[49r] They were confined unto an Island; and these Judges were successively their Governours. Among the Carthaginians, (a Colony of the Tyrians) the Order of Judges had the Dominion, & chiefly præserved it in their own Hands, because they were during Life. These Judges are called Suffetes, by Livy; Cum suffetes ad jus dicendum consedissent. Thus our Judges are called, Sophetim, i.e. Suffetes. The Word signifies, one who Avenges the Cause of a People, or Delivers them out of the hand of their Enemies.⁵⁵

         Hence, the Apostle Paul, [Act. 13.20.] mentioning 450Years, for the Time of the Judges, only used a Number then commonly ascribed unto this Time among the Jews: (which we also find in Josephus's Account of this Period:) But he uses a Particle, As it were, or, As it commonly seems, which intimates, that an Accurate Chronology was not intended in this Account of it.⁵⁶

		Years	Months	Dayes
V. From the Foundation of Solomons Temple,     to the Conflagration.		424.	3.	00.57

The Chronology of the Kingdomes of Israel and Judah, is abundantly established, by the famous Prophecies of Ezekiel, touching the utmost Extent of the Divine Patience to Israel and Judah. [Ezek. 4.4, 5, 6.] Ezekiel is to bear the Iniquity of Israel, lying on his Left Side, 390 Dayes; & to bear the Iniquity of Judah, lying on his Right Side, 40 Dayes; and the Lord saies, I have appointed thee Each Day for a Year. The plain Meaning is this; That the longest Time of the uninterrupted Idolatry of the Israelites, and of Gods Patience with them, from the First Idolatrous Feast of Jeroboam, till the Final Captivity of the Ten Tribes by Nebuchadnezzar, should be 390 Years. And that the longest Time of the uninterrupted Idolatry of Judah, and of Gods Patience with them; till the Final Captivity of the last Remains of the Two Tribes, by the same Nebuchadnezzar, should be 40 Years. All that can here be quæstion'd, is, whether the Captivity of the Remnant, which happened in the twenty third Year of Nebuchadnezzar, which we have here assign'd, as the Conclusion of the 390 Years of the House of Israel, was of the Remainder of the Ten, and not rather of the Two Tribes. If it belong to the Ten Tribes, we have what we desire. If it be only of the Two, we are at a mighty Loss. The Reason of the Doubt is; The Historian ha's call'd them Jewes; Jer. 52.30. In the Twenty third Year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan Captain of the Guard, carried away captive of the Jewes, Seven hundred and forty five Persons. But we must observe, that all the Remainders of the Twelve Tribes, have been styled Jewes in common, ever since the Babylonish Captivity, and are so styled at this Day. These Jewes were Israelites; remaining in those Parts of the Land, which belonged unto the Ten Tribes. They are styled Ezek. 33.24. The Inhabitants of the Wasts of the Land of Israel. And their Mountains are called, Vers. 28. The Mountains of Israel. This Captivity happened, at the Time that Nebuchadnezzar was beseiging of Tyrus; now, t'was the Land of Israel, and not of Judah, that adjoined unto Tyrus, and so was the likeliest to afford him an Opportunity of carrying its Inhabitants into Captivity.⁵⁸ Yea, we are certain, that all the Reliques of the Two Tribes, were not now in the Land of Judah, but in the Land of Egypt, and so could not possibly be led into Captivity until the Conquest of Egypt afterwards. [Consider, Jer. 43.4, 5, 6, 7.]⁵⁹

         We will proceed now to consider the Difficulties, which occur in the several Intervals of this Period.

         1. From the Foundation of the Temple, to the Beginning of the Reign of Rehoboam, was, 36 Years, & 5 Months. How many odd Months are to be allow'd here, and in other parallel Cases, is not for the most Part expressly noted in the Sacred Scripture: But it is to be collected from the exact Adjustment and Connection of the Reigns of one King with another, & to be fetched from the Tables of their Reigns.⁶⁰ And indeed, it highly deserves, not only our Observation, but our Admiration, that those many Texts of the Scripture, where the Reigns of the Kings of one Kingdome are adjusted unto those of the other, and which have generally for Want of due Attention been look'd upon as the Causes of Abundance of Difficulties, in the Sacred Chronology, are in themselves really so far from being so, that they generally help us to state the Accounts of each Reign much more accurately, and that commonly even to a Single Month. The Seeming Contradictions of the Scripture-Accounts do at last appear, but so many Proofs of their greater Accuracy. In that which looks like a Carelessness in the Chronology of the Bible, there lie Helps to state it more Nicely and more Accurately, than the most Accurate Monuments of other Antiquity can enable us to do in any profane History whatsoever.⁶¹

         2. From the Beginning of the Reign of Rehoboam, to the Beginning of the Reigns of Athaliah and Jehu, was 90 Years, and 6 Months.⁶²

         There is a New Hypothesis to be considered, for the Reconciling of the Years of the Two Kingdomes, in this Interval. And that is