It consists of two principal divisions:
(1.) The history of the first return of exiles, in the first year of Cyrus (B.C. 536), till the completion and dedication of the new temple, in the sixth year of Darius Hystapes (B.C. 515), ch. 1-6. From the close of the sixth to the opening of the seventh chapter there is a blank in the history of about sixty years.
(2.) The history of the second return under Ezra, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, and of the events that took place at Jerusalem after Ezra’s arrival there (7-10).
The Book of Ezra thus contains memorabilia connected with the Jews, from the decree of Cyrus (B.C. 536) to the reformation by Ezra (B.C. 456), extending over a period of about eighty years. There is no quotation from this book in the New Testament, but there never has been any doubt about its being canonical.
Ezra means “help” and this prophet was probably the author of this book, at least of the greater part of it (comp. 7:27, 28; 8:1, etc.), as he was also of the Books of Chronicles, the close of which forms the opening passage of Ezra.
He led the second body of exiles that returned from Babylon to Jerusalem B.C. 459, and was the son, or perhaps grandson, of Seraiah (2 Kings 25:18-21), and a lineal descendant of Phinehas, the son of Aaron (Ezra 7:1-5). All we know of his personal history is contained in the last four chapters of his book, and in Neh. 8 and 12:26.
In the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus he obtained leave to go up to Jerusalem and to take with him a company of Israelites (Ezra 8). Artaxerxes manifested great interest in Ezra’s undertaking, granting him “all his request,” and loading him with gifts for the house of God.
Ezra assembled the band of exiles, probably about 5,000 in all, who were prepared to go up with him to Jerusalem, on the banks of the Ahava, where they rested for three days, and were put into order for their march across the desert, which was completed in four months. His proceedings at Jerusalem on his arrival there are recorded in his book. He was “a ready scribe in the law of Moses,” who “had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.”
“He is,” says Professor Binnie, “the first well-defined example of an order of men who have never since ceased in the church;
men of sacred erudition,
who devote their lives to the study of the Holy Scriptures, in order that they may be in a condition to interpret them for the instruction and edification of the church. It is significant that the earliest mention of the pulpit occurs in the history of Ezra’s ministry (Neh. 8:4). He was much more of a teacher than a priest.
We learn from the account of his labours in the book of Nehemiah that he was careful to have the whole people instructed in the law of Moses; and there is no reason to reject the constant tradition of the Jews which connects his name with the collecting and editing of the Old Testament canon.
The final completion of the canon may have been, and probably was, the work of a later generation; but Ezra seems to have put it much into the shape in which it is still found in the Hebrew Bible. When it is added that the complete organization of the synagogue dates from this period, it will be seen that the age was emphatically one of Biblical study” (The Psalms: their History, etc.).
For about fourteen years, i.e., till B.C. 445, we have no record of what went on in Jerusalem after Ezra had set in order the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the nation. In that year another distinguished personage, Nehemiah, appears on the scene.
After the ruined wall of the city had been built by Nehemiah, there was a great gathering of the people at Jerusalem preparatory to the dedication of the wall. On the appointed day the whole population assembled, and the law was read aloud to them by Ezra and his assistants (Neh. 8:3). The remarkable scene is described in detail.
There was a great religious awakening.
For successive days they held solemn assemblies, confessing their sins and offering up solemn sacrifices. They kept also the feast of Tabernacles with great solemnity and joyous enthusiasm, and then renewed their national covenant to be the Lord’s. Abuses were rectified, and arrangements for the temple service completed, and now nothing remained but the dedication of the walls of the city (Neh. 12).
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The purpose of the apostle (1:1-4) is to declare the Word of Life to those to whom he writes, in order that they might be united in fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. He shows that the means of union with God are,
(1) on the part of Christ, his atoning work (1:7; 2:2; 3:5; 4:10, 14; 5:11, 12) and his advocacy (2:1); and
(2), on the part of man, holiness (1:6), obedience (2:3), purity (3:3), faith (3:23; 4:3; 5:5), and love (2:7, 8; 3:14; 4:7; 5:1).
Second Epistle of John, is addressed to “the elect lady,” and closes with the words, “The children of thy elect sister greet thee;” but some would read instead of “lady” the proper name Kyria.
Of the thirteen verses composing this epistle seven are in the First Epistle. The person addressed is commended for her piety, and is warned against false teachers.
Third Epistle of John is addressed to Caius, or Gaius, but whether to the Christian of that name in Macedonia (Acts 19: 29) or in Corinth (Rom. 16:23) or in Derbe (Acts 20:4) is uncertain.
It was written for the purpose of commending to Gaius some Christians who were strangers in the place where he lived, and who had gone thither for the purpose of preaching the gospel (ver. 7).
The Second and Third Epistles were probably written soon after the First, and from Ephesus.
]]>Many translators regarded the books of Samuel and of Kings as forming one continuous history, which they divided into four books, which they called “Books of the Kingdom.”
The Vulgate version followed this division, but styled them “Books of the Kings.” These books of Samuel they accordingly called the “First” and “Second” Books of Kings, and not, as in the modern Protestant versions, the “First” and “Second” Books of Samuel.
The authors of the books of Samuel were probably Samuel, Gad, and Nathan.
Samuel penned the first twenty-four chapters of the first book. Gad, the companion of David (1 Sam. 22:5), continued the history thus commenced; and Nathan completed it, probably arranging the whole in the form in which we now have it (1 Chr. 29:29).
The contents of the books.
The first book comprises a period of about a hundred years, and nearly coincides with the life of Samuel. It contains
(1) the history of Eli (1-4);
(2) the history of Samuel (5-12);
(3) the history of Saul, and of David in exile (13-31).
The second book, comprising a period of perhaps fifty years, contains a history of the reign of David
(1) over Judah (1-4), and
(2) over all Israel (5-24), mainly in its political aspects.
The last four chapters of Second Samuel may be regarded as a sort of appendix recording various events, but not chronologically.
These books do not contain complete histories. Frequent gaps are met with in the record, because their object is to present a history of the kingdom of God in its gradual development, and not of the events of the reigns of the successive rulers.
It is noticeable that the section (2 Sam. 11:2-12: 29) containing an account of David’s sin in the matter of Bathsheba is omitted in the corresponding passage in 1 Chr. 20.
]]>Thus, counting from the fourth year before Uzziah’s death (B.C. 762) to the last year of Hezekiah (B.C. 698), Isaiah’s ministry extended over a period of sixty-four years.
Contents
The book, as a whole, has been divided into three main parts:
(1.) The first thirty-five chapters, almost wholly prophetic, Israel’s enemy Assyria, present the Messiah as a mighty Ruler and King.
(2.) Four chapters are historical (36-39), relating to the times of Hezekiah.
(3.) Prophetical (40-66), Israel’s enemy Babylon, describing the Messiah as a suffering victim, meek and lowly.
Authorship Questions
The genuineness of the section Isa. 40-66 has been keenly opposed by able critics.
They assert that it must be the production of a deutero-Isaiah, who lived toward the close of the Babylonian captivity. This theory was originated by Koppe, a German writer at the close of the last century.
There are other portions of the book also (e.g., ch. 13; 24-27; and certain verses in ch. 14 and 21) which they attribute to some other prophet than Isaiah. Thus they say that some five or seven, or even more, unknown prophets had a hand in the production of this book.
The considerations which have led to such a result are various:
(1.) They cannot, as some say, conceive it possible that Isaiah, living in B.C. 700, could foretell the appearance and the exploits of a prince called Cyrus, who would set the Jews free from captivity one hundred and seventy years after.
(2.) It is alleged that the prophet takes the time of the Captivity as his standpoint, and speaks of it as then present; and
(3) that there is such a difference between the style and language of the closing section (40-66) and those of the preceding chapters as to necessitate a different authorship, and lead to the conclusion that there were at least two Isaiahs.
But even granting the fact of a great diversity of style and language, this will not necessitate the conclusion attempted to be drawn from it.
The diversity of subjects treated of and the peculiarities of the prophet’s position at the time the prophecies were uttered will sufficiently account for this. The arguments in favour of the unity of the book are quite conclusive. When the LXX. version was made (about B.C. 250) the entire contents of the book were ascribed to Isaiah, the son of Amoz.
New Testament References
It is not called in question, moreover, that in the time of our Lord the book existed in the form in which we now have it.
Many prophecies in the disputed portions are quoted in the New Testament as the words of Isaiah (Matt. 3:3; Luke 3:4-6; 4:16-41; John 12:38; Acts 8:28; Rom. 10:16-21). Universal and persistent tradition has ascribed the whole book to one author.
Besides this, the internal evidence, the similarity in the language and style, in the thoughts and images and rhetorical ornaments, all points to the same conclusion; and its local colouring and allusions show that it is obviously of Palestinian origin.
The theory therefore of a double authorship of the book, much less of a manifold authorship, cannot be maintained. The book, with all the diversity of its contents, is one, and is, we believe, the production of the great prophet whose name it bears.
]]>This title was rendered by Jerome in his Latin version “Chronicon,” and hence “Chronicles.” In the Septuagint version, the book is divided into two, and bears the title Paraleipomena, i.e., “things omitted,” or “supplements”, because containing many things omitted in the Books of Kings.
The contents of these books are comprehended under four headings.
(1.) The first nine chapters of Book I. contain little more than a list of genealogies in the line of Israel down to the time of David.
(2.) The remainder of the first book contains a history of the reign of David.
(3.) The first nine chapters of Book II. contain the history of the reign of Solomon.
(4.) The remaining chapters of the second book contain the history of the separate kingdom of Judah to the time of the return from Babylonian Exile.
Timing
The time of the composition of the Chronicles was, there is every reason to conclude, subsequent to the Babylonian Exile, probably between 450 and 435 B.C. The contents of this twofold book, both as to matter and form, correspond closely with this idea.
The close of the book records the proclamation of Cyrus permitting the Jews to return to their own land, and this forms the opening passage of the Book of Ezra, which must be viewed as a continuation of the Chronicles.
The peculiar form of the language, being Aramaean in its general character, harmonizes also with that of the books which were written after the Exile.
Authorship
The author was certainly contemporary with Zerubbabel, details of whose family history are given (1 Chr. 3:19). The time of the composition being determined, the question of the authorship may be more easily decided. According to Jewish tradition, which was universally received down to the middle of the seventeenth century, Ezra was regarded as the author of the Chronicles.
There are many points of resemblance and of contact between the Chronicles and the Book of Ezra which seem to confirm this opinion. The conclusion of the one and the beginning of the other are almost identical in expression. In their spirit and characteristics they are the same, showing thus also an identity of authorship.
In their general scope and design these books are not so much historical as didactic. The principal aim of the writer appears to be to present moral and religious truth. He does not give prominence to political occurences, as is done in Samuel and Kings, but to ecclesiastical institutions.
Historical Significance
“The genealogies, so uninteresting to most modern readers, were really an important part of the public records of the Hebrew state. They were the basis on which not only the land was distributed and held, but the public services of the temple were arranged and conducted, the Levites and their descendants alone, as is well known, being entitled and first fruits set apart for that purpose.”
The “Chronicles” are an epitome of the sacred history from the days of Adam down to the return from Babylonian Exile, a period of about 3,500 years. The writer gathers up “the threads of the old national life broken by the Captivity.”
The sources whence the chronicler compiled his work were public records, registers, and genealogical tables belonging to the Jews. These are referred to in the course of the book (1 Chr. 27:24; 29:29; 2 Chr. 9:29; 12:15; 13:22; 20:34; 24:27; 26:22; 32:32; 33:18, 19; 27:7; 35:25).
Parallels with Sameul and Books of Kings
There are in Chronicles, and the books of Samuel and Kings, forty parallels, often verbal, proving that the writer both knew and used these records (1 Chr. 17:18; comp. 2 Sam. 7:18-20; 1 Chr. 19; comp. 2 Sam. 10, etc.).
As compared with Samuel and Kings, the Book of Chronicles omits many recorded particulars (2 Sam. 6:20-23; 9; 11; 14-19, etc.), and includes many things peculiar to itself (1 Chr. 12; 22; 23-26; 27; 28; 29, etc.). Twenty whole chapters, and twenty-four parts of chapters, are occupied with matter not found elsewhere.
It also records many things in fuller detail, as (e.g.)
It has also been observed that another peculiarity of the book is that it substitutes modern and more common expressions for those that had then become unusual or obsolete.
This is seen particularly in the substitution of modern names of places, such as were in use in the writer’s day, for the old names; thus Gezer (1 Chr. 20:4) is used instead of Gob (2 Sam. 21:18), etc.
The Books of Chronicles are ranked among the _khethubim_ or hagiographa. They are alluded to, though not directly quoted, in the New Testament (Heb. 5:4; Matt. 12:42; 23:35; Luke 1:5; 11:31, 51).
]]>The two books of Kings formed originally but one book in the Hebrew Scriptures. The present division into two books was first made by the LXX., which now, with the Vulgate, numbers them as the third and fourth books of Kings, the two books of Samuel being the first and second books of Kings.
They contain the annals of the Jewish commonwealth from the accession of Solomon till the subjugation of the kingdom by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians (apparently a period of about four hundred and fifty-three years).
The books of Chronicles (q.v.) are more comprehensive in their contents than those of Kings. The latter synchronize with 1 Chr. 28-2 Chr. 36:21. While in the Chronicles greater prominence is given to the priestly or Levitical office, in the Kings greater prominence is given to the kingly.
Authorship of Books of Kings
The authorship of these books is uncertain. There are some portions of them and of Jeremiah that are almost identical, e.g., 2 Kings 24:18-25 and Jer. 52; 39:1-10; 40:7-41:10. There are also many undesigned coincidences between Jeremiah and Kings (2 Kings 21-23 and Jer. 7:15; 15:4; 19:3, etc.), and events recorded in Kings of which Jeremiah had personal knowledge.
These facts countenance in some degree the tradition that Jeremiah was the author of the books of Kings. But the more probable supposition is that Ezra, after the Captivity, compiled them from documents written perhaps by David, Solomon, Nathan, Gad, and Iddo, and that he arranged them in the order in which they now exist.
Christian Perspective
In the threefold division of the Scriptures by the Jews, these books are ranked among the “Prophets.”
They are frequently quoted or alluded to by our Lord and his apostles (Matt. 6:29; 12:42; Luke 4:25, 26; 10:4; comp. 2 Kings 4:29; Mark 1:6; comp. 2 Kings 1:8; Matt. 3:4, etc.).
The sources of the narrative are referred to
(1) “the book of the acts of Solomon” (1 Kings 11:41);
(2) the “book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah” (14:29; 15:7, 23, etc.);
(3) the “book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel” (14:19; 15:31; 16:14, 20, 27, etc.).
The date of its composition was some time between B.C. 561, the date of the last chapter (2 Kings 25), when Jehoiachin was released from captivity by Evil-merodach, and B.C. 538, the date of the decree of deliverance by Cyrus.
]]>This book sets forth the “philosophy of practical life. It is the sign to us that the Bible does not despise common sense and discretion. It impresses upon us in the most forcible manner the value of intelligence and prudence and of a good education.
The whole strength of the Hebrew language and of the sacred authority of the book is thrown upon these homely truths. It deals, too, in that refined, discriminating, careful view of the finer shades of human character so often overlooked by theologians, but so necessary to any true estimate of human life” (Stanley’s Jewish Church).
Origin of Proverbs
As to the origin of this book, “it is probable that Solomon gathered and recast many proverbs which sprang from human experience in preceeding ages and were floating past him on the tide of time, and that he also elaborated many new ones from the material of his own experience.
Towards the close of the book, indeed, are preserved some of Solomon’s own sayings that seem to have fallen from his lips in later life and been gathered by other hands’ (Arnot’s Laws from Heaven, etc.)
Contents of Proverbs
This book is usually divided into three parts:
(1.) Consisting of ch. 1-9, which contain an exhibition of wisdom as the highest good.
(2.) Consisting of ch. 10-24.
(3.) Containing proverbs of Solomon “which the men of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, collected” (ch. 25-29).
These are followed by two supplements,
(1) “The words of Agur” (ch. 30); and
(2) “The words of king Lemuel” (ch. 31).
Solomon is said to have written three thousand proverbs, and those contained in this book may be a selection from these (1 Kings 4:32).
In the New Testament there are thirty-five direct quotations from this book or allusions to it, which makes Proverbs one of the most referenced of the 66 Books of the Bible.
]]>Authorship
The authorship of this book is unknown. It must have been obviously written after the death of Ahasuerus (the Xerxes of the Greeks), which took place B.C. 465. The minute and particular account also given of many historical details makes it probable that the writer was contemporary with Mordecai and Esther. Hence we may conclude that the book was written probably about B.C. 444-434, and that the author was one of the Jews of the dispersion.
This book is more purely historical than any other book of Scripture; and it has this remarkable peculiarity that the name of God does not occur in it from first to last in any form It has, however, been well observed that “though the name of God be not in it, his finger is.”
The book wonderfully exhibits the providential government of God.
Historical Perspective
Esther, the queen of Ahasuerus, and heroine of the book that bears her name.
She was a Jewess named Hadas’sah (the myrtle), but when she entered the royal harem she received the name by which she henceforth became known (Esther 2:7). It is a Syro-Arabian modification of the Persian word satarah, which means a star.
She was the daughter of Abihail, a Benjamite. Her family did not avail themselves of the permission granted by Cyrus to the exiles to return to Jerusalem; and she resided with her cousin Mordecai, who held some office in the household of the Persian king at “Shushan in the palace.”
Ahasuerus having divorced Vashti, chose Esther to be his wife.
Soon after this he gave Haman the Agagite, his prime minister, power and authority to kill and extirpate all the Jews throughout the Persian empire. By the interposition of Esther this terrible catastrophe was averted.
Haman was hanged on the gallows he had intended for Mordecai (Esther 7); and the Jews established an annual feast, the feast of Purim (q.v.), in memory of their wonderful deliverance. This took place about fifty-two years after the Return, the year of the great battles of Plataea and Mycale (B.C. 479).
Esther’s Character
Esther appears in the Bible as a “woman of deep piety, faith, courage, patriotism, and caution, combined with resolution; a dutiful daughter to her adopted father, docile and obedient to his counsels, and anxious to share the king’s favour with him for the good of the Jewish people. There must have been a singular grace and charm in her aspect and manners, since ’she obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her’ (Esther 2:15).
That she was raised up as an instrument in the hand of God to avert the destruction of the Jewish people, and to afford them protection and forward their wealth and peace in their captivity, is also manifest from the Scripture account.”
]]>The history it contains refers to a period perhaps about one hundred and twenty-six years before the birth of David.
It gives
(1) an account of Naomi’s going to Moab with her husband, Elimelech, and of her subsequent return to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law;
(2) the marriage of Boaz and Ruth; and
(3) the birth of Obed, of whom David sprang.
Authorship
The author of this book was probably Samuel, according to Jewish tradition. “Brief as this book is, and simple as is its story, it is remarkably rich in examples of faith, patience, industry, and kindness, nor less so in indications of the care which God takes of those who put their trust in him.
Historical Perspective
Ruth ,”means a friend”, a Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, whose father, Elimelech, had settled in the land of Moab. On the death of Elimelech and Mahlon, Naomi came with Ruth, her daughter-in-law, who refused to leave her, to Bethlehem, the old home from which Elimelech had migrated. There she had a rich relative, Boaz, to whom Ruth was eventually married.She became the mother of Obed, the grandfather of David.
Thus Ruth, a Gentile, is among the maternal progenitors of our Lord (Matt. 1:5).
The story of “the gleaner” Ruth illustrates the friendly relations between the good Boaz and his reapers, the Jewish land system, the method of transferring property from one person to another, the working of the Mosaic law for the relief of distressed and ruined families; but, above all,
handing down the unselfishness, the brave love, the unshaken trustfulness of her who, though not of the chosen race, was, like the Canaanitess Tamar (Gen. 38:29; Matt. 1:3) and the Canaanitess Rahab (Matt. 1:5), privileged to become the ancestress of David, and so of ‘great David’s greater Son’”, Jesus of Narazeth (Ruth 4:18-22).
]]>The book of Ruth originally formed part of this book, but about A.D. 450 it was separated from it and placed in the Hebrew scriptures immediately after the Song of Solomon.
The major theme of Judges can be summarized in Judges 21:25;
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
The book contains,
(1.) An introduction (1-3:6), connecting it with the previous narrative in Joshua, as a “link in the chain of books.”
(2.) The history of the thirteen judges (3:7-16:31) in the following order:
FIRST PERIOD (3:7-ch. 5)
I. Servitude under Chushan-rishathaim of Mesopotamia 8yrs
1. OTHNIEL delivers Israel,: rest 40 yrs
II. Servitude under Eglon of Moab: Ammon, Amalek 18 yrs
2. EHUD’S deliverance, : rest 80 yrs
3. SHAMGAR Unknown.
III. Servitude under Jabin of Hazor in Canaan 20 yrs
4. DEBORAH
5. BARAK: 40yrs
Total of 206 yrs
SECOND PERIOD (6-10:5)
IV. Servitude under Midian, Amalek, and children of the east: 7 yrs
6. GIDEON 40 yrs
ABIMELECH, Gideon’s son, reigns as king over Israel 3 yrs
7. TOLA 23 yrs
8. JAIR 22 yrs
Total of 95 yrs
THIRD PERIOD (10:6-ch. 12)
V. Servitude under Ammonites with the Philistines 18 yrs
9. JEPHTHAH 6 yrs
10. IBZAN 7 yrs
11. ELON 10 yrs
12. ABDON 8 yrs
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