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"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. ."--2 Pet. 3:3-4 |
The Berean Christadelphians |
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Index
Chronological Charts |
THIRD PERIOD
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| Chronology Home Page |
| My Observations about Chronologies and Dates |
| Period 1: Of the Patriarches |
| Period 4: Of the Kings |
| Period 5: Of the Times of the Gentiles |
| Period 6: Of the Latter Days |
This would seem all quite simple. They left Egypt on the Passover night, and then there were 480 years till the forth year of Solomon. The problem for chronologists is that there are other related time frames which appear nearly impossible to fit into the 480 years.
Observe the following list.
Most chronologists have ignored the 480 years period of 1 Kings 6:1 and extended this period anywhere from 573 years to 604 years. As the purpose of this chronology is to take the shortest period for this time frame, thus pushing the end of the 6000 years as far into the future as possible, we will show that the period is truly one of 480 years. But of course it is not enough to just take the 480 years as the correct time frame for the period in question. We must show that there is some reason for doing so.
The biggest conflict there is for the traditional chronologies is harmonizing the period of the Judges with the 480 years of 1 Kings. 6:1. It is easy to see the difficulties. If the reign of the Judges is 450 years, and the reign of David is 40 years, and we have 4 years till Solomon, we already have 494 years, for a period said in 1 Kings 6:1 to be only 480 years. And it gets much worse. Some time (40 years?) must be allotted for Saul's reign. And there was a time in which Samuel judged Israel which is possibly not of the 450, but certainly would be in the 480. (I believe that Samuel's reign is included in the 450 years of the Judges.) If the time of the Judges starts (as many start it) after the death of Joshua, (reasoning that by this time, the land is settled, and Israel cannot be said to be going out of Egypt any longer) it is easy to see the impossibility of making all this work out. Earlier dates (such as Passover, or the entering into the land) create even more difficulties.
This is further complicated by the chronology of the Judges itself. If all the times listed in the book of Judges are made to run in chronological order, there would be exactly 450 years accounted for in the book of Judges from the first of Othniel till the 40th of Eli. It is very tempting to say this must be the 450 years of the Judges that Stephen referred to in Acts, even though this would make the harmonizing the 480 impossible. There would still be the 20 after Eli's death till Samuel takes charge in Israel, Samuel's growing old, Saul's reign, David's reign (40 years) and the 4 years of Solomon.
So while it is tempting to consider the book of the Judges (with Eli) to be a period of 450 years, it cannot be the correct method of interpretation. For instance, there is a chronological problem in the book of Judges itself, that would be set up by using the dates this way.
The Judges' account has Jephthah arguing with the children of Ammon, and Jephthah asks them why, if this is their land, they haven't claimed it for the last 300 years in which Israel had controlled the cities in question (Judges 11:26.) This control, Jephthah says, began when Moses defeated Balak on the way into the Holy Land. Using the common dates of the Judges, and presuming the defeat of Balak to be very near the end of the 40 years wandering (for it appears that Aaron has already died prior to the defeat of Balak, and Aaron dies in the last year, the 40th year, fifth month of the wandering) we would have Jephthah as a judge from the 396th year of the Judges, to the 402nd year. This is a period closer to 400 years, than the 300 years Jephthah is arguing for. And since Jephthah is arguing his case for longevity in the land, it would seem far more likely that he would rounded up to 400 years (from 396 years,) than down to 300 years, if the common dating for the Judges was accurate.
Harmonizing these time frames has another problem which is the length of Saul's rule. Acts 13:21 states clearly that Saul the son of Cis reigned 40 years. Chronologists, reasoning from Josephus (a Jewish historian), say Saul only reigned from 7 - 13 years but Acts is pretty clear to the contrary. Further, to accept the short reign of Saul sets up major conflicts with the life of others. Certain problems would be found in David's life, who is called a stripling when he fought Goliath, but is 30 years old at the death of Saul. If Saul's reign was only 7 years, and Saul reigned two years before his rebellion, then David must be at least 25 when fighting Goliath, not a stripling in any historical period. Further, when the people began to complain that Samuel was old and not able to judge anymore, and his children were not righteous, and therefore they needed a King, Samuel would only be 45 years old. And, at the end of Saul's reign when Samuel is referred to as an aged man, he would only be 52.
While we suppose all of that is possible, it seems too far of a stretch. David could have appeared young for his age, and Samuel could have appeared very old at a relatively young age. And Samuel could have had sons old enough for the priesthood (30) when he was only 45. And there may be some alternative reading for 1 Kings 6:1 and Acts 13:21 that I can't find that justifies other conclusions. But it does appear to be too many difficulties.
We will take a completely different tact for the solving of the "Gordian Knot". Some chronologists have observed that the judgeship of Samson was coexistent with the 40 years of the Philistines persecution. I suggest that in fact, all judgeships were coexistent with their respected enemies, and that the period allotted to persecutors should not be reckoned in the Judges Chronology. This method comes up lacking, because then there are not enough years of judges, but only 299 years accounted for. It appears to me that this is due to the starting point from the first judge.
It is reckoned that the period of the Judges must start after Joshua. This is not the case. The Acts 13 account simply says that God gave them judges after Joshua, not that the first judge came after Joshua. And it says only that the period of the Judges was 450 years, not the period after Joshua was 450 years.
With all this taken into consideration, the question becomes, who is the first Judge, and when did he begin? Acts 7:27 gives us the answer. The Israelite who wronged his brother, asked Moses, who made thee a ruler and a judge over us. Stephen says it was God who had made Moses a Ruler and a deliverer. Moses was the first judge of Israel, and his judgeship began at age 40, when he tried to judge Israel but was rejected by Israel, (though not by God). This then, began the 450 years of the judging of Israel.
Having now fixed the starting point of the Judges at Moses' first showing himself to Israel, or 40 years before the Exodus, we go on through the period of the Judges with Moses judging 80 years, Joshua 30 years, and all the period of the Judges adding up to 299 years. As stated in our previous notes, we only count the years in which a Judge judged Israel, excluding all the years recorded as years of captivity. This brings us to 409 years to the start of Samuel's judgeship, when he is 39 years old.
(When we say we exclude the years of captivity, we are not excluding years, but including them in the reigns of the various judges.)
There is one main point to be made in this. Our chronology allows no time for the judgeship of Eli. Eli's judgeship was not as the civil judge, but as the High Priest. Therefore, he was judging Israel as the High Priest during the civil judgeship of Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson. I believe that the invasion of the Philistines described in 1 Sam. 4 was sparked by the Philistines victory over Samson. The death of the judge Samson gave the Philistines the confidence to come up against Israel, and that these two events happen simultaneously.
Upon the death of Samson and Eli, Samuel will judge Israel for 40 years, till he is 69, to complete the "about 450 years" of judges, actually 449 years. Since we begin the 450 year period of the Judges 40 years before Israel's coming out of the land of Egypt, we are only 410 years into the 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1. This leaves 70 years in which to accomplish the 4 years of Solomon's reign, 40 years of David's reign, and 40 years of Saul's reign. This is 84 years, which must somehow be squeezed into 70 years, and this brings us directly to the reign of Saul.
SAUL: Some chronologists believe that Josephus' short period for Saul's reign is supported by the time considerations of the Ark. Some conclude that the reign of Saul depends upon the length of time the Ark abode in Kirjath-jearim. They read 1 Sam 7:2 to mean that the complete time that the Ark was there, was 20 years. This would mean that the judgeship of Samuel and the reign of Saul were both concluded within the 20 years period that the Ark abode at Kirjath-jearim. Again, this makes harmonizing Paul's words in Acts (that Saul reigned 40 years) impossible. It seems that the proper understanding would be that after the Ark had been there 20 years, Samuel (having already judged Israel 20 years) led the rebellion.
Consider why the period of the Ark in Kirjath-jearim must have been more than 20 years. Samuel could not be born till the 2nd of Eli, and the history of Josephus would indicate that this is the correct time. Josephus says that Samuel was 12 years old when God first appeared to him, which was in the 13th of Eli. Eli judged (as High Priest) 40 years, making Samuel 39 at Eli's death. The Ark was brought from Kirjath-jearim in the 8th of David. If this is only 20 years, then Samuel would be 59. Now Samuel died before David became King, which means Samuel would have had to been already dead for 9 years at this point. For this to be true, Samuel had to die as an old man, at age 50-51. (He would be 39 when he became the Judge. 20 years later would be the 8th of David, when Samuel would have been 59. But he dies before David is king, or 9 years previous at 51.) If Samuel immediately anointed Saul king upon the death of Eli, then Samuel would only have been 39: if five years later, as suggested by some chronologists, then Samuel would have been 44. But the Scriptures are clear that they wanted a king because Samuel was too old, and his son's were corrupt. This all appears too young.
The proper explanation seems to be that after the Ark had resided in Kirjath-jearim, for 20 years, Samuel led a rebellion against the Philistines, as Israel's Judge. During this judgeship, and as he grew old, the rebellion against his son's occurred. During his judgeship, Samuel anointed Saul King, but Israel did not immediately recognize Saul as king. This did not occur until a later Philistine invasion, in which Saul called Israel to arms and delivered Israel from the Philistines. Saul and Samuel therefore, reigned jointly for a period of time. We can tell the period of time by working backward. The 480th year was the 4th of Solomon. We subtract 4 years for Solomon's reign, 40 years for David's and 40 years for Saul. This is 94 years, it means that the beginning of Saul was 14 years before the end of the 450 years of the Judges. Saul and Samuel, then, reigned jointly for 14 years until Samuel was 79.
When Saul was anointed, we are told that certain men rejected him, but Saul held his peace. Saul didn't exercise his authority until the Philistines came up against the land. Saul is then king alone, and Samuel withdraws. Saul's reign, then, consists of 14 years of a joint reign with Samuel, two righteous years as the sole king, followed by 24 unrighteous years, during which he begins the conflict with David. After his 40 year reign (only 26 of which he reigns solely), David comes to the throne.
The 450 years of judges then, begins when God made Moses a "judge and a divider" over Israel, 40 years before the Exodus. The 480 years from the Exodus, then, ends 70 years after the end of the 450 years of judges. That 70 years is made up of 26-27 years of Saul's sole reign, 40 years of David's reign, to the 4th of Solomon.
If the 480 years of 1 Kings is ignored, similar difficulties with the age of Samuel occur with the age of David. David becomes king at age 30. If Saul reigned but 7 years, then, David was anointed king by Samuel at an age after 23, even though he is referred to as a youth, and fought Goliath sometime after that when called “a stripling”. But most chronologists feel David was anointed King by Samuel at age 12, and fought Goliath at age 17. All of this harmonizes with the 40 years reign of Saul, but becomes difficult with a 7 - 12 year reign.
To see how this all flows chronologically, please refer to :
