Assyrian king Shalmaneser V, 727-722 BC deported Israel into captivity in 723 BC, but died the following year.
b.<span> </span>Sargon II (Assyria) 722-705 BC sends a group of Assyrians to inhabit Samaria/Israel but YHWH kills them with lions which they interpret as an omen.
c.<span> </span>The Assyrians living in Israel ask Sargon II for a priest of Bethel who had been recently deported.
d.<span> </span>We don't know this priest's name but he must have been prominent, given he was chosen by Sargon II to represent the God of Israel.
e.<span> </span>What Sargon II did not know was that this was an evil priest… the very likes of whom God had destroyed the ten tribes to begin with due to the very idolatry he was now promoting again at Bethel after the 723 deportation.
f.<span> </span>At Bethel, following in the footsteps of Jeroboam (923 BC), idol worship stood beside the true worship of YHWH down to the Babylonian captivity of 587 BC.
g.<span> </span>After the return of Judah, the Samaritans ceased to worship idols, but they invented a brand new alternate religion where they chose Mt. Gerizim as their holy mountain in direct opposition to Jerusalem. This action was a continuation of Jeroboam's policy of separating the ten northern tribes from the one true God at Jerusalem. His famous quote: "It is too far for you to go up to Jerusalem… worship at Bethel or Dan" says it all.
h.<span> </span>The "Samaritans" intermarried with the pagans, a point of contention between them and the pure blooded Jews, that continued down to the woman at the well of John 4.
i.<span> </span>The Samaritans, therefore represented all the worst of the Jews in that they opposed God's choice of David, Jerusalem and polluted their bloodlines which forever disqualified them from producing the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
j.<span> </span><span>The woman at the well was told by Jesus that they were totally wrong and in error: "Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews." (John 4:21-22) </span>
