Solo 66 CHRONOLOGY from the Death of SAUL, &c. of a senior monarch the first of his fucceffor. mon's fole reign began with Abib, 477 from the Exodus; for in the fecond month, in the 480th year after the children of Ifrael were come out of Egypt, and in the 4th of his reign, Solomon laid the foundation of the house of the Lord *. JOSEPHUS difagrees not only with the canonical records, concerning the length of the interval from Adam, from the deluge, from the arrival of Abraham in Canaan, and from the egrefs, to the foundation of the temple; but also with himself, in different parts of his works; even when the fame events and times are his fubject t. Strong was his predilection in favour of an amplified chronology. In two characters of the time he confirms the authority of the facred Annals, affirming that the work of the Temple was begun in the second month of the ecclefiaftical Hebrew year, and in the fourth of Solomon. That month he farther connects with the Macedonian Artemifius; and that year with the eleventh of Hiram, king of Tyre, as in the fame paffage; or with the 12th, as in the 16th fection of his firft Book against Apion. * 1 K. vi. I—37. † Ant. iii. 3. 1 Fifth Age of the World. From the Foundation to the Overthrow of the Temple. H CHAP. I. Chronology of Solomon's Reign. ENCE commences a new term of computation. "It came to pass, at the end of 20 years after Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord, and his own houfe, that Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities." The 24th of his reign is thus characterifed, as the 20th from the foundation of the Temple exclufively. THREE years having been spent in providing materials for this great work, it was finished in seven years, in the 8th month of the 11th year from the death of David. That the dedication might derive folemnity from one of the national feftivals, it was deferred to the Feaft of Tabernacles in the fubfequent year. The Primate affigns another reafon for this delay;-that it might coincide with the return of the ninth jubile. But that year was not concurrent with the fource of computation from the divifion of the land, and these observances were totally neglected from the confecration of Saul, to the days of Nehemiah. AFTER Solomon had employed thirteen years more in building his own house, he proceeded to raise numerous and magnificent ftructures about Jerufalem, and in other parts of his dominions, twenty cities in Galilee, Hazor, Megiddo, Tadmore, or Palmyra, in the wilderness, cities of ftore, &c.: all which works of use and grandeur, justify the fuppofition, that he continued many years in the practice of thofe virtues which attracted the admiration both of his subjects and of foreign princes. After he had finished all the ftupendous enterprises recorded in his hiftory, he continued to frame bis life by the principles of piety and wisdom; for three times a year he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he had built *. mation implies perfeverance during a series and it was not till after he was old, that his wives turried away his heart after other gods t. This inti of years; AN accurate computation allows only 39 full years for his reign. The 40th, as incomplete, is accounted the first of Rehoboam. As a memorial of the fchifm, which gave rife to the unhappy distinction between the Samaritans and Jews, the ancient Hebrews, who adhered to the tribe of Judah, kept a yearly faft on the 23d day of the 3d month from the first of Rehoboam. This fact, as to the year, is with no lefs certainty authenticated, by Jeroboam's appointment of a feast in the eighth month, like unto the feaft of the feventh month in Judah ‡. 1 K. ix. 25. · † Chap. xi. 1—8. 1 K. xii. ABSTRACT of the chronology from Saul to the apo ftacy of the ten tribes. Years after the Exodus 435 W. J. P. B.C. David begins to reign in Hebron 436 2951 3656 1057 in Jerufalem 343 2958 3663 1050 THE fubfequent years are not counted from the date of the Temple; but from a prophetical period of 390 years, commencing with the first of Rehoboam, A. M. 3031, and ending with the breaking up of the city, int the 11th of Zedekiah, 3421. If the 36 years prior to the acceffion of Rehoboam be comprehended in the reckoning, the whole duration of the first Temple is 426 years. W CHA P. II. Chronology from Solomon to Athalia. T ITH the defection of ten tribes from the houfe of David, the fceptre of Rehoboam, and a pure worship, begins a new series of contemporary and independent kings. The two royal calendars, being exact counterparts, augment the labour of comparing dates, but hence computation acquires precision and certainty. In Judah the reigns are longer than thofe in Samaria, and, as fewer broken years occur, the register of the former claims the preference, as a regulating measure : The years characterifed as coincident do not always run parallel. Sufficient it is, that they touch in one common point. Sometimes the fame year, making a part of two reigns, is twice counted. To difcriminate fuch notations is the province of critical skill. In this period the fum of the reigns in Jerufalem is 95, and at Samaria 98. As Rehoboam and Jeroboam afcended their refpective thrones at the fame time, fo Ahaziah and Jehoram perished together. The interval, there fore, ought to be the fame by both calendars. To bring them to an equation, it is previously requifite to examine, whether all the years in the Chronicles of the Kings in Judah were full. |