Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
time of John Hyrcanus, who took it after a year’s siege, and did his best to demolish it entirely.
(B.C. 109.) It was rebuilt and greatly embellished by Herod the Great. He called it Sebaste=Augusta,
after the name of his patron, Augustus Caesar. The wall around it was 2 1/2 miles long, and in the
centre of the city was a park 900 feet square containing a magnificent temple dedicated to Caesar.
In the New Testament the city itself does not appear to be mentioned; but rather a portion of the
district to which, even in older times it had extended its name. (Matthew 10:5; John 4:4,5) At this
clay the city is represented by a small village retaining few vestiges of the past except its name,
Sebustiyeh, an Arabic corruption of Sebaste. Some architectural remains it has, partly of Christian
construction or adaptation, as the ruined church of St. John the Baptist, partly, perhaps, traces of
Idumaean magnificence, St. Jerome, whose acquaintance with Palestine imparts a sort of probability
to the tradition which prevailed so strongly in later days, asserts that Sebaste, which he invariably
identifies with Samaria was the place in which St. John the Baptist was imprisoned and suffered
death. He also makes it the burial-place of the prophets Elisha and Obadiah.
Samaria, Country Of
Samaria at first included all the tribes over which Jeroboam made himself king, whether east
or west of the river Jordan. (1 Kings 13:32) But whatever extent the word might have acquired, it
necessarily be came contracted as the limits of the kingdom of Israel became contracted. In all
probability the territory of Simeon and that of Dan were very early absorbed in the kingdom of
Judah. It is evident from an occurrence in Hezekiah’s reign that just before the deposition and death
of Hoshea, the last king of Israel, the authority of the king of Judah, or at least his influence, was
recognized by portions of Asher, Issachar and Zebulun and even of Ephraim and Manasseh. (2
Chronicles 30:1-26) Men came from all those tribes to the Passover at Jerusalem. This was about
B.C. 728. Samaria (the city) and a few adjacent cities or villages only represented that dominion
which had once extended from Bethel to Dan northward, and from the Mediterranean to the borders
of Syria and Ammon eastward. In New Testament times Sa maria was bounded northward by the
range of hills which commences at Mount Carmel on the west, and, after making a bend to the
southwest, runs almost due east to the valley of the Jordan, forming the southern border of the plain
of Esdraelon. It touched toward the south, is nearly as possible, the northern limits of Benjamin.
Thus it comprehended the ancient territory of Ephraim and that of Manasseh west of Jordan. The
Cuthaean Samaritans, however, possessed only a few towns and villages of this large area, and
these lay almost together in the centre of the district. At Nablus the Samaritans have still a settlement,
consisting of about 200 persons. [Shechem]
Samaritan Pentateuch
a recension of the commonly received Hebrew text of the Mosaic law, in use among the
Samaritans, and written in the ancient Hebrew or so-called Samaritan character. The origin of the
Samaritan Pentateuch has given rise to much controversy, into which we cannot here enter. The
two most usual opinions are—
•That it came into the hands of the Samaritans as an inheritance from the ten tribes whom they
succeeded.
•That it was introduced by Manasseh at the time of the foundation of the Samaritan sanctuary on
Mount Gerizim. It differs in several important points from the Hebrew text. Among these may be
mentioned—
•Emendations of passages and words of the Hebrew text which contain something objectionable
in the eyes of the Samaritans, On account either of historical probability or apparent want of dignity
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William Smith