Samaria: The Site of Sin for Centuries

From Jeroboam’s corruption to Philip’s Gospel preaching—how a region known for rebellion became ripe for redemption.

When King Jeroboam led the northern kingdom of Israel away from Jerusalem (c. 931 B.C.), he also led them away from God. Fearing that the people would return to Jerusalem to worship, he set up golden calves at Bethel and Dan, saying, “Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kin. 12:28). Seeking to make worship more convenient, he told them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem” (1 Kin. 12:28). Thus began a people-centered religion designed to please men rather than God—the kind of religion that still appeals to multitudes today. From that point forward, the northern region of Israel, later known as Samaria, became synonymous with sin.

Throughout the Old Testament, God repeatedly referred to “the sins of Jeroboam” as a lasting stain on Israel’s history. Even when kings rose to power generations later, Scripture says they “walked in the way of Jeroboam.” Sinful worship had become their tradition. God referenced “the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat” nearly twenty times throughout the books of Kings, reminding readers for centuries that false worship spreads like a plague once it begins (1 Kin. 13:34; 14:16; 15:26, 30, 34; 16:19, 26, 31; 21:22; 22:52; 2 Kin. 3:3; 10:29, 31; 13:2, 11; 14:24; 15:9, 18, 24, 28).

Eventually, God’s patience ran out. He punished the northern kingdom through the Assyrian invasion in 721 B.C. The Assyrians scattered most Jews of the northern kingdom and brought Gentiles to settle in Samaria (2 Kin. 17:6, 24). These Gentiles brought their idols, blending false religions with remnants of Jewish worship (2 Kin. 17:33, 41). The result was a hybrid people—the Samaritans—who neither fully followed the Law of Moses nor fully turned from the false worship that had begun centuries earlier. Their corrupted religious practices, along with intermarriage between the Jews and pagan Gentiles, caused many Jews to disdain the Samaritans, as evidenced in the New Testament Scriptures (Jn. 4:9; Lk. 9:52–53; 10:33; 17:16).

By the time Jesus came to earth, nearly a thousand years after Jeroboam’s rebellion, the Samaritan woman at the well was still confused about where and how to worship (Jn. 4:19–24). Little did she know that the One speaking with her had witnessed every stage of that spiritual decline from Heaven itself. For a thousand years, Jesus had observed the confusion caused by false religion in Samaria. He told her plainly that her people had been worshiping in ignorance of God’s will (Jn. 4:22). He revealed that the ways of worship were about to change under His New Covenant, and that God was seeking true worshipers to worship Him in spirit and in truth (Jn. 4:23–24). God is still seeking such worshipers today—those who will follow the New Testament pattern for worship (Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:23–29; 16:1–2; Eph. 5:19–20; Col. 3:16–17). Adherence to the Truth in worship has always been an identifying characteristic of the true church of Christ He died to establish, setting it apart from man-made religious groups (Matt. 16:18; Rom. 16:16–17).

After Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, He sent His followers into all the world preaching the good news: that those who believe and are baptized shall be saved (Mark 16:15–16). Philip the evangelist was carrying this divine message to Samaria, but when he arrived, the people were once again being led astray—this time by a man named Simon, who used sorcery and deceived the people with his tricks (Acts 8:9–11). Their long history of religious confusion had left them vulnerable to such deception—the same gullibility that began in Jeroboam’s day still lingered a thousand years later.

However, Philip preached the Gospel with miraculous confirmation, and “the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake” (Acts 8:6). “When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized,” and Simon was baptized also (Acts 8:12–13). Many Samaritans left behind centuries of error to finally follow the Truth! What began with Jeroboam’s counterfeit worship ended with humble, obedient faith in Christ’s one true religion, and the same Gospel that changed Samaria can still change hearts today.

Like the ancient Samaritans, many today remain in false religion generation after generation—trusting what they have been taught instead of examining it by the Word of God. They follow inherited error rather than seeking the Truth; but as the Samaritans once did when they heard the Truth, all can still turn from confusion to Christ, if they will humbly follow God’s Word rather than the traditions of men.