kariba is commonly cited as the first of several kings of Arabia to convert to Judaism.
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Yusuf Dhu Nuwas, (Arabic: ???? ?? ????) (also Yusuf Asar Dhu Nuwas or Dunaan; ruled 517 – 525) was the last king of the Himyarite kingdom of Yemen and a convert to Judaism.
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The oldest synagogue fragments are stone synagogue dedication inscriptions stones found in middle and lower Egypt and dating from the third century BCE.
http://en.wikipedia....na..._the_world
"And all the Israelites, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees." - 2 Kings
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The Greeks probably were the first to record information about the customs, life styles and societies of the different peoples whom they encountered or heard about during their travels in various parts of the world. Jews were one of the many peoples whom they met and observed.[10] The "father of history", Herodotus, who visited Egypt under Persian rule in the 450s BCE, wrote extensively about the Egyptians and referred to the "Syrians of Palestine" who were circumcised and were assumed to be the Jews.[11] In fact, it is likely that it was Herodotus who coined the name "Palestine," namely, the area of the Land of Israel, as his encounter was with the descendants of the Philistines who inhabited the coastal towns of Gaza, Ashdod, and Ashkelon. The Jews inhabited the landlocked region of Jerusalem and its surrounding hills, known as Judea.[12]
During the decades and centuries following the conquest of the Near East by Alexander the Great in the 330s and 320s BCE, Greek soldiers and civilians populated and colonized the entire area, established major cities, such as Alexandria in Egypt, and spread their system of local government, language, culture, art, religion, and way of life throughout the region. The Greeks promoted and advocated the adoption of their life style and mores; namely, Hellenization, which in contemporary parlance may be termed the first manifestation of "globalization." All the peoples whom they ruled and amongst whom they lived, including the Jews in the Land of Israel and the Diaspora (a Greek term), had to contend with the challenge of Hellenization through assimilation, adaptation or resistance.[13]
The Jewish Identity of Jerusalem in Greek and Roman Sources*
Rivkah Fishman-Duker
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The greeks are also known to place a naked wrestling gymnasium in Judea, along with placing a statue of Zeus inside the 2nd Temple.
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Region. Idumea was a Greek word meaning "pertaining to Edom". This term was given by the Greeks and Romans for the country of Edom on the S borders of Judea inhabited by Idumeans (Edomites) (Mark 3:8; Is 34:5-6; Ezek 35:15; 36:5). After the fall of Jerusalem (587 B.C.) the Edomites began to advance northward (Ezek 36:5). By 312 B.C. the Nabataeans, who established themselves in Edom, drove them from Petra. The Edomites were gradually forced into the S half of Judea, including the region around Hebron, an area that the Greeks later called Idumea.
http://www.bible-history.com/
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1 Thessalonians 2:14-15
The Jews killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men.
A clear indication of the old Samaritan grudge
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only extra biblical sources used are to fill in the "dark ages"
A time between Nehemiah and the start of Matthew from about 300 - 20? no one is sure.
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Many improperly point to Revelation 2 which is actually a reference to a church in turkey, mainly greeks, having nothing to do with the Samaritans.
The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”- John 8
First we must understand that the Samaritans tried their best to become the Imposters, Erase the Israelite people from history and make personal claims.
And even some of the Jewish authorities in the Talmud accepted some Samaritans as proselytes though in most cases it was recognized that they were basically heathens (Kiddushin 75b, 76a).
It must be remembered that there were Samaritans scattered all over the Roman world in the 1st century of our era. Only recently have historians begun to realize just how extensive the Samaritan population was in central Palestine, but also in Phoenicia, Egypt, Arabia, North Africa, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, and even in Rome and throughout Italy. At first, many Romans when coming in contact with these Samaritans simply thought them to be a Jewish sect and often they were classified as Jews on that account. Indeed, some early fathers of the Christian community continued to confuse the Samaritans with Jews from the third to the early fifth centuries (I will show this in a moment). After all, the Samaritans carried with them wherever they went their doctrines and religious symbols which were in many basic cases the same as the Jews
As for the population of the Samaritans, recent studies suggest that there were as many as half a million Samaritans in central Palestine in the 1st century and about three times that many in the other areas of the Roman Empire and other areas mentioned above (Alan, Crown, The Samaritans [Tubingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1989], p. 201). Two million Samaritans in the 1st century represented a large group of people to the Romans and they would have been politically important to the government of Rome as well as to their neighbors who lived near them or among them.
What happened to that population of Samaritans which numbered up to two million people in the time of the apostles and for the next six hundred years that followed? This is one of the things I hope to show in the remainder of this book. This vast number of people have simply disappeared from history. That is, they have vanished as far as being denominated as "Samaritans."
Today the number of identifiable Samaritans is drastically reduced to a small community (about 600) still living in two locations in Israel in Nablus and near Tel Aviv (some in Nablus I have come to know personally during the many times I have been to the area). They have told me that they have early records of their forefathers showing at one time that there were Samaritans all over Europe as well as Egypt, North Africa and even India. They once represented a large population of the Roman world and they became influential among the Romans.
This dispersion of Samaritan peoples to many areas of Europe (and even Asia) has been known by the remnant Samaritans who still live in Palestine. As long ago as 1865, Robert Mimpriss in his Gospel Treasury, Expository Harmony of the Four Evangelists (New York: M. W. Dodd, 1868), stated:
"In ages past we find them [the Samaritans] inhabiting various cities in Palestine, and extending even to Constantinople. There was a tradition among them that large numbers of their brethren were dwelling in various parts of the world ― in England, France, India, and elsewhere and they have written concerning them from time to time, in the hope of becoming acquainted with these their brethren.”
http://www.askelm.com/people/p eo006.htm
Why did they call Jesus a Samaritan?
The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?” - John 8
These measurements, when compared with those of other races of Syria, prove to be most noteworthy. For example, the Samaritans are the tallest people in Syria. The Nuṣairiyyah of northern Syria, whose average height was found to be 1,704 mm., came second. Both the facial and upper facial indexes of the Samaritans are far greater than those of any other group; in the case of the former index, this sect is again most closely approached by the Nuṣairiyyah, with an average index of 89.7; of the latter index, by the Turkomans, with an average index of 55.5. In breadth of mouth the Samaritans occupy a midway position; but in thickness of lips they again head the list. The Syrian Gipsies, with an average thickness of 16, are second, and the Bedouins, with 15, are third. The lenght of second finger is greatest in the Samaritans. Next come the Nuṣairiyyah and Turkomans, each having an average of 102. But, while the Samaritans have a breadth of hand of only 84, the Nuṣairiyyah have 86 and the Turkomans 87. A long, thin hand is thus one of the Samaritan characteristics.
In view of the close interbreeding and possible degeneracy of the Samaritans, the strength of hands forms a most interesting basis of comparison. The Samaritans, in the strength of each hand, are the weakest of any of the groups examined. Next come the Turkomans, with 35.9 for the right hand and 35.7 for the left. The Druses, with 43.0 for the right hand and 41.3 for the left, are the strongest. The strength tests were made with the ordinary type of hand dynamometer.
Read more: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=110&letter=S#434#ixzz1QwatuxHs
"noble facial features, but not of the Jewish type."1 LeroyBeaulieu says of them that he "must confess that I found nothing peculiarly characteristic in the faces of these Samaritans. . . They appear to me taller, sturdier, of more robust health, than the neighbouring orthodox Jews. From a physical point of view these Samaritans . . . are indisputably superior to their hostile brothers in Israel; perhaps for the reason that, having been spared the bitter exile of the latter, they have had to endure less suffering and degradation."2 Huxley, who studied this sect from the anthropological point of view,3 finds that " the general type of physiognomy of the Samaritans is distinctly Jewish, the nose markedly so. . ."
The Jews: a study of race and environment
By Maurice Fishberg
More likely he had the distinctions of a Samaritan the heathen half-proselytes
"We are aware that early in the Byzantine period Jamnia, once the seat of the Sanhedrin,, was almost entirely Samaritan. [There were] dense settlements in small farming villages across the Sharon, Shephelah and into the hill country of Samaria."
The Sanhedrin (Hebrew: סַנְהֶדְרִין; Greek: συνέδριον,[1] synedrion, "sitting together," hence "assembly" or "council") was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S anhedrin
The problem is evidence points that all real Jews were transferred to Alexandria before being chased out by the Christians. Which is addressed in my first post.
The Samaritans made proposals for co-operation in the work. Zerubbabel and the elders, however, declined all such cooperation, feeling that the Jews must build the Temple without help. Immediately evil reports were spread regarding the Jews. According to Ezra 4:5, the Samaritans sought to "frustrate their purpose" and sent messengers to Ecbatana and Susa, with the result that the work was suspended.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S econd_Temple
THE MAIN PROBLEM IS NOT EVEN THE SAMARITANS TO THIS DAY WILL ADMIT THAT THEY ARE SAMARITANS AND NOT JEWS.
The Samaritans have insisted that they are direct descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the destruction of the Northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The inscription of Sargon II records the deportation of a relatively small proportion of the Israelites (27,290, according to the annals), so it is quite possible that a sizable population remained that could identify themselves as Israelites, the term that the Samaritans prefer for themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan
They attempt to confuse themselves with the Israelite people who were exiled to the Southern Kingdom and later Egypt according to Jeremiah.
Later the Israelite people who rebuilt the 2nd temple during the biblical dark ages (a time between Nehemiah and Matthew) would be deported and exiled to Alexandria.
"And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
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.
Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places." - 2 Kings
The Samaritans made proposals for co-operation in the work. Zerubbabel and the elders, however, declined all such cooperation, feeling that the Jews must build the Temple without help. Immediately evil reports were spread regarding the Jews. According to Ezra 4:5, the Samaritans sought to "frustrate their purpose" and sent messengers to Ecbatana and Susa, with the result that the work was suspended.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Temple
You need to #1 study that there were actually 3 different exiles and 2 major ones you are referring to the 1st.
In the Middle Assyrian period, Assyria had been a strong but minor kingdom of northern Mesopotamia, competing for dominance with Babylonia to the south. Beginning with the campaigns of Adad-nirari II, Assyria became a great power, growing to be a serious threat to 25th dynasty Egypt. It began reaching the peak of its power with the reforms of Tiglath-Pileser III (ruled 745 – 727 BC). This period, which included the Sargonic dynasty, is well-referenced in several sources, including the Assyro-Babylonian Chronicles and the Hebrew Bible. At its height Assyria conquered Egypt (and expelled its Nubian dynasty), Babylonia, Chaldea, Elam, Media, Persia, Urartu, Phoenicia, Aramea, the Neo-Hittites, Hurrians, northern Arabia, Gutium, Palestine, Israel, Judah, Moab, Edom, Corduene, Mannea and parts of Ancient Greece, and defeated Scythia, Cimmeria, Lydia, Nubia and others. Assyria finally succumbed with the sack of Nineveh in 612 BC by a coalition of Babylonians, Medes, Scythians and Cimmerians.
Shechem was the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel. Afterwards it was Tirzah. King Omri built his capital in Samaria, which continued as such until the destruction of the Kingdom by the Assyrians. During the three-year siege of Samaria by the Assyrians, Shalmaneser V died and was succeeded by Sargon II of Assyria, who himself records the capture of that city thus: "Samaria I looked at, I captured; 27,280 men who dwelt in it I carried away" into Assyria. Thus, around 720 BCE, after two centuries, the kingdom of the ten tribes came to an end.
Pay close attention to the dates...
Now the bible says explicitly in 2 Kings that with the first deportations the UPPER CLASS peoples of Israel were taken
again pay very close attention here to how the BIBLE describes these deportations...
1st Deportation
"13 As the LORD had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the LORD and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the LORD. 14 He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left."
2 Kings 24
Thats #1: Only 10,000 were taken and the rest of the people poor were left...
Again they come BACK
2nd Deportation
" 1 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. 2 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3 By the ninth day of the fourth[a] month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. 4 Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians[b] were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,[c] 5 but the Babylonian[d] army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, 6 and he was captured.
He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him. 7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. 10 The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. 12 But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields. "
Again about 14,000 people were taken and only the POOREST people were left in the land that is the the 2nd DEPORTATION
"13 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the LORD and they carried the bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. 15 The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or silver.
16 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the LORD, was more than could be weighed. 17 Each pillar was eighteen cubits[e] high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits[f] high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.
18 The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. 19 Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and five royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of the conscripts who were found in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.
and there is also a 3rd AND FINAL according to the bible, so pay attention...
THIS TIME THE BIBLE NOTES THAT NOT EVEN THE POOR WOULD STAY THIS TIME...
22 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah. 23 When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men. 24 Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”
25 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. 26 At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians."
2 Kings Chapter 25
AS YOU CAN SEE
All the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt...
In the 3rd AND FINAL Deportation of the Israelite people not even the poor would stay. this according to history would be close to 1.4 million Israelite people the entire population would move into Egypt. So many that they would according to Jeremiah even settle in Upper Egypt at the borders of ETHIOPIA.
At that point the God of Israel promises that they would have no peace for this move according to prophet Jeremiah.
NOW lets pay attention again now that you are are aware of 3 separate deportations of the Israelite people.
You can now stop referring to this point of history as if you are well read on the issue, lets move on to the 2nd Temple.
After sometime those 43,000 Israelite people take captive from babylon were allowed to return home after the fall of Assyria to Persia, and even allowed to build their temple.
This is when the hatred of the Samaritans is clearly induced as they would try their hardest to not even allow this to happen.
They were actually successful until Darius' rule allowed them continue construction smoothly. You can read my above essay's if you want to understand why they would do this, indeed because they were heathens and wanted to worship their own gods according to 2 Kings, and would do so without second thought until wild animals would consistently attack them, at that point they instituted a dual worship of both the god of Israel and their own gods. According to the bible, to this very day.
After the building of the 2nd Temple would follow with more pressure on the Israelite people from now a new enemy.
Greece, as their oppression would come in a new form. Hellenization. this would prove to be their final fall as they would ally with the Samaritans and both Greeks and Samaritans would be considered Jew's over any true Israelite. Temples were built and named after Zeus all these issues I address in my original essay.
"Further waves of Jewish immigrants settled in Egypt during the Ptolemaic era, especially around Alexandria. Thus, their history in this period centers almost completely on Alexandria, though daughter communities rose up in places like the present Kafr ed-Dawar, and Jews served in the administration as custodians of the river.[9] As early as the third century B.C. one can speak of a widespread diaspora of Jews in many Egyptian towns and cities. In Josephus's history, it is claimed that, after the first Ptolemy took Judea, he led some 120,000 Jewish captives to Egypt from the areas of Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria, and Mount Gerizim. With them, many other Jews, attracted by the fertile soil and Ptolemy's liberality, emigrated there of their own accord. An inscription recording a Jewish dedication of a synagogue to Ptolemy and Berenice was discovered in the 19th century near Alexandria. Josephus also claims that, soon after, these 120,000 captives were freed of their bondage by Philadelphus .
The history of the Alexandrian Jews dates from the foundation of the city by Alexander the Great, 332 B.C., at which they were present. They were numerous from the very outset, forming a notable portion of the city's population under Alexander's successors. The Ptolemies assigned them a separate section, two of the five districts of the city, to enable them to keep their laws pure of indigenous cultic influences. The Alexandrian Jews enjoyed a greater degree of political independence than elsewhere. While the Jews elsewhere throughout the later Roman Empire formed private societies for religious purposes, or else became a corporation of foreigners like the Egyptian and Phoenician merchants in the large commercial centers, those of Alexandria constituted an independent political community, side by side with that of the indigenous population.
For the Roman period there is evidence that at Oxyrynchus (modern Behneseh), on the east side of the Nile, there was a Jewish community of some importance. It even had a Jews' street. Many of the Jews there must have become Christians, though they retained their Biblical names (e.g., "David" and "Elisabeth," occurring in a litigation concerning an inheritance). There is even found a certain Jacob, son of Achilles (c. 300 AD), as beadle of an Egyptian temple"
All these fact can be researched
http://en.wikipedia....ingdom_of_Judah
http://en.wikipedia....onian_captivity
http://en.wikipedia....ge_of_Jerusalem
http://en.wikipedia....e_Jews_in_Egypt
It is stated repetitively that these last Jews would deported after the 2nd temple with their Jewish counterparts in Egypt. This would not be written in any part of the OT or NT as it would occure during the "dark age" a period between Nehemiah and Matthew or between the OT and the NT. We must consult Greek resources.
Again
"Further waves of Jewish immigrants settled in Egypt during the Ptolemaic era, especially around Alexandria. Thus, their history in this period centers almost completely on Alexandria, though daughter communities rose up in places like the present Kafr ed-Dawar, and Jews served in the administration as custodians of the river.[9] As early as the third century B.C. one can speak of a widespread diaspora of Jews in many Egyptian towns and cities. In Josephus's history, it is claimed that, after the first Ptolemy took Judea, he led some 120,000 Jewish captives to Egypt from the areas of Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria, and Mount Gerizim. With them, many other Jews, attracted by the fertile soil and Ptolemy's liberality, emigrated there of their own accord. An inscription recording a Jewish dedication of a synagogue to Ptolemy and Berenice was discovered in the 19th century near Alexandria. Josephus also claims that, soon after, these 120,000 captives were freed of their bondage by Philadelphus .
The history of the Alexandrian Jews dates from the foundation of the city by Alexander the Great, 332 B.C., at which they were present. They were numerous from the very outset, forming a notable portion of the city's population under Alexander's successors. The Ptolemies assigned them a separate section, two of the five districts of the city, to enable them to keep their laws pure of indigenous cultic influences. The Alexandrian Jews enjoyed a greater degree of political independence than elsewhere. While the Jews elsewhere throughout the later Roman Empire formed private societies for religious purposes, or else became a corporation of foreigners like the Egyptian and Phoenician merchants in the large commercial centers, those of Alexandria constituted an independent political community, side by side with that of the indigenous population.
For the Roman period there is evidence that at Oxyrynchus (modern Behneseh), on the east side of the Nile, there was a Jewish community of some importance. It even had a Jews' street. Many of the Jews there must have become Christians, though they retained their Biblical names (e.g., "David" and "Elisabeth," occurring in a litigation concerning an inheritance). There is even found a certain Jacob, son of Achilles (c. 300 AD), as beadle of an Egyptian temple"
http://en.wikipedia....e_Jews_in_Egypt
"The ancient historian Philo says that 1,000,000 Jews lived in Egypt. They knew little Hebrew or Aramaic. For this reason, the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, the Septuagint version. The Jews of Alexandria were the first to use the Septuagint; later it was read in synagogues throughout the Roman Empire."
http://www.angelfire...na/Egyptp3.html
As time past and Hellenistic culture became the dominant culture, more and more Jews adopted Greek as the international language and Jews, especially those living in the Diaspora, the land outside the Holy Land, became less fluent in Hebrew. By the third century BC so few Jews living outside the Holy Land spoke or read Hebrew that it became necessary to translate the Hebrew texts into Greek to allow Jews of the Diaspora living in the Gentile world to read and study Sacred Scripture. The decision was made by the Old Covenant hierarchy in Jerusalem that a Greek translation of the sacred texts was going to be necessary. It was the first time the inspired words of Yahweh would be translated into a foreign tongue.
http://www.agapebibl...ts...curate.htm
About fourteeu years after, Ptolemy Lagus, the
king of Egypt, to revenge their fidelity to Lao-
his rival, furiously ravaged Judea, took Jeru-
i, and carried 100,000 Jews prisoners to Egypt; but
used tbcm so kindly, and even assigned them places of
power and trust, that many of their countrymen fol-
lowed them of their own accord. It seems that, about
eight years after, he transported another mutlitude of
Jews to Egypt, and everywhere gave them equal priv-
ileges as Alexander had done. About the same
time, Seleucus Nicator, having built above thirty new
cities in Asia, sixteen of which were called Antioch,
nine Selcucia, six Laodicea, settled in them as many
Jews as he could; they being reckoned most fr.ithful
to their friendly sovereigns; and bestowed on thern
(he same privileges as they had at Alexandria; nor
did Antiochus Thcos, his grandson, less favour them.
Ptolemy Philadelphia of Egypt, about 3720, at his own
expense, bought the freedom of all the Jewish slaves
in Egypt; and it is said, he, or his son, procured a
translation of their Bible for the use of his fatuous
Alexandrian library.
- A Dictionary of the Holy Bible: Containing an Historical Account of the Persons. A Geographical and Historical Account of the Places; a Literal, Critical, and Systematical Description of Other Objects Natural, Artificial Civil Religious or Military and The Explication of the Appellative Terms Mentioned in the Writings of the Old and New Testament John Brown
_________________________________
The Samaritans have insisted that they are direct descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the destruction of the Northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The inscription of Sargon II records the deportation of a relatively small proportion of the Israelites (27,290, according to the annals), so it is quite possible that a sizable population remained that could identify themselves as Israelites, the term that the Samaritans prefer for themselves.
Jewish tradition maintains a different origin for the Samaritans. The Talmud accounts for a people called "Cuthim" on a number of occasions, mentioning their arrival by the hands of the Assyrians. According to 2 Kings 17 and Josephus (Antiquities 9.277–91), the people of Israel were removed by the king of the Assyrians (Sargon II- see special wording of 2 Kings 17 which mentions Shalmaneser in verse 3 but the "king of the Assyrians" from verse 4 onward), to Halah, to Gozan on the Khabur River and to the towns of the Medes. The king of the Assyrians then brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avah, Emath, and Sepharvaim to place in Samaria. Because God sent lions among them to kill them, the king of the Assyrians sent one of the priests from Bethel to teach the new settlers about God's ordinances. The eventual result was that the new settlers worshipped both the God of the land and their own gods from the countries from which they came.
http://en.wikipedia....#Jewish_sources
http://en.wikipedia....maritan_sources
Unlike the Chronicler, the Samaritan claimed that they were the true Israel who were descendants of the "lost" tribes taken into Assyrian captivity. They had their own temple on Mount Gerizim and claimed that it was the original sanctuary. Moreover, they even claimed that their version of the Pentateuch was the original and that the Jews had a falsified text produced by Ezra during the Babylonian exile.
Both Jewish and Samaritan religious leaders taught that it was wrong to have any contact with the opposite group, and neither was to enter each other's territories or even to speak to one another. During the New Testament period, although the tensions went unrecognized by Roman authorities, Josephus reports numerous violent confrontations between Jews and Samaritans throughout the first half of the first century
http://en.wikipedia....an_and_the_Jews
____________________________________
Genetic and demographic investigations of the Samaritan community were carried out in the 1960s. Detailed pedigrees of the last 13 generations show that the Samaritans comprise four lineages:
The Tsedakah lineage, claiming descent from the tribe of Manasseh
The Joshua-Marhiv lineage, claiming descent from the tribe of Ephraim
The Danfi lineage, claiming descent from the tribe of Ephraim
The priestly Cohen lineage from the tribe of Levi.
Of the 12 Samaritan males used in the analysis, 10 (83%) had Y chromosones belonging to haplogroup J, which includes three of the four Samaritan families. The Joshua-Marhiv family belongs to haplogroup J1, while the Danfi and Tsedakah families belong to haplogroup J2, and can be further distinguished by M67, the derived allele of which has been found in the Danfi family. The only Samaritan family not found in haplogroup J was the Cohen family (Tradition: Tribe of Levi) which was found in haplogroup E3b1a M78.[27] This article predated the change of the classification of haplogroup E3b1-M78 to E3b1a-M78 and the further subdivision of E3b1a-M78 into 6 subclades based on the research of Cruciani, et al.[28]
In a 2004 article on the genetic ancestry of the Samaritans, Shen, et al. concluded from a sample comparing Samaritans to several Jewish populations, all currently living in Israel — representing Ethiopian Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, Iraqi Jews, Libyan Jews, Moroccan Jews, and Yemenite Jews, as well as Druze and non-Druze Palestinian Arabs — that the principal components analysis suggested a common ancestry of Samaritan and Jewish patrilineages. Most of the former may be traced back to a common ancestor in what is today identified as the paternally inherited Israelite high priesthood (Cohanim) with a common ancestor projected to the time of the Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel.[29] Archaeologists Aharoni, et al., estimated that this "exile of peoples to and from Israel under the Assyrians" took place during ca. 734 BC to 712 BC.[30] The authors speculated that when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, resulting in the exile of many of the Israelites, a subgroup of the Israelites that remained in the Land of Israel "married Assyrian and female exiles relocated from other conquered lands, which was a typical Assyrian policy to obliterate national identities."[29] The study goes on to say that "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." Non-Jewish Iraqis were not sampled in this study; however, mitochondrial lineages of Jewish communities tend to correlate with their non-Jewish host populations, unlike paternal lineages which almost always correspond to Israelite lineages.
Genetic differences between the Samaritans and neighboring Jewish and non-Jewish populations are corroborated in that study of 7,280 bp of non-recombining Y-chromosome and 5,622 bp of coding and hypervariable segment (HVS-I) mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences. Comparative sequence analysis was carried out on 12 Samaritan Y-chromosome, and mtDNA samples from 9 male and 7 female Samaritans separated by at least two generations. The four Samaritan families clustered to four distinct Y-chromosome haplogroups according to their patrilineal identity. Of the 16 Samaritan mtDNA samples, 14 carry either of two mitochondrial haplotypes that are rare or absent among other worldwide ethnic groups.
http://en.wikipedia....genetic_studies
Are modern Jews Samaritan?
While Samaritans were by definition descendants of various surrounding nations holding a grudge against against Israel from Old Wars a main reason they wanted to deport and take over Israel. Since their first wars they always wanted this and finally in 720 began to be successful
They were actually HALF proselytes, by Judaic terminology, did not want to worship the God Of Israel in the land until they were consistently attacked by wild animals
Massive Assyrian Half Conversion And Take Over
And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
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.
Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel
(So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.)
- 2 Kings 17
"They themselves, to the contrary, claimed to be authentic "Israelites,"
the posterity of Jacob-Israel. Since they had no other prophet but Moses, and the Pentateuch was their unique Holy Book, they might appear as the true guardians of the ancient monotheistic belief. In fact, they were a Jewish sect whose members continued to observe
the essential rites of Judaism, but held divergent views concerning the localization of the sanctuary in which the Eternal had ordained that the Hebrews offer Him their sacrifices: for the Samaritans, this sacred site was not Jerusalem but Mount Gerizim"
Up to you to believe either the bible or Samaritans
I'm just agreeing with the bible here, I wasn't there and can only go based on the scriptures and historical fighting between the two..
4. Letter of the Samaritans to Artaxerxes, and reply of Artaxerxes: The "enemies of Judah and Benjamin" offer to help with the rebuilding, but are rebuffed; they then work to frustrate the builders "down to the reign of Darius." The officials of Samaria write to king Artaxerxes warning him that Jerusalem is being rebuilt, and the king orders the work to stop. "Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia."
1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel, 2 they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”
3 But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.”
4 Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.[a] 5 They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. - Ezra 4
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"“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."
"“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."
"“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."
"“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."
"“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."
JOHN 4
And instead of worshiping in Jerusalem/Zion
"Jesus said that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth."
2 Samuel 5:7
Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David.
Chiefly the Temple of Yahweh
12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. 13 Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high,[a] and had placed it in the center of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. 14 He said:
“LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. 15 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.
16 “Now, LORD, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.’ 17 And now, LORD, the God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David come true.
18 “But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 19 Yet, LORD my God, give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. 20 May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 21 Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
22 “When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple, 23 then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.
24 “When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors.
26 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, 27 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.
28 “When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, 29 and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of their afflictions and pains, and spreading out their hands toward this temple— 30 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know the human heart), 31 so that they will fear you and walk in obedience to you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.
32 “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, 33 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.
34 “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to you toward this city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
36 “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near; 37 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly’; 38 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name; 39 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you.
40 “Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
- 2 Chronicles 6
"For the LORD has chosen Zion,
he has desired it for his dwelling, saying,
14 “This is my resting place for ever and ever;
here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it.
15 I will bless her with abundant provisions;
her poor I will satisfy with food.
16 I will clothe her priests with salvation,
and her faithful people will ever sing for joy." - Psalm 132:13
(FOR EVER AND EVER)
"Then the angel who was speaking to me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion," - Zechariah 1:14
“I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” - Psalm 2:6
"Sing the praises of the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done." - Psalm 9:11
"Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!" - Psalm 14:7
"May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion." - Psalm 20:2
"From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth." - Psalm 50:2
"Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!" - Psalm 53:6
"For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song. Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled." - Psalm 65:1
"for God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it;" - Psalm 69:35
"Remember the nation you purchased long ago, the people of your inheritance, whom you redeemed— Mount Zion, where you dwelt" - Psalm 74:2
"His tent is in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion" - Psalm 76:2
"but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved." - Psalm 78:68
"They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion." - Psalm 84:7
"The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwellings of Jacob." - Psalm 87:2
"“I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me— Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush — and will say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’” - Psalm 87:4
"Indeed, of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High himself will establish her.” - Psalm 87:5
"The LORD will write in the register of the peoples: “This one was born in Zion.”" - Psalm 87:6
"Great is the LORD in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations." - Psalm 99:2
"You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come." - Psalm 102:13
"For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory." - Psalm 102:16
"So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem" - Psalm 102:21
"The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”" - Psalm 110:2
"A song of ascents. Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever." - Psalm 125:1
"May the LORD bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life." - Psalm 128:5
"May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame." - Psalm 129:5
"May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who is the Maker of heaven and earth." - Psalm 134:3
"Praise be to the LORD from Zion, to him who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the LORD." - Psalm 135:21
"The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD." - Psalm 146:10
"Extol the LORD, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion." - Psalm 147:12
"Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King." - Psalm 149:2
"Zion will be delivered with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness." - Isaiah 1:27
"Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." - Isaiah 2:3
"Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem." - Isaiah 4:3
"The moon will be dismayed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders—with great glory." - Isaiah 24:23
"So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic." - Isaiah 28:16
"Their stronghold will fall because of terror; at the sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem." - Isaiah 31:9
"The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness." - Isaiah 33:5
"I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel" - Isaiah 46:13
"Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes." - Isaiah 52:8
There is plenty more where that came from, but I hope the God of Israel has made his points vs
"“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. " - John 4
Which is indeed SAMARITAN theology, something ASSYRIANS would proclaim without a DOUBT.
"My question=statement to you, regarding the above:
You fail to show that Jesus was not Israelite. Nor do you disprove Jesus' statement that salvation is of the Jews."
No the New Testament fails to prove that Jesus was an Israelite and asserts the opposite according to historical and theological positions.
The entire area during jesus time was Samaritan and I have shown that indeed after 4 MAJOR deportations there were NO jews left after Alexanders death since they would all be deported to Alexandria before being exiled from Alexandria by Cyril and his Christians
more than 100,000 Jews would be deported to Alexandria after 42,360 Jews returned to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, that would include any population expansions wouldn't be much in antiquity and even a few Samaritans with them, all before 100 B.C.
"It must be remembered that there were Samaritans scattered all over the Roman world in the 1st century of our era. Only recently have historians begun to realize just how extensive the Samaritan population was in central Palestine, but also in Phoenicia, Egypt, Arabia, North Africa, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, and even in Rome and throughout Italy. At first, many Romans when coming in contact with these Samaritans simply thought them to be a Jewish sect and often they were classified as Jews on that account. Indeed, some early fathers of the Christian community continued to confuse the Samaritans with Jews from the third to the early fifth centuries (I will show this in a moment). After all, the Samaritans carried with them wherever they went their doctrines and religious symbols which were in many basic cases the same as the Jews. "
I have proved that there were NO jews in Judea during jesus time, and certainly all Samaritans "CLAIMED" to be Jews
"The Samaritans have insisted that they are direct descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the destruction of the Northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The inscription of Sargon II records the deportation of a relatively small proportion of the Israelites (27,290, according to the annals), so it is quite possible that a sizable population remained that could identify themselves as Israelites, the term that the Samaritans prefer for themselves."
contrary to 2 kings...
"Jewish tradition maintains a different origin for the Samaritans. The Talmud accounts for a people called "Cuthim" on a number of occasions, mentioning their arrival by the hands of the Assyrians. According to 2 Kings 17 and Josephus (Antiquities 9.277–91), the people of Israel were removed by the king of the Assyrians (Sargon II- see special wording of 2 Kings 17 which mentions Shalmaneser in verse 3 but the "king of the Assyrians" from verse 4 onward), to Halah, to Gozan on the Khabur River and to the towns of the Medes. The king of the Assyrians then brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avah, Emath, and Sepharvaim to place in Samaria. Because God sent lions among them to kill them, the king of the Assyrians sent one of the priests from Bethel to teach the new settlers about God's ordinances. The eventual result was that the new settlers worshipped both the God of the land and their own gods from the countries from which they came."
http://en.wikipedia....tory_and_origin
"Like all subjects to authoritarian monarchs, Egyptian Jews had to conform to the changes that came with the differing rulers. There was a marked difference in the attitudes of different Ptolemaic kings to the presence of Jews in Egypt. The varying levels of toleration towards Jews shown by the Egyptian kings illustrate the difficult situation that the Jewish Diaspora occasionally found itself in. Ptolemy I conquered Jerusalem, tricking the Jewish defenders by attacking on the Sabbath, and took 100,000 prisoners (an exaggerated figure) to Egypt, many as slaves (Kasher, 3). "
http://classes.maxwe...a_in_greece.htm
Jesus could not have possibly been a Jew besides just SAYING so like the SAMARITANS did COMPLETELY
I am indeed one of the first people in history to theorize and research this issue with meticulous detail.
Using both the Old and New Testament I will show that neither Jesus nor the Jews of the time in Judea(Southern Kingdom) were real Jews.
I have not wasted my time with rubbish argument, but get straight to the facts.
I welcome all debate on the issue and have no found one minister at any level to have a proper argument against these facts.
Jesus was in fact of Samaritan stock like all Jews of the time.
Lets start in the beginning... Who Are The Samaritans?
And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
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.
Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel
(So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.)
- 2 Kings 17
The Old Testament claims that they are not an ethnic group. but group of Proselytes, who converted to Israel's ancient religion half way. These are actually called Half-Proselytes.
"They themselves, to the contrary, claimed to be authentic "Israelites,"
the posterity of Jacob-Israel. Since they had no other prophet but Moses, and the Pentateuch was their unique Holy Book, they might appear as the true guardians of the ancient monotheistic belief. In fact, they were a Jewish sect whose members continued to observe
the essential rites of Judaism, but held divergent views concerning the localization of the sanctuary in which the Eternal had ordained that the Hebrews offer Him their sacrifices: for the Samaritans, this sacred site was not Jerusalem but Mount Gerizim"
Even after the invasion of the Southern Kingdom close to 1.4 Million Israelite people as scholars suggest were exiled to Egypt.
23 Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
24 And Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said unto them: 'Fear not because of the servants of the Chaldeans; dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.' {P}
25 But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah.
26 And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces, arose, and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
2 Kings Chapter 25
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6 Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land. {P}
7 Now when all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children, and of the poorest of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon;
8 then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
9 And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore unto them and to their men, saying: 'Fear not to serve the Chaldeans; dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
10 As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans that may come unto us; but ye, gather ye wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken.'
11 Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the children of Ammon, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan;
12 then all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance. {S}
Jeremiah 40
In the Elephantine papyri, caches of legal documents and letters written in Aramaic amply document the lives of a community of Jewish soldiers stationed in there as part of a frontier garrison in Egypt for the Achaemenid Empire. Established at Elephantine in about 650 BC during Manasseh's reign, these soldiers assisted Pharaoh Psammetichus I in his Nubian campaign. Their religious system shows strong traces of Babylonian polytheism, something which suggests to certain scholars that the community was of mixed Judaeo-Samaritan origins, and they maintained their own temple, functioning alongside that of the local deity Chnum. The documents cover the period 495 to 399 BC.
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What would happen to those Jews In Egypt?
One film has an excellent depiction...
he Christians and the Jews come into conflict, committing violent acts against each other, with the Christians ultimately wresting power from the only other religious group remaining. Davus, remembering how Hypatia forgave him, suggests that perhaps the Christians should forgive the Jews, as Jesus did, but the Christians respond by rebuking him for comparing himself with Jesus.
The leader of the Christians, Cyril (Sami Samir), views Hypatia as having too much influence over Orestes and stages a public ceremony intended to force Orestes to subjugate her. Hypatia's former pupil, Synesius, now the Bishop of Cyrene, comes to her rescue as a religious authority counterweight, but says he cannot help her unless she accepts Christianity; she refuses. Hypatia makes a great discovery, finding that the Earth orbits around the Sun in an elliptic, not circular, orbit with the Sun at one of the foci. Cyril convinces a mob of Christians that Hypatia is a witch and they vow to kill her. Davus tries to run ahead to warn Hypatia, but she is captured by the mob. They strip Hypatia naked and are about to skin her alive until Davus persuades the mob otherwise, settling to stone her instead. When everyone goes outside to collect stones, Davus, with Hypatia's consent, secretly suffocates her and tells the mob that she fainted. Since she is already dead, she does not feel anything when the crowd begins to stone her.
http://en.wikipedia....gora_%28film%29
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power when the city was at its height of influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the later 4th and 5th centuries. He was a central figure in the First Council of Ephesus in 431, which led to the deposition of Nestorius as Patriarch of Constantinople.
Cyril is counted among the Church Fathers and the Doctors of the Church, and his reputation within the Christian world has resulted in his titles Pillar of Faith and Seal of all the Fathers, but Theodosius II, the Roman Emperor, condemned him for behaving like a proud pharaoh, and the Nestorian bishops at the Council of Ephesus declared him a heretic, labelling him as a "monster, born and educated for the destruction of the church".[1]
Cyril is controversial because of his involvement in the expulsion of Novatians and Jews from Alexandria and the murder of the hellenistic philosopher Hypatia. Historians disagree over the extent of his responsibility for these events.
http://en.wikipedia....l_of_Alexandria
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Indeed there is proof that even the leadership of "Israel" in Judea at the time were nothing short of Proselytes which the Levites or any Jews especially the southern Kingdom would allow at the time.
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"Sh'maya (Hebrew: ?????, or Shemaiah, Samaias or Sameas) was a rabbinic sage in the early pre-Mishnaic era who lived at the same time as Avtalyon. They are known as one of the zuggot ("couples"): Sh'maya and Avtalyon. Both Sh'maya and Avtalyon were converts to Judaism and were both descendants of King Sancheriv of Assyria who destroyed the northern Kingdom of Israel."
"He was a leader of the Pharisees in the first century BC; president of the Sanhedrin before and during the reign of Herod the Great."
http://en.wikipedia....a_%28Mishnah%29
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"bht'alyon, also Avtalyon, Avtalion and Abtalion (Hebrew: ???????) was a rabbinic sage in the early pre-Mishnaic era who lived at the same time as Sh'maya."
"A leader of the Pharisees in the middle of the first century BC and by tradition vice-president of the great Sanhedrin of Jerusalem. He was of heathen descent (Bab. Yoma, 71b; 'Eduy. v.6; Gi?. 57b; Yer. M. ?. iii.81b; see Weiss, Dor Dor we-Dorshaw, i.1, and Landau, p. 319). Despite this fact, Abtalion, as well as his colleague, Shemaiah, the president of the Sanhedrin, was one of the most influential and beloved men of his time."
"He was a leader of the Pharisees in the first century BC; president of the Sanhedrin before and during the reign of Herod the Great."
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Onkelos (???????) is the name of a famous convert to Judaism in Tannaic times (c.35-120 CE). He is considered to be the author of the famous Targum Onkelos (c.110 CE).
The Talmud states that "a person should complete his portions of scripture along with the community, reading the scripture twice and the targum once." This passage is taken by many to refer to Targum Onkelos.
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Helena was queen of Adiabene and wife of Monobaz I. With her husband she was the mother of Izates II and Monobaz II. She died about 56 CE. Her name and the fact that she was her husband's sister indicate a Hellenistic origin. Helena became a convert to Judaism about the year 30 CE.
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"Izates II or Izates bar Monobaz (also known as Izaates) (ca. 1-55 CE) was a proselyte to Judaism who became King of the Parthian client kingdom of Adiabene. He was the son of Queen Helena of Adiabene and Monobaz I. During his youth he was sent by his father to the court of King Abennerig of Characene in Charax Spasinu. While in Charax Izates became acquainted with a Jewish merchant named Ananias"
Ananias of Adiabene was a Jewish merchant and mendicant proselytizer, probably of Hellenistic origin, who, in the opening years of the common era, was prominent at the court of Abinergaos I, king of Characene.
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Symacho (fl. early 1st c. CE) was the daughter of King Abinergaos I of Characene. She was converted to Judaism by Ananias of Adiabene. Symacho married Izates bar Monobaz during the latter's sojourn in Charax as a youth. She presumably went with him when he left to take up his throne in Adiabene.
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Aquila of Sinope was a 2nd Century CE native of Pontus in Anatolia known for producing an exceedingly literal translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek around 130 CE. He was a proselyte to Judaism and a disciple of Rabbi Akiba (d. circa 135 CE).
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*323 BCE. Alexander the Great died. In the power struggle after Alexander's death, the part of his empire that included Israel changed hands at least five times in just over twenty years. Babylonia and Syria were ruled by the Seleucids, and Egypt by the Ptolemies.
*281-246 BCE Ptolemy II Philadelphus: also ruled Israel, Septuagint translation begun in Alexandria, beginning of the Pharisees party, and other Jewish Second Temple sects such as the Sadducees and Essenes.
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It goes on and on, and even Herod himself was a Proselyte, not a real Jew
"Herod was born around 74 BCE. He was the second son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high-ranked official under Ethnarch Hyrcanus II, and Cypros, a Nabatean. A loyal supporter of Hyrcanus II, Antipater appointed Herod governor of Galilee at 25, and his elder brother, Phasael, governor of Jerusalem. He enjoyed the backing of Rome but his excessive brutality was condemned by the Sanhedrin."
"For about 100 years there has been a consensus among scholars that Herod the Great reigned from 37 to 4 BCE. However, there have been several challenges to this consensus over the past four decades, the most notable being the objection raised by W.E. Filmer. This paper argues that Herod most likely reigned from late 39 BCE to early 1 BCE, and that this reconstruction of his reign can account for all of the surviving historical references to the events of Herod's reign more logically than the current consensus can. Moreover, the reconstruction of Herod's reign proposed in this paper accounts for all of the datable evidence relating to Herod's reign, whereas the current consensus is unable to explain some of the evidence that it dismisses as ancient errors or that it simply ignores."
http://en.wikipedia....Herod_the_Great
http://www.ingentaco...br...1/art00001
http://www.mideastweb.org/christ.jpg
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For about 43,000 real Israelite people who migrated back to Jerusalem during Persian rule, they would always deal with Samaritan opposition
Letter of the Samaritans to Artaxerxes, and reply of Artaxerxes: The "enemies of Judah and Benjamin" offer to help with the rebuilding, but are rebuffed; they then work to frustrate the builders "down to the reign of Darius." The officials of Samaria write to king Artaxerxes warning him that Jerusalem is being rebuilt, and the king orders the work to stop. "Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia."
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What would happen to those Jews later?
Other Jewish communities fared better, and under the Ptolemies they received legal status. The Letter of Aristeas claims that Ptolemy I carried off over 100,000 Jews from Palestine and used them as mercenaries in the Egyptian armed forces. These Jews continued to worship GOD, but they were able to adjust to the Graeco-Roman way of life.
The ancient historian Philo says that 1,000,000 Jews lived in Egypt. They knew little Hebrew or Aramaic. For this reason, the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, the Septuagint version. The Jews of Alexandria were the first to use the Septuagint; later it was read in synagogues throughout the Roman Empire.
Philo of Alexandria was a Jewish philosopher who adopted the Greek ideas of Stoicism and Platonism. He dressed Jewish beliefs in the categories of Greek philosophic thought.
From Alexandria came the allegorical interpretation of Scripture. This Egyptian city became an important center of Jewish scholarship in the intertestamental period. (See "Jews in New Testament Times.")
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58. Samaritan Temple
342 Now (in 333 BCE) all (Jews) to whom (Alexander the Great) presented himself, received him with a friendly mind. At that time the Samaritans had their capital at Shechem, which lies beside Mount Gerizim and is inhabited by apostates from the Jewish people. When these saw that Alexander had so clearly honored the Jews, they thought to claim that they were Jews. So, while he was still very near Jerusalem, they presented themselves to the king with a splendid display...
343 And when Alexander encouraged them, the Shechemites came to him...calling upon him to come to their city and honor their temple also. And he promised to submit to their request when he came back again. But when they begged him to forgive their tribute every seventh year, because they did not sow during it, he asked who they were to ask these things. And when Alexander encouraged them, the Shechemites came to him...calling upon him to come to their city and honor their temple also. And he promised to submit to their request when he came back again. But when they begged him to forgive their tribute every seventh year, because they did not sow during it, he asked who they were to ask these things. And when they said they were Hebrews...he again asked if they were Jews. And they said that they were not.
346 Now when Alexander died, his realm was divided among his twelve generals. And the [Samaritan] temple remained on Mount Gerizim. But if anyone was charged by Jerusalemites with eating unclean things, or with violating the Sabbath or some other such sin, he fled to the Shechemites, saying he had been unjustly banished.
--- Josephus, Antiquities 11.342-346
Several centuries before Christ, the Samaritans had built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim to rival the Temple in Jerusalem. Here, they offered sacrifices according to the Mosaic code. Anderson notes that during the reign of Antiochus IV (175–164 BC):[17]
the Samaritan temple was renamed either Zeus Hellenios (willingly by the Samaritans according to Josephus) or, more likely, Zeus Xenios, (unwillingly in accord with 2 Macc. 6:2) Bromiley, 4.304).
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NEW TESTAMENT
Jesus’ Claims About Himself
48 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”
49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”
52 At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
John 8
Indeed we see one of the most notable references to Jesus being a Samaritan even in the New Testament, and Jesus doesn't even deny it. Only the idea that he was demon possessed.
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Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Matthew 10
Does Jesus have something against the Samaritans? Indeed we will see how he feels about them now, what is the point of this direction?
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The Church Persecuted and Scattered
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Acts 8
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The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10
We see that Jesus has nothing against the samaritans as other scholars may claim, but establishes the modern day attitude of samaritans actually being good.
This is a shot at Priests, and levites were are not allowed to touch those who has passed away by torah law.
And jesus actually considers himself a good "Samaritan", and is actually trying to be the Samaritan in his own parable
Does Jesus send his apostles to Jerusalem because he feels that this is the center of god's worship? Well not according to a conversation he has with a Samaritan.
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Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.
John 4
He in fact claims that Jerusalem is no interest to god over, Samaria.
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There is some historic inaccuracy in John 4 which makes any scholar question the validity of this chapter. Samaritans would in fact settle in every part of what is formally Israel.
As anyone can see Proselytes would continue to live in Judea before and after the rise of Christianity
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Monobaz II or Monobaz bar Monobaz was the son of Helena of Adiabene and Monobaz I. Like his brother Izates bar Monobaz and his mother, Monobaz became a convert to Judaism. He ruled as king of Adiabene after the death of his brother Izates around 55 CE.
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Titus Flavius Clemens was a great-nephew of the Roman Emperor Vespasian. He was the son of Titus Flavius Sabinus (consul 69), brother to Titus Flavius Sabinus (consul 82) and a second cousin to Roman Emperors to Titus and Domitian.
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Fulvia, the wife of Tiberius' 'amicus' Saturninus, lived during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. (She is sometimes confused with Fulvia the wife of Marcus Antonius who died before the Principate began.)
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Paulina Beturia was a Roman covert to Judaism (about the year 50), known under the name "Sarah," who, according to her Latin epitaph, was eighty-six years and six months old at the time of her death. For sixteen years she was a Jewess, a mother of the synagogues ("mater synagogarum") of the Campesian and Volumnian communities in Rome.
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Tub'a Abu Kariba As'ad (Abu Kariba) was the Himyarite king of Yemen. He ruled Yemen from 390-420 CE.[2] Abu Kariba is commonly cited as the first of several kings of Arabia to convert to Judaism.
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Yusuf Dhu Nuwas, (Arabic: ???? ?? ????) (also Yusuf Asar Dhu Nuwas or Dunaan; ruled 517 – 525) was the last king of the Himyarite kingdom of Yemen and a convert to Judaism.
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The oldest synagogue fragments are stone synagogue dedication inscriptions stones found in middle and lower Egypt and dating from the third century BCE.
http://en.wikipedia....na..._the_world
"And all the Israelites, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees." - 2 Kings
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The Greeks probably were the first to record information about the customs, life styles and societies of the different peoples whom they encountered or heard about during their travels in various parts of the world. Jews were one of the many peoples whom they met and observed.[10] The "father of history", Herodotus, who visited Egypt under Persian rule in the 450s BCE, wrote extensively about the Egyptians and referred to the "Syrians of Palestine" who were circumcised and were assumed to be the Jews.[11] In fact, it is likely that it was Herodotus who coined the name "Palestine," namely, the area of the Land of Israel, as his encounter was with the descendants of the Philistines who inhabited the coastal towns of Gaza, Ashdod, and Ashkelon. The Jews inhabited the landlocked region of Jerusalem and its surrounding hills, known as Judea.[12]
During the decades and centuries following the conquest of the Near East by Alexander the Great in the 330s and 320s BCE, Greek soldiers and civilians populated and colonized the entire area, established major cities, such as Alexandria in Egypt, and spread their system of local government, language, culture, art, religion, and way of life throughout the region. The Greeks promoted and advocated the adoption of their life style and mores; namely, Hellenization, which in contemporary parlance may be termed the first manifestation of "globalization." All the peoples whom they ruled and amongst whom they lived, including the Jews in the Land of Israel and the Diaspora (a Greek term), had to contend with the challenge of Hellenization through assimilation, adaptation or resistance.[13]
The Jewish Identity of Jerusalem in Greek and Roman Sources*
Rivkah Fishman-Duker
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The greeks are also known to place a naked wrestling gymnasium in Judea, along with placing a statue of Zeus inside the 2nd Temple.
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Region. Idumea was a Greek word meaning "pertaining to Edom". This term was given by the Greeks and Romans for the country of Edom on the S borders of Judea inhabited by Idumeans (Edomites) (Mark 3:8; Is 34:5-6; Ezek 35:15; 36:5). After the fall of Jerusalem (587 B.C.) the Edomites began to advance northward (Ezek 36:5). By 312 B.C. the Nabataeans, who established themselves in Edom, drove them from Petra. The Edomites were gradually forced into the S half of Judea, including the region around Hebron, an area that the Greeks later called Idumea.
http://www.bible-history.com/
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1 Thessalonians 2:14-15
The Jews killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men.
A clear indication of the old Samaritan grudge
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only extra biblical sources used are to fill in the "dark ages"
A time between Nehemiah and the start of Matthew from about 300 - 20? no one is sure.
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Many improperly point to Revelation 2 which is actually a reference to a church in turkey, mainly greeks, having nothing to do with the Samaritans.
The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”- John 8
First we must understand that the Samaritans tried their best to become the Imposters, Erase the Israelite people from history and make personal claims.
And even some of the Jewish authorities in the Talmud accepted some Samaritans as proselytes though in most cases it was recognized that they were basically heathens (Kiddushin 75b, 76a).
It must be remembered that there were Samaritans scattered all over the Roman world in the 1st century of our era. Only recently have historians begun to realize just how extensive the Samaritan population was in central Palestine, but also in Phoenicia, Egypt, Arabia, North Africa, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, and even in Rome and throughout Italy. At first, many Romans when coming in contact with these Samaritans simply thought them to be a Jewish sect and often they were classified as Jews on that account. Indeed, some early fathers of the Christian community continued to confuse the Samaritans with Jews from the third to the early fifth centuries (I will show this in a moment). After all, the Samaritans carried with them wherever they went their doctrines and religious symbols which were in many basic cases the same as the Jews
As for the population of the Samaritans, recent studies suggest that there were as many as half a million Samaritans in central Palestine in the 1st century and about three times that many in the other areas of the Roman Empire and other areas mentioned above (Alan, Crown, The Samaritans [Tubingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1989], p. 201). Two million Samaritans in the 1st century represented a large group of people to the Romans and they would have been politically important to the government of Rome as well as to their neighbors who lived near them or among them.
What happened to that population of Samaritans which numbered up to two million people in the time of the apostles and for the next six hundred years that followed? This is one of the things I hope to show in the remainder of this book. This vast number of people have simply disappeared from history. That is, they have vanished as far as being denominated as "Samaritans."
Today the number of identifiable Samaritans is drastically reduced to a small community (about 600) still living in two locations in Israel in Nablus and near Tel Aviv (some in Nablus I have come to know personally during the many times I have been to the area). They have told me that they have early records of their forefathers showing at one time that there were Samaritans all over Europe as well as Egypt, North Africa and even India. They once represented a large population of the Roman world and they became influential among the Romans.
This dispersion of Samaritan peoples to many areas of Europe (and even Asia) has been known by the remnant Samaritans who still live in Palestine. As long ago as 1865, Robert Mimpriss in his Gospel Treasury, Expository Harmony of the Four Evangelists (New York: M. W. Dodd, 1868), stated:
"In ages past we find them [the Samaritans] inhabiting various cities in Palestine, and extending even to Constantinople. There was a tradition among them that large numbers of their brethren were dwelling in various parts of the world ― in England, France, India, and elsewhere and they have written concerning them from time to time, in the hope of becoming acquainted with these their brethren.”
http://www.askelm.com/people/p eo006.htm
Why did they call Jesus a Samaritan?
The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?” - John 8
These measurements, when compared with those of other races of Syria, prove to be most noteworthy. For example, the Samaritans are the tallest people in Syria. The Nuṣairiyyah of northern Syria, whose average height was found to be 1,704 mm., came second. Both the facial and upper facial indexes of the Samaritans are far greater than those of any other group; in the case of the former index, this sect is again most closely approached by the Nuṣairiyyah, with an average index of 89.7; of the latter index, by the Turkomans, with an average index of 55.5. In breadth of mouth the Samaritans occupy a midway position; but in thickness of lips they again head the list. The Syrian Gipsies, with an average thickness of 16, are second, and the Bedouins, with 15, are third. The lenght of second finger is greatest in the Samaritans. Next come the Nuṣairiyyah and Turkomans, each having an average of 102. But, while the Samaritans have a breadth of hand of only 84, the Nuṣairiyyah have 86 and the Turkomans 87. A long, thin hand is thus one of the Samaritan characteristics.
In view of the close interbreeding and possible degeneracy of the Samaritans, the strength of hands forms a most interesting basis of comparison. The Samaritans, in the strength of each hand, are the weakest of any of the groups examined. Next come the Turkomans, with 35.9 for the right hand and 35.7 for the left. The Druses, with 43.0 for the right hand and 41.3 for the left, are the strongest. The strength tests were made with the ordinary type of hand dynamometer.
Read more: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=110&letter=S#434#ixzz1QwatuxHs
"noble facial features, but not of the Jewish type."1 LeroyBeaulieu says of them that he "must confess that I found nothing peculiarly characteristic in the faces of these Samaritans. . . They appear to me taller, sturdier, of more robust health, than the neighbouring orthodox Jews. From a physical point of view these Samaritans . . . are indisputably superior to their hostile brothers in Israel; perhaps for the reason that, having been spared the bitter exile of the latter, they have had to endure less suffering and degradation."2 Huxley, who studied this sect from the anthropological point of view,3 finds that " the general type of physiognomy of the Samaritans is distinctly Jewish, the nose markedly so. . ."
The Jews: a study of race and environment
By Maurice Fishberg
More likely he had the distinctions of a Samaritan the heathen half-proselytes
"We are aware that early in the Byzantine period Jamnia, once the seat of the Sanhedrin,, was almost entirely Samaritan. [There were] dense settlements in small farming villages across the Sharon, Shephelah and into the hill country of Samaria."
The Sanhedrin (Hebrew: סַנְהֶדְרִין; Greek: συνέδριον,[1] synedrion, "sitting together," hence "assembly" or "council") was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S anhedrin
The problem is evidence points that all real Jews were transferred to Alexandria before being chased out by the Christians. Which is addressed in my first post.
The Samaritans made proposals for co-operation in the work. Zerubbabel and the elders, however, declined all such cooperation, feeling that the Jews must build the Temple without help. Immediately evil reports were spread regarding the Jews. According to Ezra 4:5, the Samaritans sought to "frustrate their purpose" and sent messengers to Ecbatana and Susa, with the result that the work was suspended.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S econd_Temple
THE MAIN PROBLEM IS NOT EVEN THE SAMARITANS TO THIS DAY WILL ADMIT THAT THEY ARE SAMARITANS AND NOT JEWS.
The Samaritans have insisted that they are direct descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the destruction of the Northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The inscription of Sargon II records the deportation of a relatively small proportion of the Israelites (27,290, according to the annals), so it is quite possible that a sizable population remained that could identify themselves as Israelites, the term that the Samaritans prefer for themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan
They attempt to confuse themselves with the Israelite people who were exiled to the Southern Kingdom and later Egypt according to Jeremiah.
Later the Israelite people who rebuilt the 2nd temple during the biblical dark ages (a time between Nehemiah and Matthew) would be deported and exiled to Alexandria.
"And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
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.
Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places." - 2 Kings
The Samaritans made proposals for co-operation in the work. Zerubbabel and the elders, however, declined all such cooperation, feeling that the Jews must build the Temple without help. Immediately evil reports were spread regarding the Jews. According to Ezra 4:5, the Samaritans sought to "frustrate their purpose" and sent messengers to Ecbatana and Susa, with the result that the work was suspended.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Temple
You need to #1 study that there were actually 3 different exiles and 2 major ones you are referring to the 1st.
In the Middle Assyrian period, Assyria had been a strong but minor kingdom of northern Mesopotamia, competing for dominance with Babylonia to the south. Beginning with the campaigns of Adad-nirari II, Assyria became a great power, growing to be a serious threat to 25th dynasty Egypt. It began reaching the peak of its power with the reforms of Tiglath-Pileser III (ruled 745 – 727 BC). This period, which included the Sargonic dynasty, is well-referenced in several sources, including the Assyro-Babylonian Chronicles and the Hebrew Bible. At its height Assyria conquered Egypt (and expelled its Nubian dynasty), Babylonia, Chaldea, Elam, Media, Persia, Urartu, Phoenicia, Aramea, the Neo-Hittites, Hurrians, northern Arabia, Gutium, Palestine, Israel, Judah, Moab, Edom, Corduene, Mannea and parts of Ancient Greece, and defeated Scythia, Cimmeria, Lydia, Nubia and others. Assyria finally succumbed with the sack of Nineveh in 612 BC by a coalition of Babylonians, Medes, Scythians and Cimmerians.
Shechem was the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel. Afterwards it was Tirzah. King Omri built his capital in Samaria, which continued as such until the destruction of the Kingdom by the Assyrians. During the three-year siege of Samaria by the Assyrians, Shalmaneser V died and was succeeded by Sargon II of Assyria, who himself records the capture of that city thus: "Samaria I looked at, I captured; 27,280 men who dwelt in it I carried away" into Assyria. Thus, around 720 BCE, after two centuries, the kingdom of the ten tribes came to an end.
Pay close attention to the dates...
Now the bible says explicitly in 2 Kings that with the first deportations the UPPER CLASS peoples of Israel were taken
again pay very close attention here to how the BIBLE describes these deportations...
1st Deportation
"13 As the LORD had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the LORD and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the LORD. 14 He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left."
2 Kings 24
Thats #1: Only 10,000 were taken and the rest of the people poor were left...
Again they come BACK
2nd Deportation
" 1 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. 2 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3 By the ninth day of the fourth[a] month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. 4 Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians[b] were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,[c] 5 but the Babylonian[d] army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, 6 and he was captured.
He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him. 7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. 10 The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. 12 But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields. "
Again about 14,000 people were taken and only the POOREST people were left in the land that is the the 2nd DEPORTATION
"13 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the LORD and they carried the bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. 15 The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or silver.
16 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the LORD, was more than could be weighed. 17 Each pillar was eighteen cubits[e] high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits[f] high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.
18 The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. 19 Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and five royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of the conscripts who were found in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.
and there is also a 3rd AND FINAL according to the bible, so pay attention...
THIS TIME THE BIBLE NOTES THAT NOT EVEN THE POOR WOULD STAY THIS TIME...
22 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah. 23 When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men. 24 Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”
25 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. 26 At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians."
2 Kings Chapter 25
AS YOU CAN SEE
All the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt...
In the 3rd AND FINAL Deportation of the Israelite people not even the poor would stay. this according to history would be close to 1.4 million Israelite people the entire population would move into Egypt. So many that they would according to Jeremiah even settle in Upper Egypt at the borders of ETHIOPIA.
At that point the God of Israel promises that they would have no peace for this move according to prophet Jeremiah.
NOW lets pay attention again now that you are are aware of 3 separate deportations of the Israelite people.
You can now stop referring to this point of history as if you are well read on the issue, lets move on to the 2nd Temple.
After sometime those 43,000 Israelite people take captive from babylon were allowed to return home after the fall of Assyria to Persia, and even allowed to build their temple.
This is when the hatred of the Samaritans is clearly induced as they would try their hardest to not even allow this to happen.
They were actually successful until Darius' rule allowed them continue construction smoothly. You can read my above essay's if you want to understand why they would do this, indeed because they were heathens and wanted to worship their own gods according to 2 Kings, and would do so without second thought until wild animals would consistently attack them, at that point they instituted a dual worship of both the god of Israel and their own gods. According to the bible, to this very day.
After the building of the 2nd Temple would follow with more pressure on the Israelite people from now a new enemy.
Greece, as their oppression would come in a new form. Hellenization. this would prove to be their final fall as they would ally with the Samaritans and both Greeks and Samaritans would be considered Jew's over any true Israelite. Temples were built and named after Zeus all these issues I address in my original essay.
"Further waves of Jewish immigrants settled in Egypt during the Ptolemaic era, especially around Alexandria. Thus, their history in this period centers almost completely on Alexandria, though daughter communities rose up in places like the present Kafr ed-Dawar, and Jews served in the administration as custodians of the river.[9] As early as the third century B.C. one can speak of a widespread diaspora of Jews in many Egyptian towns and cities. In Josephus's history, it is claimed that, after the first Ptolemy took Judea, he led some 120,000 Jewish captives to Egypt from the areas of Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria, and Mount Gerizim. With them, many other Jews, attracted by the fertile soil and Ptolemy's liberality, emigrated there of their own accord. An inscription recording a Jewish dedication of a synagogue to Ptolemy and Berenice was discovered in the 19th century near Alexandria. Josephus also claims that, soon after, these 120,000 captives were freed of their bondage by Philadelphus .
The history of the Alexandrian Jews dates from the foundation of the city by Alexander the Great, 332 B.C., at which they were present. They were numerous from the very outset, forming a notable portion of the city's population under Alexander's successors. The Ptolemies assigned them a separate section, two of the five districts of the city, to enable them to keep their laws pure of indigenous cultic influences. The Alexandrian Jews enjoyed a greater degree of political independence than elsewhere. While the Jews elsewhere throughout the later Roman Empire formed private societies for religious purposes, or else became a corporation of foreigners like the Egyptian and Phoenician merchants in the large commercial centers, those of Alexandria constituted an independent political community, side by side with that of the indigenous population.
For the Roman period there is evidence that at Oxyrynchus (modern Behneseh), on the east side of the Nile, there was a Jewish community of some importance. It even had a Jews' street. Many of the Jews there must have become Christians, though they retained their Biblical names (e.g., "David" and "Elisabeth," occurring in a litigation concerning an inheritance). There is even found a certain Jacob, son of Achilles (c. 300 AD), as beadle of an Egyptian temple"
All these fact can be researched
http://en.wikipedia....ingdom_of_Judah
http://en.wikipedia....onian_captivity
http://en.wikipedia....ge_of_Jerusalem
http://en.wikipedia....e_Jews_in_Egypt
It is stated repetitively that these last Jews would deported after the 2nd temple with their Jewish counterparts in Egypt. This would not be written in any part of the OT or NT as it would occure during the "dark age" a period between Nehemiah and Matthew or between the OT and the NT. We must consult Greek resources.
Again
"Further waves of Jewish immigrants settled in Egypt during the Ptolemaic era, especially around Alexandria. Thus, their history in this period centers almost completely on Alexandria, though daughter communities rose up in places like the present Kafr ed-Dawar, and Jews served in the administration as custodians of the river.[9] As early as the third century B.C. one can speak of a widespread diaspora of Jews in many Egyptian towns and cities. In Josephus's history, it is claimed that, after the first Ptolemy took Judea, he led some 120,000 Jewish captives to Egypt from the areas of Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria, and Mount Gerizim. With them, many other Jews, attracted by the fertile soil and Ptolemy's liberality, emigrated there of their own accord. An inscription recording a Jewish dedication of a synagogue to Ptolemy and Berenice was discovered in the 19th century near Alexandria. Josephus also claims that, soon after, these 120,000 captives were freed of their bondage by Philadelphus .
The history of the Alexandrian Jews dates from the foundation of the city by Alexander the Great, 332 B.C., at which they were present. They were numerous from the very outset, forming a notable portion of the city's population under Alexander's successors. The Ptolemies assigned them a separate section, two of the five districts of the city, to enable them to keep their laws pure of indigenous cultic influences. The Alexandrian Jews enjoyed a greater degree of political independence than elsewhere. While the Jews elsewhere throughout the later Roman Empire formed private societies for religious purposes, or else became a corporation of foreigners like the Egyptian and Phoenician merchants in the large commercial centers, those of Alexandria constituted an independent political community, side by side with that of the indigenous population.
For the Roman period there is evidence that at Oxyrynchus (modern Behneseh), on the east side of the Nile, there was a Jewish community of some importance. It even had a Jews' street. Many of the Jews there must have become Christians, though they retained their Biblical names (e.g., "David" and "Elisabeth," occurring in a litigation concerning an inheritance). There is even found a certain Jacob, son of Achilles (c. 300 AD), as beadle of an Egyptian temple"
http://en.wikipedia....e_Jews_in_Egypt
"The ancient historian Philo says that 1,000,000 Jews lived in Egypt. They knew little Hebrew or Aramaic. For this reason, the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, the Septuagint version. The Jews of Alexandria were the first to use the Septuagint; later it was read in synagogues throughout the Roman Empire."
http://www.angelfire...na/Egyptp3.html
As time past and Hellenistic culture became the dominant culture, more and more Jews adopted Greek as the international language and Jews, especially those living in the Diaspora, the land outside the Holy Land, became less fluent in Hebrew. By the third century BC so few Jews living outside the Holy Land spoke or read Hebrew that it became necessary to translate the Hebrew texts into Greek to allow Jews of the Diaspora living in the Gentile world to read and study Sacred Scripture. The decision was made by the Old Covenant hierarchy in Jerusalem that a Greek translation of the sacred texts was going to be necessary. It was the first time the inspired words of Yahweh would be translated into a foreign tongue.
http://www.agapebibl...ts...curate.htm
About fourteeu years after, Ptolemy Lagus, the
king of Egypt, to revenge their fidelity to Lao-
his rival, furiously ravaged Judea, took Jeru-
i, and carried 100,000 Jews prisoners to Egypt; but
used tbcm so kindly, and even assigned them places of
power and trust, that many of their countrymen fol-
lowed them of their own accord. It seems that, about
eight years after, he transported another mutlitude of
Jews to Egypt, and everywhere gave them equal priv-
ileges as Alexander had done. About the same
time, Seleucus Nicator, having built above thirty new
cities in Asia, sixteen of which were called Antioch,
nine Selcucia, six Laodicea, settled in them as many
Jews as he could; they being reckoned most fr.ithful
to their friendly sovereigns; and bestowed on thern
(he same privileges as they had at Alexandria; nor
did Antiochus Thcos, his grandson, less favour them.
Ptolemy Philadelphia of Egypt, about 3720, at his own
expense, bought the freedom of all the Jewish slaves
in Egypt; and it is said, he, or his son, procured a
translation of their Bible for the use of his fatuous
Alexandrian library.
- A Dictionary of the Holy Bible: Containing an Historical Account of the Persons. A Geographical and Historical Account of the Places; a Literal, Critical, and Systematical Description of Other Objects Natural, Artificial Civil Religious or Military and The Explication of the Appellative Terms Mentioned in the Writings of the Old and New Testament John Brown
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The Samaritans have insisted that they are direct descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the destruction of the Northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The inscription of Sargon II records the deportation of a relatively small proportion of the Israelites (27,290, according to the annals), so it is quite possible that a sizable population remained that could identify themselves as Israelites, the term that the Samaritans prefer for themselves.
Jewish tradition maintains a different origin for the Samaritans. The Talmud accounts for a people called "Cuthim" on a number of occasions, mentioning their arrival by the hands of the Assyrians. According to 2 Kings 17 and Josephus (Antiquities 9.277–91), the people of Israel were removed by the king of the Assyrians (Sargon II- see special wording of 2 Kings 17 which mentions Shalmaneser in verse 3 but the "king of the Assyrians" from verse 4 onward), to Halah, to Gozan on the Khabur River and to the towns of the Medes. The king of the Assyrians then brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avah, Emath, and Sepharvaim to place in Samaria. Because God sent lions among them to kill them, the king of the Assyrians sent one of the priests from Bethel to teach the new settlers about God's ordinances. The eventual result was that the new settlers worshipped both the God of the land and their own gods from the countries from which they came.
http://en.wikipedia....#Jewish_sources
http://en.wikipedia....maritan_sources
Unlike the Chronicler, the Samaritan claimed that they were the true Israel who were descendants of the "lost" tribes taken into Assyrian captivity. They had their own temple on Mount Gerizim and claimed that it was the original sanctuary. Moreover, they even claimed that their version of the Pentateuch was the original and that the Jews had a falsified text produced by Ezra during the Babylonian exile.
Both Jewish and Samaritan religious leaders taught that it was wrong to have any contact with the opposite group, and neither was to enter each other's territories or even to speak to one another. During the New Testament period, although the tensions went unrecognized by Roman authorities, Josephus reports numerous violent confrontations between Jews and Samaritans throughout the first half of the first century
http://en.wikipedia....an_and_the_Jews
____________________________________
Genetic and demographic investigations of the Samaritan community were carried out in the 1960s. Detailed pedigrees of the last 13 generations show that the Samaritans comprise four lineages:
The Tsedakah lineage, claiming descent from the tribe of Manasseh
The Joshua-Marhiv lineage, claiming descent from the tribe of Ephraim
The Danfi lineage, claiming descent from the tribe of Ephraim
The priestly Cohen lineage from the tribe of Levi.
Of the 12 Samaritan males used in the analysis, 10 (83%) had Y chromosones belonging to haplogroup J, which includes three of the four Samaritan families. The Joshua-Marhiv family belongs to haplogroup J1, while the Danfi and Tsedakah families belong to haplogroup J2, and can be further distinguished by M67, the derived allele of which has been found in the Danfi family. The only Samaritan family not found in haplogroup J was the Cohen family (Tradition: Tribe of Levi) which was found in haplogroup E3b1a M78.[27] This article predated the change of the classification of haplogroup E3b1-M78 to E3b1a-M78 and the further subdivision of E3b1a-M78 into 6 subclades based on the research of Cruciani, et al.[28]
In a 2004 article on the genetic ancestry of the Samaritans, Shen, et al. concluded from a sample comparing Samaritans to several Jewish populations, all currently living in Israel — representing Ethiopian Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, Iraqi Jews, Libyan Jews, Moroccan Jews, and Yemenite Jews, as well as Druze and non-Druze Palestinian Arabs — that the principal components analysis suggested a common ancestry of Samaritan and Jewish patrilineages. Most of the former may be traced back to a common ancestor in what is today identified as the paternally inherited Israelite high priesthood (Cohanim) with a common ancestor projected to the time of the Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel.[29] Archaeologists Aharoni, et al., estimated that this "exile of peoples to and from Israel under the Assyrians" took place during ca. 734 BC to 712 BC.[30] The authors speculated that when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, resulting in the exile of many of the Israelites, a subgroup of the Israelites that remained in the Land of Israel "married Assyrian and female exiles relocated from other conquered lands, which was a typical Assyrian policy to obliterate national identities."[29] The study goes on to say that "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." Non-Jewish Iraqis were not sampled in this study; however, mitochondrial lineages of Jewish communities tend to correlate with their non-Jewish host populations, unlike paternal lineages which almost always correspond to Israelite lineages.
Genetic differences between the Samaritans and neighboring Jewish and non-Jewish populations are corroborated in that study of 7,280 bp of non-recombining Y-chromosome and 5,622 bp of coding and hypervariable segment (HVS-I) mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences. Comparative sequence analysis was carried out on 12 Samaritan Y-chromosome, and mtDNA samples from 9 male and 7 female Samaritans separated by at least two generations. The four Samaritan families clustered to four distinct Y-chromosome haplogroups according to their patrilineal identity. Of the 16 Samaritan mtDNA samples, 14 carry either of two mitochondrial haplotypes that are rare or absent among other worldwide ethnic groups.
http://en.wikipedia....genetic_studies
Are modern Jews Samaritan?
While Samaritans were by definition descendants of various surrounding nations holding a grudge against against Israel from Old Wars a main reason they wanted to deport and take over Israel. Since their first wars they always wanted this and finally in 720 began to be successful
They were actually HALF proselytes, by Judaic terminology, did not want to worship the God Of Israel in the land until they were consistently attacked by wild animals
Massive Assyrian Half Conversion And Take Over
And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
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.
Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel
(So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.)
- 2 Kings 17
"They themselves, to the contrary, claimed to be authentic "Israelites,"
the posterity of Jacob-Israel. Since they had no other prophet but Moses, and the Pentateuch was their unique Holy Book, they might appear as the true guardians of the ancient monotheistic belief. In fact, they were a Jewish sect whose members continued to observe
the essential rites of Judaism, but held divergent views concerning the localization of the sanctuary in which the Eternal had ordained that the Hebrews offer Him their sacrifices: for the Samaritans, this sacred site was not Jerusalem but Mount Gerizim"
Up to you to believe either the bible or Samaritans
I'm just agreeing with the bible here, I wasn't there and can only go based on the scriptures and historical fighting between the two..
4. Letter of the Samaritans to Artaxerxes, and reply of Artaxerxes: The "enemies of Judah and Benjamin" offer to help with the rebuilding, but are rebuffed; they then work to frustrate the builders "down to the reign of Darius." The officials of Samaria write to king Artaxerxes warning him that Jerusalem is being rebuilt, and the king orders the work to stop. "Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia."
1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel, 2 they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”
3 But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.”
4 Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.[a] 5 They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. - Ezra 4
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"“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."
"“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."
"“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."
"“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."
"“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."
JOHN 4
And instead of worshiping in Jerusalem/Zion
"Jesus said that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth."
2 Samuel 5:7
Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David.
Chiefly the Temple of Yahweh
12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. 13 Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high,[a] and had placed it in the center of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. 14 He said:
“LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. 15 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.
16 “Now, LORD, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.’ 17 And now, LORD, the God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David come true.
18 “But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 19 Yet, LORD my God, give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. 20 May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 21 Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
22 “When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple, 23 then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.
24 “When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors.
26 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, 27 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.
28 “When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, 29 and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of their afflictions and pains, and spreading out their hands toward this temple— 30 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know the human heart), 31 so that they will fear you and walk in obedience to you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.
32 “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, 33 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.
34 “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to you toward this city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
36 “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near; 37 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly’; 38 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name; 39 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you.
40 “Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
- 2 Chronicles 6
"For the LORD has chosen Zion,
he has desired it for his dwelling, saying,
14 “This is my resting place for ever and ever;
here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it.
15 I will bless her with abundant provisions;
her poor I will satisfy with food.
16 I will clothe her priests with salvation,
and her faithful people will ever sing for joy." - Psalm 132:13
(FOR EVER AND EVER)
"Then the angel who was speaking to me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion," - Zechariah 1:14
“I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” - Psalm 2:6
"Sing the praises of the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done." - Psalm 9:11
"Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!" - Psalm 14:7
"May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion." - Psalm 20:2
"From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth." - Psalm 50:2
"Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!" - Psalm 53:6
"For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song. Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled." - Psalm 65:1
"for God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it;" - Psalm 69:35
"Remember the nation you purchased long ago, the people of your inheritance, whom you redeemed— Mount Zion, where you dwelt" - Psalm 74:2
"His tent is in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion" - Psalm 76:2
"but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved." - Psalm 78:68
"They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion." - Psalm 84:7
"The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwellings of Jacob." - Psalm 87:2
"“I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me— Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush — and will say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’” - Psalm 87:4
"Indeed, of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High himself will establish her.” - Psalm 87:5
"The LORD will write in the register of the peoples: “This one was born in Zion.”" - Psalm 87:6
"Great is the LORD in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations." - Psalm 99:2
"You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come." - Psalm 102:13
"For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory." - Psalm 102:16
"So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem" - Psalm 102:21
"The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”" - Psalm 110:2
"A song of ascents. Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever." - Psalm 125:1
"May the LORD bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life." - Psalm 128:5
"May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame." - Psalm 129:5
"May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who is the Maker of heaven and earth." - Psalm 134:3
"Praise be to the LORD from Zion, to him who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the LORD." - Psalm 135:21
"The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD." - Psalm 146:10
"Extol the LORD, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion." - Psalm 147:12
"Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King." - Psalm 149:2
"Zion will be delivered with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness." - Isaiah 1:27
"Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." - Isaiah 2:3
"Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem." - Isaiah 4:3
"The moon will be dismayed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders—with great glory." - Isaiah 24:23
"So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic." - Isaiah 28:16
"Their stronghold will fall because of terror; at the sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem." - Isaiah 31:9
"The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness." - Isaiah 33:5
"I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel" - Isaiah 46:13
"Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes." - Isaiah 52:8
There is plenty more where that came from, but I hope the God of Israel has made his points vs
"“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. " - John 4
Which is indeed SAMARITAN theology, something ASSYRIANS would proclaim without a DOUBT.
"My question=statement to you, regarding the above:
You fail to show that Jesus was not Israelite. Nor do you disprove Jesus' statement that salvation is of the Jews."
No the New Testament fails to prove that Jesus was an Israelite and asserts the opposite according to historical and theological positions.
The entire area during jesus time was Samaritan and I have shown that indeed after 4 MAJOR deportations there were NO jews left after Alexanders death since they would all be deported to Alexandria before being exiled from Alexandria by Cyril and his Christians
more than 100,000 Jews would be deported to Alexandria after 42,360 Jews returned to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, that would include any population expansions wouldn't be much in antiquity and even a few Samaritans with them, all before 100 B.C.
"It must be remembered that there were Samaritans scattered all over the Roman world in the 1st century of our era. Only recently have historians begun to realize just how extensive the Samaritan population was in central Palestine, but also in Phoenicia, Egypt, Arabia, North Africa, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, and even in Rome and throughout Italy. At first, many Romans when coming in contact with these Samaritans simply thought them to be a Jewish sect and often they were classified as Jews on that account. Indeed, some early fathers of the Christian community continued to confuse the Samaritans with Jews from the third to the early fifth centuries (I will show this in a moment). After all, the Samaritans carried with them wherever they went their doctrines and religious symbols which were in many basic cases the same as the Jews. "
I have proved that there were NO jews in Judea during jesus time, and certainly all Samaritans "CLAIMED" to be Jews
"The Samaritans have insisted that they are direct descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the destruction of the Northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The inscription of Sargon II records the deportation of a relatively small proportion of the Israelites (27,290, according to the annals), so it is quite possible that a sizable population remained that could identify themselves as Israelites, the term that the Samaritans prefer for themselves."
contrary to 2 kings...
"Jewish tradition maintains a different origin for the Samaritans. The Talmud accounts for a people called "Cuthim" on a number of occasions, mentioning their arrival by the hands of the Assyrians. According to 2 Kings 17 and Josephus (Antiquities 9.277–91), the people of Israel were removed by the king of the Assyrians (Sargon II- see special wording of 2 Kings 17 which mentions Shalmaneser in verse 3 but the "king of the Assyrians" from verse 4 onward), to Halah, to Gozan on the Khabur River and to the towns of the Medes. The king of the Assyrians then brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avah, Emath, and Sepharvaim to place in Samaria. Because God sent lions among them to kill them, the king of the Assyrians sent one of the priests from Bethel to teach the new settlers about God's ordinances. The eventual result was that the new settlers worshipped both the God of the land and their own gods from the countries from which they came."
http://en.wikipedia....tory_and_origin
"Like all subjects to authoritarian monarchs, Egyptian Jews had to conform to the changes that came with the differing rulers. There was a marked difference in the attitudes of different Ptolemaic kings to the presence of Jews in Egypt. The varying levels of toleration towards Jews shown by the Egyptian kings illustrate the difficult situation that the Jewish Diaspora occasionally found itself in. Ptolemy I conquered Jerusalem, tricking the Jewish defenders by attacking on the Sabbath, and took 100,000 prisoners (an exaggerated figure) to Egypt, many as slaves (Kasher, 3). "
http://classes.maxwe...a_in_greece.htm
Jesus could not have possibly been a Jew besides just SAYING so like the SAMARITANS did COMPLETELY
More On The Ptolemy Deportations Of The Jews The start was made by Ptolemy I. According to tradition he deported one hundred thousand Jewish prisoners of war after his conquest of Jerusalem, of which he took aside thirty thousand men to serve in the rural garrisons, while enslaving all the others. Ptolemy II Philadelphus later released the slaves. Independent of this singular enforced measure, voluntary immigration to Egypt continued. Cf. Bezalel Bar-Kochva, Pseudo-Hecateus On the Jews: Legitimizing the Jewish Diaspora (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), 71—91. J. M. G. Barclay, vJews in the Mediterranean Diaspora: From Alexander to Trajan (323 B.C.E.—117 C.E.) (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996), 20—22. http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=40&chapid=166 Ptolemy I. Soter, also known as Ptolemy Lagus (whence comes the name Lagidæ for the dynasty), was the son of Lagos and Arsinoe, was born about 367, and was in his youth a playfellow of Alexander. Banished from the court of Philip of Macedon in one of the court quarrels, he was recalled on the accession of Alexander and worked his way up to high rank and popularity with his fellows by the rare qualities of diligence and avoidance of intrigue. On the death of Alexander he received the province of Egypt as satrap in 323, probably fully determined to establish himself as sovereign. In 321 his opposition to the plans of Perdiccas, who was practically regent after Alexander's death, by having the body of the conqueror brought to Egypt, caused Ptolemy to break with Perdiccas, who invaded Egypt and was assassinated after an unsuccessful attack upon Ptolemy. The latter then maintained himself in Egypt against Antigonus, after vainly attempting to hold Syria, but ruled as satrap until 305 in the name of the youthful successor of Alexander. With the partition of Alexander's empire the strife between the powers of the Nile and the Euphrates for the possession of Palestine was renewed. About 320 Ptolemy assailed Syria, and Jerusalem was taken on a Sabbath when the Jews refused to fight. The resistance by Jews and Samaritans was made the pretext for the deportation of large numbers of both peoples from town and country in order to settle the new city of Alexandria and other parts of Egypt, while to voluntary immigrants Ptolemy offered attractive inducements. Throughout their history the Jews had always manifested a fondness for Egypt, and generous treatment by Ptolemy rendered that region once more attractive to them. Their commercial aptitude, industry, higher morality, and preference for the Greeks as against the native Egyptians gained for them the confidence of the rulers, although it aroused the hatred of the native population. Meanwhile the possession of Palestine was hotly disputed between Ptolemy and Antigonus while the latter lived, and by the latter's son Demetrius. Decisive battles, in which alternately Ptolemy and his opponent were victorious, were fought in 315, 312, 301, 297, and later. Meanwhile Ptolemy carried on the construction of the city of Alexandria, founding there the museum and the famous library. He assigned the northeastern portion of the city to the Jews, settling there the prisoners of war taken in his Syrian campaigns and those whom his policy induced to settle voluntarily. Thenceforth Alexandrian Jews had an honorable position in the entire history of their race. This is of course natural when it is recalled that Philo estimated the number of Jews present in Egypt in his day at a million, most of whom were in Alexandria. While in the city most of the Jews lived in the quarter stated, they before long came to have residences throughout the capital. Ptolemy's disposition, shown both to those of Hebrew race and to the Egyptians, was gentle and kind, his government was firm and tactful, while his aim was the welfare of the people in material, artistic, scientific, and literary directions. With his reign at Alexandria are associated such celebrities as Demetrius the Phalerean, Zenodotus, Hecat?us, Euclid, and Hierophilus the anatomist (who may have initiated vivisection); Alexandria became the most attractive city in the world for the learned, artistic, and scientists; literature flourished, the people exercised their choice in matters of religion, 356 and the king was popular with all classes. He died in 283 B.C. http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc09/htm/iv.v.lxxvii.htm "The temple at Elephantine in Egypt, according to a letter of 407 BC, existed before the Persian period, before the “return” from exile and so before the so-called second temple of Jerusalem. The truth is that Yehudim meant a religious group from the outset—people who worship the god, Yehouah. Ezra says the natives of Judah, who had not been deported, and wanted to help the Persian colonists build the temple—“we seek your God, as you”—had been put there by Esarhaddon, king of Assyria. Deported in, they had been made to worship Yehouah! There were also “the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnappar (Ashurbanipal) exiled and set in the cities of Samaria, and the rest of the province ‘Beyond the River’”. Ezra was arguing that the Samarians and the Am Ha Eretz were not proper worshippers of Yehouah—not proper Jews!" "Assyrian records indicate deportations from Hazor and Galilee in 733, Samaritans were deported in 722 (2 Kg 17) and people from Hamath and Babylon were moved in. The king of Gaza and the citizens of Rapha were deported by Sargon to Assyria after the seige in 720 BC. People were deported from Jerusalem and Judah in 701. People were carried off by Babylonians from Jerusalem (2 Kg) in 597 BC and 586 BC. Persians deported people into Judah in 538 BC and on three subsequent occasions. Samarians were deported to Alexandria under Alexander. Alexander also settled Macedonians in Sebaste. Ptolemy Soter (Saviour) of Egypt deported a great number of Jews to Egypt as soldiers in 320, and in 312 transported another large number to Cyrene and Libya. Seleucus did the same when he built Antioch. Ptolemy Philadelphus moved more Jews into Egypt and supposedly translated the Jewish scriptures into Greek. Antiochus the Great moved 2000 Jewish familes from Babylon to Phrygia and Lydia where their Hellenized descendants were the basis of Paul’s mission. " http://www.askwhy.co.uk/judaism/0120Scriptures.php "The Rule of the Ptolemies (301-198 B.C.) After the death of Alexander his conquests were divided up between his generals. They all struggled for control of Palestine which changed hands between Antigonus (who controlled Asia Minor) and the Ptolemies (who ruled Egypt). Before the Battle of Ipsus (301. B.C.) the other Generals plotted against Antigonus and and agreed that Palestine was to go to the Ptolemies. However, Seleucus, who held Syria, claimed the agreement was void. Seleucus owed the Ptolemies favors and did not press his claim at the time. Later, when Ptolemy I deported many Jews to Egypt, Alexandria became the intellectual center of Jewish life but in general, life under the Ptolemy empire was peaceful for the Jews. The Rule of the Seleucids (198-167 B.C.) Antiochus III the Great (223-187 B.C.), brought the end to peace in 219. He wanted Palestine and finally the Jews of Palestine changed sides. This was a giant mistake. Antiochus was defeated by the Romans in 190 B.C. (the Punic wars and Hannibal the Great) and imposed a heavy tribute on him. During this time a rivalry between two leading Jewish Families who were related by marriage began to boil over. The House of Onias held the High Priesthood since they claimed to be descendants of Zadok. The House of Tobias collected taxes for the government. " http://www.lipanhousechurch.org/DANIEL/periodone.html "This example of "pacifism" resulted in the entire nation of Israel falling under the rule of a succession of the Ptolemies for over 120 years. Additionally, Archbishop James Ussher's Annals of the World documents that Ptolemy deported 100,000 Jewish men to Egypt, certainly breaking up tens of thousands of families. " http://www.wordsoflife.org/letters/is_patriotism_spiritual.htm |
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