An example of apparent error in transcription is 2 Sam. 24:13 compared with 1 Chron. 21:12; the former passage specifying _seven_ years of famine, the latter _three_ years. For other examples see 2 Sam. 8:4 compared with 1 Chron. 18:4; 2 Sam. 23:8 with 1 Chron. 11:11; 1 Kings 4:26 with 2 Chron. 9:25. We are not to infer, however, that all cases of apparent disagreement involve error in one or the other of the records. When the events of a whole campaign, for example, are crowded into single sentences, it is not surprising that the different narratives should contain seeming discrepancies which a full knowledge of the details would enable us to reconcile. The separate discussion of the difficulties presented by the books of Chronicles, as compared with the earlier histories, belongs to the commentator. It is sufficient to remark here, that independent parallel histories always exhibit, with substantial agreement, minor diversities which it is sometimes not easy to harmonize. It has not pleased God that in this respect the sacred narratives of either the Old or the New Testament should constitute an exception to the general rule. The parallel narratives of our Lord's life contain as many and as great diversities as those of the old Hebrew commonwealth. Though we may not always be able to show how these are to be brought into harmony, they constitute no valid objection to the authenticity of the histories in the one case any more than in the other. VI. EZRA AND NEHEMIAH.