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accounts in the books of Chronicles were intended to be supplemental to those in the preceding books, as their name in the Septuagint translation indicates; and the diligent student of the Bible will find it advantageous to institute a close collation of these books with Samuel and the Kings, throughout.

* ПAPAAЕIПOMENON of things omitted; that is, in the former part of the sacred history.

THE BOOK OF EZRA.

CHAPTER II.

"The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore."-Ver. 64.

THOUGH the sum total, both here and in Nehemiah, is equal, namely, forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, yet the particulars reckoned up, make only twenty-nine thousand eight hundred and eighteen in Ezra, and thirty-one thousand and eighty-nine in Nehemiah; and we find that Nehemiah mentions one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five persons which are not in Ezra, and Ezra has four hundred and ninety-four not mentioned in Nehemiah. This last circumstance, which has seemed to render all hope of reconciling them impossible, Mr. Alting thinks is the very point by which they may be reconciled; for if we add Ezra's surplus to the sum in Nehemiah, and Nehemiah's surplus to the number in Ezra, they will both amount to thirty-one thousand five hundred and eighty-three; which, subtracted from forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, leaves a deficiency of ten thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, which are not named, because they did not belong to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, or to the priests, but to the other Israelitish tribes.*

* See "Comprehensive Bible," in loco.

THE POETICAL BOOKS.

WE comprehend under this head what the Jews included in the Hagiographa, that is, Holy Writings; viz., Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. They are, to a considerable extent, composed in measured sentences, and have other characteristics of poetical composition. They stand in the English Bible between the historical and the prophetical books; but the Jews included in the Hagiographa, in addition to the books we have named, Ruth, Jeremiah's Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the two books of Chronicles, which formed but one book, as did also Ezra and Nehemiah.

The classification we have adopted is purely arbitrary, and has been made for convenience, chiefly. The writings of the prophets are, in many parts, of a highly poetic character, examples of which have been given in treating of the beauties of the Biblical writings;* but there is much of prose, in the narrative and hortatory discourses intermixed with the prophecies, to which the poetry is almost wholly confined. We could not well have comprised the prophetic books, therefore, under the title of poetic books; to have done which, moreover, would have been to suppress their distinctive appellation.

*Vol. i. pp. 183-222, and pp. 227-267.

THE BOOK OF JOB.

A KEY to the meaning of many passages, as also to the scope or purpose of many of the discourses in this book, will be found, if it be borne in mind that it was written, as is proved by internal evidence,* during the interval that elapsed between the rebellion under Nimrod and the call of Abraham, when the whole of the human family, with but a few exceptions, as it would appear, were given up to idolatry, and the pious worshippers of the only true God regarded any marked suffering or affliction happening to one of their number as evidence or proof of some heinous and secret sin, or hypocrisy. It is plainly seen that this thought pervades the conversations and addresses of both Job and his friends, who were alike perplexed to comprehend the course of Divine Providence, which occasionally permits the wicked to flourish and prosper exceedingly, while the devout and faithful servants of God are cast down and afflicted. Job preserved his integrity, upon the whole; but the perplexity in which he was involved in attempting to reconcile the peculiar aspect of the Divine Providence under which he suffered sometimes caused him to utter very bitter complaints, and even to accuse his Maker of unjust dealing with him. The

*A summary of the arguments in proof of this may be seen in Mr. Townsend's "Scripture Communion with God," vol. i., pp. 131-134.

consciousness of his own rectitude, and the enlightened views he entertained of the divine perfections, bore him up, however, in the main, and enabled him to exhibit, upon the whole, that wonderful patience in submitting to what he could not comprehend, which has made him an example to God's suffering people throughout all ages (James v. 11).

CHAPTER I.

"Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts."-Ver. 5.

PARKHURST and Lee translate, "Have blessed the idol gods in their hearts." Wemyss, with Dathe, render the expression general, "They have offended God in their hearts." The word Elohim is often applied to false gods, and the Hebrew may mean either, as in the English version, "cursed God," or, as Lee, "blessed the gods." But, as Mr. Townsend observes, it is a matter of indifference which rendering is adopted; for he who blesses the true God may be said to curse idols, and he who blesses an idol may be said to curse in his heart the true God.

CHAPTER II.

"Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die."-Ver. 9.

LOOKING at the piety and practice of Job, punctually performing his religious duties, as well as leading a godly life, it is difficult to conceive of his having a wife, and the mother of his children, who would deliberately advise him, when suffering so intensely as he was, to curse God and die." The thought is revolting to our moral sense, and we feel that

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