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(25) So, too, 1 Sam. 17, 18, are taken from another historian, who assigns a cause for David's first frequenting Saul's court very different from that given in chap. xvi. of the same book. (26) For he did not think that David came to Saul in consequence of the advice of Saul's servants, as is narrated in chap. xvi., but that being sent by chance to the camp by his father on a message to his brothers, he was for the first time remarked by Saul on the occasion of his victory, over Goliath the Philistine, and was retained at his court.

(27) I suspect the same thing has taken place in chap. xxvi. of the same book, for the historian there seems to repeat the narrative given in chap. xxiv. according to another man's version. (28) But I pass over this, and go on to the computation of dates.

(29) In I Kings, chap. vi., it is said that Solomon built the Temple in the four hundred and eightieth year after the exodus from Egypt; but from the historians themselves we get a much longer period, for:

                                                                      Years.
  Moses governed the people in the desert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  Joshua, who lived 110 years, did not, according to Josephus and
      others' opinion rule more than  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
  Cusban Rishathaim held the people in subjection . . . . . . . . . . .  8
  Othniel, son of Kenag, was judge for  . . . . . . . . .  [Endnote 15] 40
  Eglon, King of Moab, governed the people  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
  Ehud and Shamgar were judges  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
  Jachin, King of Canaan, held the people in subjection . . . . . . . . 20
  The people was at peace subsequently for  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  It was under subjection to Median . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
  It obtained freedom under Gideon for  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  It fell under the rule of Abimelech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
  Tola, son of Puah, was judge  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
  Jair was judge  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
  The people was in subjection to the Philistines and Ammonites . . . . 18
  Jephthah was judge  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
  Ibzan, the Bethlehemite, was judge  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
  Elon, the Zabulonite  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
  Abclon, the Pirathonite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
  The people was again subject to the Philistines . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  Samson was judge  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  [Endnote 16] 20
  Eli was judge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  The people again fell into subjection to the Philistines,
      till they were delivered by Samuel .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
  David reigned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  Solomon reigned before he built the temple  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4

(30) All these periods added together make a total of 580 years. (31) But to these must be added the years during which the Hebrew republic flourished after the death of Joshua, until it was conquered by Cushan Rishathaim, which I take to be very numerous, for I cannot bring myself to believe that immediately after the death of Joshua all those who had witnessed his miracles died simultaneously, nor that their successors at one stroke bid farewell to their laws, and plunged from the highest virtue into the depth of wickedness and obstinacy.

(32) Nor, lastly, that Cushan Rishathaim subdued them on the instant; each one of these circumstances requires almost a generation, and there is no doubt that Judges ii:7, 9, 10, comprehends a great many years which it passes over in silence. (33) We must also add the years during which Samuel was judge, the number of which is not stated in Scripture, and also the years during which Saul reigned, which are not clearly shown from his history. (34) It is, indeed, stated in 1 Sam. xiii:1, that he reigned two years, but the text in that passage is mutilated, and the records of his reign lead us to suppose a longer period. (35) That the text is mutilated I suppose no one will doubt who has ever advanced so far as the threshold of the Hebrew language, for it runs as follows: "Saul was in his — year, when he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Israel." (36) Who, I say, does not see that the number of the years of Saul's age when he began to reign has been omitted? (37) That the record of the reign presupposes a greater number of years is equally beyond doubt, for in the same book, chap. xxvii:7, it is stated that David sojourned among the Philistines, to whom he had fled on account of Saul, a year and four months; thus the rest of the reign must have been comprised in a space of eight months, which I think no one will credit. (38) Josephus, at the end of the sixth book of his antiquities, thus corrects the text: Saul reigned eighteen years while Samuel was alive, and two years after his death. (39) However, all the narrative in chap. xiii. is in complete disagreement with what goes before. (40) At the end of chap. vii. it is narrated that the Philistines were so crushed by the Hebrews that they did not venture, during Samuel's life, to invade the borders of Israel; but in chap. xiii. we are told that the Hebrews were invaded during the life of Samuel by the Philistines, and reduced by them to such a state of wretchedness and poverty that they were deprived not only of weapons with which to defend themselves, but also of the means of making more. (41) I should be at pains enough if I were to try and harmonize all the narratives contained in this first book of Samuel so that they should seem to be all written and arranged by a single historian. (42) But I return to my object. (43) The years, then, during which Saul reigned must be added to the above computation; and, lastly, I have not counted the years of the Hebrew anarchy, for I cannot from Scripture gather their number. (44) I cannot, I say, be certain as to the period occupied by the events related in Judges chap. xvii. on till the end of the book.

(45) It is thus abundantly evident that we cannot arrive at a true computation of years from the histories, and, further, that the histories are inconsistent themselves on the subject. (46) We are compelled to confess that these histories were compiled from various writers without previous arrangement and examination. (47) Not less discrepancy is found between the dates given in the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, and those in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel; in the latter, it is stated that Jehoram, the son of Ahab, began to reign in the second year of the reign of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat (2 Kings i:17), but in the former we read that Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, began to reign in the fifth year of Jehoram, the son of Ahab (2 Kings viii:16). (48) Anyone who compares the narratives in Chronicles with the narratives in the books of Kings, will find many similar discrepancies. (49) These there is no need for me to examine here, and still less am I called upon to treat of the commentaries of those who endeavour to harmonize them. (50) The Rabbis evidently let their fancy run wild. (51) Such commentators as I have, read, dream, invent, and as a last resort, play fast and loose with the language. (52) For instance, when it is said in 2 Chronicles, that Ahab was forty-two years old when he began to reign, they pretend that these years are computed from the reign of Omri, not from the birth of Ahab. (53) If this can be shown to be the real meaning of the writer of the book of Chronicles, all I can say is, that he did not know how to state a fact. (54) The commentators make many other assertions of this kind, which if true, would prove that the ancient Hebrews were ignorant both of their own language, and of the way to relate a plain narrative. (55) I should in such case recognize no rule or reason in interpreting Scripture, but it would be permissible to hypothesize to one's heart's content.