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Current archaeological information paints a broader It appears then that Sanballat, recognizing the
and more complex picture. According to the Bible, irreconcilable differences between the Samaritans and
when Nehemiah rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem, he Jews, and understanding the holy significance of
made it, at least in its initial stages, a community ef- Mount Grizim, took advantage of the situation and
fort: each family was appointed to built a separate por- sanctioned a 'rival', but biblically acceptable place for
tion of the edifice. During the Grizim excavations an the worship of Yahweh. His political interests could
exact parallel of such agenda was found. Dedications better be served with the construction of a temple on
carved into the building stones attributed parts of the his own territory.
construction to different families: "That which PN and
his sons offered"; "Nathan and his sons"; "Tinqayn and The Jews refused to recognize the legitimacy of the
her sons" etc. temple at Grizim, as well as the legitimacy of the Sa-
maritans as part of Israel. The rivalry between the two
Religiously, this temple followed Old Testament prac- escalated over the next 200 years. In "The Wars of the
tices, seemingly without fault. Biblical measurements Jews" Josephus mentions a mixed group of Jews and
were used, particularly in the construction of the Samaritans living in Egypt who argued continually over
east gate, which par- where to send their
allels Ezekiel's de- sacrifices.
scription of the east
gate. Carved lime- The rivalry ended in
stone ashlars were 112 BC, when the
found with inscrip- Hasmonean king
tions carved in an- Yochanan (John)
cient Hebrew -- a Hyrcanus conquered
script reserved for the Samaritans and
national and religious destroyed their tem-
use only. Inscriptions ple. The Samaritans
include the tetra- were never again
gramaton "Yahweh" permitted to rebuild
(the biblical name of on the mount. They
God - Exodus 3:13- still celebrate Pass-
15) as well as "high over every year ac-
priest" "priest" and cording to the rules
"Phineas" (a known of the Law of
priestly name) to- Moses.
gether with thousands
of sheep bones used
in ritual sacrifice. About one hundred
years after the de-
struction of their Temple, on that same mount, Jesus
The very idea of an Old Testament temple to the God had a conversation with a Samaritan woman, who
of Israel on Mount Grizim should come as no surprise. claimed that her ancestors had been worshipping in that
For centuries the Mount was a site of great religious same place for centuries. Unlike the vast majority of
significance. When the children of Israel first arrived Jewish sages of his time, Jesus neither condemned nor
in their "promised land" they ascended Mount Grizim, contradicted her claim. He simply stated that salvation
traditional site of Jacob's well, and pronounced a would come out of Judah (Jerusalem). Then it would
blessing on all those who would follow God's com- no longer matter where one worshipped, only how: "In
mands. According to tradition the Israelites buried the spirit and in truth" (John 4:19-24).
remains of Joseph on the summit of the mount. which
they had carried out of Egypt. Modern Samaritans
claim that Grizim was also the original site of the Tab- One of the greatest contributions of the Grizim exca-
ernacle (though this contradicts the scriptures). vations, once the full results are published, will be a
greater understanding of the second Temple in Jerusa-
lem, and its several alternations. Absolutely nothing
remains of the Jerusalem Temple plans which

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