It is narrated that this high-priest was succeeded by Onias, his son, and he by “Simon the Just,” who was called by the Jews the last of the men of the Great Synagogue. It was during the priesthood of this Simon that, according to the general opinion of both Jewish and Christian writers, the final addition was made to the Canon of the Old Testament. Simon, who was not only high-priest, but a man of great learning and of most fervent piety and devotion to the Law, is said to have added the books of Chronicles, of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and the prophecy of Malachi; after which, as Josephus writes, there was no further change, omission, or addition. The Old Testament Canon was closed then for ever. PERIOD VII. THE NEW TESTAMENT ERA. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF OUR SAVIOUR. THE PLANTING OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. CHAPTER I. FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY. =1.= No other people have had stronger motives for cherishing the memories of their past than have had the Jews. One of the most important sources of Jewish pride was found in their =genealogical records=. The history of the return from captivity and of the renewed settlement in Palestine, as recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, shows how important these records were considered to be. But the most important of all the records were those which traced any lineage up to David, and there is no reason to believe that a true line of descent was ever forgotten. Not only the genealogy of the male members, but also that of the female members of a family, were preserved, as we may learn from Scripture accounts and certainly from secular history. A supposed defect in the genealogy of the mother of John Hyrcanus, a high-priest, B. C. 108, was the cause of bloodshed in Jerusalem[155] because of the insult offered to the high-priest by the bare announcement of such a defect, although it was shown that the genealogical records certified her descent from a Jewish tribe. =2. The Virgin Mary’s genealogy= was as important as that of Joseph, her reputed husband, although her husband’s genealogy might have been perfect, as in the instance given in the last paragraph. In the case of Hyrcanus, his father’s origin, according to the Jewish law, was without defect; it was the mother’s pedigree which was assailed. Especially was it important to the priest’s office that the mother of the candidate for this office should be of unquestioned Jewish descent. =3. It is for this reason= that while the writer of the first Gospel (Matthew) opens his history of the Messiah with the answer to the important question, Whose son is he? the writer of the third Gospel (Luke) gives the lineage of his mother. So that, whether Christ’s pedigree be traced through the line of Joseph or of Mary, it is undeniable that he was descended from David and from Abraham.[156]