Samaritan Pentateuch. 305 
years, and arrive at the stirring period in Jewish story, 
when Cyrus, the Mede, having conquered Babylon, set free 
the captives of Judah, and permitted them to return to 
Judea to rebuild the Temple of Solomon, and to reconsti- 
tute their ancient state. 
The Samaritans appear again on the scene as soon as 
the first colony of emancipated Judah arrives at Jerusalem. 
They profess themselves disciples of Moses; they offer to 
assist in the rebuilding of the temple and the city; and 
they ask to share in the rites of national worship, as well 
as in the political privileges accorded by the firman of 
Cyrus to the remnant of Judahand Benjamin. It is more 
than doubtful whether these professions were sincere, since 
it was the practice of the Samaritans to avow themselves 
Jews, and to renounce their connection with the Jewish 
community, just as it served their purpose, for securing 
some temporal advantage. At the same time, there is no 
reason to doubt that they had embraced the doctrine of a 
pure Monotheism, although some of their ritual practices 
might have been tainted with old heathen superstitions ; 
and it does seem somewhat harsh and ungenerous on the 
part of the Jews, to have repulsed them in so determined 
a manner. Perhaps the old rivalry between the adherents 
of the house of David, and those of the house of Joseph 
had not yet died out; or, what is more probable still, the 
returned exiles of Judah, who had been taught by the 
Prophets to ascribe all their national misfortunes to the 
idolatrous practices of their fathers, might have recoiled at 
the suggestion of making common cause in matters of 
religion with a body, whose ritual still retained much that 
was inherited from heathen times. Zerubabel, Ezra, and 
Nehemiah, who were quite agreed with respect to the 
exclusion of the Samaritans, must have had solid reasons 
for arriving at this determination; but whatever these 
reasons may have been, the resolution that was taken 
generated a hatred of so bitter and intense a character 
between the two peoples, that there is nothing in the 
history of feuds, national or sectarian, that offers to it a 
perfect parallel. 
Excluded from taking part in the national work the 
Samaritans resolved to oppose the advancement of it, by 
every device which malignant hostility could suggest. 
Scarcely had the foundations of the temple been laid, 
when the Samaritans appeared in imposing force and 
obliged the Jews to relinquish their labour. In vain the 
ag ee 
