Salutation
“Eastern modes of salutation are not unfrequently so prolonged as to become wearisome and a positive waste of time. The profusely polite Arab asks so many questions after your health, your happiness, your welfare, your house, and other things, that a person ignorant of the habits of the country would imagine there must be some secret ailment or mysterious sorrow oppressing you, which you wished to conceal, so as to spare the feelings of a dear, sympathizing friend, but which he, in the depth of his anxiety, would desire to hear of. I have often listened to these prolonged salutations in the house, the street, and the highway, and not unfrequently I have experienced their tedious monotony, and I have bitterly lamented useless waste of time” (Porter, Through Samaria, etc.). The work on which the disciples were sent forth was one of urgency, which left no time for empty compliments and prolonged greetings ( Luke 10:4 ).
Samaria
A watch-mountain or a watch-tower. In the heart of the mountains of Israel, a few miles north-west of Shechem, stands the “hill of Shomeron,” a solitary mountain, a great “mamelon.” It is an oblong hill, with steep but not inaccessible sides, and a long flat top. Omri, the king of Israel, purchased this hill from Shemer its owner for two talents of silver, and built on its broad summit the city to which he gave the name of “Shomeron”, i.e., Samaria, as the new capital of his kingdom instead of Tirzah ( 1 Kings 16:24 ). As such it possessed many advantages. Here Omri resided during the last six years of his reign. As the result of an unsuccessful war with Syria, he appears to have been obliged to grant to the Syrians the right to “make streets in Samaria”, i.e., probably permission to the Syrian merchants to carry on their trade in the Israelite capital. This would imply the existence of a considerable Syrian population. “It was the only great city of Palestine created by the sovereign. All the others had been already consecrated by patriarchal tradition or previous possession. But Samaria was the choice of Omri alone. He, indeed, gave to the city which he had built the name of its former owner, but its especial connection with himself as its founder is proved by the designation which it seems Samaria bears in Assyrian inscriptions, Beth-khumri (‘the house or palace of Omri’).”, Stanley. 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 up the seige, 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 famishing inhabitants of the city were soon relieved with 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 .) 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.
Samaritans
The name given to the new and mixed inhabitants whom Esarhaddon (B.C. 677), the king of Assyria, brought from Babylon and other places and settled in the cities of Samaria, instead of the original inhabitants whom Sargon (B.C. 721) had removed into captivity ( 2 Kings 17:24 ; comp. Ezra 4:2 , 9 , 10 ). These strangers (comp. Luke 17:18 ) amalgamated with the Jews still remaining in the land, and gradually abandoned their old idolatry and adopted partly the Jewish religion. After the return from the Captivity, the Jews in Jerusalem refused to allow them to take part with them in rebuilding the temple, and hence sprang up an open enmity between them. They erected a rival temple on Mount Gerizim, which was, however, destroyed by a Jewish king (B.C. 130). They then built another at Shechem. The bitter enmity between the Jews and Samaritans continued in the time of our Lord: the Jews had “no dealings with the Samaritans” ( John 4:9 ; comp. Luke 9:52 , 53 ). Our Lord was in contempt called “a Samaritan” ( John 8:48 ). Many of the Samaritans early embraced the gospel ( John 4:5-42 ; Acts 8:25 ; 9:31 ; 15:3 ). Of these Samaritans there still remains a small population of about one hundred and sixty, who all reside in Shechem, where they carefully observe the religious customs of their fathers. They are the “smallest and oldest sect in the world.”
Sanballat
Held some place of authority in Samaria when Nehemiah went up to Jerusalem to rebuild its ruined walls. He vainly attempted to hinder this work ( Neh. 2:10 , 19 ; 4:1-12; 6). His daughter became the wife of one of the sons of Joiada, a son of the high priest, much to the grief of Nehemiah (13:28).
Sargon
(In the inscriptions, “Sarra-yukin” [the god] has appointed the king; also “Sarru-kinu,” the legitimate king.) On the death of Shalmaneser (B.C. 723), one of the Assyrian generals established himself on the vacant throne, taking the name of “Sargon,” after that of the famous monarch, the Sargon of Accad, founder of the first Semitic empire, as well as of one of the most famous libraries of Chaldea. He forthwith began a conquering career, and became one of the most powerful of the Assyrian monarchs. He is mentioned by name in the Bible only in connection with the siege of Ashdod ( Isa. 20:1 ). At the very beginning of his reign he besieged and took the city of Samaria ( 2 Kings 17:6 ; 18:9-12 ). On an inscription found in the palace he built at Khorsabad, near Nieveh, he says, “The city of Samaria I besieged, I took; 27,280 of its inhabitants I carried away; fifty chariots that were among them I collected,” etc. The northern kingdom he changed into an Assyrian satrapy. He afterwards drove Merodach-baladan (q.v.), who kept him at bay for twelve years, out of Babylon, which he entered in triumph. By a succession of victories he gradually enlarged and consolidated the empire, which now extended from the frontiers of Egypt in the west to the mountains of Elam in the east, and thus carried almost to completion the ambitious designs of Tiglath-pileser (q.v.). He was murdered by one of his own soldiers (B.C. 705) in his palace at Khorsabad, after a reign of sixteen years, and was succeeded by his son Sennacherib.
Shallum
Retribution. (1.) The son of Jabesh, otherwise unknown. He “conspired against Zachariah, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead” ( 2 Kings 15:10 ). He reigned only “a month of days in Samaria” (15:13, marg.). Menahem rose up against Shallum and put him to death ( 2 Kings 15:14 , 15 , 17 ), and became king in his stead. (2.) Keeper of the temple vestments in the reign of Josiah ( 2 Kings 22:14 ). (3.) One of the posterity of Judah ( 1 Chr. 2:40 , 41 ). (4.) A descendant of Simeon ( 1 Chr. 4:25 ). (5.) One of the line of the high priests ( 1 Chr. 6:13 ). (6.) 1 Chr. 7:13 . (7.) A keeper of the gate in the reign of David ( 1 Chr. 9:17 ). (8.) A Levite porter ( 1 Chr. 9:19 , 31 ; Jer. 35:4 ). (9.) An Ephraimite chief ( 2 Chr. 28:12 ). (10.) The uncle of the prophet Jeremiah ( Jer. 32:7 ). (11.) A son of king Josiah ( 1 Chr. 3:15 ; Jer. 22:11 ), who was elected to succeed his father on the throne, although he was two years younger than his brother Eliakim. He assumed the crown under the name of Jehoahaz (q.v.). He did not imitate the example of his father ( 2 Kings 23:32 ), but was “a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men” ( Ezek. 19:3 ). His policy was anti-Egyptian therefore. Necho, at that time at Riblah, sent an army against Jerusalem, which at once yielded, and Jehoahaz was carried captive to the Egyptian camp, Eliakim being appointed king in his stead. He remained a captive in Egypt till his death, and was the first king of Judah that died in exile.
Shalman
An Assyrian king ( Hos. 10:14 ), identified with Shalmaneser II. (Sayce) or IV. (Lenormant), the successor of Pul on the throne of Assyria (B.C. 728). He made war against Hoshea, the king of Israel, whom he subdued and compelled to pay an annual tribute. Hoshea, however, soon after rebelled against his Assyrian conquerer. Shalmaneser again marched against Samaria, which, after a siege of three years, was taken ( 2 Kings 17:3-5 ; 18:9 ) by Sargon (q.v.). A revolution meantime had broken out in Assyria, and Shalmaneser was deposed. Sargon usurped the vacant throne. Schrader thinks that this is probably the name of a king of Moab mentioned on an inscription of Tiglath-pileser as Salamanu.
Shearing-house
( 2 Kings 10:12 , 14 ; marg., “house of shepherds binding sheep.” R.V., “the shearing-house of the shepherds;” marg., “house of gathering”), some place between Samaria and Jezreel, where Jehu slew “two and forty men” of the royal family of Judah. The Heb. word Beth-eked so rendered is supposed by some to be a proper name.
Shechem
Shoulder. (1.) The son of Hamor the Hivite ( Gen. 33:19 ; 34 ). (2.) A descendant of Manasseh ( Num. 26:31 ; Josh. 17:2 ). (3.) A city in Samaria ( Gen. 33:18 ), called also Sichem (12:6), Sychem ( Acts 7:16 ). It stood in the narrow sheltered valley between Ebal on the north and Gerizim on the south, these mountains at their base being only some 500 yards apart. Here Abraham pitched his tent and built his first altar in the Promised Land, and received the first divine promise ( Gen. 12:6 , 7 ). Here also Jacob “bought a parcel of a field at the hands of the children of Hamor” after his return from Mesopotamia, and settled with his household, which he purged from idolatry by burying the teraphim of his followers under an oak tree, which was afterwards called “the oak of the sorcerer” ( Gen. 33:19 ; 35:4 ; Judg. 9:37 ). (See MEONENIM .) Here too, after a while, he dug a well, which bears his name to this day ( John 4:5 , 39-42 ). To Shechem Joshua gathered all Israel “before God,” and delivered to them his second parting address ( Josh. 24:1-15 ). He “made a covenant with the people that day” at the very place where, on first entering the land, they had responded to the law from Ebal and Gerizim ( Josh. 24:25 ), the terms of which were recorded “in the book of the law of God”, i.e., in the roll of the law of Moses; and in memory of this solemn transaction a great stone was set up “under an oak” (comp. Gen. 28:18 ; 31:44-48 ; Ex. 24:4 ; Josh. 4:3 , 8 , 9 ), possibly the old “oak of Moreh,” as a silent witness of the transaction to all coming time. Shechem became one of the cities of refuge, the central city of refuge for Western Palestine ( Josh. 20:7 ), and here the bones of Joseph were buried (24:32). Rehoboam was appointed king in Shechem ( 1 Kings 12:1 , 19 ), but Jeroboam afterwards took up his residence here. This city is mentioned in connection with our Lord’s conversation with the woman of Samaria ( John 4:5 ); and thus, remaining as it does to the present day, it is one of the oldest cities of the world. It is the modern Nablus, a contraction for Neapolis, the name given to it by Vespasian. It lies about a mile and a half up the valley on its southern slope, and on the north of Gerizim, which rises about 1,100 feet above it, and is about 34 miles north of Jerusalem. It contains about 10,000 inhabitants, of whom about 160 are Samaritans and 100 Jews, the rest being Christians and Mohammedans. The site of Shechem is said to be of unrivalled beauty. Stanley says it is “the most beautiful, perhaps the only very beautiful, spot in Central Palestine.” Gaza, near Shechem, only mentioned 1 Chr. 7:28 , has entirely disappeared. It was destroyed at the time of the Conquest, and its place was taken by Shechem. (See SYCHAR .)
Shunem
Two resting-places, a little village in the tribe of Issachar, to the north of Jezreel and south of Mount Gilboa ( Josh. 19:18 ), where the Philistines encamped when they came against Saul ( 1 Sam. 28:4 ), and where Elisha was hospitably entertained by a rich woman of the place. On the sudden death of this woman’s son she hastened to Carmel, 20 miles distant across the plain, to tell Elisha, and to bring him with her to Shunem. There, in the “prophet’s chamber,” the dead child lay; and Elisha entering it, shut the door and prayed earnestly: and the boy was restored to life ( 2 Kings 4:8-37 ). This woman afterwards retired during the famine to the low land of the Philistines; and on returning a few years afterwards, found her house and fields in the possession of a stranger. She appealed to the king at Samaria, and had them in a somewhat remarkable manner restored to her (comp. 2 Kings 8:1-6 ).
Street
The street called “Straight” at Damascus ( Acts 9:11 ) is “a long broad street, running from east to west, about a mile in length, and forming the principal thoroughfare in the city.” In Oriental towns streets are usually narrow and irregular and filthy ( Ps. 18:42 ; Isa. 10:6 ). “It is remarkable,” says Porter, “that all the important cities of Palestine and Syria Samaria, Caesarea, Gerasa, Bozrah, Damascus, Palmyra, had their ‘straight streets’ running through the centre of the city, and lined with stately rows of columns. The most perfect now remaining are those of Palmyra and Gerasa, where long ranges of the columns still stand.”, Through Samaria, etc.
Succoth-benoth
Tents of daughters, supposed to be the name of a Babylonian deity, the goddess Zir-banit, the wife of Merodach, worshipped by the colonists in Samaria ( 2 Kings 17:30 ).