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It is not improbable that the Herodians in some respects approached very nearly to the Sadducees in their opinions (Comp. Mk. viii.15 with Mtt. xvi.6), for both would hold the duty of submission to the Romans, and join in supporting the throne of Herod. The hostility of the Pharisees to the teaching of our blessed Lord may be estimated by the fact that they joined their enemies the Herodians in attempting to ensnare Him (Mtt. xxii.16).

(ii) Before concluding this Chapter, this seems the appropriate place for noticing the Samaritans, who are frequently mentioned in the New Testament.

In the year B.C.721 Sargon captured Samaria, and removed into captivity the remains of the ten tribes, already decimated by Tiglath-Pileser174, and located them partly in Gozan or Mygdonia, and partly in cities recently captured from the Medes. This was not a partial but a complete evacuation of the country, which was wiped clean of its inhabitants as a man wipeth a dish (2 K. xxi.13), in accordance with a not unusual custom of Oriental conquerors actually to exhaust a land of its inhabitants175.