CHAPTER III.
HEBREW CHRONOLOGY.

From the Birth of Christ to the Creation.

BY general consent the birth of Christ is made the central point of all sacred chronology, the Christian ages being reckoned forward from that point (A. D.) and the Jewish or earlier ages being reckoned backward (B. C.). We treat of the latter only.——Going backward from the Christian era, there is general agreement and no reasonable ground for diversity till we reach the period of the Judges of Israel. The cardinal points are:

B. C.
The decree of Cyrus for the restoration of the Jews.536
The duration of the captivity, from the fourth year of Jehoiakim, 70 years.606
(But counted from the fall of the city under Zedekiah, 52 years only.)
From the revolt, first year of Rehoboam to the fall of the city, 388 years.976
To the founding of the temple, beginning of Solomon’s fourth year, 37 years.1013

This last epoch has chronological importance—the foundation of the temple laid—A. D. 1013.

The first disputed, diversely estimated, point is the period of the Judges; yet the proof texts and authorities cover the period from the Exodus to the temple. Usher makes the period of the Judges 339 years; Jahn and many others, 450. Usher relies on 1 K. 6: 1: “In the 480th year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel ... he began to build the house of the Lord.”

His computation runs thus:

YEARS.
Hebrews in the wilderness.40
Hebrews under Joshua.17
Samuel and Saul together.[19]40
David (2 Sam. 5: 4, 5).41
Solomon up to the founding of the temple.3
Judges—to fill out 480.339
480

The long period for the Judges rests primarily on Acts 13: 20, which states that “after having divided to them the land of Canaan by lot, God gave them judges 450 years until Samuel the prophet.” Placing 450 in the above computation in place of 339—an excess of 111 years—we find the date of the Exodus B. C. 1604 instead of Usher’s figures B. C. 1491.