DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4010#0015
ilmost
ifesses.
listory
ophis,
^ and
n were
e Mo-
w alfo
me os
teseph.
g there
i left by
nit into
% they
Upon
and his
) Syria,
>usand,
out os
assigns
which
<l and
with le-
betook
living -,
, there
sreupon
oiAm-
leprous
infheets
ied into
fyes for
I, which.
ich rela-
>thers of
orrowed
;. Mosi
contagion
'is, king
lammon
kingdom,
hated of
lence the
' collected
t deferts,
oses, one
m, not to
en, being
ould trusi
leaven, to
dit at the
,1*/I*
fti'itf*'
]As ^
hrt;P,
PYRAMIDS were built.
619
miti.es. They asifented unto him, and, being
ignorant of all, they begin their journey as
fortune [hould lead them. Thus much and
more hath Tacitus of Mofes and the Jews,
But, to pass by his and Lyfimachus's calum-
nies, we can no more assent to these testi-
monies of theirs, that Mofes lived in the
time of Bocchoris, than we did to Jofe-
phus, that he was coetaneous with Teth-
mofis. For we find Bocchoris to be placed
by Asricanus and k Eufebius, both follow-
ing Manethos, in the twenty-fourth Dy-
nassy, and by l Diodorus long after Se-
softris the great, or Ramefses -, which Ra-
mesfes, or Sethofis, or Sethon, (that is, Se-
fojiris, and Sefoofis in Diodorus) both in
Manethos and Charemon, is the son of
Amenophis, who is the last king of the eigh-
teenth Dynafly, according to Asricanus and
Eufebius. I purposely omit the opinion
of m Apion, that Mofes (whom he makes to
be of Heliopolis) departed with thefe lepers,
and blind, and lame, in the firft year of
the feventh olympiad, in which year, saith
he, the Phoenicians built Carthage ; and
that other of n Porphyrins, in his fourth
book against the Christians, that Mofes
was before Semiramis : where he places
him as much too high, as Apion doth too
low.
Laying therefore aside these vain and
uncertain traditions, we have no more as-
sured way exactly to fix the time of Mofes,
and by Mofes the time in which the Pyra-
mids were built, than to have recourse to
the sacred Scriptures, and sometimes to
compare such authors of the Gentiles with
these, against whom we have no just ex-
ceptions. For by those, and these con-
jointly, we may continue his time to the
first olympiad, and thence to the destruc-
tion of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon \ that of the olympiads
being a moil certain and known epocha
with the Greeks, as that of the destruction
of the temple with the Jews. From Mofes
then, or the migration of the Israelites out
of Egypt, to the building of Solomon's
temple, are cccclxxx years current, or
four hundred seventy-nine complete k, -and Greaves.
so also ° Eufebius computes them. The
words of the text plainly conclude this
sum : P And it came to pafs in the four hun-
dred and fourihfcore year, after the children
of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt,
in the fourth year of Solomon'j reign over
Israel, in the month Zif, which is the fecond
month, that he began to build the houfe of the
Lord. From the building of the temple
to the destruction of it in the reign of Zede-
kias, by the calculation and confession of
the best chronologers, are betwixt four
hundred and twenty and four hundred and
thirty years. Which is thus deduced : Af-
ter the first foundation of the temple, So-
lomon reigned s thirty-seven years, r Reho-
boam with s Abia twenty 5 in whose time
we are to place Shifhak, or Sefochofis, the
king of Egypt. « And it came to pafs in the
sisth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak,
king of Egypt, came up againft Jerusalem %
and he took away the treafures of the houfe of
the Lord, and the treafures of the king's houfe,
he even took away all; and he took away all
the Jhields os gold whith Solomon had made.
This Shifhak is named by the Septuagint
XwcuLiy., by St. Hierom Sefac, and is the
same whom u Jofephus calls 2«<rav«t©^ which
he imagines to have been Sefoftris the great,
whose victories and conquests are describ'd
at large by w Herodotus. But this Sefoftris, or
x Sefoofis, as Diodorus also terms him, must
long have preceded Rehoboam's time, as in
the sequel of this discourse it will appear.
Therefore the more probable opinion is
that of Scaliger, that by Shishak is meant
Sefochofis, whom Manethos calls 2s<ro.T;c/s»
and the fcholiast of Apollonius %*risx&i* ' the
time of the twenty-second Dynafly, in
which we find him placed by Asricanus
and Eufebius, doth well agree with it, and
the radical letters in Shishak, Sefac, and
Ssa-ofo/?, being the same, do very much
strengthen our asfertion. After Rehoboam
and Abiah's reign, y Jsah and z Jehofaphat
reigned lxvi years, a J or am and b Ahazia
ix, c Athalia and d Joas xlvi, e Amazias
xxix, f Uzziah lii, 8 Jotham xvi, h Ahaz
k Ex edit. Jos. Scaligeri. l Diod. lib. 1. m Apud Jos. lib. 2. contra Apionem.
n Ex Ethnicis verb impius Me Torphyrius, in quarto opens fui libro, quod adverfum nos cafso labore contexuit,
fosi Moyfen Semiramim suijse assirmat. Euseb.Chron. ° Ibid. & 1 Kings vi. i.
q For 1 Kings vi. i. In the sourth year of his reign, and in the fecond month, he began to build the hcufe of the
Lord. And in i Kings xi. 42. The time that Solomon reigned in Jerufalem over Israel was sorty years. Out os
which is we subduct three complete years that preceded the foundation of the temple, there remain thirty-
seven years. r 1 Kings xiv. zi. He reignedfeventeen years in Jerufalem.
* 1 Kings xv. 2. Three years reigned he in Jerufalem. l 1 Kings xiv. 25-, 26". B Joseph. An-
tiq. 1.8. c. 4. w Herod, lib. 4. x Diodorus, in the printed copies, always names him Sefoofis;
but in one of the MSS. as Henr. Stephanas observes, he is sometimes called Sefoflris, and sometimes Sesoofis. Vid.
edit. Diod. ab Henr. Stephan. ? 1 Kings xv. 10. Forty-one years reigned he in Jerufalem.
1 Kings xxii. 42. He reigned twenty-sive years in Jerufalem. a 2 Kings viii. 17. Hie reigned eight
years in Jerufalem.
Kings viii. 26. He reigned one year in Jerufalem.
c 2 Kings xi. 3. And he was witb her hid in the houfe os the Lord six years ; and Athaliah did reign over the
land. d 2 Kings xii. 1. Forty years reigned he in Jerufalem.
e 2 Kings xiv. 2. He reigned twenty-nine years in Jerufalem. s 2 Kings x-v. 2. He reigned fisty-two
years in Jerufalem. s z Kings xv. 33. He reigned fixteen years in Jerufalem. b 2 Kings xvi. 2.
He reigned sixteen years in Jerufalem.
XVI,
ifesses.
listory
ophis,
^ and
n were
e Mo-
w alfo
me os
teseph.
g there
i left by
nit into
% they
Upon
and his
) Syria,
>usand,
out os
assigns
which
<l and
with le-
betook
living -,
, there
sreupon
oiAm-
leprous
infheets
ied into
fyes for
I, which.
ich rela-
>thers of
orrowed
;. Mosi
contagion
'is, king
lammon
kingdom,
hated of
lence the
' collected
t deferts,
oses, one
m, not to
en, being
ould trusi
leaven, to
dit at the
,1*/I*
fti'itf*'
]As ^
hrt;P,
PYRAMIDS were built.
619
miti.es. They asifented unto him, and, being
ignorant of all, they begin their journey as
fortune [hould lead them. Thus much and
more hath Tacitus of Mofes and the Jews,
But, to pass by his and Lyfimachus's calum-
nies, we can no more assent to these testi-
monies of theirs, that Mofes lived in the
time of Bocchoris, than we did to Jofe-
phus, that he was coetaneous with Teth-
mofis. For we find Bocchoris to be placed
by Asricanus and k Eufebius, both follow-
ing Manethos, in the twenty-fourth Dy-
nassy, and by l Diodorus long after Se-
softris the great, or Ramefses -, which Ra-
mesfes, or Sethofis, or Sethon, (that is, Se-
fojiris, and Sefoofis in Diodorus) both in
Manethos and Charemon, is the son of
Amenophis, who is the last king of the eigh-
teenth Dynafly, according to Asricanus and
Eufebius. I purposely omit the opinion
of m Apion, that Mofes (whom he makes to
be of Heliopolis) departed with thefe lepers,
and blind, and lame, in the firft year of
the feventh olympiad, in which year, saith
he, the Phoenicians built Carthage ; and
that other of n Porphyrins, in his fourth
book against the Christians, that Mofes
was before Semiramis : where he places
him as much too high, as Apion doth too
low.
Laying therefore aside these vain and
uncertain traditions, we have no more as-
sured way exactly to fix the time of Mofes,
and by Mofes the time in which the Pyra-
mids were built, than to have recourse to
the sacred Scriptures, and sometimes to
compare such authors of the Gentiles with
these, against whom we have no just ex-
ceptions. For by those, and these con-
jointly, we may continue his time to the
first olympiad, and thence to the destruc-
tion of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon \ that of the olympiads
being a moil certain and known epocha
with the Greeks, as that of the destruction
of the temple with the Jews. From Mofes
then, or the migration of the Israelites out
of Egypt, to the building of Solomon's
temple, are cccclxxx years current, or
four hundred seventy-nine complete k, -and Greaves.
so also ° Eufebius computes them. The
words of the text plainly conclude this
sum : P And it came to pafs in the four hun-
dred and fourihfcore year, after the children
of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt,
in the fourth year of Solomon'j reign over
Israel, in the month Zif, which is the fecond
month, that he began to build the houfe of the
Lord. From the building of the temple
to the destruction of it in the reign of Zede-
kias, by the calculation and confession of
the best chronologers, are betwixt four
hundred and twenty and four hundred and
thirty years. Which is thus deduced : Af-
ter the first foundation of the temple, So-
lomon reigned s thirty-seven years, r Reho-
boam with s Abia twenty 5 in whose time
we are to place Shifhak, or Sefochofis, the
king of Egypt. « And it came to pafs in the
sisth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak,
king of Egypt, came up againft Jerusalem %
and he took away the treafures of the houfe of
the Lord, and the treafures of the king's houfe,
he even took away all; and he took away all
the Jhields os gold whith Solomon had made.
This Shifhak is named by the Septuagint
XwcuLiy., by St. Hierom Sefac, and is the
same whom u Jofephus calls 2«<rav«t©^ which
he imagines to have been Sefoftris the great,
whose victories and conquests are describ'd
at large by w Herodotus. But this Sefoftris, or
x Sefoofis, as Diodorus also terms him, must
long have preceded Rehoboam's time, as in
the sequel of this discourse it will appear.
Therefore the more probable opinion is
that of Scaliger, that by Shishak is meant
Sefochofis, whom Manethos calls 2s<ro.T;c/s»
and the fcholiast of Apollonius %*risx&i* ' the
time of the twenty-second Dynafly, in
which we find him placed by Asricanus
and Eufebius, doth well agree with it, and
the radical letters in Shishak, Sefac, and
Ssa-ofo/?, being the same, do very much
strengthen our asfertion. After Rehoboam
and Abiah's reign, y Jsah and z Jehofaphat
reigned lxvi years, a J or am and b Ahazia
ix, c Athalia and d Joas xlvi, e Amazias
xxix, f Uzziah lii, 8 Jotham xvi, h Ahaz
k Ex edit. Jos. Scaligeri. l Diod. lib. 1. m Apud Jos. lib. 2. contra Apionem.
n Ex Ethnicis verb impius Me Torphyrius, in quarto opens fui libro, quod adverfum nos cafso labore contexuit,
fosi Moyfen Semiramim suijse assirmat. Euseb.Chron. ° Ibid. & 1 Kings vi. i.
q For 1 Kings vi. i. In the sourth year of his reign, and in the fecond month, he began to build the hcufe of the
Lord. And in i Kings xi. 42. The time that Solomon reigned in Jerufalem over Israel was sorty years. Out os
which is we subduct three complete years that preceded the foundation of the temple, there remain thirty-
seven years. r 1 Kings xiv. zi. He reignedfeventeen years in Jerufalem.
* 1 Kings xv. 2. Three years reigned he in Jerufalem. l 1 Kings xiv. 25-, 26". B Joseph. An-
tiq. 1.8. c. 4. w Herod, lib. 4. x Diodorus, in the printed copies, always names him Sefoofis;
but in one of the MSS. as Henr. Stephanas observes, he is sometimes called Sefoflris, and sometimes Sesoofis. Vid.
edit. Diod. ab Henr. Stephan. ? 1 Kings xv. 10. Forty-one years reigned he in Jerufalem.
1 Kings xxii. 42. He reigned twenty-sive years in Jerufalem. a 2 Kings viii. 17. Hie reigned eight
years in Jerufalem.
Kings viii. 26. He reigned one year in Jerufalem.
c 2 Kings xi. 3. And he was witb her hid in the houfe os the Lord six years ; and Athaliah did reign over the
land. d 2 Kings xii. 1. Forty years reigned he in Jerufalem.
e 2 Kings xiv. 2. He reigned twenty-nine years in Jerufalem. s 2 Kings x-v. 2. He reigned fisty-two
years in Jerufalem. s z Kings xv. 33. He reigned fixteen years in Jerufalem. b 2 Kings xvi. 2.
He reigned sixteen years in Jerufalem.
XVI,