=3.= The various sects of Pharisees, with their oral tradition and “unwritten law,” and the Kabalists, with their fanciful and secret interpretations, had not arisen at the time of Ezra. The Scriptures were gathered and copied mainly for instruction; and, as we learn from Ezra and Nehemiah, the people were as earnest as the teachers in their desire that the Scriptures should be known and distinctly understood, and this object appears to have been sincerely pursued in the work prosecuted at that time. At this period the exclusive demand was for those writings which should enlighten the people as to duty, both in regard to the divine law and providence, and for such writings as should illustrate their history as under the Law and as seen in God’s dealings with their fathers. That the influence of the Law and of the teachings of their prophets powerfully controlled their actions and lives is evident from the fact that they never again fell into idolatry. Their truthfulness to their promises and their good faith as a people were so apparent that these traits frequently led to their appointment to positions of trust and privilege among several of the surrounding nations. =4.= It was under these conditions of character and motive that the learned scribes of these times made the first general collection of Hebrew literature then existing. The names of several books[154] which were extant either at the time of this gathering of the Canonical Books or before, are mentioned in the Scriptures; but if they had been considered worthy of the Canon they would probably have been preserved by copy or repetition. All that was valuable or important to the histories which were preserved in the Scriptures was extracted from them and contained in the Canonical Books as we have them at present. Judging from certain statements in the genealogies and in the concluding history, the book of Chronicles was the last that was written. The book of Nehemiah however has some additions, Neh. 12:10, 11, 22, of genealogies which bring the high-priests down to the time of Alexander the Great, as Josephus (Vol. V., Book II., ch. 8) shows, who states that Jaddua, whose name occurs in the book of Nehemiah, was high-priest and the last under the Persian rule, and must therefore have lived in the time when Alexander the Great, after the battle of Issus, B. C. 334, visited Jerusalem, B. C. 332, during the high-priesthood of Jaddua.