Redirected from Sumaria
Major cities in this region include Jenin, Nablus, Tul-Karem[?] and Qalqiliya[?]. Samaria was taken by Israeli forces during the 1967 Six-Day War from Jordan. Jordan withdrew all claims to the West Bank, and thus Samaria, in 1988; later on, this status was confirmed by the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty of 1993. Jordan instead recognizes the Palestinian Authority as the rightful sovereign of the territory. In the Oslo accords of 1994, responsibility for the administration over some of the territory of Samaria was transferred to the Palestinian Authority.
Israel has sometimes been criticized for the policy of establishing settlements in Samaria. Israeli claims the legal status of the land is unclear, while the U.N., the U.S. and the EU disagree. See Israeli settlements for a proper discussion.
To the north, Samaria is bounded by the Esdraelon[?] valley; to the east - by the Jordan river; to the west, it is bounded by the Carmel Ridge (in the north) and the Sharon plain[?] (in the south); to the south, it is bounded by Judea (the Jerusalem mountains). Samarian hills are not very high, seldom reaching the height of over 800 meters. Samaria's climate is more convenient than the climate of Judea.
Samaria was frequently besieged. In the days of Ahab, Benhadad II. came up against it with thirty-two vassal kings, but was defeated with a great slaughter (1 Kings 20:1-21). A second time, next year, he assailed it; but was again utterly routed, and was compelled to surrender to Ahab (20:28-34), whose army, as compared with that of Benhadad, was no more than "two little flocks of kids."
In the days of Jehoram this Benhadad again laid siege to Samaria, during which the city was reduced to the direst extremities. But just when success seemed to be within their reach, they suddenly broke off the siege, alarmed by a mysterious noise of chariots and horses and a great army, and fled, leaving their camp with all its contents behind them. The famished inhabitants of the city were soon relieved from the abundance of the spoil of the Syrian camp; and it came to pass, according to the word of Elisha, that "a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barely for a shekel, in the gates of Samaria" (2 Kings 7:1-20).
Shalmaneser[?] invaded Israel in the days of Hoshea, and reduced it to vassalage. He laid siege to Samaria (B.C. 723), which held out for three years, and was at length captured by Sargon, who completed the conquest Shalmaneser had begun (2 Kings 18:9-12; 17:3), and removed vast numbers of the tribes into captivity. (See Sargon II).
This city, after passing through various vicissitudes, was given by the emperor Augustus to Herod the Great, who rebuilt it, and called it Sebaste (Gr. form of Augustus) in honour of the emperor. In the New Testament the only mention of it is in Acts 8:5-14, where it is recorded that Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached there.
It is now represented by the hamlet of Sebustieh, containing about three hundred inhabitants. The ruins of the ancient town are all scattered over the hill, down the sides of which they have rolled. The shafts of about one hundred of what must have been grand Corinthian columns are still standing, and attract much attention, although nothing definite is known regarding them. (Comp. Micah 1:6.)
In the time of Christ, Western Palestine was divided into three provinces, Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. Samaria occupied the centre of Palestine (John 4:4). It is called in the Talmud the "land of the Cuthim," and is not regarded as a part of the Holy Land at all.
It may be noticed that the distance between Samaria and Jerusalem, the respective capitals of the two kingdoms, is only 35 miles in a direct line.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump