to the subject have been hunted up and compared
together. These statements are, indeed, scanty and incomplete,
and many a detail is still obscure; but the main facts have
been completely ascertained.

"_Before the Babylonish captivity, Israel had no sacred
writings._ There were certain laws, prophetic writings, and a
few historical books, but no one had ever thought of ascribing
binding and divine authority to these documents.

"_Ezra brought the priestly law with him from Babylon,
altering it and amalgamating it with the narratives and laws
already in existence, and thus produced the Pentateuch in
pretty much the same form_ (though not quite, as we shall
show) _as we still have it. These books got the name of the
'Law of Moses,' or simply the 'Law.'_ Ezra introduced them
into Israel (B. C. 444), and gave them binding authority, _and
from that time forward they were considered divine_."[95:4]

From the time of Ezra until the year 287 B. C., when the Pentateuch was
translated into Greek by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, King of Egypt,
these books evidently underwent some changes. This the writer quoted
above admits, in saying:

"Later still (viz., after the time of Ezra), _a few more
changes and additions were made_, and so the Pentateuch grew
into its present form."[96:1]

In answer to those who claim that the Pentateuch was written by _one_
person, Bishop Colenso says:

"It is certainly inconceivable that if the _Pentateuch_ be the
production of _one and the same hand throughout_, it should
contain _such a number of glaring inconsistencies_. . . . No
single author could have been guilty of such absurdities; but
it is quite possible, and what was almost sure to happen in
such a case, that, if the Pentateuch be the work of _different
authors_ in _different ages_, this fact should betray itself
_by the existence of contradictions in the narrative_."[96:2]

Having ascertained the origin of the Pentateuch, or first five books of
the Old Testament, it will be unnecessary to refer to the others _here_,
as we have nothing to do with _them_ in our investigations. Suffice it
to say then, that: "In the earlier period after Ezra, _none of the other
books_ which already existed, enjoyed the same authority as the
Pentateuch."[96:3]

It is probable[96:4] that Nehemiah made a collection of histor