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CHAPTER III.

HEBREW CHRONOLOGY.

From the Birth of Christ to the Creation.

By general consent the birth of Christ is made the central point of all sacred chronology, the Christian ages being reckoned forward from that point (A. D.) and the Jewish or earlier ages being reckoned backward (B. C.). We treat of the latter only.Going backward from the Christian era, there is general agreement and no reasonable ground for diversity till we reach the period of the Judges of Israel. The cardinal points are:

B. C.

The decree of Cyrus for the restoration of the Jews. 536 The duration of the captivity, from the fourth year

606

of Jehoiakim, 70 years (But counted from the fall of the city under Zedekiah, 52 years only.)

From the revolt, first year of Rehoboam to the fall of the city, 388 years..

To the founding of the temple, beginning of Solomon's fourth year, 37 years..

976

....1013

This last epoch has chronological importance-the foundation of the temple laid-A. D. 1013.

The first disputed, diversely estimated, point is the period of the Judges; yet the proof texts and authorities cover the period from the Exodus to the temple. Usher makes the period of the Judges 339 years; Jahn and many others, 450. Usher relies on 1 K. 6: 1: “In the 480th year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel..... he began to build the house of the Lord."

His computation runs thus:

Hebrews in the wilderness..
Hebrews under Joshua..

YEARS.

40

17

Samuel and Saul together*..

David (2 Sam. 5: 4, 5)

Solomon up to the founding of the temple
Judges-to fill out 480..

YEARS.

40

41

3

.339

480

The long period for the Judges rests primarily on Acts 13: 20, which states that "after having divided to them the land of Canaan by lot, God gave them judges 450 years until Samuel the prophet." Placing 450 in the above computation in place of 339-an excess of 111 years-we find the date of the Exodus B. C. 1604 instead of Usher's figures A. D. 1491.

In support of this long period for the Judges may be urged

(1.) The authority of Paul as above (Acts 13: 20) which makes this period 450 years.

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(2.) Josephus makes the interval from the Exodus to the founding of the temple 592 years, and not 480. The Jews of China also make it 592-facts which favor the supposition that the Hebrew text of 1 K. 6: 1, is in error. It can not be supposed that either Josephus or the Chinese Jews adjusted their figures to harmonize with Paul.

(3.) The internal dates in the Book of Judges demand the long period and can not be harmonized with the short one. Thus Judges 11: 26 shows that the Hebrews had then dwelt in Heshbon, Aroer and along the coast of Arnon 300 years. These years lie between the entrance into Canaan and the beginning of Jephthah's judgeship. We have then this computation:

YEARS.

300 years, minus 17 years for the term of Joshua, is..283 Add for Jephthah (Judg. 12: 6).

6

ing to Judg. 12: 8, 11, 14)....

25

40

For Ibzan 7 years; for Elon 10; for Abdon 8 (accord

Servitude to the Philistines (Judg. 13: 1).....

Sampson (Judg. 15: 20 and 16: 31) not less than... 20 Eli (1 Sam. 4: 18)...

40

*Josephus states explicitly that Samuel and Saul combined fill out 40 years.

YEARS.

A period without dates (narrated Judg. 17-21) estimated at.

Makes a total of..

40

...454

It is entirely impossible to bring these internal dates in the history within the short period of 339 years for the Judges. We must therefore accept the long period-450 years—and place the Exodus in 1013+591= B. C. 1604.

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The next period of conflicting authorities is the Sojourn in Egypt. The issue lies between the long period, 430 years, and the short one, 215 years. The first proof text is Ex. 12: 40: "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years.' Next is Gen. 15: 13: "Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not theirs and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them 400 years"-which is quoted substantially by Stephen, Ac. 7: 6.On the other hand stands. Gal. 3: 17, which makes the giving of the law on Sinai 430 years after the covenant made with Abraham. The interval from that covenant to Jacob's standing before Pharaoh is readily computed thus: From the covenant with Abram, he being then 75 years old (Gen. 12:4) to the birth of Isaac, Abraham 100 years old (Gen. 21: 5) is 25 years. From birth of Isaac to birth of Jacob (Gen. 25: 26) 60.-Jacob standing before Pharaoh (Gen. 47: 9) at 130, the sum of which numbers is 215. According to Paul, this would leave for the sojourn in Egypt but 215 years.

A distinct class of proofs came from an estimate of the generations between the fathers who went down into Egypt and the sons who entered Canaan. Of this, presently.

Reverting now to the obviously conflicting proof texts above cited, we may note that Ex. 12: 40 is read variously the Septuagint (Vatican text) adding after "dwelt in Egypt," the words "and in the land of Canaan;" while the Alexandrian text of the Septuagint adds also-"they and their fathers." these additions appear also in the Samaritan text and in the Targum Jonathan; while the Masoretic Hebrew is supported by the more reliable Targum of Onkelos;

Both

also by the Syriac and the Vulgate. These additions as in the Septuagint are clumsily made. The dwelling in Canaan, referring to Abraham and Isaac, should come in before the dwelling in Egypt if at all, and not after. The diversity between the two texts of the Septuagint is suspicious. The authority of the old Hebrew text stands unshaken.

The passage Gen 15: 13 is strong to the same purport, since it was "in a land not his own” (i. e.`not Canaan), and was a state of tyrannous oppression which was to continue 400 years-points which forbid us to include in this 400 years the life-history of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.-As to Paul (Gal. 3: 17) his readers had before them only the Septuagint; he would therefore naturally follow its authority, and the more readily because the difference between that and the Hebrew in the length of the interval was a point of no importance to his argument.

The evidence from the lapse of generations during the sojourn in Egypt is of great, not to say decisive, importance to our question. Here, however, opinions as to its bearing differ totally. One of the test passages is Ex. 6: 16-20, which makes the whole age of Levi 137 years; of Kohath, his son, 133; of Amram-apparently his son and the father of Moses, 137. The age of Moses when he stood before Pharaoh (Ex. 7:7) was 80. Kohath was born in Canaan; his father was older by several years than Benjamin; presumably, therefore, hist children were older; yet Benjamin had ten sons when he went down into Egypt (Gen. 46: 21). If we suppose that Kohath was 25 when he went into Egypt, then he lived there 108 years. Amram lived there 137, and Moses at the Exodus had lived 80. With these given generations and ages, this computation is stretched to its utmost extent since it supposes Kohath's death at 133 and Amram's birth to have occurred in the same year; also Amram's death at 137 and the birth of Moses to be in the same year; yet the sum is only 325, which is less by 105 years than the long period. With these data the short period (215) might be readily provided

for.

But several circumstances combine to show that there must be several omitted links between the Amram

here spoken of, and Kohath. For in this genealogical list (Ex. 6: 16-20) we have but two names between Levi, the tribe-father, and Moses, viz. Kohath and Amram. But between Joseph, a younger tribe-father, and Zelophehad, a contemporary of Moses, there are four intervening names (Num. 26: 28-33); between Judah and Bezaleel there are six (1 Chron. 2: 3-5, 18-20); between Joseph (through Ephraim) and Joshua, there are nine (1 Chron. 7: 22-27). Again, we have in Num. 3: 27, 28, a census of the four Kohath families. The males, from one month and upward, are 8600. If we set off one-fourth of these to Amram (i. e. 2150) and remember that the Amram who was father to Moses had but one other son, Aaron, (known to this genealogy) with four sons, and that Moses had but two, we shall see it utterly impossible that the male offspring of Moses and of Aaron could number 2150. Therefore Amram, the immediate son of Kohath, must have been several generations back of the Amram who was father of Moses. The genealogy of Jochebed, the mother of Moses, might also be explained, but space forbids.The vast increase of Hebrew population, from the 70 souls who went down into Egypt to the 600,000 men of age for war who went out (Ex. 12: 37), suggests a longer time than 215 years. The evidence on the whole preponderates decisively against the shorter and in favor of the longer period, 430 years.

The third doubtful period in Hebrew chronology lies between Abraham and his father Terah, the question being the age of Terah at Abraham's birth. Some authorities make it 70 years; others, 130. The proof texts are-(a.) Gen. 11: 26; "Terah lived 70 years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran."—(b.) Gen. 11: 32; "The days of Terah were 205 years; and Terah died in Haran.". ·(c.) Acts 7: 4; "Abram came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran; and from thence, after his father was dead, he removed into this land wherein ye now dwell."— -(d.) Gen. 12: 4; "Abram was 75 years old when he departed out of Haran."difficulty is that if Abram was born when his father was 70 and lived with him till his death at the age of 205, he should have been 135 and not merely 75 when his father died and he went into Canaan.-To sur

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