Companion to the Bible | Page 5

the Antediluvian
Genealogy; (2) the Genealogy from Noah to Abraham--Remarks on these
Discrepancies--II. _Exodus_--7. Hebrew Name of this Book--Its Unity--Its Two Chief
Divisions--Contents of the First Division; of the Second Division--8. Time of the Sojourn
in Egypt--Sojourn in the Wilderness--III. _Leviticus_--9. Its Character and Contents--10.
The Priestly Office and Sacrifices the Central Part of the Mosaic Law--IV.
_Numbers_--11. Office and Contents of this Book--The Three Epochs of its History: the
Departure from Sinai, the Rebellion of the People upon the Report of the Twelve Spies,
the Second Arrival of Israel at Kadesh with the Events that followed--V.
_Deuteronomy_--12. Its Peculiar Character, Divisions, and Contents--13. It brings the
Whole Pentateuch to a Suitable Close

CHAPTER XX.
THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 1 and 2. Their Office to Unfold the History of God's
Dealings with the Covenant People--General Remarks on the Character of this History--I.
_Joshua_--3. Contents of this Book. Its Immediate Connection with the Pentateuch--Its
Two Divisions with their Contents--4. Its Authorship--5. Its Authenticity and
Credibility--The Miracle of the Arrest of the Sun and Moon in their Course--II. _Judges
and Ruth_--6. Name of this Book--Office of the Judges whose History it
records--Condition of the Hebrew Nation during the Administration of the Judges--Office
of this Book in the General Plan of Redemption--7. Arrangement of its Materials--its
Twofold Introduction; the Body of its History; its Two Appendixes--8. Its Date and
Authorship--9. Uncertainty of its Chronology--10. The Book of Ruth. Its Place in the
History of Redemption--III. _The Books of Samuel_--11. The Two Books of Samuel
originally One Work--Their Name--12. Their Office in the History of
Redemption--Eventful Character of the Period whose History they record--Change to the
Kingly Form of Government--God's Design in this--The Kingly Office Typical of
Christ--13. Contents of the Books of Samuel--Introductory Division; Second Division;
Third Division--14. Authorship and Date of their Composition--IV. _The Books of
Kings_--15. They Originally constituted a Single Book--Their Names and Office--Their
Manner of Execution--Their Main Divisions--16. The First Period--17. The Second
Period--18. The Third Period--19. Chronology of the Books of Kings. Their Date and
Authorship--V. _The Books of Chronicles_--20. They originally constituted One
Work--Their Various Names--They constitute an Independent Work--Their Office
different from that of the Books of Kings--Peculiarities which distinguish them from
these Books--Particular Attention to the Matter of Genealogy; Fullness of Detail in
Respect to the Temple Service; Omission of the History of the Kingdom of Israel; other
Omissions--21. Position of the Chronicles in the Hebrew Canon--Their Authorship and

Date--Their Relation to the Books of Kings--22. Difficulties connected with these
Books--VI. _Ezra and Nehemiah_--23. General Remarks on these Books--Change in the
Relation of the Hebrews to the Gentile Nations--Gradual Withdrawal of Supernatural
Manifestations--24. While the Theocracy went steadily forward to the Accomplishment
of its End--The Jews reclaimed from Idolatry in Connection with the
Captivity--Establishment of the Synagogue Service and its Great Influence--25. The
Book of Ezra--Its Authorship--Parts written in Chaldee--Persian Monarchs mentioned by
Ezra and Nehemiah--26. The Book of Nehemiah--Its Contents and Divisions--First
Division; Second Division; Third Division--27. Authorship and Date of the Book--VII.
_Esther_--28. Contents of this Book--Feast of Purim--29. The Ahasuerus of this
Book--Remarks on its History

CHAPTER XXI.
THE POETICAL BOOKS (INCLUDING ALSO ECCLESIASTES AND CANTICLES).
1. Books reckoned as Poetical by the Hebrews--Hebrew System of Accentuation--A.
_Characteristics of Hebrew Poetry_--_Its Spirit_--Harmony with the Spirit of the
Theocracy; Vivid Consciousness of God's Presence; Originality; Freshness and
Simplicity of Thought; Variety--Job and Isaiah. David, Solomon; Diversity of Themes;
Oriental Imagery; Theocratic Imagery--_Form of Hebrew Poetry_--3. Its Rhythm that of
Clauses--Antithetic Parallelism; Synonymous Parallelism; Synthetic
Parallelism--Combinations of the above Forms--Freedom of Hebrew Poetry--Peculiarities
of Diction--_Office of Hebrew Poetry_--4. The Celebration of God's Interpositions in
Behalf of the Covenant People; Song for the Sanctuary Service; Didactic Poetry;
Prophetic Poetry--B. _The Several Poetical Books_--I. _Job_--1. Survey of its Plan--6. Its
Design to Show the Nature of God's Providential Government over Men--7. Age to
which Job belonged--Age and Authorship of the Book--8. Its Historic Character--II. _The
Book of Psalms_--9. Its Office--Authors of the Psalms--Date of their Composition--10.
External Division of the Psalms into five Books--First Book; Second Book; Third Book;
Fourth Book; Fifth Book--Subscription appended to the Second Book--Principle of
Arrangement--Attempted Classification of the Psalms--Frequent Quotation of the Psalms
in the New Testament--11. Titles of the Psalms--the Dedicatory Title; Titles relating to
the Character of the Composition to the Musical Instruments, or the Mode of Musical
Performance--These Titles very Ancient, but not in all Cases Original--III. _The Proverbs
of Solomon_--12. Place of this Book in the System of Divine Revelation--13. Its Outward
Form--First Part; Second Part; Third Part; Fourth Part--14. Arrangement of the Book in
its Present Form--IV. _Ecclesiastes_--15. Authorship of this Book and its View of
Life--16. Summary of its Contents--V. _The Song of Solomon_--17. Meaning of the Title.
Ancient Jewish and Christian View of this Song--18. It is not a Drama, but a Series of