passover, settlement of the land, establishment of the sanctuary in it—is brought in at the end, precisely in Ezra-Nehemiah, thereby imposing a new, contemporary meaning on the history as a whole. What is implied is that the author was no longer content with the literal meaning of the events, especially the occupation of the land and treatment of its inhabitants, and therefore chose to interpret them typologically with reference to the possibilities and constraints of the new situation confronting