Sorry for the late reply to your very interesting post. I fully agree that ancient levantine figures, such as Noah, Job, and Abraham, predate the Persian era a

Sorry for the late reply to your very interesting post. I fully agree that ancient levantine figures, such as Noah, Job, and Abraham, predate the Persian era and were likely incorporated in Babylon. Have to look into this Hebrew Samaritan Torah you mentioned. My understanding was that there were -no- extant torah of any kind at the time when the people came from Babylon claiming themselves to be the exiles. I know they presecuted the Samaritans to assert their own (version of) religion.