r the doctrine of sacrifice; and but a few
of the prophets portrayed a king, in their description of the period of
ideal prosperity.

The man who first gave public sanction to a portion of the national
literature was Ezra, who laid the foundation of a canon. He was the leader
in restoring the theocracy after the exile, "a ready scribe in the law of
Moses, who had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to teach
in Israel statutes and judgments." As we are told that he brought the book
of the law of Moses before the congregation and read it publicly, the idea
naturally arises that he was the final redactor of the Pentateuch,
separating it from the historical work consisting of Joshua and the
subsequent writings, of which it formed the commencement. Such was the
first canon given to the Jewish Church after its reconstruction--ready for
temple service as well as synagogue use. Henceforward the Mosaic book
became an authoritative guide in spiritual, ecclesiastical, and civil
matters, as we infer from various passages in Ezra and Nehemiah and from
the chronicler's own statements in the book bearing his name. The doings
of Ezra with regard to the Scriptures are deduced not only from what we
read of him in the Biblical book that bears his name, but also from the
legend in the fourth book of Ezdras,(35) where it is related that he
dictated by inspiration to five ready writers ninety-four books; the first
twenty-four of which he was ordered to publish openly that the worthy and
unworthy might read, but reserved the last seventy for the wise. Though
the twenty-four books of the Old Testament cannot be attributed to him,
the fact that he copied and wrote portions need not be questioned. He
edited _the law_, making the first canon or collection of books, and
giving it an authority which it had not before. Talmudic accounts
associate with him the men of the great synagogue. It is true that they
are legendary, but there is a foundation of fact beneath the fanciful
superstructure. As to Ezra's treatment of the Pentateuch, or his specific
mode of redaction, we are left for the most part to conjecture. Yet it is
safe to affirm that he added;--making new precepts and practices either in
place of or beside older ones. Some things he removed as unsuited to the
altered circumstances of the people; others he modified. He threw back
later enactments into earlier times. It is difficult to discover all the
parts that betray his hand.