Israelite theocracy, the death of 75,000 Jew-hating Gentiles throughout the Persian Empire during the reign of Xerxes cannot provide a valid objection to the inspiration and canonicity of the book (cf. my comments on 8:11) any more than the death of the firstborn throughout Egypt constitutes an objection to the inspiration of the book of Exodus. These inspired books show us that God took the Abrahamic Covenant seriously. In the one case miraculously and in the other case providentially, God thwarted