=10. The Exile and After.=--The Babylonian Exile was brought by Cyrus to a possible end in 538 B. C. This is also illuminated by that which exploration has brought to light.[127] The temple was rebuilt through the efforts of Haggai and Zechariah during the years 520-517 B. C. In 444 B. C. Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, as related in Neh. 1-7. Thus under the Persian empire Judah was re-established. It consisted of a little country around Jerusalem; it was poor and weak, but was aided by money sent from Babylonia by Jews who were still resident there. (1) _The Samaritans._--In the neighborhood of Samaria was a people who were descended in part from Hebrews whom Sargon did not carry away and in part from the Gentiles whom he brought in. These people worshiped Jehovah. (See 2 Kings 17:24-34.) When the little Jewish state had been re-established at Jerusalem, they wished to participate in Jewish worship and to be recognized as good Jews. Since they were not of pure Hebrew descent, the Jews would not permit this, so they at last desisted, built a temple to Jehovah on Mount Gerizim (see John 4:20), and became a large and flourishing sect.[128] They based their worship on the Pentateuch, and were so much like the Jews that there was constant friction between them. This friction is reflected in Luke 9:51-54, John 4:9, and in many passages of the Talmud. It was this sect that occupied Samaria in the time of Christ and made it in his day a distinct division of the country. (2) _Alexander the Great and His Successors._--In 332 B. C. Palestine passed from Persian rule to that of Alexander the Great. After his death in 323 it came under the rule of his general, Ptolemy Lagi, who ultimately became king of Egypt. Later, 220-198 B. C., there was a struggle for the possession of Palestine between the descendants of Ptolemy and the house of Seleucus, another general of Alexander, who had established a kingdom with its capital at Antioch. During these wars the Jews suffered greatly. Finally the Seleucid king won, and Palestine passed definitely under the control of Syria. With the coming of Alexander new cultural influences had entered Palestine from the Hellenic world, and down to 168 B. C. such influences were eagerly welcomed by a portion of the Jews.