=18. When the ten tribes were carried= away captive by Sargon, B. C. 721, other nations were transferred from the region to which these captives were taken, according to the custom which we have mentioned (pages 160 and 161). A large number of other captives from other lands were imported to Samaria, the former capital and region of the ten tribes. Many of these imported heathen captives joined with the remnant of the Israelites still remaining after the captivity, and made up a mixed worship of Jehovah as taught by one of the priests, 2 Kings 17:34. This priest, at their request, the king of Assyria returned to them, to teach them the Jewish way of worship, 2 Kings 17:27. This state of things continued in Samaria until after the return of Judah from the captivity. When the Jews undertook to rebuild the Temple under Zerubbabel, these Samaritans made application to join them in that work and were refused. The refusal aroused their enmity and active opposition, which was greatly increased in after times, as we shall see. SHECHEM AND SAMARIA. =19. Shechem was thirty miles north= from Jerusalem and five miles southeast from the city of Samaria. The _district_ of Samaria must be distinguished from the _city_ of Samaria; the latter having been the residence of the kings of Israel, or of the northern kingdom, for many years. At the time of Alexander the Great the Samaritans were expelled from this city because of a mutiny against one of his appointed governors of Syria; but a remnant was permitted to occupy Shechem,[125] where they have dwindled down to the present day. THE SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH. =20. One very ancient copy= of the Pentateuch, or first five books, called the Law of Moses, remains among this remnant of the Samaritans, at Shechem in Palestine. It is written in the ancient Hebrew letters used before the captivity, and this particular copy is the oldest in the world, so far as is at present known. It is written in the pure old Hebrew language, but contains only the first five books of the Old Testament in one single roll. It is called the Samaritan, only because it is owned by the Samaritans and has been in their possession from a period several centuries before the Christian era down to the present time.[126] =21. It has been proven= that during and after the captivity all the writings of the Scriptures, and especially the books of Moses, were transcribed only into the square forms of Hebrew letters which are now used in all our Hebrew Bibles.[127] It seems highly probable therefore that this Samaritan manuscript has been in existence ever since the time when, at the request of the Samaritans, the Assyrian king sent back a priest (page 190) to teach them, and “he taught them the fear of the Lord,” 2 Kings 17:28, B. C. 720.