In order to weaken the force of Paul's statement in Acts xiii, 20, which confirms the consecutiveness of the judgeships, recourse has been had to a various reading of that passage, by which it may be rendered, " When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot in about 450 years, and after that he gave them judges imtil Samuel the prophet." This reading has the support of our four old- est manuscripts (Alexandrian,Yatican, Ephraem palimp- sest, and Sinaitic), and of the Vidgate, and it has been adopted by Lachinann, Tregelles, and others, but not by Tischendorf (7th ed.), Alford, or Meyer. But the vari- ous readings of the passage are in such a form as sug- gests that there had been tampering with the text by the scribes, plainly for the very reason that they felt the chronological difficulty; and no one would have al- tered the text into the present form, for which there is the authority of the versions general!}^, and of the fa- thers who quote it, so as to create a difficulty for them- selves. The sense, too, is very unsatisfactorj', the 450 years being then understood to run from the birth of Isaac to the division of the land, a computation for which no reason can be given, and which ill agrees with the other statements of time in the context, where there is surely a chronological sequence. It would certainly conflict with the 430 years assigned to the sojourn in Egyi:3t (Exod.xii,41), a period computed, as Gal. iii, 17 shows, from the call of Abraham, when he was seventy- five years old ( Gcii. xii, 4), to the Exode (comp. Gen. xv, 1(5). Keil, indeed, makes the inconsistency even worse for himself by reckoning these 430 years from Jacob's descent into EgyjU. See Chrosology, vol. ii, p. 302.
We are compelled, therefore, to understand the peri- ods of oppression and judgeship as immediately succes- sive, and then, arranging them in four periods, as sug- gested in § ii above, we may tabulate the whole of the middle part of the history as on the following page.
X. Commentaries — The following are the special ex- egetical helps on the whole book of Judges, alone, the most important of which we designate by an asterisk prefixed : Origen, ^electa (in Oj^hu, 457 ; also in L'ibl.
JUDGING
1079
JUDGMENT
Ushe
First Period (Chap, iii-v).
/ I. Servitude. Chushau Rishathaim, of Mesopotamia 8) 1
\ 1. Judge. Othniki 4(l/
( II. Servitude. Eglou, of Moab ; Ammon, Amalek IS i
< 2. Judge. Euui) SJ ^
( 3. Judge. SuAMGAR ("slew of the Philistiues") )
i III. Servitude. Jabiu, of Hazor iu Canaan 20 )
^ 4. Judge. DEiioiiAu) .,S
— 206 Second Period (Chap, vi-x, 5).
( IV. Servitude. Midiau, Amalels, and children of the East 7)
( G. Judge. GiDF.oN 40/
King. AiujMelecii a
7. Judge. Toi.A 23
8. Judge. Jaik . . . .' 22
— 95 Third Period (Chap, x, 6-xii).
( V. Servitude. Ammonites, with Philistines IS)
\ 9. Judge. Jei'iituaii GJ
:0. Judge. Iuzan 7
11. Judge. Elo.n 10
12. Judge. AuDON 8
— 49 Fourth Period (Chap, xiii-xvi).
VI. Servitude. Philistiues 40
13. Judge. Samgon ("iu the days of the Philistines") 20
CO 410 endinc
1360 13.59 1319 1316 1293
1247 1240 1230
1134 1116 1110 1103 1093
B.C.
1402 1394 1354 133G
131C 1296
1044 1041 lOlS
99G 979 973 S!67 957
H
1575 1567 1527 1509
1429 1409
1274 1256 1250 1243 1233
1185 1165
Patr. Gallandii, xiv) ; Epliraera Syrus, Explannfio (in 0pp. iv, 308) ; Theodoret, Qiutsfiunes (in 0pp. i, 1) ; Isi- doriis Hispalensifi, ( 'dihhk ntciriu { in Oj>p. i) ; Bede, Quces- tiones (in 0pp. p. S ) ; Kupcrtus 'I'uitiensis, In Jud. (in 0pp. i, 331) ; Irinipertus, ( '<nnm( iilaril (in Pez. Thesaur. IV, i, 127) ; Rabbi Tanclium, Commentarii (from tlie Ar- abic, by Sclmurrcr, Tlibing. 1701, 8vo; by Haarbriicher, Hal. 1842, 8vo) ; Baiiolas, dnS [including Josh., etc.] (Leira, 1494, folio; also in the Rabbinical Bibles, etc.) ; Bucer, Commenturius (Paris, 1554, 15GB, foL); Borrhaus [Cellarius], Commenturius [includ. Joshua, etc.] (Basil. 1557, folio) ; Lavater, Homilue (Tigur. 1561, 1571, 1582, 1609, fol.) ; Ferus, Enai-rationes [including Exod., etc.] (Colon. 1571, 1574, 8vo); Strigel. ,S'(/«-/;rr(Lipsia;, 1575, 1586, 8vo) ; Chytrreus, C»n)mcHt(iriiii< (Francof. 1589, 8vo); Peter Martyr, Commenturius (Tigur. 1561, Lond. 1565, 1576, 1582, Heidelb. 1590, fi.lio); i\l,,iitanus, Com- mentarius ( Ant w. 1592, 4to) ; Heliiig, !'( riorlut (Norib. 1593, 1594, 8vo); Alscheich, J^iLn"?, etc. [includ. Josh., etc.] (Venice, 1601, 1620; Prague, 1620; Offenb. 1719, ■fol.) ; Felibien, Comm^ntai-ii [includ. Josh., etc. J (Paris, 1604, 4to) ; Ibn-Chajim, '"-inx 2b [includ. Josh.] (\'en. 1609, fol. ; also in Frankfurter's Rabbinic Bible) ; Sera- rius, Explanatio [includ. Ruth] (^logunt. 1609, folio) ; Rogers, Lectures (Lond. 1615, fol.) ; Drusius, Commenta- rius [includ. Josh., etc.] (France. 1618, 4to); Magalia- nus, L'xjjlanationes (Lugd. 1626, folio); Bonfrere, Co7n- mentarius [includ. Josh., etc.] (Paris, 1631, 1659, folio) ; Villaroel, Commentarii (Madr. 1636, fol.) ; Freyrc, Com- mentarii (Olyssiji. and Mach. 1642, 4to); Jackson, Com- mentary [includ. llutli. etc.] (Cambr. 1646, 2 vols. 4to); De Vega, C'luimi i/hirii ( Lugd. 1663 sq., 3 vols, fol.) ; De Naxera, ConniKiihirii (.Lugd. 1664, 3 vols, fol.); *Osian- der, Commentarius (Tiib. 1682, fol.) ; *S. Schmidt, Com- ■mentariiis (Argent. 1684, 1691, 1706, 4to); Moldenhauer, Zeitrechnunfj, etc. (Hamb. 1766, 8vo) ; also Erlduterung [includ. Josh., etc.] (Quedlinb. 1774, 8vo) ; Rosenmliller, Scholia (Lipsise, 1835, 8vo) ; Studer, Erkldrung (Berne,