According to Samaritan tradition, Mount Gerizim was the
original Holy Place of the Israelites from the time that Joshua conquered
Canaan and the tribes of Israel settled the land. The reference to Mount
Gerizim derives from the biblical story of Moses ordering Joshua to take the
Twelve Tribes of Israel, (the number of which did not include the priestly
tribe of Levi) to the mountains by Nablus and place half of the tribes, six in
number, on the top of Mount Gerizim, the Mount of the Blessing, and the other
half in Mount Ebal, the Mount of the Curse. The two mountains were used to
symbolize the significance of the commandments and serve as a warning to
whoever disobeyed them (Deut. 11:29; 27:12; Josh. 8:33).
The Samaritans have insisted that they are direct descendants
of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the
destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BCE. The
inscription of Sargon II records the deportation of a relatively small
proportion of the Israelites from Samaria (27,290, according to the annals), so
it is quite possible that a sizable population remained that could identify
themselves as Israelites, the term that the Samaritans prefer for themselves.
Samaritan historiography places the basic schism from the
remaining part of Israel after the tribes of Israel conquered and returned to
the land of Canaan, led by Joshua. After Joshua's death, Eli the priest left
the tabernacle which Moses erected in the desert and established on Mount
Gerizim, and built another one under his own rule in the hills of Shiloh.
Abu l-Fath, who in the 14th century wrote a major work of
Samaritan history, comments on Samaritan origins as follows:
A terrible civil war broke out between Eli son of Yafni, of
the line of Ithamar, and the sons of Pincus (Phinehas), because Eli son of
Yafni resolved to usurp the High Priesthood from the descendants of Pincus. He
used to offer sacrifices on an altar of stones. He was 50 years old, endowed
with wealth and in charge of the treasury of the children of Israel...
He offered a sacrifice on the altar, but without salt, as if
he were inattentive. When the Great High Priest Ozzi learned of this, and found
the sacrifice was not accepted, he thoroughly disowned him; and it is (even)
said that he rebuked him.
Thereupon he and the group that sympathized with him, rose in
revolt and at once he and his followers and his beasts set off for Shiloh. Thus
Israel split in factions. He sent to their leaders saying to them, Anyone who
would like to see wonderful things, let him come to me. Then he assembled a
large group around him in Shiloh, and built a Temple for himself there; he
constructed a place like the Temple (on Mount Gerizim). He built an altar, omitting
no detail—it all corresponded to the original, piece by piece.
At this time the Children of Israel split into three
factions. A loyal faction on Mount Gerizim; a heretical faction that followed
false gods; and the faction that followed Eli son of Yafni on Shiloh.
Further, the Samaritan Chronicle Adler, or New Chronicle,
believed to have been composed in the 18th century using earlier chronicles as
sources states:
And the children of Israel in his days divided into three
groups. One did according to the abominations of the Gentiles and served other
gods; another followed Eli the son of Yafni, although many of them turned away
from him after he had revealed his intentions; and a third remained with the
High Priest Uzzi ben Bukki, the chosen place.
