But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel, said unto them, You have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.
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Bede
AD 735
And they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the holocaust on each individual day in due order according to the commandment: the duty of the day in its day. The Feast of Tabernacles, which in the Gospel is called by the Greek word scenopegia (i.e. the fixing of tents), was a seven-day feast beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, on which the Lord commanded all the people to make tabernacles for themselves from the leaves and branches of the most beautiful wood and, leaving their homes, to stay in these tabernacles for seven days, daily pondering the decrees of the divine law and offering holocausts to the Lord in fire. They were commanded to do all this, lest thanks for such a great blessing ever depart from their mind, in remembrance of the time in which they once made their exodus from Egypt and dwelt in tabernacles in the wilderness, and while Moses preached the law and the divine presence frequently appeared to him, they waited a long ti...
You Literally, "It is not for you and us to build. "But why might not these people assist in the work, as well as king Hiram or Darius? (Haydock)
Schismatics and heretics must not communicate in sacrifices with Catholics, (Worthington) nor must the latter have society with them, in matters of religion. The Jews feared lest the Samaritans might introduce the worship of idols, or claim a part of the temple, or at least boast of what they had done. (Tirinus)
They were aware of the insincerity of these people. (Menochius)
The permission was moreover only granted to the Jews: (Calmet) but Cyrus had exhorted all to contribute; (chap. i. 4,) and Darius, as well as his pagan governors, were not repelled with disdain, chap. vi. 13. This treatment caused the Samaritans to be more inveterate, though the Jews were always more unwilling to come to a reconciliation. (Haydock)
"For the Scripture did not say, the Samaritans have no commerce with the Jews "says St. Chrysostom in John iv. The Jewish...
