What Makes an Israelite an Israelite? Judean Perspectives on the Samarians in the Persian Period

Abstract

Within Persian-period Yehud the boundaries of the collective entity Israel were a matter of dispute. The debate was triggered by the question of whether the population in the area of the former Northern Kingdom should be regarded as Israelite or not. But while there was no consensus regarding their status, the same underlying criterion for defining an Israelite is used either to include or exclude the Samarians in/from Israel—not the faith in YHWH or the adherence to the law but the social construction of a common descent which finds its expression in the system of the twelve tribes of Israel. Against the widespread view, post-exilic Israel is best described as an ethnos and not as a Kultgemeinde.