Tola, 23 years
Jair, 22 years
foreigners, 18 years
Jephthah, 6 years
Ibzan, 7 years
Elon, 10 years
Abdon, 8 years
foreigners, 40 years
Samson, 20 years
Eli, in whose time Samuel [was born], 40 years
The total for all the judges until Samuel is 450 years [g161].
This is in agreement with what the blessed Apostle indicated, for it excludes the figures for Moses, Joshua, Moses' successor, Samuel, or Saul. Currently the dates for Samuel, Saul, and Joshua are not certain. But as the Apostle indicates, the 40 years of Saul should be added to the 450 year period of the judges. Moreover, if the 40 years of David and the 4 years of Solomon are included, the total reaches 534 years--exactly what the Apostle indicated. Add the 40 years that Moses spent in the wilderness, the 27 years of Nun's son Joshua, according to the Hebrews, and we arrive at a grand total of 600 years.
Earlier we mentioned that there were five generations between Nahson and David. Taking the total [of 600 years] and dividing it equally among the generations, we find that the men lived for more than 115 years before becoming fathers, an unbelievable proposition. Since Moses lived for a total of 120 years, how could his descendants reach almost the same age before becoming fathers? There is nothing left [to deduce from the book of Judges] on this point, so let us turn to the book of Kings for [additional] evidence.
[33] The book of Kings confirms that from the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt until Solomon and the construction of the temple, 440 years elapsed. According to the Hebrew version, it was 480 years [g162]. The third book of Kings [1 Kings, 6.1] states: "It happened in the 440th year after the exodus from Egypt, that Solomon began building the house of the Lord." The Hebrew version says: "It happened in the 480th year." This is because the Jewish doctors [of the faith] calculated that the total figure was 480 years, since they did not count the years that the foreigners ruled over the people separately. They just counted the time that the judges ruled them and included the foreign domination in that figure. This must have been the case, for it is the only way to arrive at a total of 480 years. It seems to me that when the blessed Apostle stated the number of years as mentioned earlier, he was not speaking as a chronographer, or someone trying to make a precise calculation. He was delivering a sermon on salvation. It would have been inappropriate [g163] to insert into it a treatise on chronological methodology, and so he followed the popular interpretation of the book of Judges.
The book of Kings clearly states that [the period] from the exodus until [the time of] Solomon embraced 440 or 480 years. However, if we examine the years for each of the judges individually and also tally the years of foreign rule separately--as mentioned in the book of Judges--we find 600 years total between Moses and Solomon: Moses was in the wilderness for 40 years. Joshua [g164], 27 years. Judges and foreigners, 450 years. This is what the Apostle states, according to the book of Judges. Samuel and Saul, 40 years. David, 40 years. Solomon 4 years, until the building of the temple. Accordingly, each of the men in the five generations just mentioned must have lived 120 years before fathering a son, a wholly preposterous proposition.
If we follow the book of Kings, we get a total of 480 years, after subtracting the 120 years of the Hebrews' servitude. The Hebrews themselves reckon it this way, combining their years of servitude to foreigners with the years of their freedom. We shall do the same in our Chronicle , incorporating the period of foreign servitude with the number of years assigned to each [of the judges] in the book of Kings. [This method] is especially [persuasive] concerning the five generations [g165] from Nahshon to David. By subtracting from the total of 480 years the 40 years Moses spent in the wilderness and the four years of Solomon, 436 years remain to the death of David. Dividing these years equally among the five generations, produces 87 years for each generation. Should people investigate this, they will find a credible account beginning with the birth of David. David was born when his father Jesse was an old man. David was the eighth son born after his seven older brothers. Consequently we can assume that something similar happened to his ancestors.
Thus, for our purposes, we will accept that 480 years elapsed from the exodus from Egypt until Solomon and the construction of the temple. And we will include the years of foreign rule within the reigns of each successive judge. Now it happens that this decision is supported by a statement in the book of Judges made by Jephthah, one of the judges of the people. When the Ammonites who lived on the far side of the Jordan River started a war with him, [Jephthah] sent a messenger [g166] to the enemy with this import [Judges 11.25-26]: "Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them? While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Jordan, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?" Thus [Jephthah] informed them that Moses and Balak, son of Zippor, lived 300 years before their period. The 300 year total can only be obtained by including the period of the rule by foreigners [g167] within the reigns of the judges.
Should someone tally the years of servitude to foreigners separately, he will obtain a figure which far exceeds the 300 years. Yet if only the years of the judges' rule are counted, then he will discover 300 years between Moses and Jephthah, exactly as Jephthah's message stated. Consequently we will adopt the following chronology in this work:
[34] From Moses to Solomon
Moses, 40 years
Joshua, 27 years [g168]
foreigners and Othniel the judge, 40 years
foreigners and Ehud the judge, 80 years
foreigners and Deborah and Barak, 40 years
foreigners and Gideon, 40 years