Danny I would be very happy to have their view expressed as well Here you we are saying that Josephus is biased On the Jesus page he is noted as a being reliable Perhaps it depends strongly on what is being said about whom though I do not know this is necessarily the case It does not dismiss them they are still real and present The question as to descent could be answered rather well via DNA testing of their Priests and Levites as well as mitochrondrial DNA testing But there is risk the desired results might not be obtained Would this meet the need The Samaritans have insisted that they are direct descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh who survived the destruction of the Northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 B C E The inscription of Sargon II records the deportation of a relatively small proportion of the Israelites 27 290 according to the annals so it is quite possible that a sizable population remained that could identify themselves as Israelites the term that the Samaritans prefer for themselves Samaritan historiography would place the basic schism from the remaining part of Israel after the twelve tribes conquered the land of Canaan lead by Joshua After Joshua s death Eli the priest left the tabernacle which Moses erected in the desert and established on Mount Gerizim and built another one under his own rule in the hills of Shilo 1 Sam 1 1 3 2 12 17 Thus he established both an illegitimate priesthood and an illegitimate place of worship According to this description the Jews are the dissidents 03 51 29 Jan 2004 UTC