A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL TRANSACTIONS RELATED IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS, ACCORDING TO THE COMPUTATION OF ARCHBISHOP USHER, WHICH IS CHIEFLY FOLLOWED IN THE PRECEDING NOTES; SHOWING IN WHAT YEAR OF THE WORLD, AND WHAT YEAR BEFORE CHRIST, EACH EVENT HAPPENED. THE reader will observe, from the chronological notes in the margin of the preceding work, that in a few instances I have departed from the Usherian computation, for which he will find my reasons in the notes. This table I have considerably enlarged by inserting the Edomitish kings and dukes, and a few other transactions of profane history contemporary with the facts mentioned by Moses, by which the reader wil have a synopsis or general view of all the transactions of the first 2400 years of the world, which stand upon any authentic records. The first year of the world, answering to the 710th year of the Julian period, and supposed to be 4004 before the vulgar era of the birth of Christ. A. M. 2 1 First day's work: Creation of the hea- Second day: Creation of the firmament, Third day: The earth drained, the seas, Sixth day: Beasts wild and tame, rep- Tenth day: The first woman sins, leads her husband into the transgression, is called Eve, iii. 1-20. They are both expelled from Paradise, iii. 22-24. N. B. This opinion, though rendered respectable by great names, is very doubtful, and should be received with very great caution. I think it wholly inadmissible; and though I insert it as the generally received opinion, yet judge it best to form no guesses and indulge no conjectures on such an obscure point. Cain and Abel born, iv. 1, 2. 129 Abel killed by his brother Cain, iv. 8. 130 Birth of Seth, iv. 25. 235 Enos son of Seth born, iv. 26. Hence followed the distinction between the descendants of Cain and those of Seth; the former being called sons of men, the latter sons of God, vi. 1—4. Birth of Cainan, son of Enos, v. 9. 325 395 460 622 687 874 of Mahalaleel, son of Cainan, v. 12. 930 Death of Adam, aged 930 years, v. 5. 1042 Seth dies, aged 912 years, v. 8. 1556 Birth of Japheth, son of Noah, v. 32, 2448 1558 1560 1651 1656 4002 3875 3874 1657 1658 1693 1723 compared with x. 21. of Shem. of Ham. Death of Lamech, aged 777 years, v. 31. of Methuselah, aged 969 years, v. 27. The general DELUGE, vii. Noah, his family, and the animals to be preserved, enter the ark the 17th Noah sends out a raven, viii. 7. 2446 2444 2353 2348 1948 Birth of Nahor and Haran, sons of 2056 2108 Isaac is born, xxi. 2, 3. Terah, xi. 26. 1996 Peleg dies, aged 239 years, xi. 19. 1997 Nahor dies, aged 148 years, xi. 25. 2006 Noah dies, aged 950 years, 350 years after the flood, ix. 29. 2118 2008 2007 2110 1978 2049 Serug dies, xi. 23. 2079 Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, subdues the kings of the Pentapolis, Sodom, Gomorrah, &c., to whom they continued in subjection 12 years, xiv. 4. 2083 The calling of Abram out of UR of the Chaldees, where the family had been addicted to idolatry, Josh. xxiv. 2. He comes to Haran in Mesopotamia, with Lot his nephew, Sarai his wife, and his father Terah who dies at Haran, aged 205 years, xi. 31, 32. Abram comes to Canaan, when 75 years of age, Gen. xii. 4. From this period the 430 years of the sojourning of the Israelites, mentioned Exod. xii. 40, 41, is generally dated. 2084 Abram goes into Egypt because of the famine, xii. 10; causes Sarai to pass for his sister. Pharaoh (Apophis) takes her to his house; but soon restores her, finding her to be Abram's wife, ver. 14-20. 1921 1920 2135 B. C. 1897 1896 Moab and Ben-ammi, the sons of Lot, Abimelech and Phichol his chief captain 1886 Salah dies 403 years after the birth of 1878 About this time Jobab, the second king 1869 2141 Abraham is called to sacrifice his son 1863 Isaac, xxii. God appears to Isaac, and gives him glorious promises, xxvi. 4. He stays 1804 at Gerar during the famine, xxvi. 6. 2208 Esau marries two Canaanitish women, 1796 xxvi. 34. 2000 The kings of the Pentapolis revolt from 1914 2219 About this time Hadad, the fourth king 1785 Chedorlaomer, xiv. 4. 2091 Chedorlaomer and his allies make war 1913 with the kings of the Pentapolis; Lot is taken captive; Abram with his allies pursues Chedorlaomer, defeats him and the confederate kings, delivers Lot and the other captives, and is blessed by Melchizedek, king of Salem, xiv. 2003 God promises Abram a numerous pos- 1911 terity, xv. 1. About this time Bela, the first king of the Edomites, began to reign, xxxvi. 35. Deluge of Ogyges in Greece, 1020 years before the first Olympiad. 2225 Jacob by subtlety obtains Esau's bless- 1779 Esau marries Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael dies, aged 137 years, xxv. 17. 1773 1772 2231 2232 2096 Arphaxad dies, 403 years after the birth of Salah, xi. 13. 1908 1897 2107 God makes a covenant with Abram; gives him the promise of a son; changes his name into Abraham, and Sarai's into Sarah, and enjoins circumcision, xvii. 1, 5, 6, &c. Abraham entertains three angels on their way to destroy Sodom, &c., xviii. He intercedes for the inhabitants; but as ten righteous persons could not be found in those cities, they are destroyed, xix. 23. Lot is delivered, and for his sake Zoar is preserved, ver. 19, &c. deans 224 years before the Arabs reigned in that country (Julius Africanus). Usher supposes him to have been the same with Belus, who was afterwards worshipped by the Chal deans. 2235 Levi is born, xxix. 34. 1769 Evechous begins to reign over the Chal A. M. Chronology to Genesis. 2247 Issachar is born, xxx. 17, 18. 2249 Zebulun is born, xxx. 19, 20. 2250 Dinah is born, xxx. 21. 2259 Joseph is born, xxx. 23, 24. 2261 About this time Samlah, the fifth king of the Edomites, began to reign, xxxvi. 36. 2265 Jacob and his family, unknown to Laban,set out for Canaan. Laban,hearing of his departure, pursues him; after seven days he comes up with him at the mountains of Gilead; they make a covenant, and gather a heap of stones, and set up a pillar as a memorial of the transaction, xxxi. Jacob wrestles with an Angel, and has his name changed to that of Israel, xxxii. 24-29. Esau meets Jacob, xxxiii. 4. Jacob arrives in Canaan, and settles among the Shechemites, xxxiii. 18. 2266 Benjamin born, and Rachel dies immediately after his birth, xxxv. 18. 1738 2315 the king's treasury, xlvii. 14. He buys all the cattle, xlvii. 16. 1703 All the Egyptians give themselves up to 1702 be Pharaoh's servants, in order to get corn to preserve their lives and sow their ground, xlvii. 18, &c. 1701 2303 The seven years of famine ended. About this time Saul, the sixth king of the Edomites, began to reign, xxxvi. 37. Jacob, having blessed his sons and the 1689 sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, dies, aged 147 years. He is embalmed and carried into Canaan, and buried in the cave of Machpelah, xlix. 1. About this time Baal-hanan, the seventh 1659 king of the Edomites, began to reign, xxxvi. 38. 1728 2345 Dinah defiled by Shechem, and the sub- 2276 Joseph, aged seventeen years, falling 2278 Pharez and Zarah, the twin-sons of 1726 Judah, born about this time, xxxviii. 27-30. his mistress, is cast into prison, where, about two years after, he interprets the dreams of the chief butler and the chief baker, xxxix., xl. 2288 Isaac dies, aged 180 years, xxxv. 28. 2289 Joseph interprets the two prophetic dreams of Pharaoh, xli. Commencement of the seven years of plenty. eighth and last king of the Edomites, began to reign, xxxvi. 39. About this time the regal government of 157 the Edomites is abolished, and the 2471 About this time the second aristocracy 153 of Edomitish dukes begins, xxxvi. 1716 2494 2290 About this time was born Manasseh, 1714 Joseph's first-born. 2292 About this time was born Ephraim, Jo 1712 seph's second son. 2296 Commencement of the seven years of 1708 famine. 40-43. Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, born forty 153 years before he was sent by Moses to spy out the land of Canaan. Ramasses Miamun died in the 67th 151 year of his reign, under whom, and his son Amenophis who succeeded him, the children of Israel endured the cruel bondage and oppression mentioned in Exod. i. Finished the correction of this Part, April 6th, 1827.-A. CLARKE. PREFACE TO THE BOOK OF EXODUS. THE name by which this book is generally distinguished is borrowed from the Septuagint, in which it is called Ecodos, EXODUS, the going out or departure; and by the Codex Alexandrinus, Ecodos Аtуvπтoν, the departure from Egypt, because the departure of the Israelites from Egypt is the most remarkable fact mentioned in the whole book. In the Hebrew Bibles it is called now I VE-ELLEH SHEMOTH, these are the names, which are the words with which it commences. It contains a history of the transactions of 145 years, beginning at the death of Joseph, where the book of Genesis ends, and coming down to the erection of the Tabernacle in the wilderness at the foot of Mount Sinai. In this book Moses details the causes and motives of the persecution raised up against the Israelites in Egypt, the orders given by Pharaoh to destroy all the Hebrew male children, and the prevention of the execution of those orders through the humanity and piety of the midwives appointed to deliver the Hebrew women. The marriage of Amram and Jochebed is next related; the birth of Moses; the manner in which he was exposed on the river Nile, and in which he was discovered by the daughter of Pharaoh; his being providentially put under the care of his own mother to be nursed, and educated as the son of the Egyptian princess; how, when forty years of age, he left the court, visited and defended his brethren; the danger to which he was in consequence exposed; his flight to Arabia; his contract with Jethro, priest or prince of Midian, whose daughter Zipporah he afterwards espoused. While employed in keeping the flocks of his father-in-law, God appeared to him in a burning bush, and commissioned him to go and deliver his countrymen from the oppression under which they groaned. Having given him the most positive assurances of protection and power to work miracles, and having associated with him his brother Aaron, he sent them first to the Israelites to declare the purpose of Jehovah, and afterwards to Pharaoh to require him, in the name of the Most High, to set the Israelites at liberty. Pharaoh, far from submitting, made their yoke more grievous; and Moses, on a second interview with him, to convince him by whose authority he made the demand, wrought a miracle before him and his courtiers. This being in a certain way imitated by Pharaoh's magicians, he hardened his heart, and refused to let the people go, till God, by ten extraordinary plagues, convinced him of his omnipotence, and obliged him to consent to dismiss a people over whose persons and properties he had claimed and exercised a right founded only on the most tyrannical principles. The plagues by which God afflicted the whole land of Egypt, Goshen excepted, where the Israelites dwelt, were the following: 1. He turned all the waters of Egypt into blood. 2. He caused innumerable frogs to come over the whole land. 3. He afflicted both man and beast with immense swarms of PREFACE TO EXOdus. vermin. 4. Afterwards with a multitude of different kinds of insects. 5. He sent a grievous pestilence among their cattle. 6. Smote both man and beast with boils. 7. Destroyed their crops with grievous storms of hail, accompanied with the most terrible thunder and lightning. 8. Desolated the whole land by innumerable swarms of locusts. 9. He spread a palpable darkness all over Egypt; and 10. In one night slew all the first-born, both of man and beast, through the whole of the Egyptian territories. What proved the miraculous nature of all these plagues most particularly was, 1st, Their coming exactly according to the prediction and at the command of Moses and Aaron. 2ndly, Their extending only to the Egyptians, and leaving the land of Goshen, the Israelites, their cattle and substance, entirely untouched. After relating all these things in detail, with their attendant circumstances, Moses describes the institution, reason, and celebration of the passover; the preparation of the Israelites for their departure; their leaving Goshen and beginning their journey to the promised land, by the way of Rameses, Succoth, and Etham. How Pharaoh, repenting of the permission he had given them to depart, began to pursue them with an immense army of horse and foot, and overtook them at their encampment at Baal-zephon, on the borders of the Red Sea. Their destruction appearing then to be inevitable, Moses further relates that, having called earnestly upon God, and stretched his rod over the waters, they became divided, and the Israelites entered into the bed of the sea, and passed over to the opposite shore. Pharaoh and his host madly pursuing in the same track, the rear of their army being fairly entered by the time the last of the Israelites had made good their landing on the opposite coast, Moses stretching his rod again over the waters, they returned to their former channel and overwhelmed the Egyptian army, so that every soul perished. Moses next gives a circumstantial account of the different encampments of the Israelites in the wilderness, during the space of nearly forty years; the miracles wrought in their behalf; the chief of which were the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, to direct and protect them in the wilderness; the bringing water out of a rock for them and their cattle; feeding them with manna from heaven; bringing innumerable flocks of quails to their camp; giving them a complete victory over the Amalekites, at the intercession of Moses; and particularly God's astonishing manifestation of himself on Mount Sinai, when he delivered to Moses an epitome of his whole law, in what was called the TEN WORDS OF TEN COM MANDMENTS. Moses proceeds to give a circumstantial detail of the different laws, statutes, and ordinances which he received from God, and particularly the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, and the awful display of the Divine Majesty on that solemn occasion; the formation of the ARK, holy Table, and Candlestick; the TABERNACLE, with its furniture, covering, courts, &c., the brazen Altar, golden Altar, brazen Laver, anointing oil, perfume, sacerdotal garments for Aaron and his sons, and the artificers employed on the work of the Tabernacle, &c. He then gives an account of Israel's idolatry in the matter of the golden calf, made under the direction of Aaron; God's displeasure, and the death of the principal idolaters; the erection and consecration of the Tabernacle, and its being filled and encompassed with the divine glory, with the order and manner of their marches by direction of the miraculous pillar; with which the book concludes. |