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86-517: Awarta was an important Samaritan center between the 4th and the 12th century and housed one of their major synagogues. It is home to several holy sites revered by Samaritans, Jews and Muslims , the most well-known of which is the traditional tomb of Phinehas , grandson of Aaron . According to Palestinian historian Mustafa Dabbagh, the name derives from the Syriac word ' awra , meaning "windowless" or "hidden". According to E. H. Palmer , "Awarta"

172-472: A distinct, opportunistic ethnos and, alternatively, a Jewish sect. The Dead Sea scrolls ' Proto-Esther fragment 4Q550 has an obscure phrase about the possibility of a Kutha(ean) ( Kuti ) man returning but the reference remains obscure. 4Q372 records hopes that the northern tribes will return to the land of Joseph. The current dwellers in the north are referred to as fools, an enemy people. However, they are not referred to as foreigners. It goes on to say that

258-602: A large fraction of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (i.e., Samaritans) remained in Israel after the Assyrian exile. E. Mary Smallwood wrote that the Samaritans "were the survivors of the pre-Exilic northern kingdom of Israel, diluted by intermarriage with alien settlers," and that they broke away from mainstream Judaism in the 4th century BCE. Archaeologist Eric Cline takes an intermediate view. He believes only 10–20% of

344-415: A population of 1,470, all Muslims, with 16,106 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 30 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 9,406 used for cereals, while 132 dunams were built-up (urban) land. In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements , Awarta came under Jordanian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950. In 1961,

430-549: A pottery type he identifies as Mesopotamian clustering around the Menasheh lands of Samaria, that they were three waves of imported settlers. The Encyclopaedia Judaica (under "Samaritans") summarizes both past and present views on the Samaritans' origins. It says: Until the middle of the 20th century it was customary to believe that the Samaritans originated from a mixture of the people living in Samaria and other peoples at

516-545: A reaction to the attack, masked Israeli settlers infiltrated the village and threw stones at homes, before being dispersed by the Israel Defense Forces . Two young Awarta residents, Hakim Maazan Niad Awad and Amjad Mahmud Fauzi Awad were arrested on 5 and 10 April 2011 and confessed to the killings. The village council chief condemned the murder, however he voiced doubts over the Israeli findings and claimed that

602-751: A rival shrine at Shiloh , thereby preventing southern pilgrims from Judah and the territory of Benjamin from attending the shrine at Gerizim. Eli is also held to have created a duplicate of the Ark of the Covenant , which eventually made its way to the Judahite sanctuary in Jerusalem. In contrast, Jewish Orthodox tradition, based on material in the Bible, Josephus and the Talmud , dates their presence much later, to

688-413: A total of 11,194 akçe . The site was visited in the 17th-century CE by Ottoman explorer, Evliya Çelebi . In his detailed travelogue, he wrote that Awarta was situated between Balāṭa and Ḥuwwāra as one traveled the country from north to south. In this place, he notes, is located the “house of el-‘Uzair,” erroneously translated later as the ‘house of Ezra,’ but actually meaning the “tomb of Eleazar ,

774-532: Is cognate with the Biblical Hebrew term Šomerim , and both terms reflect a Semitic root שמר, which means "to watch, guard". Historically, Samaritans were concentrated in Samaria . In Modern Hebrew , the Samaritans are called Shomronim (שומרונים), which also means "inhabitants of Samaria", literally, "Samaritans". In modern English, Samaritans refer to themselves as Israelite Samaritans. That

860-500: Is a personal name or unknown word. In Samaritan text, the town was called "Caphar Abearthah". An earlier Arabic name for the village was "'Awert". Awarta has been inhabited in the First Temple period , Byzantine and Early Islamic period , and again during Ottoman rule. Between the 4th and 12th centuries, the town was an important Samaritan center, being the location of one of their main synagogues . According to Ben-Zvi ,

946-800: Is almost 35%. The town does not have a water or sewage utility system. There is a public well that is under the control of the Nablus Municipality. Road networks have been hampered by the IDF due to the area being a militant stronghold. Awarta has three schools - a secondary school for boys, a secondary school for girls and a coeducational primary school. Samaritans The Samaritans ( / s ə ˈ m ær ɪ t ən z / ; Samaritan Hebrew : ࠔࠠࠌࠝࠓࠩࠉࠌ ‎ Šā̊merīm ; Hebrew : שומרונים Šōmrōnīm ; Arabic : السامريون as-Sāmiriyyūn ), often preferring to be called Israelite Samaritans , are an ethnoreligious group originating from

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1032-454: Is found the tomb of Yusha ( Joshua ) ibn Nun. Mufaddal, the son of Aaron's uncle, is also said to be buried here. These lie in a cave, where the seventy prophets are also buried." Conder and Kitchener , citing another Samaritan tradition, say rather that it was Eleazer the priest who was buried a "little way west of Awarta (at al 'Azeir )," while Joshua bin Nun was buried at Kefr Haris . Awarta

1118-511: Is not to be interpreted as signaling a precipitous schism between the Jews and Samaritans, as the Gerizim temple was far from the only Yahwistic temple outside of Judea. According to most modern scholars, the split between the Jews and Samaritans was a gradual historical process extending over several centuries rather than a single schism at a given point in time. The Macedonian Empire conquered

1204-455: The Bible is associated with the location of the town of Awarta. Three large monuments in the town are attributed to the priestly family of Aaron . According to tradition, they are the burial sites of his sons Ithamar and Eleazar . His grandson Phinehas is believed to be buried at the site alongside his son Abishua — the latter is especially revered by the Samaritans, who believe that he wrote

1290-600: The Chief Rabbinate of Israel classifies them as ethnic Jews (i.e., Israelites ). However, Rabbinic literature rejected the Samaritans' Halakhic Jewishness because they refused to renounce their belief that Mount Gerizim was the historical holy site of the Israelites. All Samaritans in both Holon and Kiryat Luza are Israeli citizens, but those in Kiryat Luza also hold Palestinian citizenship . Around

1376-529: The Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East . They are indigenous to Samaria , a historical region of ancient Israel and Judah that comprises the northern half of what is today referred to as the West Bank . They are adherents of Samaritanism , an Abrahamic , monotheistic , and ethnic religion that developed alongside Judaism . According to their tradition, the Samaritans are descended from

1462-568: The Khabur River and to the towns of the Medes . The king of the Assyrians then brought people from Babylon , Kutha , Avva , Hamath 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

1548-612: The Kitab al-Ta'rikh compiled by Abu'l-Fath in 1355. According to this, a text which Magnar Kartveit identifies as a "fictional" apologia drawn from earlier sources, including Josephus but perhaps also from ancient traditions, a civil war erupted among the Israelites when Eli, son of Yafni , the treasurer of the sons of Israel, sought to usurp the High Priesthood of Israel from the heirs of Phinehas . Gathering disciples and binding them by an oath of loyalty, he sacrificed on

1634-715: The Neo-Assyrian Empire in 720 BCE. The tensions continued in the post-exilic period. The Books of Kings is more inclusive than Ezra–Nehemiah since the ideal is of one Israel with twelve tribes, whereas the Books of Chronicles concentrate on the Kingdom of Judah and ignore the Kingdom of Israel . Accounts of Samaritan origins in respectively 2 Kings 17:6,24 and Chronicles , together with statements in both Ezra and Nehemiah differ in important degrees, suppressing or highlighting narrative details according to

1720-591: The Samaritan script . According to Samaritan tradition, the position of the community's leading Samaritan High Priest has continued without interruption over the course of the last 3600 years, beginning with the Hebrew prophet Aaron . Since 2013, the 133rd Samaritan High Priest has been Aabed-El ben Asher ben Matzliach . In censuses, Israeli law classifies the Samaritans as a distinct religious community , but

1806-625: The Torah . The seventy Elders are believed to be buried in a cave near Phinehas' tomb. On the western side of Awarta lies the tomb Muslims attribute to Nabi Uzeir, Ezra the scribe. Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi records in 1226, while Awarta was under Ayyubid rule, that it was a "village or small town, on the road from Nablus to Jerusalem . According to the Samaritan Chronicle , in Kefr Ghuweirah (now called Awarta)

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1892-626: The 11th century BCE and in accordance with Samaritan beliefs, he is accused of establishing a religious shrine in Shiloh in opposition to the establishment of the original shrine on Mount Gerizim. Once a large community, the Samaritan population shrank significantly in the wake of the Samaritan revolts , which were brutally suppressed by the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century. Their numbers were further reduced by Christianization under

1978-490: The 2nd century BCE, a series of events led to a revolution by a faction of Judeans against Antiochus IV. Anderson notes that during the reign of Antiochus IV (175–164 BCE): 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). Josephus quotes the Samaritans as saying: We therefore beseech thee, our benefactor and saviour, to give order to Apollonius,

2064-701: The 2nd century BCE. Overall, the Samaritans were generally more populous and wealthier than the Judeans in Palestine, until 164 BC. Antiochus IV Epiphanes was on the throne of the Seleucid Empire from 175 to 163 BCE. His policy was to Hellenize his entire kingdom and standardize religious observance. According to 1 Maccabees 1:41-50 he proclaimed himself the incarnation of the Greek god Zeus and mandated death to anyone who refused to worship him. In

2150-452: The Assyrian deportations and replacement of the previous inhabitants by forced resettlement by other peoples but claims a different ethnic 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 17:6, 24 and Josephus , the people of Israel were removed by the king of the Assyrians ( Sargon II ) to Halah , to Gozan on

2236-477: The Assyrian invasion, major cities such as Samaria and Megiddo remained largely intact, and other sites show a continuity of occupation. The Assyrians settled exiles from Babylonia, Elam, and Syria in places including Gezer , Hadid , and villages north of Shechem and Tirzah . However, even if the Assyrians deported 30,000 people, as they claimed, many would have remained in the area. Based on changes in material culture, Adam Zertal estimated that only 10% of

2322-506: The Assyrian invasion. This correlates with expectations from the fact that the Samaritans retained endogamous and biblical patrilineal marriage customs, and that they remained a genetically isolated population. According to Chronicles 36:22–23, the Persian emperor, Cyrus the Great (reigned 559–530 BCE), permitted the return of the exiles to their homeland and ordered the rebuilding of

2408-1048: The Byzantines and later by Islamization following the Arab conquest of the Levant . In the 12th century, the Jewish explorer and writer Benjamin of Tudela estimated that only around 1,900 Samaritans remained in Palestine and Syria . As of 2024, the Samaritan community numbers around 900 people, split between Israel (some 460 in Holon ) and the West Bank (some 380 in Kiryat Luza ). The Samaritans in Kiryat Luza speak Levantine Arabic , while those in Holon primarily speak Israeli Hebrew . For liturgy, they also use Samaritan Hebrew and Samaritan Aramaic , both of which are written in

2494-713: The God of the land and their own gods from the countries from which they came. In the Chronicles , following Samaria's destruction, King Hezekiah is depicted as endeavouring to draw the Ephraimites , Zebulonites , Asherites and Manassites closer to Judah . Temple repairs at the time of Josiah were financed by money from all "the remnant of Israel" in Samaria, including from Manasseh, Ephraim, and Benjamin. Jeremiah likewise speaks of people from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria who brought offerings of frankincense and grain to

2580-538: The Hebrew Bible, they were temporarily united under a United Monarchy , but after the death of Solomon, the kingdom split in two, the northern Kingdom of Israel with its last capital city Samaria and the southern Kingdom of Judah with its capital, Jerusalem . The Deuteronomistic history , written in Judah, portrayed Israel as a sinful kingdom, divinely punished for its idolatry and iniquity by being destroyed by

2666-596: The Horonite , the governor of Samaria, centered around the refortification of the then-destroyed Jerusalem. Despite this political discourse, the text implies that relationships between the Jews and Samaritans were otherwise quite amicable, as intermarriage between the two seems commonplace, even to the point that the High Priest Joiada married Sanballat's daughter. Some theologians believe Nehemiah 11:3 describes other Israelite tribes returning to Judah with

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2752-507: The House of YHWH. Chronicles makes no mention of an Assyrian resettlement. Yitzakh Magen argues that the version of Chronicles is perhaps closer to the historical truth and that the Assyrian settlement was unsuccessful, a notable Israelite population remained in Samaria, part of which, following the conquest of Judah, fled south and settled there as refugees. Adam Zertal dates the Assyrian onslaught at 721 BCE to 647 BCE, infers from

2838-508: The Israelite population (i.e. 40,000 Israelites) were deported to Assyria in 720 BCE. About 80,000 Israelites fled to Judah whilst between 100,000 and 230,000 Israelites remained in Samaria. The latter intermarried with the foreign settlers, thus forming the Samaritans. The religion of this remnant community is likely distorted by the account recorded in the Books of Kings, which claims that

2924-406: The Israelite population in Samaria was deported, while the number of imported settlers was likely no more than a few thousand, indicating that most Israelites continued to reside in Samaria. Gary N. Knoppers described the demography shifts in Samaria following the Assyrian conquest as: "... not the wholesale replacement of one local population by a foreign population, but rather the diminution of

3010-813: The Israelites who, unlike the Ten Lost Tribes of the Twelve Tribes of Israel , were not subject to the Assyrian captivity after the northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and annexed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 720 BCE. Regarding the Samaritan Pentateuch as the unaltered Torah , the Samaritans view the Jews as close relatives, but claim that Judaism fundamentally alters the original Israelite religion. The most notable theological divide between Jewish and Samaritan doctrine concerns

3096-658: The Itamar settlement used chainsaws to cut down thousands of the villagers' olive trees in a 600-dunam olive grove maintained by 25 Awarta families in an area north of their town. Sami, Iyad N’am ‘Awwad, a local teacher, stated that the affected area has been isolated from the rest of the village by the erection of two Itamar security fences. In 2010, two cousins from Awarta, Salah Qawariq, 18, and Muhammad Qawariq, 19, were killed by an Israeli (IDF) soldier who emptied his magazine, shooting them 29 times. The autopsies reveal that both had been shot at close range. Palestinian sources claim

3182-414: The Judeans. The former lived in the cities of Judah whilst the latter lived in Jerusalem. Benjamites also lived with Judeans in Jerusalem. During Achaemenid rule, material evidence suggests significant overlap between Jews and proto-Samaritans, with the two groups sharing a common language and script, eschewing the claim that the schism had taken form by this time. However, onomastic evidence suggests

3268-485: The Levant in the 330s BCE, resulting in both Samaria and Judea coming under Greek rule as the province of Coele-Syria . Samaria was by-and-large devastated by the Alexandrian conquest and subsequent colonization efforts, though its southern lands were spared the broader consequences of the invasion and continued to thrive. Matters were further complicated in 331 BCE, when the Samaritans rose up in rebellion and murdered

3354-535: The Macedonian-appointed prefect, Andromachus – resulting in a brutal reprisal by the army. Following the death of Alexander the Great , the area became part of the newly partitioned Ptolemaic Kingdom , which, in one of several wars , was eventually conquered by the neighboring Seleucid Empire . Though the temple on Mount Gerizim had existed since the 5th century BCE, evidence shows that its sacred precinct experienced an extravagant expansion during

3440-682: The Samaritan diaspora in Delos , dating as early as 150–50 BCE, provide the "oldest known self-designation" for Samaritans, indicating that they called themselves "Bene Israel" in Hebrew (English: "Children of Israel", i.e. literally the descendants of the biblical prophet Israel, also known as Jacob, more commonly "Israelites"). In their own language, Samaritan Hebrew , the Samaritans call themselves "Israel", "B'nai Israel", and, alternatively, Shamerim (שַמֶרִים), meaning "Guardians/Keepers/Watchers", and in Arabic al-Sāmiriyyūn ( السامريون ). The term

3526-492: The Samaritan tradition that they are mainly descended from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh who remained in Israel after the Assyrian conquest. He states that the description of them at 2 Kings 17:24 as foreigners is tendentious and intended to ostracize the Samaritans from those Israelites who returned from the Babylonian exile in 520 BCE. He further states that 2 Chronicles 30:1 could be interpreted as confirming that

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3612-564: The Samaritans as the Cuthaeans. In the biblical account, however, Kuthah was one of several cities from which people were brought to Samaria. The similarities between Samaritans and Jews were such that the rabbis of the Mishnah found it impossible to draw a clear distinction between the two groups. Attempts to date when the schism among Israelites took place, which engendered the division between Samaritans and Judaeans, vary greatly, from

3698-601: The Samaritans assert their distinction from the Judeans based on both race (γένος) and in customs (ἔθος). According to II Maccabees: Shortly afterwards, the Greek king sent Gerontes the Athenian to force the Jews of Israel to violate their ancestral customs and live no longer by the laws of God; and to profane the Temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus, and the one on Mount Gerizim to Zeus, Patron of Strangers, as

3784-501: The Samaritans have long been disputed between their own tradition and that of the Jews. Ancestrally, Samaritans affirm that they descend from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh in ancient Samaria . Samaritan tradition associates the split between them and the Judean -led southern Israelites to the time of the biblical priest Eli , described as a "false" high priest who usurped the priestly office from its occupant, Uzzi, and established

3870-490: The Samaritans mocked Jerusalem and built a temple on a high place to provoke Israel. Contemporary scholarship confirms that deportations occurred both before and after the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel in 722–720 BCE, with varying impacts across Galilee , Transjordan , and Samaria . During the earlier Assyrian invasions, Galilee and Transjordan experienced significant deportations, with entire tribes vanishing;

3956-532: The Samaritans, which he appears to use interchangeably. Among them is a reference to Khuthaioi , a designation employed to denote peoples in Media and Persia putatively sent to Samaria to replace the exiled Israelite population. These Khouthaioi were in fact Hellenistic Phoenicians/Sidonians. Samareis (Σαμαρεῖς) may refer to inhabitants of the region of Samaria, or of the city of that name, though some texts use it to refer specifically to Samaritans. The origins of

4042-573: The Temple ( Zion ). The prophet Isaiah identified Cyrus as "the L ORD 's Messiah ". As the Babylonian captivity had primarily affected the lowlands of Judea, the Samarian populations had likely avoided the casualties of the crisis of exile, and in fact, showed signs of widespread prosperity. The books of Ezra–Nehemiah detail a lengthy political struggle between Nehemiah , governor of the new Persian province of Yehud Medinata , and Sanballat

4128-626: The beginning of the Babylonian captivity. In Rabbinic Judaism , for example in the Tosefta Berakhot , the Samaritans are called Cuthites or Cutheans ( Hebrew : כותים , Kutim ), referring to the ancient city of Kutha , geographically located in what is today Iraq . Josephus in both the Wars of the Jews and the Antiquities of the Jews , in writing of the destruction of the temple on Mt. Gerizim by John Hyrcanus , also refers to

4214-641: The biblical story of Moses ordering Joshua to take the Twelve Tribes of Israel to the mountains by Shechem ( Nablus ) and place half of the tribes, six in number, on Mount Gerizim, the Mount of the Blessing, and the other half on Mount Ebal , the Mount of the Curse. The narratives in Genesis about the rivalries among the 12 sons of Jacob are viewed by some as describing tensions between north and south. According to

4300-472: The chronicles, and a variety of non-Samaritan materials. According to the former, the Samaritans are the direct descendants of the Joseph tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, and until the 17th century CE they possessed a high priesthood descending directly from Aaron through Eleazar and Phinehas. They claim to have continuously occupied their ancient territory and to have been at peace with other Israelite tribes until

4386-510: The course of the Exodus , from creating the plating for the altar from the firepans of Korah 's assembly, to performing the ritual of the red heifer . After the death of his older brothers Nadab and Abihu , he and his younger brother Ithamar were appointed to the charge of the sanctuary. His wife, a daughter of Putiel , bore him Phinehas , who would eventually succeed him as High Priest. Leviticus 10:16–18 records an incident when Moses

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4472-448: The early Hellenistic era, indicating its status as the preeminent place of Samaritan worship had begun to crystallize. By the time of Antiochus III the Great , the temple "town" had reached 30 dunams in size. The presence of a flourishing cult centered around Gerizim is documented by the sudden resurgence of Yahwistic and Hebrew names in contemporary correspondence, suggesting that the Samaritan community had officially been established by

4558-552: The existence of a distinct northern culture. Some inhabitants of Samaria during this period identified with Israelite heritage. This connection is evidenced in two ways: first, through biblical accounts of local officials' involvement with the Jerusalem Temple, and second, through naming patterns. Many names recorded in the Wadi Daliyeh documents and on Samaritan coins feature Israelite elements. Sanballat's sons bore

4644-403: The governor of this part of the country, and to Nicanor, the procurator of thy affairs, to give us no disturbances, nor to lay to our charge what the Jews are accused for, since we are aliens from their nation and from their customs, but let our temple which at present hath no name at all, be named the Temple of Jupiter Hellenius. In the letter, defended as genuine by E. Bickerman and M. Stern ,

4730-422: The inhabitants of the latter place had requested. Eleazar Eleazar ( / ɛ l i ˈ eɪ z ər / ; Hebrew : אֶלְעָזָר , Modern :   ʾElʿazar , Tiberian :   ʾElʿāzār , " El has helped") or Elazar was a priest in the Hebrew Bible , the second High Priest , succeeding his father Aaron after he died. He was a nephew of Moses . Eleazar played a number of roles during

4816-541: The last Samaritan family, who are of priestly Cohen lineage from the tribe of Levi, left Awarta during the 17th century. He also mentions that the Samaritans of his time (1920s) believed that the majority of the village's residents or all of them are of Samaritan ancestry but were forced to convert to Islam. Samaritan author Benyamim Tsedaka lists seven Samaritan families, H'Akkaba, Qaahlaa, Qinaa, Libi, Ma'or, Phinass and Roomem, who resided in Awarta before their destruction or conversion. The Hill of Phinehas related in

4902-449: The local Israelite religion was perverted with the injection of foreign customs by Assyrian colonists. In reality, the surviving Samaritans continued to practice Yahwism . This explains why they did not resist Judean kings, such as Hezekiah and Josiah, imposing their religious reforms in Samaria. Magnar Kartveit argues that the people who later became known as Samaritans likely had diverse origins and lived in Samaria and other areas, and it

4988-419: The local population", which he attributed to deaths from war, disease and starvation, forced deportations, and migrations to other regions, particularly south to the Kingdom of Judah. The state-sponsored immigrants who had been forcibly brought into Samaria appear to have generally assimilated into the local population. Nevertheless, the Book of Chronicles records that King Hezekiah of Judah invited members of

5074-434: The location of the village of Awarta in the Samarian section of the current day West Bank . The high-priesthood remained in the family of Eleazar until the time of Eli , into whose family it passed. Eli was a descendant of Ithamar, Eleazar's brother. The high priesthood was restored to the family of Eleazar in the person of Zadok after Abiathar was cast out by Solomon . According to Jewish oral tradition, Eleazar

5160-438: The meaning of their name signifies Guardians/Keepers/Watchers [of the Law/ Samaritan Pentateuch ] , rather than being a toponym referring to the inhabitants of the region of Samaria, was remarked on by a number of Christian Church fathers, including Epiphanius of Salamis in the Panarion , Jerome and Eusebius in the Chronicon , and Origen in The Commentary on Saint John's Gospel. Josephus uses several terms for

5246-409: The nearby Israeli settlement of Itamar. Awarta was subsequently declared a closed military zone, due to suspicions that the perpetrators were residents of the village. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz , Palestinian sources reported that Israeli military forces took all of Awarta's men in for questioning, including two officers of the Palestinian security forces, making "wholesale arrests". As

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5332-403: The office of high priest for more than twenty years. He took part with Moses in numbering the people, and assisted at the inauguration of Joshua . He assisted in the distribution of the land after the conquest. When he died, he "was buried at Gibeah , which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim ". The Hill of Phinehas related in the Bible is associated with

5418-409: The oil for the lampstand , the sweet incense, the daily grain offering and the anointing oil, and also for oversight of the carriage of the Ark of the Covenant , table for showbread , altar and other tabernacle fittings which were transported by the Kohathite section of the Levite tribe. Following the rebellion against Moses' leadership recorded in Numbers 16, Eleazar was charged with taking

5504-436: The population of Awarta was 2,069. Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Awarta has been under Israeli occupation . The Palestinian National Authority agreed to ensure free access to these sites as specified in the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip . According to Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem , much of the land of Awarta has been confiscated by the Israelis, including 2,450 dunums of land which

5590-400: The rebels' bronze censers and hammering them into a covering for the altar , to act as a reminder of the failed rebellion and the restriction of the priesthood to the Aaronid dynasty. On Mount Hor he was clothed with the sacred vestments, which Moses took from his father Aaron and put upon him as successor to his father in the high priest's office, before Aaron's death. Eleazar held

5676-410: The shooting. The IDF announced that a terrorist attempt involving an attempt to attack soldiers with a pitchfork had been foiled. This was subsequently revised to an assault with a bottle and a syringe. It emerged later that they had not got IDF clearance to work their land. Awarta made international headlines after the Itamar attack of 11 March 2011, when five members of the same family were killed in

5762-407: The slopes east of the plain, with springs to the east, and olive-groves. It is built of adobe and stone, and is of moderate size." In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities , Awarta had a population of 938 Muslims , increasing at the time of the 1931 census to 1,019, still all Muslim, in 257 houses. In the 1945 statistics Awarta together with Odala had

5848-459: The son of Aaron,” and which at that time had already been converted into a mosque . In 1838, Edward Robinson noted the village besides Rujeib and Odela, part of the el-Beitawy district, east of Nablus. In 1870 Victor Guérin visited the village, and noted that in the upper part there was a mosque, called Djama Mansour , containing a gigantic whitewashed tomb. In 1882, the PEF 's Survey of Western Palestine described it as "a village, on

5934-405: The stone altar, without using salt, a rite which made the then High Priest Ozzi rebuke and disown him. Eli and his acolytes revolted and shifted to Shiloh , where he built an alternative Temple and an altar, a perfect replica of the original on Mt. Gerizim. Eli's sons Hophni and Phinehas had intercourse with women and feasted on the meats of the sacrifice, inside the Tabernacle . Thereafter Israel

6020-442: The teenagers were executed by Israeli soldiers, while out working their land. Israeli accounts varied over time: they were on their land when Avri Ran noted them on the property and forced them to sit down, called up a settlement security coordinator, who in turn called the IDF in. After two hours of communications between the soldiers and headquarters, the men were shot: on interrogation the other soldiers said they had not witnessed

6106-408: The theophoric Israelite names Delaiah and Shelemiah, while the name "Jeroboam", used by northern Israelite kings during the monarchic period, also appears on Samaritan coins. The archaeological evidence can find no sign of habitation in the Assyrian and Babylonian periods at Mount Gerizim, but indicates the existence of a sacred precinct on the site in the Persian period, by the 5th century BCE. This

6192-542: The time of Ezra down to the destruction of Jerusalem (70 CE) and the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE). The emergence of a distinctive Samaritan identity, the outcome of a mutual estrangement between them and Jews, was something that developed over several centuries. Generally, a decisive rupture is believed to have taken place in the Hasmonean period . The Samaritan traditions of their history are contained in

6278-562: The time of the conquest of Samaria by Assyria (722–721 BCE). The biblical account in II Kings 17 had long been the decisive source for the formulation of historical accounts of Samaritan origins. Reconsideration of this passage, however, has led to more attention being paid to the Chronicles of the Samaritans themselves. With the publication of Chronicle II (Sefer ha-Yamim), the fullest Samaritan version of their own history became available:

6364-496: The time when Eli disrupted the Northern cult by moving from Shechem to Shiloh and attracting some northern Israelites to his new followers there. For the Samaritans, this was the "schism" par excellence. Furthermore, to this day the Samaritans claim descent from the tribe of Joseph. Josephus, a key source, has long been considered a prejudiced witness hostile to the Samaritans. He displays an ambiguous attitude, calling them both

6450-454: The tribes of Ephraim , Zebulun , Asher , Issachar and Manasseh to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover after the destruction of Israel. In light of this, it has been suggested that the bulk of those who survived the Assyrian invasions remained in the region. Per this interpretation, the Samaritan community of today is thought to be predominantly descended from those who remained. The Israeli biblical scholar Shemaryahu Talmon has supported

6536-457: The tribes of Reuben , Gad , Dan , and Naphtali are never again mentioned. Archaeological evidence from these regions shows that a large depopulation process took place there in the late 8th century BCE, with numerous sites being destroyed, abandoned, or feature a long occupation gap. In contrast, archaeological findings from Samaria—a larger and more populated area—suggest a more mixed picture. While some sites were destroyed or abandoned during

6622-566: The two suspects confessed under duress. The two were sentenced to five consecutive life sentences and another five and seven years respectively in prison. Awarta has about sixty businesses, most of them active in the fields of trade and small recycling industries. Approximately 40% of the labor force used to work in Israel before the Second Intifada , while 15% worked in the agriculture and animal husbandry sectors. The rate of unemployment

6708-489: The various intentions of their authors. The emergence of the Samaritans as an ethnic and religious community distinct from other Levant peoples appears to have occurred at some point after the Assyrian conquest of the Israelite Kingdom of Israel in approximately 721 BCE. The annals of Sargon II of Assyria indicate that he deported 27,290 inhabitants of the former kingdom. Jewish tradition affirms

6794-583: The world's holiest site, which the Jews believe is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and which Samaritans believe is Mount Gerizim near modern Nablus and ancient Shechem . Both Jews and Samaritans assert that the Binding of Isaac occurred at their respective holy sites, identifying them as Moriah . The Samaritans attribute their schism with the Jews to Eli , who was a High Priest of Israel around

6880-459: The world, there are also significant and growing numbers of communities, families, and individuals who, despite the fact that they are not part of the Samaritan community, identify with and observe the tenets and traditions of the Samaritans' ethnic religion. The largest community outside the Levant, the "Shomrey HaTorah" of Brazil (generally known as neo-Samaritans worldwide), has approximately 3,000 members as of February 2020 . Inscriptions from

6966-462: Was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, for failing to eat a sin offering inside the Tabernacle in accordance with the regulations set out in the preceding chapters of Leviticus regarding the entitlement of the priests to a share of the offerings they made on behalf of the Israelite people. As the Israelites moved through the wilderness during the Exodus journey, Eleazar was responsible for carrying

7052-851: Was buried in Awarta . Eleazar is commemorated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church on September 2 , and as one of the Holy Forefathers in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 30. Five other men named Eleazar are briefly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: In the Gospel of Matthew , another Eleazar, the son of Eliud, is listed in

7138-542: Was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal , part of Nablus Sanjak . It had a population of 50 households, all Muslim . The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and/or beehives, in addition to for a press for olives or grapes and occasional revenues;

7224-439: Was split into three factions: the original Mt. Gerizim community of loyalists, the breakaway group under Eli, and heretics worshipping idols associated with the latter's sons. Judaism emerged later with those who followed the example of Eli. Mount Gerizim was the original Holy Place of the Israelites from the time that Joshua conquered Canaan and the tribes of Israel settled the land. The reference to Mount Gerizim derives from

7310-509: Was the temple project on Mount Gerizim that provided the unifying characteristic that allows them to be identified as Samaritans. Modern genetic studies support the Samaritan narrative that they descend from indigenous Israelites. Shen et al. (2004) formerly speculated that outmarriage with foreign women may have taken place. Most recently the same group came up with genetic evidence that Samaritans are closely linked to Cohanim , and therefore can be traced back to an Israelite population prior to

7396-508: Was used for construction of the Israeli settlement of Itamar . There are frequent reports of violence by Israeli settlers towards Palestinian farmers during the annual olive harvest. However, from 2007, when a group of Israeli activists — Rabbis for Human Rights — agreed to protect the farmers during the harvest, attacks temporarily came to an end. According to Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors West Bank settlements, on 10 July 2013 Israelis from

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