The Samaritans are the Jews that lived in the former Northern kingdom, who chose to inter-marry with the locals, which ticked off the Jewish Purists in the south.
How many of the sons of Jacob took wives from the local Canaanite population?
I thought Samaritans were descended from the Jews left behind when most of the Jewish elite were carried off to Babylon for the Captivity?
Probably accounts for the denigration of the Samaritans in the texts, eh?
Doesn’t pure Jewish lineage pass through the mother instead of the father? So if the Samaritans were marrying pagan hussies they were denying their children a pure line of descent.
Personal note: When going to Columbia lo these many years ago, a cute pretty Jewish girl caught my eye. We flirted and I knew she liked me, but she refused to go out with me. Finally I got the truth. Her father wouldn’t approve of her dating outside her faith.
Despite her misgivings I persuaded her to let me talk to him. After arriving at their Brooklyn home he was surprised but politely let me in. When I started talking about dating his daughter he cut me off, saying we don’t let her date Gentiles blah blah blah.
He was so unyielding I was desperate, so I blurted out, “I’m not a Gentile, I’m not. I’m a Texan”
He started laughing and finally gave us his permission and when I arrived for a date, he’d shout back to her, “Nancy, your Goy is here.”