The Samaritans were the remnant of the northern kingdom of Israel after the Assyrian conquest (722 BC), mixed with foreign peoples resettled there by Assyria (2 Kings 17:24-41). They developed their own version of Judaism: they accepted only the Torah (not the prophets or writings), built their own temple on Mount Gerizim rather than in Jerusalem, and observed Passover with a distinctive set of customs. The Jews despised them as religious half-breeds; the Samaritans despised the Jews as innovators who had corrupted the true worship. By Jesus' day the two groups avoided each other entirely — "Jews have no dealings with Samaritans" (John 4:9). Jesus repeatedly crossed this hostile boundary. He spoke at length with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well (John 4), stayed in her village two days, and saw many Samaritans believe. He told the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), making a Samaritan the hero of a story told to a Jewish lawyer. He healed ten lepers, and only the Samaritan returned to give thanks (Luke 17:11-19). After Pentecost, Philip preached in Samaria and the church spread there (Acts 8:5-25). The Samaritan storyline runs through the New Testament as a picture of how the gospel breaks down old hostilities. A tiny Samaritan community still exists today in Israel, keeping the Torah on Mount Gerizim as they have for 2,500 years — a living fossil of the Second Temple period.