החרבת בית מקדש שומרוני בידי מלך יהודה: בין יאשיהו ליוחנן הורקנוס הראשון

Abstract

In the complicated history between the Jews and the Samaritans in antiquity, it is possible to identify several foundational events that influenced the relationship between the two groups. Two of these events concern the destruction of a Israeli/ Samaritan temple by the ruler of Judah. The first is the destruction of the Israeli/ Samaritan temple in Beit El by King Josiah at the turn of the seventh century BCE. The second is the destruction of the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim by John Hyrcanus at the end of the second century BCE. Although more than 500 years elapsed between the two events, the two nonetheless show many similarities. In both cases, the period in question is the first period of independence in Judea after many years of foreign rule; in both cases, the ruler of Judah had carried out significant religious reforms in the Land of Israel; in both cases, this was a Jewish ruler who had expanded the borders of his kingdom; in both periods, a national awakening had taken place. The resemblance between these two events associated with the destruction of a Samaritan temple is even more pronounced in the view of the "long dimension," which examines processes in history over centuries. Along with the many similarities, however, we found that the events' consequences were completely different: While Josiah's goal was probably to bring the Samaritan population closer to Judah, John Hyrcanus treated the Samaritans as rivals. The destruction of the Temple at Beit El appears to have brought some of the Samaritan population closer to the Kingdom of Judah and the Temple in Jerusalem, thus apparently fulfilling the goals of King Josiah. By contrast, the destruction of the Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerizim and the transformation of the complex, holy to the Samaritans, into a heap of ruins was probably a breaking point in the relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans. From that point on, the relationship began to deteriorate severely, culminating in actual physical injury on the eve of the destruction of the Second Temple.