Chronikon Hebraikon - The World's Age Scriptually Demonstrated
Third Period - From the Exodus to the Judges
Embraces 70 Years
| A.M. | Names and Events | Reference | B.C. |
| 2463 2503 2508 2533 |
Exode from Egypt on the night of the first Passover on the 14th day of Abib or Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew year and calendar. The law given fifty days after the Exode. The spies, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, give an evil report. Moses dies, aged 120; Sojourn in the wilderness ends: Joshua succeeds him, being 80 years old: he invades Canaan at harvest time on the 10th of the first month. The people circumcised and keep the Passover in the plains of Jericho; the supply of manna stopped two days after. Beginning of the 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1, at the end of the forty years' "coming out of the land of Egypt. The Angel-Prince of Yahweh's host appears armed to Joshua. Seven priestly trumpeters compass Jericho once a day for six days, followed by the ark of the Covenant; but on the seventh day seven times; and at the seventh time the people shouted, and the wall of the city fell. The land of Canaan has rest from war five years after the passage of Jordan; Caleb 85 years old Joshua dies, aged 110, and is succeeded by the Judges. |
Exod. 12:2,6; 13:4 Exod. 19:1 Num. 14:37,38 Josh. 3:15; 4:19; . . . Deut. 34:7 Josh. 5:2,12 1 Kings 6:1 Josh. 5:13 Josh. 6:20 Josh. 14:10,15; 11:23 Josh. 23:1; 26:29; Judg. 1:13; 3:9 |
1626 1586 1581 1556 |
NOTES ON THE THIRD PERIOD.
1.-The Great Chronological Gordian Knot.
1. Upon the entrance of Israel into Canaan and the times immediately succeeding, Shimeall says: "There is a difference between the chronology of I Kings 6:1, of the received version, and that of Acts 13:17-22, of more than 100 years." In another place, he says: "It is within this period of the chronology of the Old Testament that we meet with the principal difficulties to be encountered in its adjustment. It relates to the discrepancy between the dates of I Kings 6:1, and those of Acts 13:17-22, in reference to the interval between the Exode and the fourth year of Solomon. Then, further connected with this chronological discrepancy are two breaks, or chasms - the first, the Interregnum, or time of anarchy of Israel, between the death of Joshua and the first servitude, in regard to which the Scriptures are entirely silent; and the second, the administrations of Eli, Samuel, Samson, and Saul, the dates of which are not defined in the Old Testament. It is hence, taken as a whole, THE GREAT CHRONOLOGICAL GORDIAN KNOT, which, till within a few years past, has baffled the skill of many a master in Israel, who failing to untie it - like the knot in the harness of the Phrygian king Gordius at the hand of Alexander - have attempted to cut it asunder. This, process, however, in view of the Important issue involved - that of a difference of over 100 years in the current chronology of our English version as to the true date of the Nativity - will not do. The two chasms must be bridged over, and the discrepancy which overleaps the whole period, as given in 1 Kings 6:1 and Acts 13:17-22, must be accounted for, and the true period determined from reliable data" (Bible Chron., pp. 9, 186).
I have, for the sake of simplifying the matter, resolved this notable chronological period into three divisions; first, from the Exode to Joshua's death; second, from Joshua's death to the establishment of Samuel as prophet; and third, from the establishment of Samuel to the foundation of the temple in the fourth of Solomon. These periods are, in fact, the divisions presented to the reader in 1 Kings 6:1 itself, which I here place before him in columnar juxtaposition with Acts 13:17-22, between which I undertake to prove there is no discrepancy at all to be accounted for.
I KINGS 6:1 "And it was in eighty years and four hundred years, from the going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Mitzraim, in the fourth year, in the month of Zif, which is the second month of the reigning of Solomon over Israel, he builds the house for Yahweh." |
ACTS 13:17-22 17. "The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and raised the people in the sojourning in the land of Egypt and with an exalted arm brought them out of it. 18. And as it were of forty years' time, He bore with their conduct in the wilderness. 19. And having cast down seven nations in the land of Canaan He distributed their land to them by lot. 20. And after these things, He gave judges as it were, four hundred and fifty years until Samuel the Prophet. 21. Afterwards they demanded a king, and the Deity gave to them Saul, the son of Kis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, forty years. 22. And having removed him, He raised up to them David for king, to whom also He gave testimony, saying, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will execute all my purposes." |
Here, then, is a period in 1 Kings 6:1 of 480 years, to be computed "from the going out of Egypt" into the land of Canaan. This going out was not a day or a week's march; but, as Paul, in Acts 13:17, 18, intimates, a period of forty years in the wilderness. So long as the tribes were in the wilderness, they were on the march to Canaan, and not yet beyond the geographical limits of Egypt: for the wilderness was "the wilderness of the land of Egypt" (Ezek. 20:36). Shimeall says: "The whole period from the Exode to the foundation of the Temple in the fourth year of Solomon is 587 years." This shows that he, as an example of others, begins his computation at the time when Israel crossed the Red Sea. But this is forty years too early. The 480 years of l Kings 6:1 is exclusive of this forty years, which being added as they are in effect in both texts, gives 520 years from the Exode to Samuel the Prophet, and 84 years thence to the fourth of Solomon: a total of 604 years instead of 587.
After mentioning the forty years in the wilderness, Paul then specifies the conquest of the seven nations, and distribution of their country by lot, without stating how many years were consumed in the operation. He then proceeds to say that "after these things" came the time of the Judges, which lasted 450 years until Samuel the Prophet. He does not say how long after the conquest and survey it was to the commencement of the time of the Judges, but merely tells us that it was a subsequent period. Indeed, it was quite unnecessary for him to specify this. For having stated that the time of the Judges was 450 years, they were, therefore, given to understand that the remainder of the 480 of 1 Kings 6:1, that is, 30 years, was the interval between the entrance into Canaan under Joshua and the beginning of the time of the Judges. He then points to the time of Samuel as the terminus of the 450 years. And that it might be known in what time of Samuel's history they ended, he speaks of him as "Samuel the Prophet" - to the establishment of Samuel as Yahweh's prophet in Israel.
Having disposed of the 480 years of I Kings 6:1, Paul states that Israel afterwards demanded a king. He does not specify how long after the establishment of Samuel as prophet they preferred this demand, but he briefly disposes of the period by giving forty years to the removal of Saul by death. He then proceeds to David, whom he introduces as the ancestor of Christ, even Jesus, whom he preached.
Now, in all this, there is not the least discrepancy between the recorder in I Kings 6:1 and the apostle Paul. The chronological harmony between these two authorities may be synoptically exhibited in the following view:-
The Recorder of Israel |
The Apostle Paul |
||
|
1 KINGS 6:1
Whole number of years from passage of the Red Sea to the foundation of the Temple according to I Kings 6:l . . . |
Years
|
ACTS 13:17-22
|
Years
|
2. Of the "two breaks or chasms," I shall treat in the notes upon my FOURTH PERIOD. They are, I believe, as easily disposed of, as we have found the untying of this "GREAT CHRONOLOGICAL GORDIAN KNOT," which Mr. Shimeall claims to have untwisted. But from the data before us, it is impossible that his claims can be allowed. On the contrary, we are compelled to add him to the number of the "many masters in" the Laodicean "Israel," whose skill has been baffled in the work of applying their "ripe scholarship" to the untying or cutting of this intricate involution of dates. Instead of there being "a difference of over 100 years between the chronology of I King 6:1 and Acts 13:17-22," we find that there is no difference at all; but that the chronologies of these two texts beautifully harmonise. The "discrepancy" lies between the texts, which are correct enough, and the inability of chronological theorists, or mar-texts, to understand them. Inability, not from deficiency of classical, astronomical, and collegiate divinity lore; but, in the words of Mr. Shimeall, "of a proper knowledge of the subject involved." Their scholarly acquirements have proved of as little use to them in the chronology of the Scriptures, as in the understanding of the gospel. They have all signally failed to interpret either; and they must ever fail, until they ignore their worldly wisdom, which the Deity condemns as folly; and they come to apply themselves with the disposition of little children, to the study of the first principles of His deep and holy oracles.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please email the site administrator.