Tent Work in Palestine: A Record of Discovery and Adventure

by C. R. Conder

These details, with many more too minute to be now discussed, will be found in Juynboll’s edition of the Samaritan Book of Joshua, in Nutt’s “Sketch of Samaritan History,” and in Mills’ “Modern Samaritans.” It is needless to say that the various accusations of idolatry which have been brought against these unorthodox Israelites (unorthodox from a Jewish point of view) are groundless. They do not and never have worshipped a dove, the story originating probably in their belief in a miraculous dove which carried letters for Joshua; as to the statement that they hold the world to have been created by a goat, it appears to be altogether an invention.

A few words must be added as to the great feasts held yearly, though I have never been so fortunate as to witness the Passover on Gerizim. In addition to this great festival, the Samaritans keep the Feast of Pentecost, and the Fast of Atonement when the Torah is displayed and kissed, the law read, and sleeping, eating, and talking alike forbidden. On the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles they repair to booths of arbutus boughs pitched on the side of Gerizim: these, with the Sabbath, which is very strictly observed, and a feast in memory of the deliverance from Egypt, form their principal festivals.

The sacrifice on Gerizim, called Karaban Afsah, has been graphically described by one of the most picturesque writers on the Holy Land. A brief résumé of his and other accounts will render the present sketch more complete.

After special preparation by prayer and the reading of the Law, the congregation repair to the plateau or lower spur, running out west from the high ridge of Gerizim, on which are the ruins of the ancient Temple, and it is at this time covered with white tents; it is, however, only within the last thirty years that this has been allowed by the Moslems. At sunset on the 15th of Nizan the service begins, the high-priest standing on a large stone surrounded by a low dry stone wall. A certain proportion of the congregation wear long white robes, and all have white turbans instead of the usual red one. Six sheep are slain, as the sun goes down, by the Samaritan butcher cutting their throats; the entrails and right fore-legs are cut off and burnt; the bodies are scalded with water from two huge cauldrons heated over a fire of brushwood, the fleeces removed, the legs skewered, and the bodies then thrust into a sort of oven in the ground (Tannûr in Arabic), covered with a hurdle and with sods of earth. Here for five hours they are baked. The oven, lined with stone, can be seen on the mountain all the year round. The men of the congregation gird themselves with ropes, and with staves in their hands and shoes on their feet as though prepared for a journey, they surround the meat when brought out, and generally eat standing or walking; of late years, however, they have been seen seated. The Jews have always eaten the Passover seated, in Palestine, but until lately the Samaritans have adhered to the ancient and prescribed form to eat “in haste.” The scene of the feast, dimly visible by the light of a few candles, is one of unique interest, taking the spectator back for thousands of years to the early period of Jewish history. The men eat first, the women next; the scraps are burnt, and a bonfire kindled and fed with the fat; the rest of the night is spent in prayer for four hours. On the following day rejoicings continue; fish, rice, and eggs are eaten, wine and spirits drunk, and hymns, generally impromptu, are sung. On the 21st of the month another pilgrimage is made to Gerizim, forming the eighth festival held by the nation.

Such is a slight sketch, compiled partly from personal inquiries and partly from various standard authorities, of the history and customs of the Samaritans. To sum up the points principally worthy of consideration. We have seen that while the later Jewish accounts are contradictory as to the origin of this people, and the Bible itself silent, we have their own assertion that they are the remaining descendants of the Ten Tribes of Israel. We have noticed that their physiognomy leads to the conclusion that they are of the same stock with the Jews, that their sacred book is a version of the Pentateuch and their religion a very pure form of Judaism, that the first became apparently their religious standard before the time of Ezra, and that it is inconceivable that they should have adopted Jewish dogmas at a period when they were distinguished by their hatred of that nation. Finally, we see their doctrines to be in the main identical with those of the most ancient Jewish party, the Karaite or Sadducean.

From these various reasons the conclusion which appears to me personally to follow is, that the Samaritans are to be believed in respect of their account of their own origin, and that in them we find the only true descendants of Israel, and the only remnant of the Ten Tribes with exception perhaps of those still dispersed in Assyria, who have, however, in many cases deserted their original faith.

The subject which naturally next claims attention is that of the Samaritan sacred places, and of their relation to the Biblical history. The sites in question are all grouped in the immediate vicinity of Shechem.

The modern town of Nâblus (the Roman Neapolis) probably occupies, in part at least, the site of the ancient Shechem, as is indicated by the proximity of the modern cemetery to the greater number of the Jewish rock-cut sepulchres. It is a town of some thirteen thousand inhabitants, of whom all but about six hundred are Moslems of a very fanatical spirit. The town is well built, containing several fine houses and a good bazaar. It is surrounded with walls and is long and narrow, situate at the head of the great valley, called “Valley of Barley,” which runs west to Samaria.

The Vale of Shechem is from a quarter to half a mile wide north and south, hemmed in between the twin mountains Ebal and Gerizim, the summits of which are two miles apart in a line. The valley is the most luxuriant in Palestine; long rivulets, fed by no less than eighty springs (according to the natives), run down the hill-slopes and murmur in the deep ravine; gardens surround the city walls; figs, walnuts, mulberries, oranges, lemons, olives, pomegranates, vines, plums, and every species of vegetable grow in abundance, and the green foliage and sparkling streams refresh the eye. But as at Damascus, the oasis is set in a desert, and the stony, barren mountains contrast strongly with the green orchards below.

The Crusaders have left their mark on the town: the ruined “Leper’s Mosque” to the east seems to have been probably the Hospital: the Great Mosque is a Byzantine Basilica, with an outer court, having on the east a fine Gothic portal. The little chapel of the “Wailing of Jacob” (over his lost son Joseph) was also once a Christian church. The names of the six quarters of the city appear to be ancient.