iiL From the Exodus to the Founding of the Temple. — The founding of Solomon's temple is said in 1 K 6' to have taken place in the 480th year after the Exodus (according to the LXX, in the i40th year). Such an exact statement, if historical, requires that an accurate system of reckoning time was employed by the children of Israel during all those years. A provision for this has been seen in the yearly Heb. festivals, and especially in the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. If this, however, was the case, it is strange that we do not find traces of such a mode of reckoning in the OT. While there are allusions to the recurrence of feasts as indicating a year's time, there is nothing to indicate festivals or Sabbatical or Jubilee years as being regarded as the units or t«rmini of any calendar. The only method apparent is by the years of the monarch of the land. Before the royal period we have no evidence of any system of reckoning dates, and it is probable that during the period from the Exodus to the founding of the temple. Sabbatical years and years of Jubilee were not observed. The number 480 appears, like the numbers of the Pent., to be conjectural, arising from the supposition that from the Exodus to the founding of the temple there were 12 genera- tions of 40 years each. This period, however, is too long. The interval from the Exodus to the founding of the temple is probably nearer 300 than 500 years. The Exodus we have seen can in no case be placed earlier than after the reign of Ramses II., and the building of the temple oc- curred not later tlian the middle of the 10th cent. B.C. Reliable chron. data for comput- ing the exact length of this period we may well believe were not preserved. 1 he disorganised con- dition of affairs during the period of the judges, when there was no central authority, is against the supposition of the use of a settled calendar and the otiicial registration of events. The chron.
• Sine* the above article wm In type, the new Inicriptlon of king Merenntah mentioning- the i>fop!>_' < ; Igmol hoa been dis- covered. Tills may call for a revision of the opinion expressed above in regard to the date of the lixoilus, and may require i\M aMigrnmeDt to ftu earlier period. See EoviT, Exobcs (Route).
data of the Book of Judges appear also tc be somewhat artificial. They are as follows : —
Israel sen'es Cushan-risbathaim (as) . . 8 years.
Deliverance by Othniel : the land reata (3U) , 40 „
Israel serves E^lon (31*) 18 „
Deliverance by Ehud : the land reata {^) . 80 ^
Oppresiiion by Jabin (43) 20 „
Deliverance by Deborah ; the land restfl (6S1) . 40 ^
Oppression by Midian (ftl) . . . . 7 «
Deliverance by Gideon : the land rest* (828) , 40 „
Abimelech rei^'ns over Israel (9-2') . . , 8 „
Tola judges Israel (1U-) 23 „
Jair jud(;es Israel (1»') 22 „
Oppression bv Amnion (108) , , , . 18 „
Jephthah judges Israel (120 . . . . 6 „
Ibzan judges Israel il'^J) 7 „
Elon judges Israel (12") 10 „
Abdon judges Israel (IS") . . . . 8 „
Oppression by the Philistines (131) , , . 40 „
Samson Judges Israel (15^ Id") . , . 20 „
Total . . . 410 yean.
To these years must be added —
The sojourn in the WildemeM . .40 year^
The conquest under Joshua , . . x „
The judgeship of Eli (1 S 418) . . . 40 „
The judgeship of Samuel .... '20 „
The reign of Saul y t.
The reign of David (1 K 2") . . . 40 „
Of the reign of Salomon (1 E 61) . . 4 „
Total . . 144-(-x-hy ytat.
According to these figures the entire period la over 550 years, and the repeated occurrence of 40 or its multiple shows that some of the numbers are round, and probably conjectural.
Some of tlie judgeships recorded in the Book of Judges may have been local and contemporaneous with others. In that case no chronology can be computed from these statements. In all likelihood, however, the numbers were desired to represent 480 years, — the years of oppression, like those of a usurper, as is customary in Oriental reckonings, being not counted, their interval being included in the years of rest belonging to a lawful ruler. Arranged on this principle we have the following result : —
Moses 40 yean.
Joshua and the Elder* . . . . x „
Othniel «0 „
Ehud 80 „
Barak <0 „
Gideon <0 „
Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibi&n, Elon, and
Abdon 76 „
Samson 20 „
Eli 40 „
Samuel *20 „
Saul y .1
David «0 „
Solomon * „
«40-(-x-l-yyeai«.
If 30 yeara (cf. Job. 24") are given to Joshua and the elders, and 10 years to Saul, we have exactly 480 years, t
iv. From the Founding of the Temple to THE Fall of Jerusalem.— This era is marked by an advance in culture among the Hebrews, and in the office of royal recorders or scribes provision seems to have oeen made for the regular regis- tration of important events. These events were probably dated by the years of reigning monarchs. At least we find this system in 1 and 2 K, Jer, and Ezk. A provision, however, for the keep- ing of exact chron. records does not neces- sarily imply their preservation, and the Books of Kings, our biblical source for the chronology of this period, were not written until its close, several