The Law is then subdivided into five books, as we now have them; for the names of which see the introduction to the Pentateuch.  Chap. 19, No. 1.

With reference to this five-fold division of the Law, the Rabbins call it the five-fifths of the Law, each book being reckoned as one-fifth.  This term answers to the word Pentateuch, that is, the five-fold book.  Chap. 9, beginning.

The second great class consists of the so-called Prophets.  These are first divided into the former and the latter Prophets.  The former Prophets consist of the historical books:  Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, in the order named.  The latter comprise the prophetical books in the stricter sense of the word, with the exception of Daniel; and these are subdivided into the greater and the less.  The greater Prophets 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