WBC-07-Chronology of Joshua and Judges

Chronology of Joshua and Judges THE CHRONOLOGY OF JOSHUA AND JUDGES
"HOW THE BREAK BETWEEN THE TWO PERIODS IS MENDED The first part of the Book of Joshua describes the various wars, beginning with the siege of Jericho (chap. 6), whereby the land was subdued. But no dates are recorded; and no information is directly given whereby the length of this period can be deter­mined. Joshua died at the age of 110 (ch. 24:29); but this does not help us, for the date of his birth is not known. But the needed chronological link is supplied through Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, of the tribe of Judah. We have seen that the spies were sent out the 2nd year after the Exodus, in the early Fall (" at the time of the first ripe grapes," Numb. 13:20). This was the year 2514, 2nd month (see Table 6). At that time Caleb was 40 years old; for he said, "Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to espy out the land" (Joshua 14:7). Hence Caleb was born in the year (25 14 "40) 2474. At the time of the division of the land by Joshua, at the conclusion of the wars of conquest, Caleb was 85 years old; for he said at that time, "And now behold, the Lord hath kept me alive as He said, these forty and five years, … and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old" (Joshua 14:10). Add 85 to 2474, and we get 2559, as the year of the division of the land after the wars of conquest. Therefore, the duration of those wars was six years (2553 to 2559). This is as far as the chronology of the Book of Joshua carries us. The next time-note we find is in Judges 3:8, where it is recorded that "the children of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years." So the question to be answered is, how many years were there between the division of the land by Joshua, An. Hom. 2559, and the oppression of Cushan-rishathaim? This has been a very difficult problem to solve. The question is examined at great length in Dr. Anstey’s work; but we are concerned rather with the answer to the question, than with the arithmetical calculations by which it has been reached.

Briefly then, the answer is deduced from the words of Jephthah who said to the King of Ammon that Israel had occupied Heshbon and her towns three hundred years (Judges 11:26). The conquest of Heshbon was the year before the Israelites entered Canaan, or 2552. Hence the 300 years would bring us to 2852. Now the Scripture gives the various constituent periods, making up these 300 years except the interval concerning which we are inquiring. Hence, by deducting from 300, the total of the known constituent periods, we arrive at the length of said interval. Those periods are 1 year in the wilderness, 6 years to the division of the land, servitude under Cushan 8 years (Judges 3:8), rest by Othniel 40 years (Judges 3:11), servitude under Eglon 18 years (Judges 3:14), rest by Ehud 80 years (Judges 3:30), servitude under Jabin 20 years (Judges 4:3), rest by Barak 40 years (Judges 5:31), servitude under Midian 7 years (Judges 6:11), rest by Gideon 40 years (Judges 8:28), usurpation of Abimelech 3 years (Judges 9:22), judgeship of Tola 23 years (Judges 10:2). These total 286 years, deducting which from 300 gives 14 years as the interval between the dividing of the land by Joshua and the servitude under Cushan-rishathaim.

It is worthy of note that each of the several periods, during the course of the turbulent 300 years, in which God gave His people rest, was just 40 years, except the rest-period under Ehud, which was twice 40 years.

We must refer our readers to Mr. Anstey’s work for the details of this calculation, and particularly for the proof that the judgeship of Shamgar (Judges 3:31) is concurrent with the servitude under Jabin, and that the judgeship of Jair (Judges 10:3) and the servitude under Ammon (Judges 10:8) are not included in Jephthah’s 300 years.

We make the duration of Joshua’s wars of conquest to be 6 years, instead of 7, as by Anstey; for it would appear that he inadvertently made the "second year" after the Exodus to be two years after (which would be the third) whereas it was plainly the next year. Thus he got the period one year too long. But this slight error is automatically compensated for by making the interval from the division of the land to Cushan’s oppression a year longer (14 instead of 13 according to Anstey) so that the total count of the years is not affected.

We can now tabulate the period of Joshua-Judges.

The 450 Years of Paul (Acts 13:20) In connection with the period now under consideration attention should be given to the statement of the apostle Paul in addressing those gathered in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia (Asia Minor). He said, "And about the time of forty years suffered He their manners in the wilderness. And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their land to them by lot. And after that, He gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet" (Acts 13:18-20). This epoch of 450 years, the period of the Judges, appears to be made up in the following way. By examining details of Table 7 it will be found that, if the several periods, beginning with the 8 years’ servitude under Cushan, and ending with the 20 years’ judgeship of Samuel, be added together, they make up a total of just 450 years. It is reasonable, therefore, to infer that this is the period spoken of by the apostle; and on the other hand it is warrantable to take his statement as a confirmation of the conclusions stated above, and summarized in Table 7, in which we have followed Anstey. The 480 Years of1 Kings 6:1

Great difficulty to chronologists has been occasioned by the statement of 1 Kings 6:1, which says that the beginning of the building of the temple in the 4th year of King Solomon was "in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt. The total of the years taken in detail, from the Exodus to the 4th year of Solomon, is 594, an excess of 114 years over the statement of 1 Kings 6:1. This raises one of the most difficult chronological problems of the Bible. Some chronologers, as Jackson, Clinton, and Hales, reject the statement of 1 Kings 6:1 as an interpolation, because manifestly contradicted by the detailed chronology of the Scriptures. But Bishop Ussher (whose dates are incorporated in the margin of some editions of the Bible) adopts it without qualification, making the length of the period in question 480 years, instead of 594. To bring this about, he abridges the period from the entrance into the land to the reign of Saul, by taking off some years at one place and some at another. For example, he changes the rest by Ehud from "fourscore years" (Judges 3:30) to 20, and so on. Manifestly this affects, to the extent of 114 years, every previous date expressed in terms "B. C.," and all subsequent dates expressed in terms "An. Hom." or "A. M."

Dr. Anstey, however, calls attention to the striking fact that the discrepancy "114 years "is exactly the measure of the six servitudes and the one usurpation which interrupt the period of God’s government of His people through the Judges; and Dr. Anstey suggests that the 480 years are put down as the measure of the Theocracy (God’s rule over His people), and that the years when God gave over the rule of His people to their enemies are not reckoned in the statement of 1 Kings 6:1. This we accept as the best available explanation of the difficulty. But, in any case, the detailed chronology, derived by putting together the several statements of Scripture, must be maintained. The period covered by Table VII is one of much confusion in Israel, and of departure from the statutes and judgments which God had given His people to walk in. "There was no king in Israel" in those days, and hence "every man did that which was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6; Judges 18:1, &c.). It would seem as if, on this account, it were a matter of unusual difficulty to trace the workings of the hand of God in the affairs of His people, and that the chronology is, in consequence, relatively obscure. In regard to no other part of the Bible is there a greater lack of unanimity amongst chronologers of repute.