THE SAMARITANS OF TODAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10106, 18 March 1911, Page 1

THE SAMARITANS OF TODAY.

Higii Pnosfc Who Claims to bs Descended from Aaron.

(By FRANK G. CARPENTER, in the Boston "Globe.")

I have had an interview with a lineal descendant of Aaron, the brother. of Moses, I refer to Jacob, the high priest of the Samaritans. He belongs to the tribe of Levi, who in ancient times were at the head of the priesthood, and claims to have a genealogical tree which reaches from then until now.

His family h-as lived here for more than 3000 years, and high priest has suoceeded high priest until this man took the position at the age of fifteen, his childless uncle, the high priest, having, died. That was sixty-two years ago, and Jacob has been high priest ever since. He is now almost eighty, and he looks, I imagine, as Aaron or Moses may have looked in the latter part of their lives. Over six feet in height, he has the face and form of a prophet. His long beard falls down upon his chest, and his soholarly face is refined and spirited looking. OLDEST OF BIBLE MANUSCRIPTS. I met Jacob at Nablous, on the site of old Shechem, within a stone's throw of the wall whero Christ talked with the Samaritan woman. It is not far from a farm which Abraham owned, and about on the spot where Joshua gathered the tribes of Israel and read them the- law of Moses. Our conversation took place in the heart of the city in the synagogue of the Samaritans. I had to go through vaulted passageways and cavelike streets to reach it. I had. an interpreter with me, and as we talked together the high priest showed me the original parchments of the five books of Moses as they were written by Abou, the son of Ben Hassan, the son of Eleazer, who, you remember, was one of the two sons of Aaron by Elisheba, his wife. The high priest tells me that these five manuscripts were written only twelve years after the Israelites came into tho Holy Land, and that they are now 3575 years old. They are the oldest Bible manuscripts m existence. They are written in the -Hebrew of the time of Moses, upon long sheets of parchment about two feet in width, The scrolls are rolled upon three rods, each tipped with a silver knob as big as a teacup, and they oan be rolled and unrolled as they are read. The ink is still plain and the letters, distinct, although the parchment is yellow with age. The manuscript is treasured by the Samaritans, being kept in a brass case inlaid with gold. It is said to been dug up about 300 years ago, and it has formed a subject of controversy among oriental scholars. The Samaritans believe that it was written by the grandson of Aaron, as the high priest here claimp; but the Jews reject it as false, denouncing the Samaritans as pagan outcasts from the children of Israel. THE SAMARITANS TO-DAY. I was surprised to find that there were any Samaritans living. I supposed that they had been swallowed up by the Mahometans and other Syrians, who have absorbed everything in Palestine exoepting the Jews. I find, however, that there are about 200 in Nablous, and that they practise the same religion as they had when Christ came. They annually celebrate the'feasts of tho Passover and Pentecost on Mount Gerizim. These feasts are different from those of the latter-day Jews. At the time of Christ the Feast of the Passover was eaten reclining, and as though at the end of a journey rather than at the beginning. The Samaritans eat their Passover with their shoes bound upon their feet and staves in their hands as though ready to start out on their wanderings in the wilderness. They do this

on the top of the mountain, camping in tents. They smear the blood of the (sacrifice upon the tents to commemorate tho passage of the angel of death over the houses of Israel. They dress in white garments, and they kill the animals which are burnt according to the methods which were in use when Aaron lived. The sacrifice consists of buck lambs, each ot which is carefully examined that it may be without wound or blemish. At a given signal the throats of the lambs are cut, and at the same time some of the blood is caught in a tin cup and smeared over the tent. As the blood flows the people shout out the words, " There is but one God," and they shout this sentence again and again. At the same time there is a service, beginning with a hymn praising Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and followed by a prayer of thanksgiving.

The meat for the sacrifice is cooked over a fire in the earth. As scon as the animals are killed they are scalded and the wool is pulled off. The entrails are removed and salted. Then a pole is thrust through each lamb, fend it is laid on the hot coals of a fire made in a trench. The meat is then covered with brush and, earth. The people continue to pray as it cooks, and keep on praying until the sunset approaches. At ten minutes after sunset they begin to eat the meat, throwing the bones into the fire without breaking them. In my talk wuth the high priest he contended that the Samaritans were the only true Israelites, and spoke of the prophet Samuel as a sorcerer. He paid his respects to the Jews in no measured tones. He gave me a little book he had written concerning the religion of tho Samaritans, and at the close was by no moans averse to a present of silver, for which he thanked me in a dignified way. After I returned to my camp, which is on the outside of Nablous, some of his followers brought me his photograph, and a model of the five hooks of Moses, which they offered to sell for a song. The Samaritans are exceedingly poor and are despised by both Moslems and Jews. at Jacob's well. It was at Jacob's well, not far from Nablous, that Christ met the Samaritan 'woman and told her of the water of which, if one drinketh, 1:3 shall never thirst, but there " shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." You. will find the story in the fourth chapter of St John. This well is one of the holy sites of Palestine, about which there can be no doubt. The village of Sychar corresponds to the village of Askar, which stands on Mount Ebal, perhaps a thousand feet away from the well where the Samaritan woman lived. The well is in the heart of a garden now owned by the Greek Church, which has made it a resting place for pilgrims. They have built a stone chapel over the well, and services are held there several hours every day. Some of the priests went' with us down the steps to the well. It lies right in tho floor of the chapel. It is about throe feet in diameter, built up with stones which are laid in the shape of a tube, being smoothly cut. One of tlie/monks brought a pan which was tied to a rope in such a way that it remained level. Upon this he placed a lighted candle and then slowly lowered it down the well. It descended perhaps sixty feet before it came to the water. The sill of the well is of marble, and shows the marks of the ropes which for ages have been lowered, into it. The sill is some distance above the floor, and it .may have been the original stone upon "which Christ sat at that weary hour of noon.

Jacob's well has been known and visited by pilgrims for many years. It was probably once even with the surface of the'earth, but the debris and earth-washings from the mountains near by have filled up the valley, and it is now considerably below tho country about. Within the past year'excavations have been made in the garden, and the remains of a church which was built over the well some 1500 years ago have been discovered. I found immense granite columns lying about, and also manv pieces of the stone wall of the church.