The description of the men of this age as “divine,” and the idea of giving to heroes the name of Demigods, thus commingling earth and heaven, seems to have originated in the Sacred history of the wars of the Israelites in Canaan, at the beginning and during the progress of the Critarchal age. The remarkable interpositions of Providence which accompanied this people, under the guidance of Moses in the wilderness, under the command of Joshua in the promised land, and under the government of the Judges when settled there, would lead all the Heathen nations around them to ascribe to their leaders more than mortal power; hence would naturally arise the title of demigod. Moreover, the history of the transactions recorded in “the book of the wars of Jehovah” (Numbers xxi. 14), of which no doubt our poet had “heard by the hearing of the ear,” would inspire him with feelings and language similar to that which the Philistines uttered when they heard that the Israelites had brought the ark of God into their camp: “Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues of the wilderness;” (1 Sam. iv. 8). The extraordinary exertions of the Judges to deliver their countrymen from a foreign yoke, roused and assisted as they always were by the hand of God, might well strike terror into the hearts of their enemies, and give rise to the name and the notion of their being of supernatural origin. For instance, the remarkable atmospheric and celestial phenomena which occurred under the leadership of Joshua, when “the Lord cast great stones from heaven” upon the enemy, and when, at the voice of a man, the Sun and Moon “stood still” in the heavens for “a whole day,” would not be soon forgotten among the Heathen; because “there was no day like that before it or after it, for the Lord fought for Israel;” (Josh. x. 13, 14). Again, we are told in the song of Deborah and Barak, that “the stars fought from heaven; the stars in their courses, fought against Sisera;” and when we consider that the Heathen worshipped the heavenly bodies, including the stars, as divinities, we see how the idea of gods and demigods fighting the battles of men, would naturally arise in their minds from the recital of such a song as this; and we can thus trace the origin of the mythological machinery which is so finely wrought and so eloquently described in the pages of Heathen poesy.
In like manner, we find that the description of the settlement of the “Happy Heroes in the Islands of the Blest,” at the close of this age, savours strongly of the lofty ideas and the poetic language to be found in the prophecies concerning the future happiness of God’s chosen people. The establishment of the Israelites in the promised land, so long the subject of prophecy, was no doubt the great prototype, which the Poet had in his “mind’s eye” in this description; and the fame of God’s gracious dealings with them having spread abroad throughout the whole world, was no doubt the inciting cause which led mankind in general to think of improving their condition, and to make those frequent descents and migrations into other countries, which were so common in this and the preceding age. Our Poet had no doubt heard of the blessing of Jacob, which predicted the coming of Shiloh and the happiness of the tribe of Judah, who, as its representative, should “wash his robe in wine, and his cloak in the blood of grapes;” and whose “eyes should sparkle with wine, and whose teeth should be whiter than milk;” also, the felicity of the tribe of Joseph, who, in like manner, should be blessed “with blessings of heaven above, and blessings of the earth beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the matrix, and blessings of his progenitors, which should prevail beyond the everlasting hills.”[63] But the Song and the Blessing of Moses, which belonged to a later age, and which heightened the expectations of the twelve tribes by a clearer revelation, were still more likely to have reached the poet’s ears through the traditions of those early times. From the former, he would learn that the “Lord’s portion is his people;” and “Jacob the lot of his inheritance;” that “the Lord alone did lead them,” and “there was no strange god with them;” that “he made Israel ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and he drank the pure blood of the grape;” Deut. xxxii. 12–14. By the latter, he would be informed that Jehovah “was King in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people, the tribes of Israel were gathered together;” that “the land” of Joseph was Blessed of the Lord, “for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath; and for the precious fruits of the changes of the Sun, and for the precious things produced by the month, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the Bush;” that “there is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, he who rideth upon the heaven thy helper, even the most glorious of the sky;” and that “Israel should dwell alone: the fountain of Jacob should be in a land of corn and wine; and his heaven should drop down dew.” In the contemplation of such a glorious prospect, he might be led to say with the great lawgiver himself: “Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people, saved by the Jehovah, who is the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy excellency!” Deut. xxxiii. 5, 13, 26. Truly as the poet said “the Eternal (Κρονος, Time without end) now reigns their King.”
The sudden transition of the Poet from the description of the Fourth age, to that of the Fifth, with his rapid glance at the Sixth, which extends from v. 174 to v. 201, shows that his mind must have been wrought up to a great pitch of feeling and sublimity, in reflecting on the glorious deeds of the past age, and the splendid anticipations of the future. With the description of the Fifth or Iron age in which he himself lived, we cannot but deeply sympathise, feeling as we do that it has returned in our own days, and that its features are precisely the same as those which now characterize this age of Bronze.[64] “Oh! how I wish,” says he, “that I had not lived in the Fifth age (πέμπτοισι ἀνδράσιν), but had either died before it, or lived after it; for, now indeed is the Iron age; and they will rest neither day nor night from labour and misery, corrupting each other; but the gods shall give them unutterable sorrows; still even to these shall good and evil be intermingled; but Jupiter shall destroy the men of this age, for they shall become grey-headed soon after their birth; because the father will not live in unity with his children, nor the children with the father; the guest with his host, nor the friend with his companion; and the brother will be no longer affectionate, as in former ages; and soon shall they dishonour their parents growing old; then also shall the wicked attack them, speaking cruel words, and not fearing the wrath of the gods; nor shall the lawless then yield to their aged parents the rewards of their education; but one shall destroy the city of another; and no favour shall be shown to the pious, or the just, or the good; but they will rather honour the evildoer, and encourage injustice; nor shall there be any justice or modesty in their hands; and the wicked man shall injure the good, addressing him with hard speeches, and even be guilty of perjury; and croaking envy of hateful countenance, rejoicing in evil, shall pursue the whole race of miserable mortals; and then shall blushing Modesty and indignant Virtue, clothed in their white robes, having forsaken mankind, pass from the spacious earth to Olympus, to mingle with the immortal gods; then shall they leave direful woes to mortal men; and there shall be no help for the evil.” In this description, the Poet, who, according to the best authorities, lived about the end of the first century of the Iron age, seems to have partly borrowed his description from the sacred poetry of the Jews, and having himself experienced the evils of injustice at the hands of his own kindred, to have partly anticipated the wickedness of the age, in a fine prophetic vein. Solomon, with whose glorious reign the Monarchal or Iron age began, uttered sentiments concerning the wicked, to which the ideas of our poet have a striking similarity: “For they,” said he, “sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence;” Prov. iv. 16, 17. The following passages in the book of Proverbs, to which we shall only refer, with others which might be cited, would almost lead us to imagine that Hesiod had been familiar with the writings of Solomon: Prov. i. 11–19; v. 3–14; vi. 16–19; ix. 13–18; xxiii. 27–35; xxiv. 1, 2, 15–22; and xxx. 11–23; but in the psalms of David, we find a more vivid and sustained description of the wickedness of the wicked, and one to which that of the Poet bears a more marked similarity than any of the passages yet cited: thus, “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. They have corrupted themselves, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good, there is not even one. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or seek after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become useless, there is none that doeth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.” Psalm xiv., according to the Septuagint. When we consider that even on the lowest computation, the poet Hesiod must have preceded the prophet Micah, by at least 100 years, we cannot but be struck also with the similarity of their descriptions of this age in which they both lived, and we cannot but admit that the description of the former written as it is in the future tense, partakes strongly of the character of inspiration. “The good man,” says the latter, “is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. The best of them is a brier, the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house;” Micah. vii. 2–6.[65] This passage, which was frequently appropriated by our Saviour when on earth, as describing the effects of his Mission upon the wicked, to whom the Gospel is the savour of death unto death, (Matt. x. 21, 35, 36; Luke xii. 53 and xxi. 16,) was eminently descriptive of the Iron or Monarchal age, from its beginning to its end, Hesiod, Micah and Ezekiel, as well as all the prophets, being Judges; (Ezek. xxii. 6–13; and 29–31). The Poet’s description of envy is strikingly just, and is manifested in a powerful degree in every unregenerate human heart; and to their shame be it said, it is not completely rooted out of the hearts even of Christians, till death has done its part: see the confession and exclamation of Paul, and the pointed description of James, to which the heart of every one must fully respond: Rom. 18–25; James iv. 1–5. The idea of the flight of Modesty and Virtue to heaven, leaving nothing but sorrows behind them, is also conceived in the finest vein of true poetry, which is always correct in its descriptions; nor is there any remedy for the evil until (as the Poet perhaps said, had we his works entire,) the return of the Golden age, when earth shall be as heaven.
With regard to the Sixth age, it is true, as Dr. Hales remarks, that Hesiod does not expressly announce that it shall succeed the Iron age, nor that it should be a state of regeneration or a revival of the Golden age; but his language strongly implies that it would be superior to the Fifth age, inasmuch as he earnestly expresses his wish that it had been his lot to have lived after the latter, in the words ἤ ἔπειτα γενέσθαι. Moreover, in his address to his brother Persa, we find a description of the happy effects which would result from doing justice, extending from v. 225 to v. 237; and this description corresponds exactly to the language used by the poets of the succeeding age, in describing the return of the Golden age at the close of the Sixth: thus, “But they who grant strict justice to strangers and citizens, and depart not in the least from equity, shall have a flourishing city, and flourishing people within its walls; and peace, the nurse of the young, shall dwell in the land; and Jupiter who sees afar, shall never bring upon them the horrors of war; neither shall famine or destruction annoy men strictly just; to them also the earth shall bring forth plenteous subsistence; and on the mountains, the pines shall produce apples at the top, and honey at the middle; and the fleece-bearing sheep shall be laden with wool; and wives shall give birth to children like their parents; and they shall flourish among the good with perpetual bloom; and there shall be no need of navigation; for the fertile ground shall produce all manner of fruit.”
It is to the poets and other writers of the Sixth age itself, however, that we are to look for the prophetic anticipations of the glorious event which was to illuminate its close. At the beginning of this age, flourished the Seven Wise Men of Greece, whose laconic, but excellent aphorisms, indicated the approach of better times. To them we owe, according to Plato, the celebrated maxim Γνῶθι σεαυτόν,—Know thyself; but even to know himself was more than man could attain, without a revelation from heaven;—how much more necessary was it, therefore, that the knowledge of the everlasting God should emanate from the same source! Accordingly, we find in the Scriptures, the following maxim perpetually inculcated, which is as much above that of the Seven Sages, as the Heavens are above the earth. “The fear of the Lord is the highest wisdom;”[66] to which we may add, with Solomon, David, and Job, who all uttered the same aphorism—“And to depart from evil is understanding;” (Prov. i. 7; Psalm cxi. 10; and Job xxviii. 28.) and it is easy to give it the laconic form, if this be any recommendation to the admirers of the wisdom of the Heathen, who prefer to drink at their muddy streams, and neglect the fountain of truth; for we have only to say Γνῶθι θεὸν,—Know God; and we concentrate in these two words, all that is necessary for man’s happiness, both in this world, and that which is to come: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent;” John xviii. 3. He indeed, who knows God, knows himself also; for he knows that in the sight of God, he is “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked;” and that he must buy of God, through Jesus Christ, “gold tried in the fire,” that he may be rich; and “white raiment,” that he may be clothed, and that the shame of his nakedness may not appear; and “eye-salve” to anoint his eyes, that he may see; Rev. iii. 17, 18.
When a century and a-half of the Sixth age had passed away, arose Socrates, the wisest of all the Greeks, who, as Cicero remarks, brought philosophy down from heaven to earth, and taught all that man could know about Divine things, which, according to his own confession, was positively nothing, with the exception of some obscure ideas which he had learned from primitive tradition. He indeed appears to have had just views of man’s ignorance, and according to Plato, his illustrious disciple, who survived his master half a century, he considered that there was no real way of finding out the truth concerning God, but by a revelation from Heaven, by the hand of a Divine Messenger. This appears evident, both from some passages in Plato’s Dialogue, entitled the “Phædo,” and from the following remarkable passage in that entitled the “Second Alcibiades; or, of Prayer,” which we copy from the 2nd vol. of Dr. Hales’s “Analysis,” p. 1231.
“Socrates.—We must needs wait then, Alcibiades, until we can learn how we ought to behave toward God and men. Alcibiades.—When shall this time come, Socrates? and who shall be the instructor? for I long to see this man (τουτον τον ἀνθρωπον) whosoever he is. Socrates.—He it is who careth for thee (ᾡ μελει περι σου); and I think, that as Minerva in Homer (Iliad 5, 127) removed the mist from the eyes of Diomedes, that he might well know both gods and men; so it is necessary in the first place, that He should remove the mist from your soul that is now attached thereto; and next that He should apply the means by which you shall know both good and evil in future; for now indeed you seem not to be able. Alcibiades.—Let him remove the mist, or whatever else it is, since I am prepared to decline none of his directions, whosoever this man is, (ὁστις ποτ’ έστιν ὁ ἀνθρωπος), provided I may be able to become better. Socrates.—Truly that same person (κακεινος) hath a wonderful regard for thee. Alcibiades.—I think then, the best way will be to postpone sacrificing until that time. Socrates.—You think right, for it is safer than to run so great a risk [of sacrificing improperly.] Alcibiades.—Then indeed, shall we give to THE GODS crowns and other legitimate offerings, when I see that day coming, and it will come in no long time, THE GODS willing.” From the same work, to which we have been so much indebted, we cannot avoid extracting the following lines to the same purport, taken from the Hymn of Eupolis, another disciple of Socrates, as translated by Wesley, not the founder of Methodism, but his father, Dr. Hales remarks:—
Dr. Hales has also given, at p. 1378, the following striking description from Plato, of the sufferings of the Just One, and of the reception he should meet with from a heedless and ungrateful world. “He shall be stripped of every possession, except his virtue; stigmatized as wicked, at a time when he exhibits the strongest proofs of goodness; endowed with patience to resist every temptation, and reverse of fortune, but inflexibly maintaining his integrity; not ostentatious of his good qualities, but desiring to be good rather than to seem so. In fine the recompense which the Just One so disposed (οὑτω διακειμενος ὁ δικαιος), as I said, shall receive from the world is this; he shall be scourged, tortured, bound, deprived of his eyes, (μαστιγωσεται, στρεβλωσεται, δεδησεται, εκκαυθησεται τω οφθαλμω), and at length, having suffered all sorts of evils, he shall be crucified (ανασχιν δυλευθησεται); [Works] vol. ii. p. 361, 362, Edit. Serrani.” He adds, “Plato who travelled into Egypt, unquestionably collected this singular character and sufferings, of the Just One, from the Hebrew Scriptures, of the Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel, and Zechariah, with the last of whom, he was nearly contemporary.”
As the time, the long-expected, and eagerly-wished for time, drew nigh, when the Messiah was to appear, and as (the συντελεία τῶν αἰώνων) the consummation of the ages hastened on, we find that the expectations of the Heathen for this Divine Instructor, this mighty King and Saviour, increased in magnitude and intensity,—a certain proof that the arrival of the Seventh, or the return of the Golden age, was the subject of their calculation, as well as the theme of their song. On this subject we need only refer to the works of Virgil, who flourished B.C. 40, in the reign of Augustus Cæsar, and particularly to the celebrated Eclogue entitled “Pollio,” in which he gives a condensed summary of the prophetic anticipations of all preceding poets and philosophers from the days of Hesiod to his own. To those who may not have viewed the fourth Eclogue in this light, the following extract of a poem so well known, may not be unacceptable:—
This description has a manifest reference to Hesiod’s account of the different ages of the world, and forms a complete supplement to that interesting relic of antiquity. Here we trace the last, or Sybilline age, in which Hesiod wished he had lived, the commencement of a great succession of ages, the return of the virgin Nemesis or Astræa, the Goddess of Justice, whom we have denominated Virtue, and who fled at the close of the Iron age; the return of Saturn’s reign, which was to begin with the Seventh, or Golden age revived; and the reign of Apollo, who was the representative of the Solar deity, and the reviver of all things. The humanity and the divinity of the expected prince, is strangely shadowed forth by the poet, in his allusion to his intercourse with gods, demigods and heroes, according to the Greek mythology. The misapplication, however, of the Cumæan or Sybilline prophecies, which were evidently borrowed or stolen from the Hebrew Scriptures, to the expected son, of Pollio according to some, or of Augustus according to others, is a proof that the time of our Saviour’s advent at the close of the Sixth age was known to be near; and that while there were some who, like aged Simeon, waited for the consolation of Israel; or, like Anna, the prophetess, departed not from the temple at Jerusalem, in earnest expectation of Him who suddenly came to it, and gladdened their eyes; so there were some even among the Heathen who, like Virgil, had heard of the expected Saviour, and who gladly hailed his approach, although they were mistaken as to the signs of his coming, and were ignorant of the distinguishing characteristics by which he was to be known. It can scarcely be doubted indeed, that in this Eclogue, Virgil had the prophecy of Isaiah in his mind, in which the Messiah is described as a “rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch out of his roots,” and which he might have even read in the Greek version of the Seventy. The following are some of its more striking points of similarity: “With righteousness he shall judge the poor, and convince the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the word of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. The wolf also shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the young calf, and the bull, and the lion shall feed together; and a little child shall lead them. And the ox and the bear shall feed together; and their young ones shall be together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And an infant shall put his hand on the holes of asps, and on the nest of young asps. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea;” Isaiah xi. 1–9; taken partly from the Septuagint. In a similar passage of the same prophet, which is perhaps still more to be admired on account of the richness of its promises to the people of God, and its striking resemblance to some passages in the book of Revelation, we find a very singular remark which seems, to our dark and finite understandings, to mar the beauty of the description; we refer to Isaiah lxv. 17–25. At v. 20, the prophet says, “but the sinner, being a hundred years old shall be accursed;” but for this sentence, we should have taken the whole passage for a figurative description of the happiness of the heavenly state allotted for the righteous after death. In imitation, perhaps of this singular passage, our poet introduces into his description of the renewal of the Golden age, the acute remarks with which the preceding extract terminates, and in which it seems as if he had anticipated the wars which have since desolated Christendom.[68]
Although the chronology of the Septuagint receives the strongest confirmation from the writings of the ancient chronographers, it must not be concealed that some of them have committed very strange and unaccountable errors in the computation of the different ages of the world; while, the works of others have come down to us in such an imperfect and corrupted state, that implicit dependance cannot be placed in the chronographical statements which they now contain. The latter remark is peculiarly applicable to the writings of Josephus, whose authority, notwithstanding all his errors, has been followed by many modern chronologers in preference even to that of the sacred Scriptures. Surely the question of chronology lies between the Hebrew text and the Septuagint version, and not between either of these and the works of the chronographers whether ancient or modern. By a fair examination, however, of their Sacred Chronology, we shall find that the testimony of the oldest and best chronographers is almost entirely in favour of the chronology of the Septuagint, and that wherever they differ from it in their works, they commit errors which in general, can easily be detected and accounted for, unless the passages in question have been so entirely vitiated by the wilful mistakes of transcribers as to render it impossible to determine what were the real and actual statements of the author. We shall select for this purpose, the names of five authors who possess the greatest influence among the learned on the subject of chronography, and whose statements are more or less followed by all later writers on the same subject: namely, Josephus A.D. 90, Theophilus A.D. 180, Africanus A.D. 220, Eusebius A.D. 315, and the author of the Paschal Chronicle.[70]
The names of these chronographers have been particularly selected indeed, and their statements tabulated by Mr. Clinton himself, as the best authorities, at least so far as regards the first two ages of the world. We do not follow him, however, in placing their statements on a level with those of the ancient texts and versions of Scripture; but we class them together as possessing the next claim to our attention. The following table, which for the sake of comparison, is marked by the same number as the corresponding table in our first Part, contains the Antepaidogonian ages of the Antediluvian Patriarchs, and the Extent of the First age of the world according to each chronographer:
| TABLE I. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antediluvian Patriarchs. | Josephus. | Theophilus. | Africanus. | Eusebius. | Pasch. Chron. |
| A.P. ages. | A.P. ages. | A.P. ages. | A.P. ages. | A.P. ages. | |
| From Creation | |||||
| Adam | 230 | 230 | 230 | 230 | 230 |
| Seth | 205 | 205 | 205 | 205 | 205 |
| Enos | 190 | 190 | 190 | 190 | 190 |
| Cainan | 170 | 170 | 170 | 170 | 170 |
| Mahalaleel | 165 | 165 | 165 | 165 | 165 |
| Jared | 162 | 162 | 162 | 162 | 162 |
| Enoch | 165 | 165 | 165 | 165 | 165 |
| Methuselah | 187 | *167 | 187 | *167 | 187 |
| Lamech | *182 | 188 | 188 | 188 | 188 |
| Noah | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 |
| To the Flood | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| First Age | 2256 | 2242 | 2262 | 2242 | 2262 |
Besides their respective statements above tabulated, these chronographers generally give in their works some additional statements which, with some exceptions, serve to rectify their errors, and to corroborate and confirm the true chronology. Josephus, however, in the present text, is made to say that the period from Adam to the flood is 2656 years; whereas the summation of the Antepaidogonian ages gives only 2256 years! On this point, some advocates of the Hebrew chronology argue that the original number was 1656 years, and that δισχιλιών has been put for χιλιών, or two thousand for a thousand; but this is mere assertion; for it is just as easy to say that the original number was 2256 years, and that ἑξακοσιών has been put for διακοσιών, or six hundred for two hundred. Now the proof that the latter assertion is the true one, is that the number 2256 agrees entirely with the summation of the numbers given in detail; whereas the number 1656 does not agree, and must consequently be erroneous. Moreover, there are some MS. copies of Josephus in which we find the true reading ἐτων δισχιλιών διακοσιών πευτήκοσταἑξ, or two thousand two hundred and fifty six years; and this reading is also to be found in some ancient authors who have followed Josephus in chronology, such as, Eutychius Alexandrinus, Josephus Christianus, Anianus Asceta, &c.[71] A few various readings relating to the Antepaidogonian ages are also to be found in the different MSS. to which we have referred, but they are of minor importance and not sufficient to invalidate the authenticity of the tabular numbers. The same may be said of his statements regarding the Postpaidogonian ages and whole lives; but as the chronology does not depend on these statements, it is unnecessary to make them the subject of discussion.
It is a very remarkable thing that Josephus differs here from the Septuagint only in the Antepaidogonian age of Lamech, and that in this point he agrees with the Hebrew text. Nor are we aware of the existence of any various reading which would lead us to suppose that it had been otherwise in the text of Josephus. This circumstance alone, though there be many others, would almost lead us to conclude, with Mr. Cuninghame, Preface to his “Synopsis,” p. vii., “that the corruption of the Chronology must have taken place at an earlier period” than is commonly supposed by the learned. He believes “it to have been in the interval between our Lord’s death and the beginning of the Jewish war. This allows more than 30 years for the purpose, which is quite sufficient.” He also conceives “that it must have been well known to Josephus, and the end for which it was done;” and he adds, “It was, however, yet of too recent an origin for him to venture upon the bold experiment of openly substituting it [the corrupted chronology] for the universal chronology of his own, as well as other nations, and the Christian church, and therefore he has introduced both schemes, namely, the short and the long [computation], in such a manner as to perplex and utterly confuse the whole subject, and to draw from some of our most learned men, the acknowledgment that his chronology is involved in hopeless obscurity.” The following explanation of the discrepancy between Josephus and the Septuagint in regard to the Antepaidogonian age of Lamech will be to the general reader more satisfactory than that to which we referred in our first Part, p. 23. “Josephus, who in all the other Antediluvian generations follows the Greek, does in this of Lamech follow the Hebrew, and the effect of it is, that his Diluvian period from Creation is 2256, while that of the best copies of the Seventy, and of Demetrius, is 2262 years. This difference of 6 years, therefore, goes through his whole Chronology. At the beginning of the 1st book of his Antiquities [that is in the Title to the Book] he tells us, that it contains a period of 3833 years, to which, adding the 6 years above mentioned to make it accord with the Greek chronology of Demetrius, the sum is 3839 years. If the reader will next turn to the Table in the Fulness of the Times, p. 34, he will see that this period of 3839 years, measures exactly the interval, from Creation, to the end of the year B.C. 1640, when the children of Israel left Egypt. Now as it is in the nature of things impossible that this most remarkable coincidence should have been unknown to Josephus, the necessary and the legitimate conclusion is, that the above period of 3833 years is his authentic chronology from Creation to the Exodus. It divides itself as follows:
| Years. | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1st. | To the Deluge | 2256 |
| 2nd. | To the Birth of Abraham | 1072 |
| 3rd. | To the Exodus | 505 |
| Total from Creation to the Exodus | 3833 |
It, moreover, necessarily includes the disputed generation of Cainan, proving that it was in his text originally; and it excludes Usher’s addition of 60 years to that of Terah. But the narrative of the 1st book of the Antiquities comes no lower than the death of Isaac, which was 226 years before the Exodus, and the 2nd book contains the history from the death of Isaac to the Exodus. Yet Josephus, after having at the beginning of his 1st book already given the period which measures the narrative of both books, does nevertheless at the commencement [that is, in the Title] of his 2nd Book, tell us that it contains a period of 220 years in addition to the former, and to this extent his chronology of the whole period from the Creation to the Exodus is forged.” For the rest of his remarks on the delinquencies of Josephus, and the detection of his errors, we must refer our readers to the Preface to Part II. of Mr. Cuninghame’s “Fulness of the Times,” pp. x, et seq. whence the above extract is taken.
It is proper, however, to add the promised explanation, as abridged as possible. Mr. Cuninghame, in his “Fulness of the Times,” pp. 138, 139, shows that in curtailing the true chronology, the Jews preserved the Jubilean Series from the birth of Enos to the departure of Jacob to Padan-aram; for, according to the Septuagint, this interval is 3136 years, or 64 Jubilees; but, according to the Hebrew text, and Usher, 2009 years, or 41 Jubilees; the difference, therefore, is 1127 years or 23 Jubilees. Now this difference consists of the following periods struck off in the Hebrew chronology:
| Years. | |
|---|---|
| From the birth of Enos to the Flood | 406 |
| From the Flood to the birth of Terah | 720 |
| Antedate of Jacob’s departure | 1 |
| Total 23 Jubilees, or | 1127 |
Mr. Cuninghame argues from the cyclical nature of this period, that the Rabbis who curtailed the true chronology, “were well aware that from the birth of Enos to the departure of Jacob for Padan-aram, there was an exact series of Jubilees, and that in corrupting the Sacred text, they have, with profound artifice, contrived to preserve a series of complete Jubilees, by subtracting exactly 23 Jubilees, or 1127 years.” He adds the following proof regarding the single year; in the true chronology, the birth of Abraham is B.C. 2145, and the departure of Jacob, B.C. 1908,—interval, 237 years; in the curtailed chronology these events are respectively dated B.C. 1996, and B.C. 1760,—interval, 236 years; hence, the antedate is one year. Now in the preceding interval from the birth of Enos to the flood, the period of 6 years which was subtracted from the Antepaidogonian age of Lamech, is an essential element in the argument; otherwise that interval would be only 400 years instead of 406, and the whole of the argument would then fall to the ground. Another argument, in favour of the 6 years is, that if the longer chronology of Josephus be so far correct, which is proved from the Septuagint, it is surely proper to follow the authority of that version in regard to the 6 years, as well as in regard to the 600 years; if we trust to its accuracy for the greater number, we may also trust it for the less! It seems ridiculous and absurd to take the evidence of the highest authority at second hand, and to reject a small part of that evidence, because it is not fairly brought forward by the same hand; although it be pressed on our notice by many other witnesses! Surely in regard to these 6 years, the testimony of the Septuagint and the whole Christian Church, is before that of Josephus.
In reference to the tabulated statements of Theophilus, we find only the very singular and unaccountable error of 20 years in the Antepaidogonian age of Methuselah, which the Vatican codex, if we may trust the editions of the Septuagint said to have been taken from it, appears to have retained. That this chronographer has evidently read 167 years instead of 187 years, can scarcely be doubted from his subsequent statements, and particularly from his statement respecting the extent of this age, that “all the years till the flood were 2242.”[72]
The statements of Africanus as to the Antediluvian period, entirely agree with those of the Septuagint, which shows that he had taken his numbers from a more correct copy of that version, and one that agreed in this respect with the celebrated Alexandrine codex now deposited in the British Museum. He confirms the truth of his particular statements by the following summary ones: first—“Therefore, from Adam till the birth of Enos all the years are 435;” second,—“Therefore, from Adam till Noah and the flood are 2262 years.”[73] As to the statements of Eusebius, and the author of the Paschal Chronicle, they are of a later age, and must therefore have been copied from one or other of the former authors, or from the copies of the Septuagint extant in their time. From the notes upon the Chronicon of Africanus, added by Routh,[74] it is evident that both Eusebius and Syncellus adopted the numbers in the preceding table which we have arranged under the name of the former; and that Epiphanius and the author of the Paschal or Alexandrine Chronicle adopted the correct numbers of the Septuagint, which we have placed under the title of that work. After stating that according to Africanus, “there were 3000 years from Adam to the death of Peleg;” Syncellus adds, “but according to Eusebius, 2980 years;” the difference between these numbers is 20 years, which is precisely the same as the difference between their dates of the year of the flood, viz: A.M. 2262, and A.M. 2242. Moreover, although Syncellus states that Africanus gives the former of these dates, as the true epoch of the deluge; he adds his own opinion, that “from Adam to the flood there were 2242 years,” and “contra Africanum pugnat,” fights against Africanus, in favour of the erroneous number. The author of the Paschal Chronicle says explicitly, that “in the 100th year of Shem, the 600th of Noah, and the 2262d year of the world, the flood was upon the earth; and this is the exact number which Africanus exhibits at this epoch since the correct copies of Genesis shew 187 years as the age of Methuselah when he begat Lamech.” Epiphanius, in his first book “against Heretics,” after narrating that Noah was saved in the ark, says “and thus the 10th generation extended to the 2262d year [of the world,] and the flood brought it to an end.” Thus it appears to have been the general opinion of the oldest and best writers that the First age of the world was of the precise length which we have assigned to it; and that the only difference among them was, whether it were not shorter by 20 years, in consequence of some foolish mistake committed by an early transcriber in the Antepaidogonian age of Methuselah; for in this age, the correct copies of the Septuagint perfectly agree with the Hebrew text.
We now proceed to notice the errors of these chronographers, in their statements regarding the Second age of the world. The following table, which should be compared with Table II. in our first Part, contains the Antepaidogonian ages of the Postdiluvian Patriarchs, and the Extent of the Second age, according to each chronographer.
| TABLE II. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postdiluvian Patriarchs. | Josephus. | Theophilus. | Africanus. | Eusebius. | Pasch. Chron. |
| A.P. ages. | A.P. ages. | A.P. ages. | A.P. ages. | A.P. ages. | |
| From the Flood | *12 | *0 | *0 | 2 | *0 |
| Arphaxad | 135 | 135 | 135 | 135 | 135 |
| Cainan | *0 | *0 | *0 | *0 | 130 |
| Salah | 130 | 130 | 130 | 130 | 130 |
| Heber | 134 | 134 | 134 | 134 | 134 |
| Peleg | 130 | 130 | 130 | 130 | 130 |
| Reu | 130 | 132 | 132 | 132 | 132 |
| Serug | 132 | 130 | 130 | 130 | 130 |
| Nahor | *120 | *75 | 79 | 79 | 79 |
| Terah | 70 | 70 | 70 | 70 | 70 |
| To the Call of Abraham | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 |
| Second Age | 1068 | 1011 | 1015 | 1017 | 1145 |
In regard to the Extent of this age, Josephus is made to say, in the present text, that Abraham “was born in the 292d year after the flood;”[75] while the summation of the Antepaidogonian ages gives 993 years, to which adding the age of Abraham at the Call, we have 1068 years! As we can scarcely suppose Josephus to have been guilty of so extraordinary an absurdity as to commit an arithmetical error of this magnitude, we cannot only attribute the discrepancy to the evil design of his transcribers, and say “an enemy hath done this!” Moreover, the same wicked hand that dared to alter this and other numbers of our author, has no doubt, also dared to omit here the genealogy of the Second Cainan. Nor can we see what good purpose it could serve to make him say that “Arphaxad the son of Shem, was born 12 years after the flood,” instead of 2, as in the Sacred text; and that “Nahor when he was 120 years old begat Terah,”[76] instead of 79, as in the Septuagint. But since in these details, Josephus has in general adopted the numbers of the Septuagint, it is plain that he must have followed the same authority in their sum total, and that the sum of 292 years must have been inserted instead of the true sum of 1072 years, by some early advocate or supporter of the Hebrew chronology. Besides, we have shown in our preceding remarks on the Extent of the First age, that Josephus has prefixed a number to his first Book, which in reality belongs to his first and second Books, and which includes the extent of the first three ages, all but 6 years. That number is 3833 years, a period wholly inexplicable on any other principle than that which Mr. Cuninghame has laid down. To him, we are therefore justly indebted for its true and satisfactory explication; and he has clearly shown that Josephus must have originally inserted in his Antiquities, the true number of 1072 years, from the Deluge to the birth of Abraham; although the text is now so vitiated that it cannot be made out from the place in question.
The errors of Theophilus in this age are both strange and unaccountable, except on the principle of Jewish influence, when we consider that his error in the first age, was only 20 years, while here it amounts to 132 years. He states that from the Creation “till Abraham, there are 3278 years,”[77] that is, to the birth of Isaac as appears by the context. If from this number we subtract his extent of the first age, viz. 2242 years, the remainder is 1036 years, or his period from the flood to the birth of Abraham; and from this period, deducting 25 years, the time which elapsed from the Call to the birth of Isaac, we obtain a remainder of 1011 years, which is the extent of the Second age, according to Theophilus. Hence, it is plain that he omits the Second Cainan, the 2 years after the flood previous to the birth of Arphaxad, and 4 years in the Antepaidogonian age of Nahor. The second omission is manifest also from the context, where he says, “but immediately (ἐυθέως) after the flood, Shem being 100 years old, begat Arphaxad.” We shall see that he endeavours to make up for these omissions, by a curious balance of some of these errors in the succeeding age. In addition to the tabular statements, Africanus says that, “Arphaxad begat Salah in A. M. 2397; Salah begat Heber in A. M. 2527; and Heber begat Peleg in A. M. 2661.” He says also that “Peleg at the age of 130 begat Reu, and having lived other 209 years, died;” so that “from Adam to the death of Peleg there were 3000 years.”[78] According to the true chronology, Peleg died in A. M. 3132; hence, from the dates of Africanus, if correctly reported, it appears that he omits the genealogy of the Second Cainan, and the two years after the flood previous to the birth of Arphaxad. The difference between the dates of Africanus and those derived from the Septuagint, is therefore 132 years; and this number must be added to the subsequent dates of Africanus, until other errors appear, in order to obtain the true dates. If this be done, we shall find that throughout the whole of this age, the dates of Africanus will perfectly agree with those of the true chronology. Connected with the tradition of the renovation of the world at the end of 6000 years, there appears to have been an idea current among the early chronographers, that the period from the Creation to the Advent of Christ was exactly bisected at the death of Peleg; because the Scripture says that “in his days the earth was divided,” by which they seem to have understood the whole period of its existence! Hence, the apparent reason of the omission of the Second Cainan’s generation, and the Postdiluvian biennial period.[79] Africanus further states that “in A. M. 3277, Abraham entered the promised land;” consequently, an interval of 277 years had elapsed since the death of Peleg; but this corresponds exactly with the interval of the Septuagint, for 3409 − 3132 = 277; see Tables V. and VIII. of our first Part. Moreover, he states that “from the flood and Noah to the descent of Abraham into the promised land, were ten generations or 1015 years, and from Adam, twenty generations or 3277 years.”[80] We have sufficiently discussed the question of the number of generations here mentioned, in our first Part, pp. 34–40; it is quite unnecessary therefore, to resume the subject; suffice it to say that Shem was an Antediluvian, and therefore his generation could not be reckoned in the number of generations after the flood; neither was it reckoned in the number before the flood: for Noah was reckoned the tenth from Adam, and Abraham the tenth from the flood. In this respect, therefore, Shem was like Melchizedec, as far as the generations or genealogies on which the Chronology depended, was concerned, viz., “Fatherless, motherless, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, being assimilated to the Son of God,” who “remains a priest for ever;” and who “hath made us [true believers in Christ] kings and priests unto God even his Father; to” whom “be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” Heb. vii. 3; and Rev. i. 6.
The statements of Eusebius and the author of the Paschal Chronicle respecting this age are taken from Mr. Clinton’s “Fasti Hellenici,” vol. i. p. 287; he appears to have very carefully sifted these numbers, in order to arrive at the exact truth concerning the opinions of their authors. He gives the following extract from the Chronicon of Eusebius; “From the flood to the first year of Abraham are collected 942 years;” if to this number we add 75 years, the age of Abraham at the Call, we have 1017 years for the Extent of the Second age according to Eusebius. The author of the Paschal Chronicle appears to have omitted the two years after the flood; hence, the preceding 75 years being added to 1070 years, the period which he assigns between the flood and the birth of Abraham, we have 1145 years for the Extent of the Second age according to that work. Routh, however, justly remarks that “in the Hieronymian version of the Eusebian Chronicle, the years of this [the Second] Cainan are still extant;” hence, even according to Eusebius, the true extent of the Second age appears originally to have been 1147 years. The following testimony collected by Syncellus in his Chronographia, from the works of Eusebius and Africanus, in support of the computation of the Septuagint before the flood, and of the Septuagint and Samaritan after the flood, we extract from Dr. Russell’s “Connection,” vol. i. pp. 96, 97, on account of its important bearing on the Extent of the first two ages:—“Since, according to the most ancient Hebrew copy preserved among the Samaritans, and which agrees with the Septuagint translation, they who lived after the flood down to Abraham did not beget children till after the age of 100 years and more, what reason can be assigned that their predecessors before the flood, whose lives were longer by many years, should begin to beget children sooner, and not rather at the ages set down in the Septuagint? On mature consideration, we must incline to the latter computation, and necessarily conclude, that the Jewish-Hebrew reckoning of the times from Adam to Abraham is wrong in all the ages excepting three, Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech; and that the Samaritan-Hebrew computation is also wrong in the period from Adam to the flood; for in the years from the flood to Abraham it agrees entirely with the Septuagint. But the error of the Jewish-Hebrew text is evident from hence, that it makes Abraham and Noah contemporaries, which is inconsistent with all history: for since according to the Hebrew text, there are no more than 292 years from the flood to Abraham, and since, according to the same text, Noah lived 350 years after the flood, it is evident that he lived to the 58th year of Abraham!”
The following table which contains the statements of the chronographers, regarding the Third age of the World, ought to be compared with Table VIII. in our first Part; as it contains the Chief Patriarchal Eras and Intervals according to each chronographer:
| TABLE III. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patriarchal Eras. | Josephus. | Theophilus. | Africanus. | Eusebius. | Pasch. Chron. |
| Intervals. | Intervals. | Intervals. | Intervals. | Intervals. | |
| From the Call | |||||
| The Eisodus | 215 | 215 | 215 | 215 | 215 |
| To the Exodus | 215 | 430 | 215 | 215 | 215 |
| Third Age | 430 | 645 | 430 | 430 | 430 |
The testimony of Josephus to the Extent of this age is very explicit. He states that the Israelites “left Egypt in the 430th year after that our father Abraham came into Canaan, and in the 215th year after the Eisodus of Jacob into Egypt;”[81] and he mentions some of the minor intervals, in a very clear and distinct manner, in his 2nd Book. It is evident indeed that he rightly understood the testimony of Scripture as to the true intervals of this prophetic period; although he seems to waver from the truth in the 9th chapter of that Book, where he speaks of the afflictions of the Israelites in Egypt for a period of 400 years, according to Gen. xv. 13. The latter text, however, appears to have been the stumbling block of Theophilus in his chronology; for he agrees with the Scriptures, as regards the intervals from the call to the Eisodus; and then he says that “the sojourning of the Hebrews in Egypt was 430 years!”[82] He seems therefore to have confounded the period of 400 years with the period of 430 years, and to have applied the whole period to the sojourning of the Israelites in Egypt alone, exclusive of Canaan, contrary to the testimony of the Septuagint, Exodus xii. 40, Alexandrine edition, and that of St. Paul, Galatians iii. 17. By this means, he increases the Extent of the Third age to 645 years, making it greater than the true Extent, by 215 years! It would almost seem, therefore, as if he had intended this error to compensate in some measure for those which he committed in the preceding ages; inasmuch as it is of an entirely opposite character. This excess of 215 years makes up not only for the omission of the 20 years in the Antepaidogonian age of Methuselah before the flood, of the 130 years of the generation of the Second Cainan, of the 2 years after the flood, and of the 4 years in the Antepaidogonian age of Nahor; but gives a surplus of 59 years at the end of the Third age in his chronology. For, adding the 40 years wandering in the Wilderness to his amount of the first three ages, he says that “all the years are 3938,”[83] from the Creation of the world to the entrance of the Israelites into the promised Land. By a reference to Table X. of our first Part, it will be seen that the true date of this entrance is A.M. 3880, and making allowance for the single year we have added to this date, on the ground specified at p. 65, it follows that the date of Theophilus is erroneous in excess by 58 years.
The statements of Africanus respecting this age have not been preserved in a perfect state; but from the following fragments, it will appear that he took the correct and Scriptural view of its Extent and Intervals. Syncellus says that according to Africanus, “Joseph was 40 years old in the 130th year of Jacob; consequently, Joseph lived 70 years after the arrival of Jacob in Egypt;” and that “from Adam to the death of Joseph, were 23 generations, and 3563 years.[84]” Now, if to the latter number, we add 132 years, for reasons already mentioned p. 244, we shall have 3695 years for the correct number according to the true Chronology; see Table VIII. of our first Part. Again, he says, “it has been shown that there were 1020 years from Moses and Ogyges to the first Olympiad, that is, from the Passover or first year of the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt, when the flood of Ogyges happened in Attica.”[85] Here, if we take the last year of the first Olympiad as that to which Africanus refers, namely B.C. 773, and add to it the preceding number, we shall have B.C. 1793, for his date of the Exodus; but as this chronographer constantly reckons the period from Creation to the Birth of Christ as 5500 years,[86] it is evident by subtraction, that his Mundane date of the Exodus is A.M. 3708; to which, adding the constant number 132 as before, we shall obtain A.M. 3840, or B.C. 1639, for the date of the Exodus according to the true system of chronology. Again, if we take the difference between either the dates of Africanus, or the true dates of the death of Joseph and the Exodus, which we have deduced from his by the addition of a constant quantity, we shall obtain the interval of 145 years, which, added to the period of 70 years above mentioned, makes 215 years as his interval between the Eisodus and the Exodus; consequently, his interval between the Call and the Eisodus must have been the same amount, and his whole extent of this age 430 years.
Mr. Clinton has given a very full extract from the Chronicon of Eusebius, in which he states that from the first year of Abraham to the Exodus were 505 years; that Abraham left Charran in the 75th year of his age; and consequently, from that year to the Exodus were 430 years. He then states the Scriptural intervals from the Call to the birth of Jacob, and traces through his genealogy, the intervals from thence to the birth of Moses and the Exodus; but since, as Mr. Clinton remarks, his “distribution of the last 215 years is more correct than in the account of Demetrius, but still erroneous,” we need not repeat his enumeration in this place; suffice it to say, that his estimate of the whole period is correct. Mr. Clinton also cites the following passage from the Paschal Chronicle, which shows that its author’s estimate of the Extent of this age was likewise correct: “Joshua, the son of Nun, 27 years;—Chushanrishathaim, 8 years; in all, 3912 years.” For, adding to the latter number, the two years which he omits after the flood, we shall have 3914 years; and from this, subtracting the 35 years just cited, we shall have 3839 years, and consequently, A.M. 3839 for his date of the Exodus, which is within a year of the true date for reasons already alluded to; he, therefore, must have reckoned the period of 430 years from the ingress of Abraham into Canaan, to the egress of Israel out of Egypt.
The adjustment of the period mentioned in Gen. xv. 13, can occasion no difficulty to the careful reader of Scripture, for it is evident that the commencement of this period must be reckoned from the day that Isaac was weaned, or perhaps a year or two after; inasmuch it related specifically to the seed of Abraham which were to be strangers in “a land not theirs,” and to be “evil entreated 400 years;” Acts vii. 6. This evil treatment began when Isaac was a child, and was able to play, say at 5 years old, with the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, the son of the bondwoman, who was not to be heir with the son of promise and of laughter. Isaac was his name; but Sarah saw Ishmael Isaaking or laughing at her son, and mocking him, and accordingly, she demanded that the “bondwoman and her son” should be cast out,—a striking emblem of the punishment that shall befal all the mockers of and laughers at the people of God; for the Apostle truly says “but as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now:” Galatians iv. 22; yea, and the term “Saints,” or “Holy ones” of God, is become a term of mockery, of scorn, and of reproach, in this very age in which we now live; although it be written that “without Holiness no man shall see the Lord!” Precisely then, for the space of 400 years did this affliction and persecution continue against the seed of Abraham, till God brought them out of the land of Egypt “with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm;” and precisely in the same manner shall all the true Israel of God be rescued from their enemies, and be in due time delivered from the land of darkness and of death.