ophets
are Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The less are the twelve Minor
Prophets from Hosea to Malachi, in the same order as that followed in
our English version.

The remaining books of the Old Testament constitute the _third_ great
class, under the name of _Writings_, _Hagiographa_; and they are
commonly arranged in the following order: Psalms, Proverbs, Job,
Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra,
Nehemiah, Chronicles. These books naturally fall into three groups.
_First_, devotional and didactic--the three so-called poetical books of
Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, which have in Hebrew a stricter rhythm;
_secondly_, the five rolls--Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes,
Esther; so called because written on five separate rolls for use in the
synagogue service on the occasion of special festivals; _thirdly_, books
that are chiefly of an historical character--Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and
Chronicles.

The Talmud arranges the Greater Prophets thus: Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Isaiah. Of the Hagiographa, various other arrangements,
Masoretic and Talmudic, are given, which it is not necessary
here to specify.

That the writing of sacred history belonged to the prophetical
office is clear from various scriptural notices. Compare 1
Chron. 29:29; 2 Chron, 9:29; 12:15; 20:34; 26:22; 32:32, 33:19.
The narrative concerning Sennacherib inserted in the second book
of Kings (18:13-19:37) is manifestly from the pen of Isaiah. The
Rabbins rightly ascribed the composition of the historical as
well as the other books which compose, according to their
division, the _Prophets_, to prophetical men. But the grounds
upon which they separated from these certain books, as, for
example, Daniel, and placed them among the Hagiographa, are not
clear. Some of the rabbins made the distinction to lie in the
_degree of inspiration_, Moses enjoying it in the fullest
measure (Numb. 12:6-8), the authors of the books which are
classed among the prophets having _the Spirit of prophecy_, and
those of the books belonging to the Hagiographa simply _the Holy
Spirit_ (the Holy Spirit, but not in the degree necessary for
prophetic revelation). But this distinction is untenable. Who
had the spirit of prophecy if not Daniel? In the opinion of some
modern scholars, they reckoned to the Prophets only books
written by men who were prophets in the st