1. The Deluge B. C. 2348 2. The Dispersion of the Races " 2247 3. The Rise of the Empires " 2200 4. The Migration of Abraham " 1921 5. The Descent into Egypt " 1706 6. The Exodus from Egypt " 1491 7. The Battle of Beth-horon " 1451 8. The Death of Joshua " 1426 9. The Victory of Gideon " 1245 10. The Coronation of Saul " 1095 11. The Accession of David " 1055 12. The Division of the Kingdom " 975 13. The Fall of Samaria " 721 14. The Captivity at Babylon " 587 15. The Return from Captivity " 536 16. The Reforms of Ezra " 450 17. The Empire of Alexander " 330 18. The Maccabean Independence " 166 19. The Accession of Herod " 40 20. The Birth of Christ " 4 PREFACE. THE New Testament is the outgrowth and development of the Old. There is no revelation in the gospels or the epistles which is not in its essence contained in the elder Scripture; though to make it manifest required the incarnation of God's Son and the descent of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, to understand the New Testament it is necessary to study the Old Testament. We cannot appreciate Matthew's point of view of Christ as the Messiah until we have looked upon the throne of David, and Solomon in all his glory; the theology of Paul is blind until read in the light of Moses and Isaiah; and Hebrews will obtain a new meaning when placed side by side with Leviticus. Every chapter in the New Testament has its references to parallel passages in the Old Testament. When we open the Old Testament we find it, first of all, a book of history. We are apt to look upon the Bible as a dictionary of doctrine, wherein we are to search for sentences as proof-texts. But instead it contains the story of redemption in the form of a history. We see how God chose a family and pruned off its dead branches and caused it to grow into a nation; then, how he trained and disciplined that nation through fifteen centuries, until upon it blossomed the Divine Man. The history of the Bible is the history of humanity, of literature, of ethics, of religion, of doctrine; and no one who studies it carefully will fail of an abundant reward for his endeavor.