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In this scheme there are two omissions; the minor judges are not taken into account. Then Jephthah has no place among the major judges, the 6 yearn being placed among the count of the minor judges (cf. Judges xii. 7 with x.8). This leaves 76 years to account for, which vitiates the entire calculation. The sum of the twelve " reigns " noted, if either Jephthah or Eli receive only 20 years, gives 406 years, 74 short of the 480 called for. But the governance of the number forty appears especially in the first six periods of the last table. And this predominance of the number 40 (cf. the confirmation in I Chron. v. 29-34, = vi. 35-88) illustrates the Masoretic chronology. To the 2,666 years between creation and the exodus (661 generations) 480 (12 generations) are now to be added.
For the next step assurance is not in our possession. Yet it seems significant that from the time of Solomon's ascent to the throne (c. 1015) to the return from exile (536 B.C.) almost ex;. Solomon actly covers 480 years; and it is note-
till the worthy that from Zadok's son Ahimaaz Return. to the beginning of the exile are eleven generations (I Chron. vi. 8-15). This scheme may have arisen just before or just after the end of the exile. In that case, the chronologist had before him the 661 generations -f- 12 -1- 12, leaving 91 generations, if he was reckoning on the world era of 4,000 years; he must then have ex pected Messianic times about 157 B.C. The fore going attempt at solving the scheme of Masoretic chronology, based upon the 2,666 years, is not the only one. Bousset starts from the data given in the Apocalypse of Ezra ix. 38 sqq. and Josephus, Ant., VIII. §§ 612, and X. §§ 147-148 (Greek text), and reaches the conclusion that the beginning of the temple cult (twenty years after the beginning of the building of the temple) fell in the year 3000 from creation. Bousset holds that the Septuagint sys tem is secondary to the Masoretic, arranged in the time when the Hebrews began to compare their chronology with that of Egypt and Babylon and so discovered that their own was too short. This system would work out thus: THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOGupon the number 260, giving a total of 3,166, composed' of 260 X 12+ 46, from creation to the consecration of the Temple. The first is a popular reckoning, the second is purely theoretical and under foreign influence.
II. The Historical Data: It has already been noted that the use of an artificial chronological system does not exclude the presence of historical data, which were probably taken from tradition and brought together and arranged or changed. How far thin was the case may be seen by comparison of, e.g., the Book of Judges with other parts of Scrip ture. If such a combination appears z. Lack of a in the Books of Kings, it would amount
A new attempt by Bosse (Die chronologischen Systeme im A. T. and bei, Josephus, in Mittheilungen der vorderosiatischen Gesellschaft, 1908) to unravel the chronological basis of reckoning results in Bosse's belief that he has discovered two systems worked together. The first uses the generation-number of forty years, reckoning from the birth of Shem to the end of the exile, giving 40 X 50-h 2,000 years (omitting Terah); the second is a great solar cycle based
new year's day occurred 2781 and 4241 s.c., and at the earliest of these the Egyptian calendar must have begun. In early Babylonia an early fixed date is lacking, and the dating of events depends upon data afforded by Nabonidua (see As$YRL1, VI., 1, § 1; BABYLONIA VI., 1, §§ 1-2) which are seriously called in question. The dating of Sargon is, according to the shorter reckoning, brought down to about 2700 B.C. instead of c. 3750. But even were early Baby-
