John Hyrcanus destroys the Samaritan temple
John 4:19–24; 2 Kings 17:24–41
Simon's son John Hyrcanus conquered Shechem and destroyed the rival Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim, deepening the bitterness between Jews and Samaritans that runs through the Gospels.
Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.
John 4:20 (World English Bible)
The Samaritans, descended from Israelites left in the north and the foreign peoples Assyria settled there (2 Kings 17:24–41), worshiped the God of Israel but rejected Jerusalem. Josephus says their temple on Mount Gerizim, above Shechem, was built by Sanballat for his son-in-law, a priest expelled from Jerusalem, much as Nehemiah 13:28 describes.
After Hyrcanus destroyed it, the Samaritans went on worshiping on the mountain. A century and a half later, a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, within sight of Gerizim, asked Jesus where people ought to worship. His answer set the whole dispute aside: true worshipers “will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23).
Places
Ancient witnesses outside the Bible
Historical sources, not Scripture.
Dating notes
Ussher: 130 BC, following Josephus, who says the temple had stood about 200 years. Excavations on Mount Gerizim suggest the temple was first built in the mid-400s BC, in Nehemiah's time, and destroyed about 111–110 BC.