Excerpt from The Books of Chronicles Of the nine books included in the Kethubim or Hagiographa, the following are regarded as historical: Esther, Daniel, Chronicles, and Ezra and Nehemiah. The second of these is partly historical and partly prophetical, and belongs to the period of the captivity. The first is a monograph, standing by itself, and referring to a singular instance of the protection vouchsafed by Divine Providence to the Jews of the dispersion under the Persian Empire. The other three form really and designedly a continuous history from the beginning of time, and more fully from the accession of David to the administration of Nehemiah. The books of Chronicles are the only proper antecedent to the history of the times after the captivity. The Occasion. - The books of Ezra and Nehemiah contain a narrative of events occurring after the return of the Jews from the exile of seventy years; the former having for its central event the rebuilding of the temple, the latter the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem. The grand difference in the condition of this people after the captivity was this, that the civil and religious affairs of the nation were no longer governed by a common principle, or as we should say, that the state and the church were no longer the counterparts of one common polity. The ministers of religion still continued to acknowledge the supremacy of God and profess obedience to His law. But the rulers of the state had become subject to the paramount authority of a foreign and heathen power. It is true that a descendant of David was for some years the civil head of the community. But this was a short-lived and evanescent shadow of the kingdom that was to have no end. Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, was the leader of the returning colony. But we read of no descendant of his holding sway over Judah. It is true that the posterity of Judah continued to be a nation having a civil polity in certain respects peculiar to itself. But in other respects it was modified and controlled by the arbitrary will of an external power. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.