‘The Judaisers answered and said to him, “Do we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan and have a devil?” '

Turning to insults is the refuge of men who have been beaten in arguments, and the Judaisers responded hotly. ‘Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?' To call Him a Samaritan was to accuse Him of being heretical. But the term was intended to be even more insulting than that, for they deeply despised the Samaritans. To call him a Samaritan was one of the biggest insults a Jew could direct at another Jew.

Furthermore, the Judaisers considered that to link  them  with the Devil was a clear sign of demon-possession. (Yet they had previously linked Jesus with the Devil because He cast out demons (Mark 3:22). What did that say about them?). The way they linked the Samaritans with the idea of demon-possession also demonstrated their general attitude towards Samaritans. And perhaps they had become aware of what He had done among the Samaritans, and the favour that He had shown towards them.

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