Les Samaritains: Histoire d'Une Légende (review)

Abstract

Hebrew Studies 36 (1995) 212 Reviews because of its attention to sources (especially Samuel-Kings), the use of rabbinic and mediaeval Jewish interpretation and her mastery of the Hebrew text (rather than an English translation). This commentary is an indispensable tool for the study of the Book of Chronicles. William M. Schniedewind University of Cali/ornia-Los Angeles Los Angeles. CA 90095-1511 LES SAMARITAINS: HISTOIRE D'UNE LEGENDE. By JeanDaniel Macchi. Le Monde de la Bible 30. pp. 191. Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1994. Paper, SF 35.00. In the last three decades a great amount has been published about the origin of the Samaritans and their religious traditions. It is now clear that the "received" understanding of the biblical account in 2 Kings 17 must be seen as tendentious and that the roots of Samaritanism cannot lie in the time after the fall of Samaria at the hands of the Assyrians in the eighth century B.C.E. Macchi's book, whose second subtitle is "Israel and the Province of Samaria," is a worthy addition to the recent literature on the subject. It presents a detailed and focused analysis of the political, social and religious background of Samaria and the bearing it has on the problems of the origin and character of the religion of the Samaritans. Drawing together the major primary and secondary sources on the subject, Macchi shows not only that the text of the wirkungsgeschichtlich all-important passage 2 Kings 17 cannot reflect the actual events which it purports to describe, but also that the developments in IsraeVSamaria in no way support the image of Samaritanism as a semi-pagan, syncretistic religion. In the first chapter Macchi briefly presents the Samaritans and their history. He describes Samaritanism as a different form of Judaism (un autre Judai'sme) because of the many similarities between the two groups. What distinguishes them from each other is their disparate visions of the history of Israel. After outlining the main traits of the Samaritans' view of that history as it is expressed in their chronicles, he examines the reliability of these works and rightly concludes that they cannot form the basis of a historical inquiry. The historical origin of the Samaritans must be sought in a much later time than either Judaism or Samaritanism claims. With other modem au- Hebrew Studies 36 (1995) 213 Reviews thors, Macchi places it in the Hasmonean period. He correctly emphasizes that talk of a "Samaritan schism" even for that later period is out of place. In chapter two Macchi presents his detailed analysis of 2 Kings 17. As others before him have done, he shows that the text as it stands now is the result of a long literary development. Macchi distinguishes three main phases: vss. 1-23 go back to the deuteronomistic school of the exilic period; the polemics in vss. 24-33, 41 were added in the post-exilic period; and fmally, vss. 34-40 reflect the more open attitude of the redactors of the books of Chronicles which are to be dated in the period from the end of the Persian rule to the Hellenistic era. A great part of 2 Kings 17 reflects the polemics of returned Judean exiles against the inhabitants that they encountered in the country. The pericope cannot be construed as a correct depiction either of the origins of the Samaritans or of the actual situation in the Assyrian province of Samaria after 722 B.C.E. Chapter three is the longest chapter. It describes the events that led to the disappearance of the kingdom of Israel as an independent entity, the practice of deportations in the neo-Assyrian empire, and the socio-political organization in the Assyrian provinces. Macchi calculates that of several hundred thousand inhabitants of Israel, a few thousand were deported, that is, probably less than ten percent of the total popUlation. Because the deported were chosen from among the intelligentsia, the political structure of the province was destabilized. But despite the deportations and the settlement of foreigners in Samaria by the Assyrians, the ethnic composition of the popUlation was not fundamentally changed. The final chapter gives a brief description of the religion of...