Christ in All the Scriptures by A.M. Hodgkin

• Title Page
• Introduction
• Christ in the Pentateuch
• Christ in the Historical Books
  • Joshua
  • Judges
  • Ruth
  • The Six Books of Kings
  • 1 Samuel
  • 2 Samuel
  • 1 Kings
  • 2 Kings
  • 1 Chronicles
  • 2 Chronicles
  • Ezra
  • Nehemiah
  • Esther
• Christ in the Poetical Books
• Christ in the Prophets
• Christ in His Life on Earth
• Christ in Resurrection Power
• Christ in Future Glory

their way unto the Lord, for Ezra was “ashamed” to ask for a guard of soldiers. No doubt the remembrance of God’s deliverance of His people under Esther, which had occurred during the interval of the sixty years, made Ezra doubly sure of His protection now.

A Man in Dead Earnest. This interval had been once more a period of backsliding among the Jews at Jerusalem. They had again intermarried with the idolatrous nations around. The only reason for Israel’s existence as a nation was to be a holy people, separated unto the Lord; and when Ezra heard how utterly Israel had failed he was overcome with grief and “sat down astonied until the evening sacrifice.” Again, at that sacred hour relief came. He poured out his soul in a deep agony of prayer to God, associating himself with his people in confession of sin. His prayer, coming from his very heart, touched the hearts of the people, and, assembling in great numbers, men, women, and children, they caught the fire of his spirit and “wept very sore.” But this contrition did not end with weeping, They took sides with God against themselves, and promised to stand by Ezra in his work of reformation. It needed all Ezra’s courage to carry it through, and no doubt the authority of the king’s letter was part of God’s provision for His servant. Out of the whole population there were a hundred and twelve cases of these mixed marriages, and the Law of Moses was applied to them all.

Nehemiah

An interval of about twelve years had passed since the reforms of Ezra, when Nehemiah obtained leave of King Artaxerxes, to whom he bore the office of cup-bearer, to go up to Jerusalem. His spirit had been stirred by the news of the desolate condition of the city with its broken walls. Nehemiah found it even as he had heard, and he gathered the elders together and told them of the good hand of his God upon him, and they said, “Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.”

The Key-note of this book again is Restoration. It is practically a continuation of the Book of Ezra. In that we saw the Temple rebuilt; in this the walls. The restoration began at the heart of things and spread outwards. When the heart is right with God, and established as His dwelling-place, the outward work of His service in the world can go forward. This whole