How does Acts 13:20 align with historical records of Israel's judges? Passage in View “All this took about 450 years. After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.” (Acts 13:20) What Paul Recounted in Context Speaking in Pisidian Antioch, Paul walks his listeners from the Exodus to David (Acts 13:17-22). The 450-year remark stands between Israel’s entry into Canaan and the ministry of Samuel. Paul’s outline: 1. Election in Egypt 2. The Exodus and wilderness (≈ 40 yrs) 3. Conquest of Canaan (≈ 7 yrs) 4. “About 450 years” of judgeship 5. Samuel ⇒ Saul ⇒ David Old Testament Numbers for the Judges Era Book of Judges and 1 Samuel give lengths for most administrations and foreign oppressions: • Othniel 40 • Moabite oppression 18 • Ehud (incl. Shamgar) 80 • Canaanite oppression 20 • Deborah/Barak 40 • Midianite oppression 7 • Gideon 40 • Abimelech 3 • Tola 23 • Jair 22 • Philistine/Ammonite oppression 18 • Jephthah 6 • Ibzan 7 • Elon 10 • Abdon 8 • Philistine oppression 40 • Samson 20 • Eli (judge & priest) 40 Sum = ≈ 426 years. Add Joshua’s conquest/settlement (≈ 7 yrs) and wilderness (40) and the tally reaches ≈ 473. Paul’s “about 450” is a rounded, inclusive figure. How Paul’s 450 Years Harmonize with 1 Kings 6:1 1 Kings 6:1 says the fourth year of Solomon’s reign was “480 years after the Israelites had come out of Egypt.” Ussher dates: Exodus 1446 BC, Solomon’s 4th yr 966 BC ⇒ span 480. Subtract wilderness 40 and conquest 7, and 433 remain for the judges—well within Paul’s “about 450.” Jewish and Greco-Roman Witnesses • Josephus, Ant. 5.1.1: “377 yrs 6 mos” from entry to Samuel. Josephus counts only the judges’ administrations, omitting oppressions; Paul appears to include the oppressions as part of God’s disciplinary governance. • Seder Olam Rabbah (2nd-cent. AD): 356 yrs. Same counting method as Josephus. • Dead Sea Scroll 4QJudg: Confirms Judges’ lengths essentially as MT; no variant shortens the era. Archaeological Corroboration • Late Bronze-to-Early Iron-Age destruction layers (e.g., Hazor, Jericho, Lachish) fit a 15th–14th-century conquest, not the 13th-century revisionist model. • Collared-rim pottery bursts across the central hill country c. 1400–1200 BC, matching the settlement window of Joshua/Judges. • The Izbet Sartah abecedary (c. 1200 BC) evidences early Hebrew literacy necessary for the period’s chronicles. Chronological Compression Critiques Answered Skeptics argue overlapping judgeships cut the length. The text, however, repeatedly uses sequential formulae: “After him …” (Judges 3:31; 4:1; 10:1, 3). Where overlaps exist (Philistine dominion and Samson’s individual resistance), the overlap is already noted in the 40 + 20 period and still contributes to Paul’s lump-sum narrative. Why Paul Could Speak Confidently 1. The inspired chronology in Judges and Samuel. 2. The commonly accepted rabbinic numbers of his day. 3. The inclusive, rounded style of first-century historiography (“about,” Gr. hōsei). Theological Takeaway Paul’s interest is not pedantic arithmetic but redemptive history: God’s patience ruled Israel for “about 450 years” despite cyclical rebellion, culminating in the kingship that foreshadows Christ (Acts 13:22-23). The figures align; the message towers: the providential hand of Yahweh guided every century toward the resurrection-validated Messiah. Concise Synchronism Exodus 1446 BC + Wilderness 40 + Conquest/Allocation 7 + Judges/Oppressions/Eli ≈ 403 = c. 996 BC (Samuel anoints Saul) Rounded total ≈ 450 years Acts 13:20 and the historical records converge with comfortable margin, verifying the harmony of Scripture’s internal chronology and the external data sets available to us today. |
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