Samaria

The capital city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel from approximately 880-722 BCE, built by King Omri on a defensible hill. Samaria became synonymous with idolatry and apostasy under Ahab and Jezebel, yet also the site where Jesus revealed himself as Messiah to a Samaritan woman, breaking centuries of ethnic-religious division.

King Omri “bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the city that he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill” (1 Kings 16:24). The naturally fortified location served as an excellent administrative center, superior to the previous capital Tirzah. However, Omri “did more evil than all who were before him” (1 Kings 16:25), and his son Ahab intensified the apostasy by marrying Jezebel and building a temple to Baal in Samaria.

Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel was prompted by Samaria’s wholesale embrace of Baal worship. Despite God’s dramatic vindication of Elijah, successive kings failed to eliminate idolatry from Samaria. The prophets repeatedly condemned the city’s injustice and false worship (Amos 3:9-12, 4:1-3; Hosea 7:1; Micah 1:5-7). After enduring multiple Assyrian sieges, Samaria finally fell in 722 BCE to Sargon II, who deported 27,290 Israelites and resettled foreigners in the land (2 Kings 17:24).

These transplanted peoples intermarried with remaining Israelites, creating the Samaritans—despised by Jews as ethnically and religiously impure. Samaritans built their own temple on Mount Gerizim and accepted only the Torah, rejecting the prophets and writings. By Jesus’ time, “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans” (John 4:9). Yet at Jacob’s well near Samaria, Jesus broke social taboos by conversing with a Samaritan woman, revealing himself as the Messiah and declaring that true worship transcends geographic location: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Her testimony brought many Samaritans to faith—a preview of the gospel breaking ethnic barriers.