The chief design of these books is, to compleat the history of the kings of Judah; to gather up fragments of sacred history, which were omitted in the books of Samuel and Kings; to explain some passages there mentioned, and to give an exact account of the genealogies. This was then a work of great necessity, to preserve the distinction of the tribes and families; that it might appear, Christ came of that nation, tribe and family, of which he was to be born. And this account, having been hitherto neglected, is most seasonably mentioned in these books, compiled by Ezra after the captivity, because this was to be, in a manner, the last part of the Sacred history of the Old Testament. If many things herein are now obscure to us, they were not so to the Hebrews. And all the persons here named were known to them, by those exact genealogies, which they kept in their several families, and in public registers. In this first book we have a collection of Sacred genealogies, from Adam to David, with several histories inserted, chap. 1 - 9. An account of the translation of the kingdom from Saul to David, and of David's reign, chap. 10 - 21. An account of the settlement of ecclesiastical affairs by David, and of his preparations for building the temple, chap. 22 - 29. These are words of days as the Hebrew title runs, of the best days of the Old Testament Church. But now He is come, for whose sake the registers were preserved, the Jews have lost all their genealogies, even that of the priests, so that there is not any man in the world, that can prove himself of the house of Aaron.