Samaritan Passover

Last week I had the opportunity to attend and observe the Samaritan Passover sacrifice on Mt. Gerizim.  

The Samaritans live in the northern part of Israel and have been living in the Mt. Gerizim area for over 2000 years.  Samaritans are very similar to the Jewish and hold to many of the same teachings. Samaritans believe that the high holy place for sacrifice is on Mt. Gerizim while the Jews believe it would have been in a temple in Jerusalem.  There are only around 750 Samaritans living today.  They believe they must marry another Samaritan and so their population is shrinking.  It was not until recently that they have allowed some of their men to take outside wives who are willing to uphold their believes.  Samaritans speaks Ancient Hebrew and Arabic but also do their liturgical chants in Aramaic.

When we arrived at the village on Mt. Gerizim, each family was preparing to head to the main area in which the sacrifice would take place.  This is the traditional dress of the Samaritans for the sacrifice.  Men, women, and children were all dressed in white.

Because it was a holiday, the Samaritan museum would be closed but I hope in the future to be able to visit.

Since the Samaritans believe that the sacrifice should be done on Mt. Gerizim, they built a temple for their sacrifices and priests.  This temple is being excavated and is an impressive area.

I was standing on Mt. Gerizim and the hill in the near distance is Mt. Ebel.  When Joshua entered the promise land with the Israelites, he pronounced blessings on Mt. Gerizim and curses on Mt. Ebel.

Part of the temple excavations.

Years and years ago, in the time of Jesus, the Samaritans numbered around 1-1.5 million.  They lived in this whole area that now includes modern day Nablus.  We know from the Bible that Samaritans were hated people and people would often travel long distances to go around their villages.... like over the Jordan and back again.  However, Jesus met with a Samaritan women by the well and told her everything about her.  This well in called Jacob's well.  It was difficult to get a picture of it but the red, dome roofed building in the far left corner of the picture is Jacob's well.  There is a church over it.  Also, Joseph's tomb is in Nablus and is covered by a mosque.  The mosque is the green building about a 1/3 of the way into the picture in the middle.  Hard to see.  The dense area of houses is a Palestinian refugee camp.

The passover always takes place on the 1st sunset with a full moon, according to their Jewish calendar.  This picture is overlooking Nablus, the Jordan river and into Jordan.

Back to the middle of the village, people are bringing their sheep into the main arena area.

They had 5 fire pits with fires going.

I was able to talk the security guards into letting me go down to the arena area.  Traditionally, the priests are in the inner circle, followed by the men and boys, with wives on the outside.  Every family must sacrifice.

I was able to get some video but am having difficulty uploading it but when I arrived to the inner area, they were doing their prayers.

At one point they all were clapping very loudly and the men all got down in position to sacrifice their sheep.

It was difficult to get clear, good pictures due to the amount of people around me.

Of course, I could not understand what was being said, but it became evident that time was leading up to the sacrifice, a rams harm (or shofar) was blown and everyone sacrificed their sheep.  There was much celebration, clapping, and kissing after the sacrifice.  All of the Samaritans put blood on their foreheads.

Immediately after the sacrifice, the men began to clean the sheep.  They then thrown the unclean parts into the fire pits and hang their sheep up to cook.  They will cook them by the fire pits for a few hours, come back to eat the sheep around midnight, and then come back to the arena before sunrise and burn the remainder of the uneaten sheep and their clothing.

Amazingly, it was really a moving event to be able to observe.  I became quiet emotional and I was reminded of the words from the gospel of John when John the Baptist, who was in the wilderness saw Jesus approaching and declared "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."  I was overcome with fresh gratefulness at the sacrifice given for my sins and the sins of the world by Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, on the cross.  The bondage that once enslaved and required a blood sacrifice of a lamb was overcome by the blood of the perfect Lamb!  

Praise the Lamb.