the book, it appears a very simple matter to make the calculation required, inasmuch as the duration of the different hostile oppressions, and also the length of time that most of the judges held their office, or at all events the duration of the peace which they secured for the nation, are distinctly given. The following are the numbers that we find: -
| 1. | Oppression by Chushan-rishathaim, | (Jdg 3:8), | 8 years. |
| Deliverance by Othniel, and rest, | (Jdg 3:11), | 40 years. | |
| 2. | Oppression by the Moabites, | ((Jdg 3:14), | 18 years. |
| Deliverance by Ehud, and rest, | (Jdg 3:30), | 80 years. | |
| 3. | Oppression by the Canaanitish king Jabin, | (Jdg 4:3), | 20 years. |
| Deliverance by Deborah and Barak, and rest, | (Jdg 5:31), | 40 years. | |
| 4. | Oppression by the Midianites, | (Jdg 6:1), | 7 years. |
| Deliverance by Gideion, and rest, | (Jdg 8:28) | 40 years. | |
| Abimelech's reign, | (Jdg 9:22), | 3 years. | |
| Tola, judge, | ((Jdg 10:2), | 23 years. | |
| Jair, judge, | (Jdg 10:3), | 22 years. | |
| Total, | 301 years. | ||
| 5. | Oppression by the Ammonites, | (Jdg 10:8), | 18 years. |
| Deliveance by Jephthah, who judged Israel, | (Jdg 12:7), | 6 years. | |
| Ibzan, judge, | (Jdg 12:9), | 7 years. | |
| Elon, judge, | (Jdg 12:11), | 10 years. | |
| Abdon, judge, | (Jdg 12:14), | 8 years. | |
| 6. | Oppression by the Philistines, | (Jdg 13:1), | 40 years. |
| At this time Samson judged Israel for 20 years | (Jdg 15:20; Jdg 16:31) | ||
| Total, | 390 years. |
For if to this we add -
| (a.) | the time of Joshua, which is not distinctly mentioned, and | 20 years. |
| (b.) | the time during which Eli was judge (1Sa 4:18) | 40 years. |
(a.) the time of Joshua, which is not distinctly mentioned, and 20 years. (b.) the time during which Eli was judge 40 years.
We obtain 450 years.[1]
And if we add still further - (c.)
The times of Samuel and Saul combined, 40 years. (d.)
The reign of David (2Sa 5:4; 1Ki 2:11), 40 years. (e.)
The reign of Solomon to the building of the temple (1Ki 6:1), 3 years.
The whole time from the entrance of Israel into Canaan to the building of the temple amounted to, 533 years.
- ↑ The earlier chronologists discovered a confirmation of this as the length of time that the period of the judges actually lasted in Act 13:20, where Paul in his speech at Antioch in Pisidia says, according to the textus receptus, “After that He gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years until Samuel the prophet.” The discrepancy between this verse and the statement in 1Ki 6:1, that Solomon built the temple in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of Egypt, many have endeavoured to remove by a remark, which is correct in itself, viz., that the apostle merely adopted the traditional opinion of the Jewish schools, which had been arrive at by adding together the chronological data of the book of Judges, without entering into the question of its correctness, as it was not his intention to instruct his hearers in chronology. But this passage cannot prove anything at all; for the reading given in the lect. rec. is merely founded upon Cod Al., Vat., Ephr. S. rescr., but according to the Cod. Sinait., ed. Tischendorf and several minuscula, as well as the Copt. Sahid. Arm. Vers. and Vulg., is, καὶ καθελὠν ἔθνη ἑπτὰ ἐν γῇ Χαναὰν κατεκλληρονόμησεν αὐτοῖς τὴν γῆν αὐτῶν ὡς ἔτεσιν τετπακοσίοις καὶ πεντήκοντα, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἔδωκεν κριτὰς ἕως Σαμουήλ τ. πρ. This text is rendered thus in the Vulgate: et destruens gentes septem in terra Chanaan sorte distribuit eis terram eorum quasi post quadringentos et quinquaginta annos: et post haec dedit judices usque ad Samuel prophetam, and can hardly be understood in any other sense than this, that Paul reckoned 450 as the time that elapsed between the call of Abraham (or the birth of Isaac) and the division of the land, namely 215 + 215 (according to the Alex. reading of Exo 12:40 : see the comm. on this passage) + 40 = 470, or about 450.
