Samaria
A place in the Bible
The region in the middle of the Holy Land, between Galilee and Judea. Its main city was also called Samaria. Jews and Samaritans did not deal with each other.
What happened here
- The Samaritan woman: Jesus passed through Samaria and, tired from the journey, sat down by Jacob’s well. He asked a Samaritan woman for a drink.
- A village that did not welcome him: once, a Samaritan village would not welcome Jesus because he was going to Jerusalem.
- The one who came back to give thanks: one of the lepers Jesus healed came back to thank him. He was a Samaritan.
- The early Church: Philip proclaimed Christ in the city of Samaria. Afterward, the apostles sent Peter and John.
Today
Today the region is in the West Bank. Of the ancient city of Samaria, which King Herod named Sebaste, ruins remain.
Where it appears in the Bible
John 4:9; John 4:4-7; Luke 9:52-53; Luke 17:15-16; Acts 8:5; Acts 8:14
What the Bible says
John 4:9
Then that Samaritan woman saith to him: How dost thou, being a Jew, ask of me to drink, who am a Samaritan woman? For the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans.
John 4:4-7
4And he was of necessity to pass through Samaria. 5He cometh therefore to a city of Samaria, which is called Sichar, near the land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7There cometh a woman of Samaria, to draw water. Jesus saith to her: Give me to drink.
Luke 9:52-53
52And he sent messengers before his face; and going, they entered into a city of the Samaritans, to prepare for him. 53And they received him not, because his face was of one going to Jerusalem.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Samaria”; Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), “Samaria”