Samaritans were the people of Samaria, a region north of Jerusalem. In Jesus’ day, the Jewish people of Galilee and Judea shunned the Samaritans, viewing them as a mixed race who practiced an impure, half-pagan religion. Samaritans are first mentioned in the Bible during the time of Nehemiah and the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 4:17; Nehemiah 2:10).  Ezra 4 points to a schism between the Jews and Samaritans during this Persian period.

The historian Josephus and Jewish tradition trace the origin of the Samaritans to the captivity of the northern kingdom under Assyria in 721 BC. Many Jews of the northern kingdom were taken away into exile, but some who remained intermarried with Assyrians and produced the half-Jewish, half-Gentile Samaritan race. The Samaritans saw themselves as the keepers of the Torah and the true descendants of Israel, believing themselves to be descended from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. They had their own unique copy of the Torah, and did not accept other writings of the Tanakh, (e.g. prophets and writings). There's was a unique religious system that carried out worship on Mount Gerizim, and they considered the Jerusalem temple and the Levitical priesthood illegitimate.

In New Testament times, the Jews despised Samaritans and would have nothing to do with them. The Samaritans were still living primarily around Mount Gerizim (John 4:1–42), but also kept to their own villages (Matthew 10:5; Luke 9:52). Scripture mentions encounters with Samaritans in towns bordering Samaria (Luke 17:11–19) and on roads between Jerusalem and Jericho (Luke 10:29–37). Jesus met with difficulty when ministering to people in Samaritan villages (Luke 9:52–53) and at one point told His disciples not to enter them (Matthew 10:5–6). Nonetheless, Christ shared the good news with Samaritans, ministering to a Samaritan woman (John 4:4–26) and healing a Samaritan leper (Luke 17:11–19).