On the whole, it seems that, if not in the Acts (q. ▼.), then neither in the history of the times f^m other, •oorces, have we the means of settling this part of the chronology with absolute certainty. Josephus in par- ticular, from, whom are derived the combinations which recent German writers deem so unanswerable, is dis- credited in Uiis part of the history (written probably f^om his own resources and the inaccurate recollec- tions of Ills boyhood) by the infinitely higher author- ^7of Tadtns, who drew his information from the pub- lic records. Only, in whatever degree it is probable that Paul's first residence at Corinth commenced A.D. 49 (§ 8, above), in the same it is probable that the arrest at Jerusalem belongs to the year 55, six years being suf- ficient, as nearly all inquirers are agreed, for the inter- BMdiate occurrences. Then, if the arrival at Borne took place, as the ancients say, in the second year of Nero, it will be necessary (wiUi Petavius) to refer the *' two years" (BuHa, xxiv, 27) to the term of Felix's (sole) pnicnratorship. See Corinthiass (Epistles to).
That the two years' imprisonment, with which the nazntive in the Acts ends, did not terminate in the
apostle's death, but that he was set at liberty, and suf- fered martyrdom under Nero at a later time, appears to have been the unanimous belief of the ancients (see the testimonies in Browne's Ordo Seed, § 130). In- deed, in no other way is it possible to find a place for the three pastoral epistles, and especially to account for statements in the Second Epistle to Timothy (q. v.). Wieseler's forced explanations have satisfied and can satisfy no one. (See also Lange, Apottol. ZeitaUer^ ii, 386 sq., and Huther, in Meyer's Krit. exeg. Komm. p. 25 sq. Meyer himself, RSmerbr. Einleit, p. 12 sq., owns that the three pastoral epistles *' stand or fall together," and that, if they be genuine, the conclusion is inevitable ; which he turns into an argument against their genuineness.) But if, after his releate, the apos- tle vidted not only Spain (as Ewald admits, Gtsch, vi, 631, on the unquestionable testimony of Clemens, Rom, c 5), but Greece and Asia, as is dear ftom the Epis- tles to Timothy and Titus, scant room is left for these movements between the late dates assigned, with al- most one consent, by recent German writers, to the close of the first imprisonment (A.D. 63 and 64), and the year 65 or 66, which the ancients give as the date of Paul's martyrdom. So far, therefore, it is more probable that the first imprisonment ended in one of the years 58-60. Another consideration points the same way : when Poppsa's infiuence was established (A.D. 58-65), which, after she became a proselyte or OtoffiPlig (i e. at least as early as 61), was fr:eely used in favor of the Jews, it would certainly have been in- voked against the apostle by his enemies (comp. Ew- ald, vi, 621) ; and, even if he escaped with life, his con- finement would not have been of the mild character described in the concluding verse of the Acts, more es- pecially as his ** bonds in Christ were manifest in all the paiace" (prsetorium), (Phil, i, 18), and among his converts were some ** of Csssar's household" (iv, 22).
We may add that if the Narcissus (q. v.) of Romans xvi, 11, was the celebrated freedman of Claudius, the Epistle to the Romans (q. v.), written shortly befbre the apostle's last visit to Jerusalem, cannot be placed so late as A.D. 58 or 59, for Narcissus died very soon after Nero's accession (Tacit. Ann, xiii, 1). See Paul.
y. BetuUt.— The following table exhibits at one view the Julian or calendar years of the most impor- tant Biblical events from the Creation, and also the Vulgar or Christian Mn^ according to the preceding investigations (for a complete and self-verifying tab- ular construction of all the Scriptural dates, with their adjustment to each other and the demands of history, and the authority upon which it rests, see the MeA, Quart, Review, October, 1856, p. 601-688). In cases where it is uncertain whether an event occurred in the latter part of one Julian year or in the beginning of the next, the earlier number is set down, and has a star prefixed. In the centuries adjacent to the birth of Christ, many events affecting Palestine are huserted fh>m the Apocrypha, Josephus, a^d other souths, In addition to those properly Biblical.
A Jl. I B.C.
1 41TS Creation of Adam. *181 4042 Birth of Seth. •S86,3987 Birth of Enoe. •826 3847 Birth of Cainan. •896 3777 Birth of Mahal&leeL •461 8712 Birth of J&red. •628 8600 Birth of Enooh.
Birth of Methnselah. Birth of Lamech. Death of Adam. Translation of Enoch. •
Death of Seth. Birth of Moah. Death of Enoe. Death of Cainan.
Death of MahalaleeL *
Death of Jared. 2616lBIrthof Japheth. 2614 Birth of Shem. 2621 (Death of Lamech. 26161 Death of Methnselah. Beginning of the Flood.
•876 8298 •9813242 •988i31S6 •1048 8180
1068 •1141 •1236 •1291 •1428 •1567 •1669 •1652
1667
3116 S032 2937
2882 2760
CHRONOLOGY
314
CHRONOLOGY
AM I B.C.. I
less ifl] B End of th* Flood.
^014 Rtrtli of Arpli*i«L S41fi mnh tif Ptleg,
nSSatBOS] mrth ,-f Semg. ■IS&a ^t^! Birth L.f Nuhnr. •lB70ftHN:mrtbofT?!iiJL *lft49 riajJilTLh cif llHrftn.