* 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.