From the preface: "The following pages will explain themselves. Their object is to set before the reader a brief but intelligible account of the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, and a history of the times to which they belong. An endeavour has been made to omit nothing that calls for comment or explanation, and thus to present the Biblical student with a work that, while serving the purposes of a commentary, forms a continuous narrative, and is of manageable size. Its distinguishing peculiarity is the use made in it of recent monumental discoveries, more especially of the inscriptions of Cyrus; and the scholar will notice one or two illustrations of Holy Writ that are here given for the first time. Those who wish for more detailed information regarding the newly-found records of the past, and the testimony they bear to the truth of the Old Testament Scriptures, may refer to the volumes entitled ' Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments, ' ' Assyria: its Princes, Priests and People, ' and ' The Hittites; or, the Story of a Forgotten Empire, ' published by the Religious Tract Society."