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     * strange wives.
     # Pr 2:16; 5:3,20|
     * and some of them.
       This observation was probably intended to shew that only a few
       of them had children, and also how rigorously the law was put
       in execution.  According to a passage in Justin Martyr's
       Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, Ezra offered a paschal lamb on
       this occasion, and addressed the people thus:  "And Ezra said
       to the people, This pass-over is our Saviour and our Refuge;
       and if ye will be persuaded of it, and let it enter into your
       hearts, that we are to humble to Him in a sign, and afterwards
       shall believe in Him, this place shall not be destroyed for
       ever, saith the Lord of hosts; but, if ye will not believe in
       Him, nor hearken to his preaching, ye shall be a
       laughing-stock to the Gentiles."  This was probably a marginal
       note added by some early Christian.

                 CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE BOOK OF EZRA.

       This book details the events of a very interesting period of
       the Sacred History, when, according to the decree of
       Providence, the Jewish people were to be delivered from their
       captivity, at the expiration of seventy years, and restored to
       the land of their fathers.  This book informs us how the
       Divine goodness accomplished this most gracious design, and
       the movers and agents He employed on the occasion.  Ezra was
       undoubtedly the chief agent under God in effecting this
       arduous work; and his zeal, piety, knowledge, and discretion,
       appear here in a most conspicuous point of view, and claim our
       utmost admiration.  Descended from Seraiah, in a direct line
       from Aaron, he seems to have united all the requisites of a
       profound statesmen with the functions of the sacerdotal
       character.  He appears to have made the Sacred Scriptures,
       during the captivity, his peculiar study; and, perhaps
       assisted by Nehemiah and the great synagogue, he corrected the
       errors which had crept into the Sacred Writings, through the
       negligence or mistake of transcribers; he collected all the
       books of which the Sacred Scriptures then consisted, disposed
       them in their proper order, and settled the canon of
       Scriptures for his time; he occasionally added, under the
       dictation of the Holy Spirit, whatever appeared necessary for
       the purpose of illustrating, completing, or connecting them;
       he substituted the modern for the ancient names of some
       places, which had now become obsolete; and transcribed the
       whole of the Scriptures into the Chaldee character.  He is
       said to have lived to the age of 120; years, and, according to
       Josephus, was buried in Jerusalem; but the Jews believe he
       died in Persia, in a second journey to Artaxerxes, where his
       tomb is shown in the city of Zamusa.  Though not styled a
       prophet, he wrote under the Divine Spirit; and the canonical
       authority of his book has never been disputed.  It is written
       with all the spirit and fidelity that could be displayed by a
       writer of contemporary times; and those parts which chiefly
       consist of letters, decrees, etc., are written in Chaldee,
       because it seemed more suitable to the fidelity of a sacred
       historian to give these official documents, as they may be
       termed, in the original language, especially as the people,
       recently returned from the captivity, were familiar, and
       perhaps more conversant with the Chaldee, than with the
       Hebrew.