of refuge, spared at the intercession, ZOHELETH = serpent. A noted ZOHETH-snatching. A descen- = ZOPHAI.-See ZUPH. ZOPHAR=sparrow. One of Job's ZOPHIM watchers, lookers out. 1. ZORAH = hornet's town. A city ZORÓBABEL=sown, i.e., begotten ZUAR smallness. A descendant ZUPH comb, honey-comb. An an- ZUPH.-See SEA, RED. ZUR=form, shape. 1. A prince of ZURIEL my rock is God. A chief ZUZIMS = strong. An ancient e of J CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. As the ancient Hebrews possesed no formal Adam Seth Hebr. Samar. Sept. Josep. 170 130 130 105 105 205 205 Enoa 90 90 190 190 Cainaan 170 Mahalaleel 6.5 65 165 165 Jared 162 162 Enoch 65 65 165 165 Methuselah 187 67 167 187 Lamech 182 53 188 182 Noah 502 502 Shem 100 100 100 110 Arphaxad 35 135 135 135 Cainan? 0 0 130 Salah 30 130 Eber 34 134 134 134 Peleg 30 130 130 130 Reu 32 132 132 130 Serug 30 130 130 132 Nahor 179 120 Terah at the birth) of Abraham 0 Thus, from the creation of Adam to the Hebrew text, is Josephus 2008 2249 3474 3394 The genuine Bible chronology is undoubtedly that which has been handed down in the original Hebrew text. The various disresulted, not from accident, but from premedcrepancies exhibited by the versions evidently itated design. By looking at the first table it will be seen that in no instance of the addition or substraction of a century, in the years of the antediluvian patriarchs, does the Hebrew text stand alone, but is supported either by the Samaritan against the Septuagint, or by the Septuagint against the Samaritan. Now, in this systematic disagreement, the Septuagint and the Samaritan differ throughout, so as to contradict each other in regard to the age of each of the first nine patriarchs; while the Hebrew, without following either, takes such a middle course as to have the concurrence of the Samaritan in the age of Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel and Enoch; and of the Septuagint, or of Josephus, respecting And, surely, Jared, Methuselah and Lamech. in a disagreement of three witnesses, two must be credited against one; and most of all must he be believed, who takes such an independent course, that he is supported now by one, and now by the other. In the various ages composing the Hebrew numbers, we find no appearance of design; while all the discrepancies in the units, tens, and hundreds, in the Septuagint version, so systematic, and so skilfully adjusted as until recently to have concealed the artifice, must the unworthy design of the translators in have resulted, not from accident, but from ian chronology. Nor has the Egyptian chro developing their numbers out of the Egyptaritan copy. Even the numbers in Josephus Sep-nology been without its influence on the Samhave been corrupted to make them agree with the chronology of the Septuagint; as in other parts of his work, which has escaped the hands of false correctors, he differs but slightly from the Hebrew. The subjoined summary exhibits the period which has elapsed from the creation of man to the birth of Christ, according to the principal ancient eras, which are evidently derived from the lengthened chronology of the tuagint version: Grecian era Era of Constantinople Era of Antioch 5598 5494 Several of the modern systems of chronol The Deluge occurred, according to the Hebrew computation, B.C. 2348, or 1656 years after the creation of man, when Noah was 600 years old. The number of years which the Septuagint, according to the Alexandrian copy-the Vatican manuscript is defective in the first forty-six chapters of Genesis-interposes between the creation of man and the Deluge is 2262, thus placing that event B.C. 3245, according to their computation. The 2262 years, from the creation of Adam to the Deluge, reduced to lunar months, ie., monthyears, give in round numbers 28,000. That there was such an Egyptian chronography, on which the Septuagint chronology is based, which counted 28,000 years down to B.C. 3245, is evident from the Eusebian Manetho; which reckons 25,920 years from the first of the Egyptian gods to Menes, the first of the mortal kings. To the first eleven dynasties of mortal kings it assigned 1941 years, which, added to the former, make 27,861. Thus, then, the 28,000 years from the first of the gods would end, according to this chronography, with the 139th year of the twelfth dynasty, which coincided with B.C. 3245, the Septuagint date of the Flood, when, it seems, the Septuagint chronologers imagined the monthyear of the Egyptian computation ceased, and men began to reckon by real years. This view is supported by the Eusebian Manetho, which assigns B.C. 3383 as the date of the commencment of the twelfth dynasty, which was the Egyptian year of the world 27,861; hence 139 added to B.C. 3245, bring us to B.C. 3383. So also Eusebius, in his chronological canon, states the birth of Abraham, B.C. 2016; and makes that event coincident with the first year of Manetho's sixteenth dynasty. To the fifteenth dynasty he assigns 250 years; to the fourteenth, 484; to the thirteenth, 453; and to the twelfth, 182. Thus the interval may be taken at about 1368 Egyptian real years; which bring us again to B.C. 3383, as the date of the commencement of the twelfth Egyptian dynasty. The 28,000 years, when understood of lunar months, which exactly fill up the Septuagint interval between Adam and the Deluge, remove any doubt as to the kind of calculations on which the Septuagint chronology is based. Its authors had before them this Egyptian computation, which counted 28,000 years down to B.C. 3,245, the date of the Flood as given by them. They were determined to make the Egyptian chronology tally with the Bible, by doing violence to both, hence they compressed all those thousands of years into less than a twelfth part of the space they were entitled to, on the one hand, and swelled the number of years assigned to the Bible patriarchs on the other, to make both ends meet. All these years they chose to regard as months, which they accordingly reduced to years on the common scale of ninetynine of the former to eight of the latter. Thus stands the calculation: sesses a meaning. For of a lunar year is 222 days, and the "seventeenth day of the second month," on which the Flood is said to have commenced, (Gen vii. 11.) is actually the 17th day of Zif or Yiar, the 223rd day of the Hebrew year. The argument for adopting the lengthened chronology of the Septuagint. in the years of the postdiluvian patriarchs, instead of that of the Hebrew text, on the ground of the supposed impossibility of the world being peopled in so short a time as the era B.C. 2224, or about 124 years after the Flood, as to render the dispersion in the time of Peleg requisite is of little weight; because, though those versions give additional years, they give no additional generations. From the time of Arphaxad to that of Nahor, about 220 years, the Hebrew numbers, place upon an average each generation, ie., the birth of a son, at intervals of little more than 31 years. Whereas the Samaritan and Septuagint numbers extend their chronology for the same period, the former 870, and the latter 1,100 years, only by placing upon an average cach generation, on the birth of a son, at intervals of little more than 124 and 137 years, inserting before each descent 100 or 50 years, and in one case an additional generation of 130 years; by which, in point of population, nothing can be gained. For it is manifest that as the casualties in 31 years must be less than in 124 or 137 years, where the lives are of the same length, so, according to the short Hebrew numbers, the population in the same number of generations must much more rapidly increase than according to the more extended period; and the population upon the Hebrew computatation must, in the allotted 220 years, have been almost one-half as much again as in the most extended of these computations. Recent investigations in Assyrian chronology from the cuneiform inscriptions, have, on some points, contributed to the confirmation of that drawn from the Hebrew Scriptures; while on other points there exists a considerable variation. The Assyrians had no fixed epoch, but appear to have dated events from the reigns of their kings. Prof. Rawlinson refers to a recently discovered tablet, recording the occurence of a solar eclipse, which is presumed to have been total, in the month Sivan or June, in the ninth year of Asshur-dan. III. He observes that the calculations of astronomers show that the only total eclipse falling at this time of the year visible in Assyria between B. C. 847 and B.C. 647-within which period the reign of Asshur-dan. III., must have fallenwas one on June 15, B. c. 763. This eclipse commenced before noon, was total, and was visible all over Western Asia. There can be no reasonable doubt that it is the one recorded upon the tablet, and there can be little doubt that this eclipse is the one of which Amos prophesied. (Am. viii. 9.) This discovery gives a certainty, equal to that possessed by astronomical science, to the whole range of 99 8 28,000 2,262 93 Assyrian chronology from B.C. 909 to B. c. 665, Even the fraction over 2,262-the Septuagint From the most recent discoveries given by interval between Adam and the Deluge-pos-Prof. Rawlinson, "Five Great Monarchies," |