Ben Yusef's father had belonged to one of the captive families in Babylon, who, taking advantage of the decree of Cyrus, had returned with Zerubbabel to their ancestral land. Ben Yusef himself was born in Jerusalem; and, though he deemed himself a faithful Jew, had not chosen to resist the charms of a Samaritan maiden, a descendant of the colonists whom Nebuchadnezzar had sent from Hamath to repopulate the land made desolate by the deportation of the people of Israel. When Ezra, the Great Scribe, arrived at Jerusalem with his new bands of devotees, and endeavored to enforce his mandate against marriage with any not of pure Jewish stock, Yusef had opposed him, feeling at first that this was but a device by which the newly arrived would override the descendants of those who had originally returned with Zerubbabel. Though afterwards he became convinced of the honesty of Ezra's purpose, and of the sincerity of his patriotism in wishing to purge Judaism of all elements foreign to it, he could not believe, as many did, in the Great Scribe's inspired wisdom in this regard. So pure and strong was Ben Yusef's love for Lyda, his wife, so beautiful was she in character, so true even in her devotion to Israel's god, and so many blessings had she brought to him, that he could not expel the belief that Jehovah had indeed favored their union. To accede to Ezra's demand that he should divorce Lyda, or by any compact separate from her, seemed like striking the hands which God had extended in benediction upon them both. Lyda was not a concubine, as Hagar had been to Abraham. He therefore would not send her away, but chose rather to go with her when she was expelled from the gates of the city. But still Ben Yusef was a Jew. He loved the traditions and shared the hopes of his people. He therefore would not leave the Sacred Land, but took up his abode in the far northern portion of it, among the Scythian colonists whom Nebuchadnezzar had settled there. He built no house for permanent abode, because he believed that the time would come when he should return to Jerusalem. Lyda had died. His first mourning over, he proposed to return to the capital, but was confronted by the fact that her children would be counted as of impure blood by the aristocratic and stricter caste of Jews. He would not subject them to such disparagement, and therefore unpacked his already laden beasts of burden, drove again his stakes, and stretched his cords. The very names of his children were intended to be a protest against what he thought to be the narrowness of the Jewish rulers. "Elnathan" signified "Given of God," and when the little maiden came he called her "Ruth," after the famous Moabitish woman, whom the faithful Jewish Boaz wedded and made the ancestress of King David.