4. _Compilation and Spirit of the Books of Chronicles:_ "Though the latest of all the canonical writings, it represents the workmanship of many generations. It resembles the structure of an ancient cathedral, with fragments of every style worked into the building as it proceeded,--here a piece of the most hoary antiquity, there a precious relic of a lost hymn or genealogy of some renowned psalmist or warrior,--but all preserved, and wrought together, as by the workmen of mediaeval times, under the guidance of the same sacerdotal mind, with the spirit of the same priestly order. Far below the prophetic books of the Kings in interest and solidity, it yet furnishes a useful counterpart by filling up the voids with materials which none but the peculiar traditions and feelings of the Levitical caste could have supplied. It is the culminating point of the purely Levitical system, both in what it relates, in what it omits, and the manner of its relations and omissions." (Dean Stanley, quoted in Smith's Bible Dictionary, p. 432.) 5. _The Birth Right to Joseph:_ "It should be remembered that to Joseph, the son of Jacob, a double portion of honor was granted in Israel. While no tribe is especially called by his name, yet two tribes are his through his sons, viz., the tribe of Ephraim and the tribe of Manasseh. This came about in the following manner: Reuben, the first born of Jacob defiled his father's wife Bilhah. For which awful crime he lost his place as a prince in the house of Israel, which place was given indirectly to Joseph, the son of Jacob, by his wife Rachel. Why I say indirectly is because Ephraim, Joseph's younger son, was the one who received the blessing of the first born from the patriarch Jacob, and it is for this reason that the Lord was wont to say, "I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born." In proof see Special Text of lesson; also Y. M. M. I. A. Manual 1905-6, p. 330. LESSON IX. _THE HISTORICAL BOOKS.--(Continued.)_ ANALYSIS. REFERENCES. _I. The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah._ Books of Ezra and _Historical Period._ Nehemiah; Note 1. Also 1. Book of Ezra. all Bible Dictionaries (a) Authorship. and Helps cited in previous (b) Character of Contents. lessons in Part II, 2. Book of Nehemiah. under titles of "Ezra," (a) Authorship. "Nehemiah." (b) Contents.