the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
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The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible
Acts 13:20
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Everything I've just said took about four hundred and fifty years. After this, God gave Israel some cowboys he called Judges to lead the nation. This went on until the time of Samuel the prophet.
"After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
And after these things he gave them judges, till the time of Samuel the prophet.
And after these things he gave [them] judges till Samuel the prophet, [to the end of] about four hundred and fifty years.
"After that He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.
This all took about 450 years. After this, He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
After these things he gave them judges until Samuel, the prophet.
And after that, he gave them judges, until Samuel the prophet.
and afterwards He gave them judges down to the time of the Prophet Samuel.
And after that he gaue vnto them iudges, about the space of foure hundred and fifty yeeres vntill Samuel the Prophet.
And after these things, as four hundred and fifty years passed , He gave judges until Samuel the prophet.
After that gaue he them iudges by the space of foure hundreth and fiftye yeares, vnto the prophet Samuel.
after these transactions, which lasted about four hundred and fifty years, he gave them judges to the time of the prophet Samuel:
"After this, He gave them judges until the prophet Samuel.
and after these things he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
And after warde he gave vnto them iudges aboute the space of .iiii.C. and .l. yeres vnto the tyme of Samuel ye Prophet.
and after these things he gave [them] judges until Samuel the prophet.
And after that he gave [to them] judges, about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.
`And after these things, about four hundred and fifty years, He gave judges -- till Samuel the prophet;
All this happened in about four hundred fifty years. "After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.
All this took about four hundred fifty years. After this he gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.
All this happened in about 450 years. Then God gave our people judges until the time of the prophet Samuel,
All this took about 450 years. After that, he gave them judges , down to the prophet Sh'mu'el.
All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
Then afterward he gaue vnto them Iudges about foure hundreth and fiftie yeeres, vnto the time of Samuel the Prophet.
And for a period of four hundred and fifty years he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel.
After these things he gave them judges until Shemu'el the prophet.
for about 450 years. After that he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel.Judges 2:16; 1 Samuel 3:1-21;">[xr]
he gave them judges, until Shamuel the prophet;
And for four hundred and fifty years he gave them judges, until Samuel the prophet.
All this took about 450 years. "After that, God gave them judges to rule until the time of Samuel the prophet.
For about 450 years He let them have special leaders. They had these leaders until the time of Samuel.
and after these things he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
for about four hundred fifty years. After that he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel.
And, after these things, he gave them judges, until Samuel the prophet.
As it were, after four hundred and fifty years. And after these things, he gave unto them judges, until Samuel the prophet.
And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.
This took about four hundred and fifty years. And after these things, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
And afterwarde, he gaue vnto them iudges, about the space of foure hundred and fyftie yeres, vnto the tyme of Samuel the prophete.
All this happened in about 450 years. "After this, God gave our people judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.
"After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
All of this took about 450 years. "After this he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel.
as aftir foure hundrid and fifti yeeris. And aftir these thingis he yaf domesmen, to Samuel, the profete.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
he gave: Judges 2:16, Judges 3:10, Ruth 1:1, 1 Samuel 12:11, 2 Samuel 7:11, 2 Kings 23:22, 1 Chronicles 17:6
until: 1 Samuel 3:20
Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 7:15 - judged Acts 3:24 - Samuel Hebrews 4:7 - after Hebrews 11:32 - Samuel
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And after that he gave unto them judges,.... As Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Abimelech, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson, and Eli:
about the space of four hundred and fifty years; not that from the division of the land of Canaan among the tribes, to Samuel the prophet, was such a space of years; for from the coming of the children of Israel out of Egypt, to the year that Solomon began to build the temple, were but four hundred and fourscore years, 1 Kings 6:1 and out of these must be taken the forty years the children of Israel were in the wilderness, and seven years in subduing the land of Canaan, before the division of it, which reduce this number to four hundred and thirty and three; and from hence must be deducted the time of Samuel's judging Israel, the reigns of Saul and David, and three years of Solomon's, which reduced the years of the judges to less than four hundred years; and according to some, the years of the judges were three hundred and fifty seven; and according to others, three hundred and thirty nine, and both fall short of the space of years here assigned. The Alexandrian copy and the Vulgate Latin version read this clause in connection with the preceding words, "he divided their land unto them, about the space of four hundred years, and after that he gave unto them judges"; agreeably hereunto the Ethiopic version renders it, "and after four hundred and fifty years, he set over them governors, c". So that this account respects not the time of the judges, or how long they were, but refers to all that goes before, and measures out the space of time from God's choice of the Jewish fathers, to the division of the land of Canaan: and reckoning from the birth of Isaac, when the choice took place, and in whom Abraham's seed was called, there was much about such a number of years for from the birth of Isaac to the birth of Jacob, were sixty years; from thence to his going down into Egypt, an hundred and thirty years; and from thence to the Israelites coming out of Egypt, two hundred and ten years; and from thence to their entrance into the land of Canaan, forty years; and from that time to the division of the land, seven years, which in all make four hundred and forty seven years: so that, according to this account, there were three years wanting of the sum in the text; hence the apostle might with great propriety say, that it was about the space of so many years. It follows,
until Samuel the prophet; the meaning of which, is not that there was such a space of time as before mentioned, from the distribution of the land of Canaan until the times of Samuel the prophet, during which space judges were given; but that after that term of time was expired, God gave them judges, or raised up one after another, until Samuel the prophet, who was the last of them: of his character as a prophet, 1 Kings 6:1- : and which is a title frequently given him by Jewish writers u.
u Maimon. Cele Hamikdash, c. 4. sect. 3.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
He gave unto them judges - Men who were raised up in an extraordinary manner to administer the affairs of the nation, to defend it from enemies, etc. See Judges 2:16.
About the space of four hundred and fifty years - This is a most difficult passage, and has exercised all the ingenuity of chronologists. The ancient versions agree with the present Greek text. The difficulty has been to reconcile it with what is said in 1 Kings 6:1, “And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel ...he began to build the house of the Lord.” Now if to the 40 years that the children of Israel were in the wilderness there be added the 450 said in Acts to have been passed under the administration of the judges, and about 17 years of the time of Joshua, 40 years for Samuel and the reign of Saul together, and 40 years for the reign of David, and three years of Solomon before he began to build the temple, the sum will be 590 years, a period greater by 110 years than that mentioned in 1 Kings 6:1. Various ways have been proposed to meet the difficulty. Doddridge renders it, “After these transactions, (which lasted) 450 years, he gave them a series of judges,” etc., reckoning from the birth of Isaac, and supposing that Paul meant to refer to this whole time. But to this there are serious objections:
(1) It is a forced and constrained interpretation, and one manifestly made to meet a difficulty.
(2) There is no propriety in commencing this period at the birth of Isaac. That was in no manner remarkable, so far as Paul’s narrative was concerned; and Paul had not even referred to it. This same solution is offered also by Calovius, Mill, and DeDieu. Luther and Beza think it should be read 300 instead of 400. But this is a mere conjecture, without any authority from mss. Vitringa and some others suppose that the text has been corrupted by some transcriber, who has inserted this without authority. But there is no evidence of this; and the mss. and ancient versions are uniform. None of these explanations are satisfactory. In the solution of the difficulty we may remark:
(1) That nothing is more perplexing than the chronology of ancient facts. The difficulty is found in all writings; in profane as well as sacred. Mistakes are so easily made in transcribing numbers, where letters are used instead of writing the words at length, that we are not to wonder at such errors.
(2) Paul would naturally use the chronology which was in current, common use among the Jews. It was not his business to settle such points; but he would speak of them as they were usually spoken of, and refer to them as others did.
(3) There is reason to believe that what is mentioned here was the common chronology of his time. It accords remarkably with that which is used by Josephus. Thus, (Antiq., book 7, chapter 3, section 1), Josephus says expressly that Solomon “began to build the temple in the fourth year of his reign, 592 years after the exodus out of Egypt,” etc. This would allow 40 years for their being in the wilderness, 17 years for Joshua, 40 for Samuel and Saul, 40 for the reign of David, and 452 years for the time of the judges and the times of anarchy that intervened. This remarkable coincidence shows that this was the chronology which was then used, and which Paul had in view.
(4) This chronology has the authority, also, of many eminent names. See Lightfoot and Boyle’s Lectures, Acts 20:0. In what way this computation of Josephus and the Jews originated it is not necessary here to inquire. It is a sufficient solution of the difficulty that Paul spake in their usual manner, without departing from his regular object by settling a point of chronology.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Acts 13:20. And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years — This is a most difficult passage, and has been termed by Scaliger, Crux Chronologorum. The apostle seems here to contradict the account in 1 Kings 6:1: And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign, he began to build the house of the Lord.
Sir Norton Knatchbull, in his annotations upon difficult texts, has considered the various solutions proposed by learned men of the difficulty before us; and concludes that the words of the apostle should not be understood as meaning how long God gave them judges, but when he gave them; and therefore proposes that the first words of this verse, Και μετα ταυτα, ὡς ετεσι τετρακοσιοις και πεντηκοντα, should be referred to the words going before, Acts 13:17, that is, to the time WHEN the God of the children of Israel chose their fathers.
"Now this time wherein God may properly be said to have chosen their fathers, about 450 years before he gave them judges, is to be computed from the birth of Isaac, in whom God may properly be said to have chosen their fathers; for God, who had chosen Abraham out of all the people of the earth, chose Isaac at this time out of the children of Abraham, in whose family the covenant was to rest. To make this computation evident, let us observe that from the birth of Isaac to the birth of Jacob are 60 years; from thence to their going into Egypt, 130; from thence to the exodus, 210; from thence to their entrance into Canaan, 40; from that to the division of the land (about which time it is probable they began to settle their government by judges) 7 years; which sums make 447: viz. 60 + 130 + 210 + 40 + 7 = 447. And should this be reckoned from the year before the birth of Isaac, when God established his covenant between himself and Abraham, and all his seed after him, Genesis 17:19, at which time God properly chose their fathers, then there will be 448 years, which brings it to within two years of the 450, which is sufficiently exact to bring it within the apostle's ως, about, or nearly.
"Some have made the period 452 years; which, though two years more than the apostle's round number, is still sufficiently reconcilable with his qualifying particle ως, about. And it may be added that the most correct writers often express a sum totally, but not exactly: so, with Demosthenes and Plautus, we find that called a talent where some drachms were either wanting or abounding."
The sacred writers often express themselves in the same way: e.g. He made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it about. Now we know that the circumference of any circle is only in round numbers to its diameter as three to one; but, correctly, is considerably more, nearly as 22 to 7. But even the Spirit of God does not see it necessary to enter into such niceties, which would only puzzle, and not instruct the common reader.
Calmet has paraphrased these passages nearly to the same sense: the text may be thus connected; Acts 13:19. And having destroyed; seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot, about one hundred and fifty years after. And afterwards he gave them judges, to the time of Samuel the prophet. The paraphrase of Calmet is the following: "The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers in the person of Abraham; he promised him the land of Canaan; and four hundred and fifty years after this promise, and the birth of Isaac, who was the son and heir of the promise, he put them in possession of that land which he had promised so long before." As this view of the subject removes all the principal difficulties, I shall not trouble my reader with other modes of interpretation.
