27.  They were appointed to be the scourge of other nations, whose crimes rendered them fit objects of divine chastisement.  For the sake of righteous Abraham, their founder, and perhaps for many other wise reasons, undiscovered to us, they were selected from a world over-run with idolatry, to preserve upon earth the pure worship of the one only God, and to be honoured with the birth of the Messiah amongst them.  For this end, they were precluded, by divine command, from mixing with any other people, and defended, by a great number of peculiar rites and observances, from falling into the corrupt worship practised by their neighbours.

Of Judges, Samuel, and Kings.

28.  The book of Judges, in which you will find the affecting stories of Sampson and Jeptha, carries on the history from the death of Joshua, about two hundred and fifty years; but, the facts are not told in the times in which they happened, which makes some confusion; and it will be necessary to consult the marginal dates and notes, as well as the index, in order to get any clear idea of the succession of events during that period.

29.  The history then proceeds regularly through the two books of Samuel, and those of Kings:  nothing can be more interesting and entertaining than the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon:  but, after the death of Solomon, when ten tribes revolted from his son Rehoboam, and became a separate kingdom, you will find some difficulty in understanding distinctly the histories of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which are blended together, and by the likeness of the names, and other particulars, will be apt to confound your mind, without great attention to the different threads thus carried on together:  The index here will be of great use to you.  The second book of Kings concludes with the Babylonish captivity, 588 years before Christ—­’till which time the kingdom of Judah had descended uninterruptedly in the line of David.

Of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

30.  The first book of Chronicles begins with a genealogy from Adam, through all the tribes of Israel and Judah; and the remainder is the same history which is contained in the books of Kings, with little or no variation, till the separation of the ten tribes:  From that period it proceeds with the history of the kingdom of Judah alone, and gives, therefore, a more regular and clear account of the affairs of Judah, than the book of Kings.  You may pass over the first book of Chronicles, and the nine first chapters of the second book:  but, by all means, read the remaining chapters, as they will give you more clear and distinct ideas of the history of Judah, than that you read in the second book of Kings.  The second of Chronicles ends, like the second of Kings, with the Babylonish captivity.

31.  You must pursue the history in the book of Ezra, which gives the account of the return of some of the Jews on the edict of Cyrus, and of the re-building the Lord’s temple.