The Man Who Told Me Everything
Any story in the New Testament having to do with Samaritans cannot be properly understood unless there is corresponding knowledge of the bitter history of the Samaritans and Jews. The antagonism starts with King Jeroboam splitting Israel into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms in about 930 B.C.
All of the kings of the Northern Kingdom led their people into idolatry or at least continued its practice. God’s patience finally ended when he allowed the Assyrians to take over the Northern Kingdom in about 721 B.C. and scatter its leaders throughout the Assyrian empire. From then on, the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom were “lost”.
In 538 B.C., members of the Southern Kingdom began returning from their exile in Babylon and started rebuilding the Temple and the country. They found the remnant of Jews living in the Northern Kingdom had intermarried with the Assyrians and others, and no longer considered them Jews; instead, they became known as Samaritans, named after the former capital of the Northern Kingdom. Animosity between the two groups started at this time.
Woman at the Well
John 4:1-42
Jesus talks to a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well
Sychar, Samaria