_II. The Book of Esther._ "Esther," and "Purim," 1. Authorship. Book of Esther, Chaps. 2. Historical Character. I to X. 3. The Feast of Purim as Witness of Its Historical Character. 4. Its omission of the name of God. _SPECIAL TEXT: "Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there."_--NEHEMIAH. _NOTES._ 1. _Historical Period of Ezra and Nehemiah:_ "The time covered by the two books of Ezra and Nehemiah together is about a century; for the narrative of Ezra begins in the first year of the reign of Cyrus, 538 B. C., and that of Nehemiah stops soon after the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, 432 B. C. A great part of this space, however, is left without record; and we may distinguish three periods: 1. The period that elapsed from the first return of exiles to the completion of the temple; 2. the time of Ezra's activity as leader of the second colony of returned exiles; and 3, the period when Ezra and Nehemiah are seen together in the work of reformation at Jerusalem. The first two periods are embraced in the book of Ezra; the last, in the book of Nehemiah." (Bible Treasury, p. 69.)