SECTION VI.-On the Two Books of Chronicles.

The Jews comprise the two books of Chronicles in one book, which they call Dibre Hajamim, that is, The Words of Days, probably from the circumstance of their being compiled out of diaries or annals, in which were recorded the various events related in these books. In the Septuagint version they are termed Пaрaλоμε (Paralipomenōn), or of Things omitted; because many things which were omitted in the former part of the sacred history are here not only supplied, but some narrations also are enlarged, while others are added. The appellation of Chronicles was given to these books by Jerome, because they contain an abstract, in order of time, of the whole of the sacred history, to the time when they were written.

These books were evidently compiled from others, which were written at different times, some before and others after the Babylonish captivity: the period of time, contained in these books, is about 3468 years. They may be divided into four parts, viz.

PART I. Genealogical Tables from Adam to the time of Ezra. (1 Chron. i-ix.)

PART II. The Histories of Saul and David. 1 Chron. ix. 35—44. x—xxix.)

PART III. The History of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah under Solomon. (1 Chron. xxix. 23— 30. 2 Chron. i—ix.)

PART IV. The History of the Kingdom of Judah, from the secession of the ten tribes, under Jeroboam, to its termination by Nebuchadnezzar. (2 Chron. x-xxxvi.)

As the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, relate the same histories, they should each be constantly read and collated together; not only for the purpose of obtaining a more comprehensive view of Jewish history, but also in order to illustrate from one book what may appear to be obscure in either of the others.

SECTION VII. On the Book of Ezra.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah were antiently reckoned by the Jews as one volume, and were divided by them into the first and second books of Ezra. The same division is recognised by the Greek and Latin churches; but the third book, assigned to Ezra, and received as canonical by the Greek church, is the same, in substance, as the book which properly bears his name, but interpolated. And the fourth book, which has been attributed to him, is a manifest forgery, in which the marks of falsehood are plainly discernible, and which was never unanimously received as canonical either by the Greek or by the Latin church, although some of the fathers have cited it, and the Latin church has borrowed some words out of it. It is not now extant in Greek, and never was extant in Hebrew. Ezra is generally admitted to have been the author of the book which bears his name: every page, indeed, of the book proves that the writer of it was personally present at the transactions which he has recorded.

The book of Ezra harmonises most strictly with the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, which it materially elucidates. (Compare Ezra v. with Hagg. i. 12. and Zech. iii. iv.) It evinces the paternal care of the Almighty over his chosen people, and consists of two parts, viz.

I. A Narrative of events from the return of the Jews under Zerubbabel to the rebuilding of the temple. (ch.i—vi.)

II. The Arrival of Ezra at Jerusalem, and the Reformation made there by him. (vii-x.)

The zeal and piety of Ezra appear, in this book, in a most conspicuous point of view. His memory has always been held in the highest reverence by the Jews.

SECTION VIII.- On the Book of Nehemiah.

Some eminent fathers of the Christian church have ascribed this book to Ezra: but that Nehemiah, whose name it bears, and who was cup-bearer to Artaxerxes Longimanus, was the author of it, there cannot be any reasonable doubt: the whole of it being written in his name, and, what is very unusual when compared with the preceding sacred historians, being written in the first person. His book contains,

I. An account of Nehemiah's departure from Shushan, with a royal commission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and his first arrival there. (ch. i. ii. 1-11.)

II. An Account of the building of the walls, notwithstanding the obstacles interposed by Sanballat. (ch. ii. 12 -20. iii-vii. 4.

III. The first reformation accomplished by Nehemiah (ch. vii-xii.)

IV. The second reformation accomplished by Nehemiah on his second return to Jerusalem, and his correction of the abuses which had crept in during his absence. (xiii.)

The administration of this pious man and excellent governor lasted about thirty-six years, to the year of the world 3574 according to some chronologers, but Dr. Prideaux has with more probability fixed it to the year 3595. The Scripture history closes with the book of Nehemiah.

This book, which derives its name from the Jewish captive whose history it chiefly relates, is by the Jews termed Megillah Esther, or the volume of Esther. The history it contains comes in between the sixth and seventh chapters of Ezra: its authenticity was questioned by some of the fathers, in consequence of the name of God being omitted throughout, but it has always been received

as canonical by the Jews. The book consists of two parts, detailing,

I. The promotion of Esther to the throne of Persia ; and the essential service rendered to the king by Mordecai, in detecting a plot against his life. (ch. i. ii.)

II. The advancement of Haman; his designs against the Jews, and their frustration, and the advancement of Mordecai. (ch. iii-x.

In our copies the book of Esther terminates with the third verse of the tenth chapter; but, in the Greek and Vulgate Bibles, there are ten more verses annexed to it, together with six additional chapters, which the Greek and Romish churches account to be canonical. As, however, they are not extant in Hebrew, they are expunged from the sacred canon by Protestants, and are supposed to have been compiled by some Hellenistic Jew.

CHAPTER III.

ON THE POETICAL BOOKS.

THOUGH Some of the sacred writings, which present themselves to our notice in the present chapter, are anterior in point of date to the Historical Books, yet they are usually classed by themselves under the title of the Poetical Books; because they are almost wholly composed in Hebrew verse. This appellation is of considerable antiquity. The Poetical Books are five in number, viz. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Canticles, or Song of Solomon; in the Jewish canon of Scripture they are classed among the Hagiographa, or Holy Writings; and in our Bibles they are placed between the Historical and Prophetical Books.

This book has derived its title from the venerable patriarch Job, whose prosperity, afflictions, and restor

ation from the deepest adversity, are here recorded, together with his exemplary and unequalled patience under all his calamities. Some critics have doubted, or affected to doubt, the existence of such a character as Job; but that point is satisfactorily determined by the prophet Ezekiel (xiv. 14.) and the apostle James (v. 11.), both of whom mention him as a real character. The length of his life places him in the patriarchal times; and Dr. Hales, besides other evidences, which cannot here be detailed, has rendered it highly probable that he lived about 184 years before the time of Abraham, He dwelt in Uz or Idumæa.

Among the conflicting opinions which have been advanced respecting the author of this book, the most probable is that of Archbishop Magee, who supposes it to have been originally written by Job, and subsequently transcribed by Moses; who having applied it to the use of the Jews, and given it the sanction of his authority, it thenceforth became enrolled among their sacred writings. It has been quoted by almost every Hebrew writer from the age of Moses to that of Malachi. In its form, this poem approximates to the Mekáma, or philosophical discourses of the Arabian Poets.

Nothing, perhaps, has contributed more to render the poem of Job obscure, than the common division into chapters and verses; by which, not only the unity of the general subject, but frequently that of a single paragraph or clause, is broken. The poem may be divided into six parts; viz. The first of these contains the exordium or narrative part, which is written in prose (ch. i. ii.); the second comprises the first debate or dialogue of Job and his friends (iii—xiv.); the third includes the second series of debate or controversy (xv-xxi.) ; the fourth comprehends the third series of controversy (xxii -xxxi.); in the fifth part Elihu sums up the argument (xxxii-xxxvii.); and in the sixth part Jehovah deter