instance, leads to a conclusion directly at variance with an express statement on the subject. It is allowed by Dr. Hales, that not only the author of the book of Ruth, but that St. Matthew, and St. Luke likewise, have omitted four generations between Obed and Jessie; and if these writers have omitted four successive generations immediately prior to the father of David; if, in addition to these, they have likewise omitted other six between Levi and David; and if, in addition to these, St. Matthew has omitted other fifteen between Abraham and Christ, where is the improbability that Moses has omitted some between Levi and himself? So far, indeed, from this being improbable, it is certain that he has omitted some. His own statements prove this: first, he tells us that the seed of Abraham were to be afflicted in Egypt 400 years, and that their residence there was 430 years, a period which must of necessity require more than three generations; and then, secondly, he tells us that when the Israelites left Egypt, the number of fighting men amounted to 600,000, which, on the moderate calculation of Dr. Clarke, already referred to, gives 3,243,000 as the entire number of the Israelites; whereas 75 persons, supposing 20 couples of them married, which was not the case, and supposing each couple to rear 15 children to become fathers and mothers, yet at this high ratio, they would not produce in three generations more than 20,000 or 25,000 at most, which is not a fourteenth part of the number required. It is clear, therefore, that there must have been more than three generations; although Moses has omitted to record them, because unnecessary to the object he had in view.

Before we dismiss the consideration of the fourth period, it may be proper to offer a remark on the 400 years mentioned in the 15th chapter of Genesis, as compared with the 430 years mentioned in the 12th chapter of Exodus. The 400 years, during which the Israelites were to be afflicted in Egypt, is generally allowed to be a round number; and this accords with the 16th verse of the chapter, which informs us that in the fourth generation they should return to Canaan, i.e., in the fourth century of their affliction; for the word generation here, as we have already stated, signifies a circle of a hundred years. * The exact time when the afflictions of the Israelites commenced, it is impossible to ascertain; it is highly probable, however, that they commenced, in some degree at least, shortly after the death of Joseph, which took place 71 years after the entrance of the Israelites into Egypt. Subtracting, then, 71 from 430, the number of years during which they sojourned in Egypt, we have 359 years, say 350, as the period of their affliction; so that their deliverance from Egypt took place about the middle of the fourth generation or century after the afflictions began; and the period of their affliction, in the indefinite language of prophecy, is expressed by the round number of 400 years.

We have now discussed at considerable length the various points of evidence relating to the period in question. We have presented

* Kitto's Biblical Cyclopædia, vol. 1, p. 748.

the arguments of those who contend for 215 years, and shewn their utter inconsistency and inconclusiveness. And we believe that, by a fair, unobjectionable, and scriptural line of argument and criticism, we have established the position, that the Israelites were 430 years in Egypt.*

FIFTH PERIOD.-FROM THE EXODUS TO THE FIRST SERVITUDE.

The former part of this period is easily determined, but the latter part it is impossible to fix with any degree of precision. That the Israelites wandered 40 years in the wilderness, admits of no question. At the close of the second year of this wandering, Moses sent the spies to take a survey of Canaan; and at this time Caleb was 40 years of age, Joshua xiv. c. 7 v. When the land of Canaan was divided amongst the tribes, Caleb was 85 years of age, v. 10; and therefore the division of the land took place 7 years after the Israelites crossed the Jordan; for 40 years, the age of Caleb when the spies were sent out,-38 years, from thence to the passage of Jordan,— and 7 years, from the entrance into Canaan to the division of the land, make 85. From the division of the land to the commencement of the first servitude we have no scripture date; Josephus however states, that Joshua died 18 years after the division of the land; and as there is no reason to doubt the correctness of the statement, and as it is moreover adopted by several eminent chronologers, we may regard it as a settled point. We have thus obtained 40 plus 7 plus 18=65 years from the Exodus to the death of Joshua. But from the death of Joshua to the first servitude of the Israelites under Chushanrishathaim, we have not only no scripture date, but we have no date from any other quarter that is of any value; and therefore, the length of time can be ascertained only approximately, from the circumstances stated to have occurred during the interval. Chronologers and Commentators it is true, have given us dates in abundance, but they are all of them obviously too low, some of them absurd, and their variety likewise is somewhat amusing. Markham calculates the interval to have been 34 years; Dr. Adam Clarke 30; Boothroyd 26; Townsend 22; Hales 10; Jackson, Russell, and Smith 2 years, and Usher nothing at all. Amid this diversity of opinion, and especially in the absence of any scripture date, all hope of fixing the chronology must of course be adandoned; and yet, we think that an approximation much more rational and consistent than any of the preceding numbers, is within the reach of an unbiassed inquirer.

The authority to which reference is usually made on this subject is Josephus. But as Josephus is inconsistent and contradictory in this instance also, as well as in some others, his authority is of no

In an article on Sacred Chronology, which I sent to the Wesleyan Magazine some months ago, I gave the common number of 215 years as the period of the residence of the Israelites in Egypt, expressing, however, at the same time my doubts as to its correctness. Subsequent inquiry has convinced me that this number is erroneous, and that 430 years is the correct number. The course of argument on which this conclusion rests is now before the reader.

weight. In one place he states, that the period from the Exodus to the building of Solomon's Temple was 592 years, and in another place he states that it was 612 years. Dr. Hales, basing his calculations upon what he calls the true system of Josephus, makes the period to have been 621 years, and as Josephus reckons 10 years between the death of Joshua to the first servitude, the Doctor adopts the same number. Dr. Jackson, Bishop Russell, and Mr. Smith however, likewise following Josephus, take 592 years as the period from the Exodus to the building of the temple, and reckon only 2 years from the death of Joshua to the first servitude. Thus the contradictory dates of Josephus may be made to serve almost any theory that chronologers choose to prefer; and yet, so wedded are some of them to Josephus, that, rather than abandon him, they will adopt conclusions which, as we shall soon see, one of themselves has acknowledged to be inconsistent with the clear statements of the Word of God. But let us proceed to the account which the scriptures give us of the interval in question :

In the book of Judges we are informed that, "The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel;" that "all that generation were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works that he had done for Israel," that this second generation "forsook the Lord God of their fathers and followed other gods;" and that, as a consequence, "the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim, King of Mesopotamia."-ii. c. 7, 10, 12 v., iii. c. 8 v. Here then, we see that time must be allowed for the administration of the judges who overlived Joshua; that time must be allowed for the dying off of one whole generation of the Israelites, and for the rising up of another; that time must be allowed for a general apostacy of this second generation; and that time must be al⚫lowed, also, for the exercise of Divine forbearance prior to their being sold into the hand of their enemies. Now, passing by the system of Archbishop Usher, which ignores this period altogether,—to suppose that the circumstances now mentioned could all have taken place in the short period of 2 years, or 10 years either, is, we believe, one of the most perfect absurdities that ever found its way into a system of chronology; and it is utterly astonishing how even eminent men and biblical scholars can have brought their minds to endorse such a theory. Bishop Russell himself acknowledges the absurdity; and hence he asks "Is it within the bounds of probability, that, in so short a period, all the elders who overlived Joshua should have died; all the generation who were acquainted with the circumstances that attended the occupation of the promised land should likewise have expired; and even that a new generation, to whom all these things were unknown, should have grown up, deserted their own religion, and habituated themselves to the service of false gods? Is it at all likely that this mighty revolution in knowledge, faith, and manners, should have come to pass in two years; and, moreover, that the

people should have arrived at that time at such an enormous pitch of practical idolatry, as to have provoked Jehovah, who is slow to anger, and of great pity, to deliver them into the hands of their enemies ?"'*

66

Here, then, the Bishop fully admits the absurdity of supposing that all these circumstances could have taken place in two years; and yet, prostituting both reason and common sense at the shrine of the contradictory statements of Josephus, he allows only two years notwithstanding. "If," says he, we were at liberty to make any addition to the period between the exode and the foundation of Solomon's temple, I should be inclined to insert a number of years immediately before the commencement of the first servitude." This, certainly, is a marvellous statement to proceed from a Christian bishop. We are not at liberty, it appears, to differ from a profane and inconsistent historian; but we are at liberty to sacrifice the inspired account of the author of the book of Judges, and to surrender the common dictates of our reason to an untruth as obvious as light can make it! Let Josephus be estimated at his full value; but we are not prepared to immolate the WORD OF GOD in honour of the manes of Josephus.

Now, although Bishop Russell did not feel himself at liberty to make any addition to the 592 years assigned by Josephus as the period from the exode to the foundation of Solomon's temple, we feel ourselves at perfect liberty to make any addition which scripture facts may require; and, independently of the acknowledged necessity of the case, we have high authority for so doing. Josephus himself makes an addition of 20 years; for, as we have before observed, he assigns 612 years to the period, as well as 592. Dr. Hales makes an addition of 29 years. The author of the Paschal Chronicle makes an addition of 40 years. Syncellus makes an addition of 67 years. Julius Africanus makes an addition of 149 years. And then, even Bishop Russell himself admits that the particulars which make up the 592 are erroneous, and he is obliged to subtract from one, and add to another, and to supply a third, in order to preserve his favourite number intact. Such, therefore, being the facts of the case, it is positively ridiculous to talk of not being at liberty to make any addition to the 592 years of Josephus.

With regard to the interval in question, namely, from the death of Joshua to the first servitude, it is of course impossible to arrive at any definite decision. But, from the circumstances said to have occurred, we deem half a century quite little enough,—say, however, 45 years; and this, we submit, is the very lowest number with which, on rational principles, the statements already given from the book of Judges can be reconciled. Adding, then, 45 years to the 65 before obtained, we have 110 years for the period from the exodus to the commencement of the first servitude.

* Connection, vol. 1, p. 414.

+ Ibid, vol. 1, p. 415.

SIXTH PERIOD.-FROM THE FIRST SERVITUDE TO THE REVOLT OF THE

TEN TRIBES.

The manner in which this period has generally been treated is not less objectionable than that which we have just considered. In the first book of Kings, vi. c. 1 v., there is a statement to the effect that the foundation of Solomon's temple was laid in the 480th year after the Israelites left the land of Egypt. This statement is now almost universally allowed to be a Rabbinical forgery; first, because it contradicts several scripture passages; and, secondly, because its existence cannot be traced beyond the time of Origen, the very period when so many Rabbinical corruptions are known to have taken place. On this corrupt text, however, Archbishop Usher founds his chronological system of the period; but, finding that the particulars, as recorded in different parts of the scriptures, exceed the number by more than 100 years, he makes the seven servitudes to coexist with the administration assigned to the several judges, directly contrary to the clear and definite statements of the sacred historian; and thus, in fact, expunges from the historical scriptures a period of 111 years. Such is the inconsistent and scripture-mutilating system of Archbishop Usher; and yet, even to the present day, the dates of this system are allowed to disgrace the margin of our Bibles.

Passing by the strange hallucinations of the Primate of Ireland, we have to encounter what we believe to be two errors with regard to this period, in a superior class of chronologers, and indeed in chronologers generally. The apostle Paul, in his discourse at Antioch, having stated that God divided the land of Canaan amongst the Israelites by lot, observes, "And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of 450 years, until Samuel the prophet."—Acts, xiii. c. 20 v. Now, the obvious meaning of this passage, in our judgment, is, that from the appointment of the first judge to the call of Samuel to the prophetical office, there elapsed a period of 450 years; and yet every chronological exposition of this passage that we recollect to have seen, dates the commencement of the 450 years, not from the appointment of the first judge, but from the division of the land, as though the appointment of the judges immediately succeeded the division of the land. The assigned reason for this interpretation is the employment of the expression "after that;" but the true reason is a supposed chronological necessity. As to the expression "after that," no chronological date whatever can be founded upon it; for, although it frequently connects two events in immediate succession, it is also used when the events are far distant from each other. In John, xiii. c. 7 v., for example, and in Rev. i. c. 19 v., and iv. c. i. v., it is rendered "hereafter;" in Acts xv. c. 16 v., it relates to events separated by some hundreds of years; and then, no sensible commentator, I presume, will conclude that the day of judgment follows immediately after death, because of the statement that "it is appointed to man once to die, and after death the judgment." The expression in question, therefore, furnishes no reason whatever for dating the 450 years from the division of the land. Beside, such an