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Page 27
(25) So, too, 1 Sam. 17, 18, are taken from another historian, who assigns a
cause for David's first frequenting Saul's court very different from that
given in chap. xvi. of the same book. (26) For he did not think that David
came to Saul in consequence of the advice of Saul's servants, as is
narrated in chap. xvi., but that being sent by chance to the camp by his
father on a message to his brothers, he was for the first time remarked by
Saul on the occasion of his victory, over Goliath the Philistine, and was
retained at his court.
(27) I suspect the same thing has taken place in chap. xxvi. of the same
book, for the historian there seems to repeat the narrative given in chap.
xxiv. according to another man's version. (28) But I pass over this, and go
on to the computation of dates.
(29) In I Kings, chap. vi., it is said that Solomon built the Temple in the
four hundred and eightieth year after the exodus from Egypt; but from the
historians themselves we get a much longer period, for:
Years.
Moses governed the people in the desert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Joshua, who lived 110 years, did not, according to Josephus and
others' opinion rule more than . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 26
Cusban Rishathaim held the people in subjection . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Othniel, son of Kenag, was judge for . . . . . . . . . . . [Endnote 15] 40
Eglon, King of Moab, governed the people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Ehucl and Shamgar were judges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Jachin, King of Canaan, held the people in subjection . . . . . . . . . 20
The people was at peace subsequently for . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 40
It was under subjection to Median . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 7
It obtained freedom under Gideon for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
It fell under the rule of Abimelech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Tola, son of Puah, was judge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Jair was judge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 22
The people was in subjection to the Philistines and Ammonites . . . . . 18
Jephthah was judge . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Ibzan, the Bethlehemite, was judge . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 7
Elon, the Zabulonite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Abclon, the Pirathonite . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The people was again subject to the Philistines . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Samson was judge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [Endnote 16] 20
Eli was judge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
The people again fell into subjection to the Philistines,
till they were delivered by Samuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
David reigned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Solomon reigned before he built the temple . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 4
(30) All these periods added together make a total of 580 years. (31) But to
these must be added the years during which the Hebrew republic flourished
after the death of Joshua, until it was conquered by Cushan Rishathaim,
which I take to be very numerous, for I cannot bring myself to believe that
immediately after the death of Joshua all those who had witnessed his
miracles died simultaneously, nor that their successors at one stroke bid
farewell to their laws, and plunged from the highest virtue into the depth
of wickedness and obstinacy.
(32) Nor, lastly, that Cushan Rishathaim subdued them on the instant; each
one of these circumstances requires almost a generation, and there is no
doubt that Judges ii:7, 9, 10, comprehends a great many years which it
passes over in silence. (33) We must also add the years during which Samuel
was judge, the number of which is not stated in Scripture, and also the
years during which Saul reigned, which are not clearly shown from his
history. (34) It is, indeed, stated in 1 Sam. xiii:1, that he reigned two
years, but the text in that passage is mutilated, and the records of his
reign lead us to suppose a longer period. (35) That the text is mutilated I
suppose no one will doubt who has ever advanced so far as the threshold of
the Hebrew language, for it runs as follows: "Saul was in his -- year, when
he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Israel." (36) Who, I say,
does not see that the number of the years of Saul's age when he began to
reign has been omitted? (37) That the record of the reign presupposes a
greater number of years is equally beyond doubt, for in the same book, chap.
xxvii:7, it is stated that David sojourned among the Philistines, to whom he
had fled on account of Saul, a year and four months; thus the rest of the
reign must have been comprised in a space of eight months, which I think
no one will credit. (38) Josephus, at the end of the sixth book of his
antiquities, thus corrects the text: Saul reigned eighteen years while
Samuel was alive, and two years after his death. (39) However, all the
narrative in chap. Xiii. is in complete disagreement with what goes before.
(40) At the end of chap. vii. it is narrated that the Philistines were so
crushed by the Hebrews that they did not venture, during Samuel's life, to
invade the borders of Israel; but in chap. xiii. we are told that the
Hebrews were invaded during the life of Samuel by the Philistines, and
reduced by them to such a state of wretchedness and poverty that they were
deprived not only of weapons with which to defend themselves, but also of
the means of making more. (41) I should be at pains enough if I were to try
and harmonize all the narratives contained in this first book of Samuel so
that they should seem to be all written and arranged by a single historian.
(42) But I return to my object. (43) The years, then, during which Saul
reigned must be added to the above computation; and, lastly, I have not
counted the years of the Hebrew anarchy, for I cannot from Scripture gather
their number. (44) I cannot, I say, be certain as to the period occupied by
the events related in Judges chap. xvii. on till the end of the book.
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