BIBLE 



708 



BIBLE 



ending," and the no less charming but more 

 stirring prose epic of Esther. There are books 

 of Bible stories without number, some excel- 

 lent, some mediocre and some poor; but as 

 soon as the child is old enough he should be 

 given his Bible stories in Bible language. Not 

 only does this enhance their charm, but it gives 

 the boy or girl a taste of well-chosen, virile 

 English which most of the harmless but care- 

 lessly constructed children's books of the 

 present day do not afford. The story of the 



Three Wise Men, the moral from the tale of 



;the Good Samaritan and the warning in the 

 handwriting on the wall cannot be excelled in 



. this twentieth century. 



Biblical Chronology. The general reader of 



'the Bible, as well as the student, cannot fail 

 to be interested in the location of the events 

 in time. Does anyone know when Abraham 

 went out from Ur of the Chaldees? Did 

 David live before or after the Trojan War? 

 The Jews reckoned time from the Creation 

 of the world, and by computing the genera- 

 tions before and after the Deluge, worked out 

 a complete system of chronology. According 

 to them, the creation of the world took place 

 about 4,000 years before the birth of Christ, 

 and the outstanding events occurred in the 

 years here set down: 



Creation of the world (B. c. ) 4000 



The Flood 3200 



Call of Abraham 2000 



Israelites enter Egypt 1700 



The Exodus 1300 



Saul anointed king 1095 



David began to reign 1055 



Solomon began to reign 1015 



Division of the kingdom 975 



Fall of the kingdom of Israel 722 

 Fall of the kingdom of Judah 586 

 Return from the Captivity... 536 

 Conquest of Palestine by Al- 

 t' exander 330 



Capture of Jerusalem by 



Pompey 63 



The correctness of these dates previous to 

 the reign of Saul, it should be stated, is open 

 to serious criticism, and among historians and 

 Bible students Hebrew chronology is consid- 

 ered to stand by itself until such time as the 

 dates given coincide with dates of events in 

 secular history. 



Books of the Bible. The table which follows 

 lists the books of the Bible and gives their 

 authors, so far as they are known, but it must 

 be borne 'in mind that often the authorship 

 cited here is merely traditional. The books 

 marked with a star are those about which 



Psalms 



Proverbs 



there has been most controversy and uncer- 

 tainty. Separate articles on the more impor- 

 tant of the books listed here will be found in 

 their alphabetical order in this work: 



THE OLD TESTAMENT 



Book Author 



Genesis Moses 



Exodus Moses 



Leviticus Moses 



Numbers Moses 



Deuteronomy Moses 



Joshua Joshua 



Judges *Samuel 



Ruth Unknown 



I and II Samuel Unknown 



I and II Kings Unknown 



I and II Chronicles *Ezra 



Ezra Ezra 



Nehemiah Ezra 



Esther 'Unknown 



Job Uncertain 



' David 

 Asaph 

 Levites 

 Hezekiah 

 Solomon 

 Prophets 

 ' Solomon 

 Agur 



Ecclesiastes Unknown 



Song of Solomon Solomon 



Isaiah Isaiah 



Jeremiah Jeremiah 



Lamentations Jeremiah 



Ezekiel Ezekiel 



Daniel Daniel 



Hosea Hosea 



Joel Joel 



Amos Amos 



Obadiah Obadiah 



Jonah Jonah 



Micah Micah 



Nahum *Nahum 



Habakkuk . . Habakkuk 



Zephaniah Zephaniah 



Haggai Haggai 



Zechariah Zechariah 



Malachi Malachi 



THE NEW TESTAMENT 



Matthew Matthew 



Mark Mark 



Luke Luke 



John John 



Acts of the Apostles Luke 



Pauline Epistles Saint Paul 



Romans 



I and II Corinthians 



Galatians 



Ephesians 



Philippians 



Colossians 



I and II Thessalonians 



I and II Timothy 



Titus 



Philemon 



James James 



I and II Peter Peter 



