Ahitub the high priest, to be put to death for having given bread to David in the tabernacle, when he was a fugitive. Again, shortly before the time of Ahimelech, after the third year of Saul, his brother Ahiah was chosen high priest. When Solomon came to the throne he removed Ab-Iathar, and appointed in his stead Zadok, who had previously anointed him by command of David (probably as his deputy). Ab-Iathar was re moved because he had sided with Absalom. The following genealogical table gives the entire succession. According to Josephus (Antiq. v. 11.) the line of Ithamar first enjoyed the honour of high priesthood in the person of Eli, and retained it down to Zadok, with whom it passed back to the elder branch, that of Eleazar. The following is taken from the historical books of Scripture: Eli, Ahitub Ahimelech, (1 Sam. xxii. 11.) Ab-Iathar, (1 Sam. xxii. 20.) removed by Solomon. Ikabod, born after his father's death, Ahiah, high priest under Saul, after the second Zadok, first priest, with Ahimelech, under David It is clear then, that as Ahiah and Ahimelech represent one generation, so also do Ab-Iathar and Zadok, or as a cousin would have done in both cases. Now Jo sephus states that from Aaron to Zadok 145 inclusive there were 13 priests; but this number can only be obtained by reckoning Ahimelech and Ahiah, Ab-Iathar 145 Antiq xx. 9.; comp. x. 8. Comp. Lepsius' Einleitung, p. 274.; comp. p. 368. and Zadok, as 4. Lepsius, therefore, is quite right in considering these 13 as equivalent to 11 generations, which, on an average of 30 years, would make 330, of 33, 366 years. We must not, however, forget that Aaron himself cannot have many years computed to him, as we shall see more in detail hereafter. The second period which can be computed is that from the appointment of Zadok, the high priest of Solomon, to the carrying away of Jehoiadah, the high priest under Zedekiah. This comprises 414 years, assuming Zadok (who from the above must have been far advanced in years) to have lived to 1010 B.C., or 424 years, if he lived 10 years longer (17 after his appointment). Josephus gives a list of 17 high priests belonging to this period (according to his own names, though he says 18 in the text). Supposing Jehoiadah to have held office about half his average term, when Nebuchadnezzar put an end to the temple-service, we have in something more than 400 years, 16 high priests, averaging 22 years each. But supposing the circumstances to have been similar to those in the other case, these 17 would represent at most 13 or 14 generations, which would make the average of that period 30 to 31 years. The result of the examination of these registers of generations and successions is at variance with the ordinary hypothesis, but in perfect conformity with our own. Here then we take leave of the calculations, which never can be any thing more than approximative, and proceed to consider the positive chronological data which the historical books of the Jews supply for that period. This we propose to divide for our present purpose into three historical sections: The times of Moses and Joshua; The so-called time of the Judges and the Kings of the undivided kingdom; The time of the Kings of the divided kingdom. SECTION I. THE DETERMINATION OF THE PERIOD FROM THE EXODUS TO THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. A. THE TIMES OF MOSES AND JOSHUA, AND THE TIME WHEN THERE WERE NO JUDGES. I. THE EXODUS, AND THE CHRONOLOGY FROM THE DEPARTURE OUT OF THE LAND OF GOSEN DOWN TO EIGHTEEN YEARS AFTER THE DEATH OF JOSHUA. THE Connected narrative in the last four books of Moses implies that he died on Mount Habarim, close to the eastern edge of the northern point of the Dead Sea, in the fortieth year of the Exodus, the same year, according to this account, in which he arrived there. But mention is also made of several protracted conquests having been accomplished during his time. The whole land of the Emorites on this side the Jabbok was taken possession of, and their allies the Midianites were utterly overthrown. The army, indeed, passed the Jabbok, and conquered the land of the King of Basan and the western country on the Jordan (Batanæa and Aulonitis) eastward and northward as far as Hermon, that is, as far as the entire northern frontier of the later Jewish state. We have no chronological data whatever as to any of these conquests. But some light is thrown upon them by the very fact of these expeditions having lasted several years. This is still more true in considering their internal arrangements. We learn that after passing over Jordan, two tribes and a half, about a fourth of the two millions or two millions and a half of souls, were firmly settled in the country on the other side of it. But to make such a distribution of the territory, and a regular settlement in it, required no inconsiderable number of years. When, therefore, we learn from the historical account that Joshua led the people over Jordan forty years after the Exodus, that is assuredly an historical number, and not, as in other instances, merely a mode of expressing an indefinite number of years. But it is equally certain that they could not have reached the frontier of the country east of Jordan only in the fortieth year after the Exodus, but must have done so as early as the third year, an inference resulting from the facts of the journey through the Peninsula of Sinai. The career of Moses closed on the northern point of the Dead Sea, over against Jericho. The position of Mount Pisgah is clear from the description, as well as from its retaining its old name down to the time of Eusebius. The larger portion of those thirty-seven years and a half must therefore be assigned to Joshua. But there are further proofs that his leadership on the other side Jordan commenced long before they crossed over. In the first place, the name of Moses is never mentioned in any expeditions beyond the northern points of the Dead Sea. Joshua's campaigns in Canaan and the consequent settlement of the other seven tribes and a half, according to the express testimony of old tradition, only lasted five or six years. As Ewald has sagaciously remarked, this follows from the words of Caleb, in the Book of Joshua (xiv. 7—10.; comp. last verse). The land had rest, it is said; each tribe had taken possession of its own inheritance, and the borders of each were marked out. Caleb was at that time eighty-five, and forty-five years had elapsed since Moses sent him into the Promised Land as a spy. Now, as according to the consistent narrative of the compiler, the journeying of Moses had lasted forty years at the time of his death, five (or rather six) years must have elapsed since the second year of the Exodus, in which Caleb was sent out. From that time forward nothing definite is related of Joshua's acts or arrangements from the old authentic source. The addition made to the course of the historical narrative is doubtless actually true; but these occurrences did not take place during the life of Joshua, but immediately after the great leader's death. If then we admit, as we are bound to do, the forty years between the Exodus and the entrance into Canaan Proper, that is, the country westward of Jordan, as a fixed chronological date, the greater part of the above thirty-seven years and a half must be assigned to Joshua. The Bible notoriously assigns no date to the leadership of Joshua, or to the period when the tribes were without any common leader or direction. Josephus, on the contrary, gives very distinct dates. for both these epochs. These must either be pure inventions or be derived from some ancient strictly historical records. Reference is often made to such records in the historical books of Scripture, which indeed aver themselves to be extracts or compilations from some larger work. Josephus assigns To Joshua, after the death of Moses - 25 years, 18 years. The biblical accounts indicate clearly enough that these periods together occupied the time of a generation. The next epoch, that of the supremacy of |