Samaritans and the Samaritan Schism
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(2 Kings 17:29)—the people who inhabited Samaria after the Assyrian king deported much of Israel and settled colonists from his own dominions in their place. The source describes intermarriage between these colonists and the remaining Israelites. They feared the LORD while also serving their own gods, regarding Him as the protective deity of the land and retaining pagan customs. The source also reports the alternative older view that they were wholly pagan settlers. Matthew 10:5 distinguishes Samaritans both from Jews and from Gentiles.