Rebuilding the Temple

When they heard the blast of the trumpets, the Samaritans, who happened to be enemies of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, came running together, wanting to learn the cause of the uproar. Perceiving that it was from the Judeans, who had been taken as captives to Babylon and [now] were rebuilding their Temple, they came forward to Zerubbabel and Jesus, and to the chiefs of their clans, requesting permission to assist in establishing the Temple and to have a share in the structure. “For we worship their God no less than they do,” they claimed, “and pray to Him, and we have been zealous followers of His religious cult ever since Shalmanezer,¹ the king of Assyria, relocated us to this place from Cuthah [the native region associated with the Samaritans] and Media.” Having considered their statements, Zerubbabel and Jesus the high priest, in addition to the heads of the Israelite ancestral clans, responded that it was impossible for them to have a share in the building, for they alone had been appointed to build the Temple, initially by Cyrus and presently by Darius.

While it was permissible for them to worship there, they could only share in that which they had in common with all men, to come to the Temple and worship God, if they so desired.

After hearing this, the Cutheans—for the Samaritans are called by this name—were displeased, and they persuaded the nations in Syria to appeal to the satraps in the same manner as they had formerly done in the time of Cyrus, and again afterward in the time of Cambyses, to halt the building of the Temple and to place obstacles and delays before the Jews while they were busy in their task.