CHAPTER IV.

EXTENT OF THE THIRD AGE OF THE WORLD.

Table VIII. Patriarchal Eras and Intervals from Usher—Table IX. Extent of the _first Three Ages_ of the World—Date of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt.

The extent of the _Third_, or Patriarchal age, is ascertained from the text of Exodus xii. 40 and 41. That this passage originally stood in the Hebrew as it now stands in the other two texts, is evident from Galatians iii. 17; and as all commentators and chronologers are now agreed that the commencement of the 430 years was reckoned from the date of the Call, or the year following, it is unnecessary to revive former disputes on this point. The following table, partly from Usher,[21] who distinctly enumerates all the texts of Scripture on which their determination depends, exhibits the _intervals_, between the _Patriarchal eras_ of this period, and the corresponding _years of the world_, according to the Hebrew and Septuagint computations:—

TABLE VIII. PATRIARCHAL HEBREW. SEPTUAGINT. ERAS. Intervals. A.M. Intervals. A.M. From the Call 0 2083 0 3409 Birth of Isaac 25 2108 25 3434 Birth of Jacob 60 2168 60 3494 The Eisodus 130 2298 130 3624 Death of Joseph 71 2369 71 3695 Birth of Moses 64 2433 64 3759 To the Exodus 80 2513 80 3839 ———— ———— THIRD AGE 430 years. 430 years.

In the above and following tables we omit the Samaritan computation, and adopt the Hebrew as interpreted by Usher, as the question of the true chronology in modern times is considered to lie between the latter and the Septuagint. The next table exhibits, according to these two systems, the extent of the first three ages of the world.

TABLE IX. AGES OF THE WORLD. HEBREW. SEPTUAGINT. Years. Years. First two Ages 2083 3409 Third Age 430 430 ———— ———— FIRST THREE AGES 2513 3839

Mr. Cuninghame, “Fulness of the Times,” p. 36, gives an ingenious explanation of “the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt,” and shows that, strictly speaking, the period of 430 years should be reckoned from the date of Abraham’s descent into that land, after his arrival in Canaan, or _one_ year later than the date of the Call. Hence, the Exodus took place in A.M. 3840, according to the computation of the Septuagint.[22]