Samaritans

noun
1.
an inhabitant of Samaria.
2.
good Samaritan.
3.
(often lowercase) one who is compassionate and helpful to a person in distress.
4.
any of the dialects of Aramaic spoken by the Samaritans in ancient Israel and until recently still spoken in Nablus.
adjective
5.
pertaining to Samaria or to Samaritans.
noun
1.
a native or inhabitant of Samaria
2.
short for Good Samaritan
3.
a member of a voluntary organization (the Samaritans) which offers counselling to people in despair, esp by telephone
4.
the dialect of Aramaic spoken in Samaria
adjective
5.
of or relating to Samaria

the name given to the new and mixed inhabitants whom Esarhaddon (B.C. 677), the king of Assyria, brought from Babylon and other places and settled in the cities of Samaria, instead of the original inhabitants whom Sargon (B.C. 721) had removed into captivity (2 Kings 17:24; comp. Ezra 4:2, 9, 10). These strangers (comp. Luke 17:18) amalgamated with the Jews still remaining in the land, and gradually abandoned their old idolatry and adopted partly the Jewish religion. After the return from the Captivity, the Jews in Jerusalem refused to allow them to take part with them in rebuilding the temple, and hence sprang up an open enmity between them. They erected a rival temple on Mount Gerizim, which was, however, destroyed by a Jewish king (B.C. 130). They then built another at Shechem. The bitter enmity between the Jews and Samaritans continued in the time of our Lord: the Jews had “no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9; comp. Luke 9:52, 53). Our Lord was in contempt called “a Samaritan” (John 8:48). Many of the Samaritans early embraced the gospel (John 4:5-42; Acts 8:25; 9:31; 15:3). Of these Samaritans there still remains a small population of about one hundred and sixty, who all reside in Shechem, where they carefully observe the religious customs of their fathers. They are the “smallest and oldest sect in the world.”

see: good Samaritan