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It was the design of Sanballat to build this temple and install Manasseh, the son of the Jew-
ish High Priest, as the High Priest of the Samaritans. This plan was carried out. The Samaritan
temple was built on Mount Gerizim in Samaria and Manasseh received his schismatic priesthood.
This is the beginning of the Samaritan religion.

Manasseh's Further Rebellion

The first act of Manasseh after being installed as the Samaritan High Priest was to repudi-
ate the true Temple of God located on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. He did this by maintaining that the
Temple should be located on Mount Gerizim and not in Jerusalem. Manasseh's rebellious motive
was to strengthen his own position among the Samaritans and perhaps to gain some of the Jews in
Judaea to his side.

In maintaining that the Temple should be situated on Mount Gerizim, he encountered, how-
ever, an embarrassing situation. Throughout the writings of the Old Testament prophets were the
clear prophecies that the Temple of God should be located only on Mount Zion in Jerusalem
(Isaiah 2 and Micah 4). The prophecies concerning this fact were so conclusive, so decisive, that
it was impossible for Manasseh to reconcile his temple being located on Mount Gerizim with the
statements of the prophets.

Realizing that the writings of the prophets and many of the Psalms specifically taught just
the opposite from what he was endeavoring to maintain, he seized upon the only alternative to
seemingly justify his temple being on Mount Gerizim. His way out of the dilemma was to formally
REJECT THE WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. To do this, he had to represent them as the unin-
spired opinions of men.

As a result of this, Manasseh acknowledged that the only books which were really the in-
spired words of God were the books of Moses -- the first five books of the Old Testament. The
reason he accepted this portion of the Old Testament was that in this section there was no direct
mention of the necessity of having the Temple of God on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. By accepting
only the first five books of the Bible and none other, he put his own authority ahead of the Word of
God.

With Manasseh ruling as the Samaritan High Priest and finally claiming that only the books
of Moses were the inspired word of God, the situation called for drastic action by Ezra, Nehemiah
and the Great Assembly. Here was a new temple built in Samaria, and Manasseh loudly proclaim-
ing that all the Jews in Judaea were in error.

Something had to be done about this situation.

Ezra and Nehemiah knew it was possible that there might be an internal disruption of the
Jewish society that they were developing in Judaea, unless a determinate and authoritative
counter-action could be launched against the falsehoods of Manasseh and his heretical followers,
especially since many of his ideas were being subversively planted in the minds of many Jews in
Judaea. The people had to know who was right, Manasseh -- or Ezra and Nehemiah!

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