Sources: 2 Kings 17; Ezra 4; the Samaritan Pentateuch; Josephus, Antiquities 11–12; the Tell el-Ras excavations at Mt. Gerizim.

Samaritanism emerges from the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom (722 BC). Sargon II deports the Israelite elite and resettles peoples from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim in Samaria (2 Kgs 17:24). The resulting population maintains a form of YHWH worship while incorporating elements from their diverse origins — which the text characterizes as each people fearing YHWH while also serving their own gods. The Samaritan counter-narrative holds that they are the continuous descendants of the Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh who were never deported, maintaining the original Mosaic covenant uncorrupted by Babylonian exile. The theological core: (1) Mt. Gerizim as the chosen place of worship — Deuteronomy 27:4 in the Samaritan Pentateuch reads “Gerizim” where the Masoretic text reads “Ebal”; excavations at Tell el-Ras confirm a major temple on Gerizim from at least the 5th century BC; (2) The Torah only — the written text of the five books of Moses, without the prophetic additions of the Judahite tradition; (3) The Samaritan high priesthood — tracing lineage to Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron, claiming a priestly continuity the Judahites broke during the exile. The tension between Samaritan and Judahite claims to authentic Israelite inheritance is present from the moment Nehemiah returns and refuses Samaritan participation in Jerusalem’s rebuilding (Neh 2:20).