court he did not forget his desolated country. Through the liberality of his royal master, he went up to Jerusalem with a great retinue, and a royal commission, providing him with means to repair the walls of Jerusalem and regulate its affairs. As his time was limited by the commission, he returned again to Babylon, and by a second permission proceeded again to Jerusalem, where he died, B. C. 420.

32. In Nehemiah we have the character of an able governor, truly zealous for the good of his country, and for the honor of his religion; who quitted a noble and gainful post at a great court, generously spent the riches he had acquired for the benefit of his countrymen, and encountered difficulties with a courage and spirit which alone could, with the divine blessing, procure the safety and reform the manners of such an unhappy and thoughtless nation.

33. The BooK OF ESTHER derives its name from the interesting person whose history it chiefly relates. The history it contains comes in between the sixth and seventh chapters of Ezra, and the book has been, and is still, held in peculiar estimation among the Jews, they placing it on the same level with the law of Moses.

34. Biblical critics are widely divided in opinion as to the author of this book; some supposing it to be the work of Ezra, others of Mordecai and Esther, and still other names are mentioned: but this is of small importance, as the evidence of the divine authority of the book

is as unquestionable as any in the sacred record.

35. The omission of the name of God throughout this book has caused some to question its authenticity; but this is accounted for from the fact, that this book is a translated extract from the memoirs of the reign of the Persian monarch Ahasuerus.

36. The Asiatic sovereigns, it is well known, caused annals of their reigns to be kept: the Book of Esther itself attests that Ahasuerus had similar records. Esth. ii, 23; vi, 1; x, 2. It was highly important that the Jews should have a faithful narrative of their history under Queen Esther, and it is probable that either Ezra or Mordecai had authority or credit enough to obtain such an extract. In such a case, the retaining of the Persian word Purim may be better accounted for, as well as the details concerning the empire of Ahasuerus, and for the exactness with which the names of his ministers, and of Haman's sons, are recorded.

37. The circumstance of this history being an extract from the Persian annals will likewise account for the Jews being mentioned only in the third person, and why Esther is so frequently designated by the title of queen, and Mordecai by the epithet of "the Jew." It will also account for those numerous parentheses which interrupt the narrative, in order to subjoin the illustrations that were necessary for a Jewish reader; and for the abrupt termination of the narrative by one sentence relative to the

power of Ahasuerus, and another concerning Mordecai's greatness. There is unquestionably no mention of divine Providence, or of the name of God, in these chronicles of Ahasuerus; and if the author of the extract had given it a more Jewish complexion-if he had spoken of the God of Israel--instead of rendering his narrative more credible, he would have deprived it of an internal character of truth.

38. The time taken up by the transactions recorded in this book are from eighteen to wenty years, during the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus, who is supposed to be the Ahasuerus of the book, and who was contemporary with Ezra and Nehemiah.

39. It was at this time, and commemorating the deliverance of the Jews from the bloody plot of Haman, as recorded in Esther, that the feast of Purim was established, which has been celebrated among the Jews in every age since until the present day. On this occasion the entire Book of Esther is read in the synagogues of the modern Jews, from a roll which contains this book alone. There is more feasting on the Purim than on any other festival in the year. The rabbins teach that when the Messiah comes all festivals will be abolished except that of Purim.

40. The manner of celebrating the feast is as follows:-On the 13th day of Adar, at even, they go to the synagogue, where, after saying the usual prayers, the reader reads the whole book of Esther, and as often as he mentions

the name of Haman it is customary for the children, who have little wooden hammers, to knock against the wall, as a memorial that they should endeavor to destroy the whole seed of Amalek. After the Book of Esther has been read, they say some prayers and thanksgivings, which end the service. On the morning of the feast they go to the synagogue, and, after the usual prayers, they take forth the law, and read the portion which is from the eighth verse of the seventeenth chapter of Exodus to the end of the last verse of the same, and which is read by three persons, a Cohen, a Levite, and an Israelite. After the portion has been read, they put the law into the ark again, and the reader reads the Book of Esther in like manner as the evening before; because the reading of Esther is considered as equivalent to the reading of the law. The rest of the day is spent in feasting and rejoicing, and sending presents to each other, and giving liberally to the poor. They keep open houses-poor and rich, young and old, all have free access to come and enjoy themselves; and many of them, both male and female, dress themselves in all kinds of gaudy dresses, and go from house to house; and formerly they acted a play. The rabbins say, on the day of Purim a man may enjoy himself on this wise, that he may drink just as much, and no more, as will leave him able to know the difference between gold and silver, wood and stone.

CHAPTER V.

POETICAL BOOKS.

1. THE poetical books are five in number, viz., Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Canticles, or Song of Solomon: in the Jewish canon they are classed among the Hagiography, or Holy Writings, and in our Bibles are placed between the historical and prophetical books.

2. JOB. This book derives its name from the venerable patriarch whose prosperity, afflictions, and restoration from adversity, are here recorded, and whose extrordinary patience and confidence in God are beautifully set forth in this interesting book.

3. No book in the Bible has excited more discussion, and been the subject of more, and contrary, opinions, than that of Job. Some have esteemed it but a sacred fable, or parable, to illustrate important truth; others, with better reason, a relation of facts: some have contended that, while the facts were true, Job was an imaginary name, or a fictitious personage; others have shown with great clearness that he must have been a real personage. Again, some believe the book to have been of a comparatively modern date, and others believe it was written before the Pentateuch, or by Moses himself.

4. Some of the principal reasons of our be