SAMARIA, SAMARITANS
SAMARIA, SAMARITANS 557
and the positive side are named together : ' our Saviour, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.' Salvation from sin specificallj' appears in Ro 11-® in a quotation from the LXX of Is 59-*.
6. It ought to be observed that a-ur-qpia in the NT relates to what is dogmatically called ' the application of redemption ' in distinction from ' the impetration of redemption,' or the objective work of Christ. This is the natural result of its original eschatological significance, for what takes place in the end lies on the line of the subjective transformation of the believer.
The view has recently been advocated by VVendland (ZNTW V. [1904] 351) that the original background of the conception of raZiaOxi is the rule and influence of evil spirits, of which death and disease would be only the peripheral manifestations. The facts cited above do not bear out this hypothesis, or even favour it. In the Gospels there is only one passage which applies riitiiv to the casting out of a demon (Lk S^"). In all other cases of deliverance from demoniacal possession other expressions are used. It would be far more correct to say that sin and death lie at the centre, demoniacal influence in the periphery of the conception. On the other hand, it creates an equally wrong distribution of the emphasis to conceive of our Lord's (ruZ,iiv as in its primary aspect a species of ' healing,' and of Jesus Himself as chiefly a spiritual physician. Against Harnack, who in his work, Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christenthums in den ersteji dni Jahrhunderten, goes too far in this direction, Wagner (ZNTW vi. [1905] 234, 235) well observes, that the NT writers do not, like the later Church Fathers, who stood under the influence of the Stoic philosophj', view sin as a disease of the soul, but as a species of death, and that Jesus is to them far more than a physician, viz. One who leads from death to life.
Literature. — Cremer, Lex. svn. o-uZi'i and irarr,fiia,; the vari- ous handbooks on OT a^nd. N T Theology ; Klaiber, Die NT Lehre von der Siinde und Erlostmg, 1836 ; 'Titius, Die NT Lehre von der Seligkeit, 4 parts, 1895-1900 ; Klopper, Der Brief d. Ap. Paul. a. d. Philippei; on liS- 28 (note) and 320, Der Brief a. d. Epheser on 2^ and 5'-3; Anrich, Das antike Mysterienwesen, 1894, p. 47 fT. ; Wobberniin, Religionsgesch. Stiidien, 105 ff. ; Harnack, Redeyi und Anfsdtze, 1899, 1900, i. pp. 301-311 ; Soltau, Die Geburtsgesch. jesu Christi, 1902 ; Wendland, ' '2uTrip : Eine religionsgesch. Untersuchung ' in XNTW t. [1904] p. 335fl. ; Wagner, ' Ueber (ru'C,uv und seine Derivata im NT,' ib. Ti. [1905] p. 205 ff. ; Jeremias, Babylonischen im NT, 1905, pp. 27-46.
Geerhardus Vos. SAMARIA, SAMARITANS. — 1. Description.—
' Samaria,' originally the name of the city built by Omri (I K 16'''*), became in a very short time a common name for the Northern kingdom (Am 3^, Jer 31', 2 Ch 25") ; but during the Greek period it became limited to the province of Samaria, and so in NT times it is the designation of the district that lies between Galilee and Judaea (Jn 4^). The limits and extent of the Samaritan territory varied from time to time (Jos. Ant. xil. iv. 1 ; 1 Mac IP^), and it is impossible to define with absolute cer- tainty the boundaries in Gospel days. These, how- ever, may be known generally. We learn that Ginea — tlie modern Jenin — on the south edge of the plain of Esdraelon, was its northern boundary (Ant. XX. vi. 1) ; and this is confirmed by the fact that Caphar Outheni — now Kcfr Adan — 4 miles distant, was in Galilee (M. Gittin i. 5). The southern boundary is stated as ' the Acrabbene toparchy' (BJ III. iii. 4), and a village named Anuath or Borkeas was on the border [ih.]. As these have been identified with the modern villages of 'Alfrabe and Berukin, we conclude that this Ijoundary ran westward to the Shephelah along Wady Ish'ar. In that case it would then naturally run eastward to the Jordan down Wady Zamar. There seems, liowever, good reason to fix "it farther north at this point, as ^^arn Sartabeh seems to iiave been in the hands of the Jews' (M. Rosh. ii. 4), unless, indeed, it was a border hill accessible alike to Jews and Samaritans. This seems the more likely, as it was the only signalling station in the neighbourhood of Samaritan territory where false lights could be kindled to deceive the Jews on the occasion of the new moons, and this the Samaritans are accused of having done (Bab. Rosh. 226 and margin). The eastern boundary was, of course, the
Jordan, while the hill slopes towards the Shephelah constituted the western — the plain between Caphar Outheni and Antipatris being regarded as a heathen district (Bab. Gittin 76a). This gives us a terri- tory of about 20 miles from north to south, and 30 from east to west.
The region consists of scattered mountain groups and rounded hills with plains between, the chief of these being Merj el-Mahna, to the east of Nablus, Merj el-Ghuruk or the plain of Sanur (a lake in the winter and spring), and the plain of Dothan, which last opens into the pl.ain of Esdraelon. Samaria presents a striking and beautiful contrast to Judcea with its barren hills. Here they are for the mo.st part covered with fruit trees of every kind, chief among which are the olive, the fig, the mulberry, the orange, the apricot, and the pome- granate. On the Samaritan hills great flocks of sheep and goats find pasture. The whole country is studded with villages, and the fertile plains and valleys produce rich crops of grain. Only to the east, extending along the Jordan boundary, is the country rough and broken, and the mountains, which descend precipitously to the river, naked and barren ; and this they have always been (BJ IV. viii. 2). The rest of the country is Avell watered everywhere, and in many places it is extremely beautiful. In the early centuries the gardens of Samaria ('£3D3d mons, M. Erakhin iii. 2) were famous, and to-day the fruit orchards and beautiful gardens of Jenin are equally well known, while all must agree with Thomson [LB ii. 110) when he says : ' One may be excused for becoming somewhat enthu.siastic over this pretty vale of Nablus, spark- ling with fountains and streams, verdant with olive groves and fig orchards, interspersed with walnut, api)le, apricot, orange, quince, pomegranate, and other trees and shrubs.' But, notwithstanding its superiority in richness and beauty to the south country, the Jews of the 1st cent, were very un- willing to admit that Samaria was part of the Holy Land. When they spoke of it they reckoned only the three lands, — Judaea, Galilee, and Peraea (M. Shebhiith ix. 2), — always omitting Samaria, as not being Jewish soil. But even the district we have described is not to be regarded as having been at any time fully occupied by the people we call Samaritans. The name was strictly limited to the religious sect, the metropolis of which was Shechem (Ant. XI. viii. 6). There, and in many of the towns and villages, they were numerous and strong, but almost everywhere there Avere also Grecian settlers, and with the city of Samaria itself the Samaritans had little or nothing to do.