The remnant of the Kingdom of Israel

I've been doing some research on the Samaritans. I'm sure that you are all aware that there still exists a small remnant of about 200 living in Nablus who call themselves the remnant of the Kingdom of Israel, specifically of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, with priests of the lineage of Aaron/Levi. Some modern Rabbis agree that the Samaritans should be considered as Jews (Rabbi Abraham Hayim Gagin and Rabbi Yosef Schwarz - both lived in the nineteenth century) and thus they would be able to inter-marry without a conversion required. However this is not currently accepted by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. I can't help but wonder, if David were still alive today, if he wouldn't make this a primary goal of his. It seems on the surface that such a "coming together" of these two groups could be at the very heart of the Father and, while seemingly rather insignificant, could potentially have quite a spiritual impact.

Any thoughts?

Joanna

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by James Daniel Tabor on May 6, 2010 at 9:00am

You are probably right Joanna, David seemed to have a real heart for disparate groups. The problem of course are the centuries of prejudice and exclusion. What is really interesting though is on the academic side of things there is great interest and research on the Samaritans, both in history and modern traditions.

Permalink Reply by Joanna Garrett on May 6, 2010 at 9:58am

Yes there is an increased awareness of this group but I somebody like David (in his youth at least) would have used his charm and knowlegde of the prophetic writings to advocate on their behalf for the sole purpose of advancing his belief in a United Israel reflecting the Kingdom of God. We are living in a time when many of the old prejudices can be put to rest. The number of this group is so small that any objection would be veiwed as quite petty. The other interesting to thing to note is that many of their children are lame, blind and deaf through centuries of inter-marriage resulting in a very small gene pool. Doesn't this make the scripture of Isaiah quite poignant? I wonder who will hear the call of Hashem? Where have all the Davids gone?

X Joanna

Permalink Reply by Joanna Garrett on May 7, 2010 at 6:02am

Terri, if we are descendants from the tribes of Jospeh and this remnant claims to be the sole remaining connection, I wonder why we haven't, as a group, made contact with them. Instead we seek to align ourselves with the Jews, which sounds a bit like "putting the cart before the horse." Wouldn't we seek out members of our own "family" first and then ask Judah to recognize us? Just a thought, that's all.

Teri Peacock said:

For years, I have received a regular email update from the Samaritan group that lives in area of Nablus. The updates are absolutely fascinating. It will be interesting to see how this tiny remnant plays out in the future of the "coming together" that Joanna mentions.

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