also I leave to judge, whether we may not begin the four hundred and eighty years, from the deliverance out of Egypt to the temple, even from the first departure out of Egypt, and yet find a more probable reconciliation of St. Paul's and Jephtha's account with this reckoning, than any of those that as yet have been signified. For, first, touching Jephtha's three hundred years of possession of the east side of Jordan, it is to be remembered, that for a good while before the Israelites possessed it, Sehon and Og had dispossessed Moab and Ammon thereof; so that, when the Israelites had conquered Sehon and Og, the right of possession, which they had, passed to Israel; and so Jephtha might say, that they had possessed those countries three hundred years, reckoning two hundred and sixty-six years of their own possession, and the rest of the possession of the two kings Sehon and Og, whose right the Israelites had by the law of conquest.

The second place disputed is this of St. Paul, Acts xiii., that from the end of Joshua', to the beginning of Samuel, there passed four hundred and fifty years. And this place Luther understandeth also beside the letter, as I find his opinion cited by Functius Krentshemius, and Beza, for I have not read his commentaries. For he accounteth from the death of Moses, to the last year of Heli, but three hundred and fifty-seven years; and this he doth the better to approve the times from the egression out of Egypt to the building of the temple, which in 1 Kings vi. is said to be four hundred and eighty years.

Now, for as much as St. Paul, (as it seems,) finds four hundred and fifty years, from the death of Joshua, to the last of Heli, and leaves but thirty years for Saul and Samuel, who governed forty, for David who ruled forty, and for Solomon who wore the crown three whole years ere the foundation of

9 Read the 24th of Joshua, and 2 Judg. vii. Funct. Chron. fol. iv. his annotations upon the 13th of the Acts, ver. 20.

Beza, in

1

the temple was laid; therefore Luther takes it, that there was an error in the scribe, who wrote out this piece of scripture of St. Paul, to wit, then afterwards he gave unto them judges about four hun⚫dred and fifty years, unto the time of Samuel the prophet';' the words then afterwards, being clearly referred to the death or after the death of Joshua, as shall be hereafter proved. But, where St. Luke, rehearsing the words of St. Paul, wrote three hundred and fifty years, (saith Luther,) the scribe in the transcription being deceived, by the affinity of those two Greeks words, whereof the one signifieth three hundred, and the other four hundred, wrote tetracosiois for triacosiois, four hundred years for three hundred years, and four hundred and fifty for three hundred and fifty. This he seeketh to strengthen by many arguments; to which opinion Beza in his great annotations, adhereth. A contrary judgment to this hath Codoman; where Luther and Beza, begin at Moses's death, he takes this account from the death of Joshua, and from thence to the beginning of Samuel he makes four hundred and thirty years; to wit, of the judges, (not reckoning Sampson's years,) three hundred and nineteen, and of years of servitude and affliction under strangers, one hundred and eleven. The reason why he doth not reckon Sampson's twenty years, is, because he thinks that they were part of the forty years, in which the Philistines are said to have oppressed Israel, For it is plain, that during all Sampson's time", they were lords over Israel. So then, of the judges, besides the one hundred and eleven years of servitude, Codoman reckoneth, (as I have said,) three hundred and nineteen years, which two sums put together make four hundred and thirty years. And whereas St. Paul nameth four hundred and fifty years, he finds twenty years to make up St. Paul's number, to have been spent after the death of Joshua, by the

10 Acts xiii. 20. 11 Judg. xiii. Jud. xv. 11.

seniors, before the captivity of Chushan, or the election of Othoniel; which twenty years, added to four hundred and thirty, make four hundred and fifty, according to St. Paul. To approve this time of elders, he citeth two places of scripture, namely, the xxivth of Joshua, and the 2d of Judges, in each of which places it is written, that Israel served the 'Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the ' elders that over-lived Joshua;' so as to these times of the elders, Codoman giveth twenty years, which make, as before, four hundred and fifty, according to St. Paul. Neither would it breed any great difficulty in this opinion, if here also the twenty years of the seniors, between Joshua and Othoniel, should be denied. For they which deny these years, and make Othoniel's forty to begin presently upon the death of Joshua, as in the beginning of this reckoning, they have twenty years less than Codoman, so towards the end of it, (when they reckon the years of affliction, apart from the years of the judges,) in the number of Sampson's years, and of the forty years of the Philistines oppressing the Israelites, they have twenty years more than Codoman. For they reckon these forty years of oppression, all of them apart from Samson's twenty; but Codoman, as is said, makes Sampson's twenty to be the one half of the forty of the Philistines oppressions: so that, if the twenty years of the seniors be not allowed to Codoman, then he may reckon, (as the letter of the text seems to enforce,) that the Philistines in an Inter-regnum, before Sampson judged Israel, vexed the Israelites forty years, besides the twenty while Sampson was their judge; and so the reckoning will come to four hundred and fifty years, between the end of Joshua and the beginning of Samuel; though we admit not of an Inter-regnum of the seniors, between Joshua and Othoniel: for if the times of their affliction be summed, they make a hundred and eleven years; to which, if we add the years of the judges, which are three hun

dred and thirty-nine, we have the just sum of four hundred and fifty. And this computation, either one way or other, may seem to be much more probable than theirs that correct the text, although we should admit of their correction thereof, and read with them three hundred and fifty for four hundred and fifty. For whereas they conceive that this time of three hundred and fifty years is to begin immediately, or soon after the death of Moses; certainly the place of St. Paul doth evidently teach the contrary, though it be received for true, that there was vitium scriptoris in the rest. For these be St. Paul's words: And about the time of forty years, God suffered their ⚫ manners in the wilderness; and he destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, and divided their ⚫ land to them by lot. Then afterwards he gave unto them judges about four hundred and fifty years, unto the time of Samuel the prophet.' So as, first, in the 18th verse, he speaketh of Moses, and of his years spent in the wilderness; then, in the 19th verse, he cometh to the acts of Joshua; which were, that he destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan', and divided their land to them by lot. In the 20th verse it followeth, Then afterwards he gave them judges about four hundred and fifty years,' &c.; and, therefore, to reckon from the death of Moses, is wide of St. Paul's meaning, so far as my weak understanding can pierce it. The only inconvenience of any weight, in the opinion of Codoman, touching this place in the Acts, is, that it seems irreconcileable with the account, 1 Kings vi. 11. For if, indeed, there were spent four hundred and fifty years between the end of Joshua and the beginning of Samuel, certainly there must needs be much more than four hundred and eighty years between the beginning of the Israelites journeying from Egypt, and the foundation of the temple by Solomon. To this difficulty Codoman answereth, that these four hundred 1 Josh. xiv. 1.

and eighty years, 1 Kings vi. 1., must begin to be reckoned, not in the beginning, but in the ending of their journeying from Egypt, which he makes to be twenty-five years, after the beginning of Othoniel's government; from whence, if we cast the years of the judges, with the years of servitude, (which sums according to his account, of which we have already spoken, make three hundred and ninety-seven years,) and so to these years add the forty of Samuel and Saul, and the forty of David, and the three of Solomon, we shall have the just sum of four hundred and eighty years. Neither is it hard, saith he, that the Annus egressionis, 1 Reg. vi. i., should be understood Egressionis non incipientis sed finitæ, the year of their coming out of Egypt, (for so it is in the original,) or the year after they came out of Egypt, may well be understood for the year after they were come out thence; that is, after they had ended their wandering from thence. For so we find, that things, which were done forty years after they had set foot out of Egypt, are said to have been done in their going out of Egypt; as Psalm cxiv.: When Israel came out of Egypt, Jordan was driven back.' And Deut iv. 45. 'These are the testimonies which Moses spake when 'they came out of Egypt.' And thus far, it seems, we máy very well agree with Codoman, for the interpretation of the words, ab exitu, to be as much as quum exivissent, or abexitu finitu; for if Junius, Deut. iv. 45., do well read, quum exivissent, for in exitu, as it seems that herein he doth well, why may not we also, to avoid contradiction in the scripture, expound ab exitu to be postquam exivissent?

The next point to be cleared is, how their journeying should be said, not to have had end until the twenty-fifth year after the victory of Othoniel. To this Codoman answereth, that then it had no end till when all the tribes had obtained their portions, which happened not until this time; at which time the Danites at length seated themselves, as it is declared,