TABLE III. From the Death of Moses to the Foundation of the Temple.. 4............ 2869 358 18............ 1 Tola 17...... 67 9 15 2870 359 1 Philistines 1 Jephthah 16...... 32...... 82 ཡསྶཎྜམྥསྶཡ པ x. 7,8. Sx. 7, 17, 18. 81 23 24 xi. 4, 5. 1 Jair 5 2883 372 14....... 1 Elon 6 The key to the Scriptural epocha of the Judges is to be found in the speech of Jephthah to the king of Ammon, Judg. xi. 26. from which it appears that the Israelites, previous to the Ammonitish invasion, had enjoyed peaceable possession of the lands of the Amoritish kings, Og and Bashan, 300 years. The era of this invasion divides the whole epocha into two parts; and thence we reckon backwards to Moses, and forward to the building of the temple. In the foregoing table the full periods of oppression and rest are, in every case, allowed, agreeably to the plain, untortured meaning of the sacred writers; and the harmonious resolution of the aggregated details into the two grand periods defined in the record, may be considered as the proof of its correctness. On the inspection of this table it will appear, that the aggregate of the years of oppression and rest, calculated from the death of Gideon to the commencement of the tyranny of Cushan, is 253 years; which amount leaves, consequently, 47 years for the duration of the government of Joshua and the elders. That as the rest of "forty years in the days of Gideon" necessarily ended at his death, the Ammonitish invasion, which began the next tyranny on record, was the circumstance that brought it to a close. That the usurpation of Abimelech immediately followed the death of Gideon. That two judges-Tola and Jair, followed Abimelech in direct succession: the duration of whose government extended to the 348th year from the conquest of Gilead. That Jephthah was chosen to be head over the Gileadites within 318 years of that conquest, and after the Ammonites had oppressed them 18 years: and that his administration, with that of his successors, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, consisting of 31 years, extended to the 349th year after the conquest of Gilead. Consequently, the successors of Abimelech, on the west of Jordan, were cotemporary with Jephthah and his successors in Gilead. That after the Ammonites had oppressed Gilead 18 years, the Philistines fell upon Western Israel, and began their tyranny of forty years' continuance, during which period Eli, the high priest, officiated as judge, and Samson began to deliver Israel. That during this oppression the Philistines defeated the attempt of the Israelites to cast off the yoke, and captured the ark (which after seven months they sent back); and that Eli died in the 98th year of his age, having judged Israel 40 years. That the ark abode twenty years in Kirjath-jearim. That the oppression of the Philistines lasted until the 2nd year of the reign of Saul: until which time the Philistines had garrisons in Israel, and had Hebrews in their armies. Consequently, as this servitude reaches from the 18th year of the Ammonitish invasion of Gilead to the 2nd year of King Saul, the aggression of the Philistines mentioned cursorily, Judges x. 7. is the same as that noticed xiii. 1. where the sacred writer resumes the narrative he had before dropt, for the purpose of relating the circumstances of the Ammonitish war, and some incidental matters concerning the Gileaditish succession. From 1 Sam. vii. some have concluded that the twenty years' sojourn of the ark in Kirjath-Jearim measures the period of another servitude to the Philistines, from which the Lord delivered them by Samuel. This deliverance, however, was only partial, probably a short respite to the tribes in the vicinity of the Philistines. For though "the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel;" it is obvious from 1 Sam. ix. 16. that during the remainder of his government, be fore he had even seen Saul, the oppression of the Philistines made the Israelites cry unto God; which would not have been the case had the deliverance been complete. The Philistines, as before noticed, had, at Saul's accession, possession of the garrisons; and even the ranks of their armies were recruited by Hebrews. The precise time when Samuel entered on the office of a judge is not stated; but no doubt it was on the death of Eli, which immediately followed that of his sons. At the election of Saul to be king, Samuel was" old and grey headed," 1 Sam. xii. 2. therefore if we suppose him to have been seventy at the utmost, he must have been born in the fiftyfirst year of Eli's age, eight years before that priest began to act as a judge. of this period. 40 25 * This epocha embraces, according to the Scriptures, 479 years. JOSEPHUS, however, assigns 621 years; and Dr. HALES, who adopts his computation, adduces in support of this estimate, the testimony of St. Paul, who interposes 450 years between the conquest of Canaan and the adminstration Josephus's Chronolog. of Samuel, Acts xiii. 20. This passage, however, rather embarrasses the Hebrew Chrono40 logy, than substantiates that of Josephus; whose computation of the periods of this epocha differs from the Hebrew calculation, not merely in the aggre. gate, bnt in the details. It is enough, however, for the present purpose, to examine two of the capital dates, either of which demonstrates the superiority of the Hebrew Chronology to that of the Jewish historian- the accession of Jephthah to the dignity of a judge, and the foundation of the temple. 1 Exode, Moses Joshua Interregnum 18 I. Serv. Mesop. 8 Othniel 40 II. Serv. Moab *18 Ehud. 80 20 * Mr. WHISTON supposes that the Jews considered the aggregate of the years of all the oppressions and rests under the Judges, reckoned up in succession, from Cushan to Eli inclusive, together with the 20 years of Samuel, as the proper measure of their theocracy: because the total is exactly 450 years. |