Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
SAMAR'ITANS, the inhabitants of Samaria, 2 Kgs 17:29, but in the N.T. the term is applied to the people that were planted in Samaria, in the place of the exiled Israelites, by the Assyrian king. 2 Kgs 17:24. This defiled origin, Ezr 4:1, the course pursued by the Samaritans before the Persian kings, Neh 4:1, connected with their construction of the Mosaic Law, Deut 27:11-13, and their separation from the Jews in their place of worship, Luke
9:52-53; John 4:20-21, rendered the animosity between them very bitter, Matt 10:5; John 4:9; and hence the very name "Samaritan" was, with the Jew, a term of reproach and contempt. John 8:48. The Samaritans expected a Messiah. John 4:25. and many of them followed Christ. Acts 8:1; Acts 9:31; Acts 15:3. See Samaria, Kingdom of.