Harmony of the Gospels, Prolegomenon
PROLEGOM. I.
The age of the world a…n… Saviour… birth fixd: the account proved: the chiefest difficulties in the Scripture Chronicle resolved.
IN the Stories of times, the times of the stories do challenge speciall notice and observation; and of all other, that of our Saviours birth, being the fulnesse of time, may best, as best worthy, make such a challenge. A time, to which all the holy ones that went before it, did bend their eyes and expectation, and a time from which all the Christians that have lived since, have dated their Chronicall accounts and computation. And yet how unfixed is this time and age of the world, in which so great a mys…ery came to passe, and upon which so generall accounting doth depend, in the various reckonings of learned and industrious men? It is not onelyonly to bee seen in their writings, wondered at in regard of the great difference at which they count, but the fixed time is the more to bee studied for, upon this very reason, because such men do so greatly differ among themselves. The onelyonly way to settle in such variety, is to take the plain and cleere account and reckoning of the Scripture, which hath taken a peculiar care to give an exact and most certain Chronicle to this time, and not to rely upon the computation of Olympiade…, Consuls, or any other humane calculation, which it cannot bee doubted, must of necessity leave the deepest student of them in doubting and uncertainty. Now the Scripture carrying on a most faithfull reckoning of the times, from the beginning of time to this fulnesse of it, hath laid this great, wondrous, and happy occurrence of the birth of the Redeemer in the yeere of the world, three thousand nine hundred twenty and eight. Which that wee may make good, and fixed among so much variety and difference, may the Reader gently have the patience to see and to examine the particular summes by which the Scripture accounteth to make up this totall, and to study upon those scruples in the severall parcells where they come that make the account intricate and doubtfull, and to judge upon those resolutions and satisfactions that shall bee tendered for the cleering and untying of those scruples.
And, surely, though the businesse may bee something long and difficult, which wee shall propose and lay before him, yet doubt I not, but the profit will fully countervaile his labour, when hee shall not onelyonly bee resolved of the certainty of the time, which wee now have occasion, and every Christian hath cause to looke after, but when hee shall also see, and that, I suppose, not without admiration, the wondrous and mysterious, and yet alwayes instructive stile, and manner of accounting used by the Holy Ghost, in most sacred Majesticknesse, and challenging all serious study and reverence; And though also this businesse may seem to bee something too Parergon, and excentrick to the main work that wee have before us, the Harmonizing of the Evangelists, yet since a prime thing that wee are to inquire after in the very entrance of this story of our Saviours life, is, the fixed and certain time of his birth, the Reader will bee pleased to excuse a fault on the right hand, rather then on the left, and to dispense with too much desire to give satisfaction, rather then too little, or with none at all.
Sect. I. From the Creation to the Flood were 1656. yeeres, as appeareth, Gen. 5. & 6. & 7. by these parcels.
Adam at 130 yeeres old hath Seth, ver. 3.
Seth at 105 yeeres old hath Enosh, ver. 6.
Enosh at 90 yeeres old hath Cainan, ver. 9.
Cainan at 70 yeeres old hath Mahalaleel, ver. 12.
Mahalaleel at 65 yeeres old hath Jared, ver. 15.
Jared at 162 yeeres old hath Enoch, ver. 18.
Enoch at 65 yeeres old hath Methuselah, ver. 21.
Methuselah at 187 yeeres old hath Lamech, ver. 25.
Lamech at 182 yeeres old hath Noah, ver. 28. 29.
Noah at 600 yeeres old seeth the Flood, Gen. 7. 11.
Totall 1656. which whole yeere of the world, was taken up with the Flood, viz. from the 17 day of the second MonethMonth, or Marheshvan, Gen. 7. 11, to the 27 day of the same monethmonth come twelve-monethmonth, Gen. 8▪ 14.
Sect. II. From the Flood to Terahs death, and the Promise then given to Abram, were 427 yeeres, as appeareth Gen. 11. by these particulars.
Sem at 2 yeeres after the Flood begat Arphaxad, ver. 10.
Arphaxad at 35 yeeres old begat Salah, ver. 12.
Salah at 30 yeeres old begat Eber, ver. 14.
Eber at 34 yeeres old begat Peleg, ver. 16.
Peleg at 30 yeeres old begat Reu, ver. 18.
Reu at 32 yeeres old begat Serug, ver. 20.
Serug at 30 yeeres old begat Nachor, ver. 22.
Nachor at 29 yeeres old begat Terah, ver. 24.
Terah at 130 yeeres old begat Abram.
Abram at 75 yeeres old hath the Promise, Gen. 12. 4.
Totall 427. Which summe being added to 1656, which was the age of the world at the Flood,The promise given to Abram Gen. 12. 1. &c. Anno mundi, 2083. amounteth to 2083. and it resulteth, that the promise was given to Abram in the yeere of the world two thousand eighty three.
But here is the great question moved, Whether Abram were the eldest son of Terah, yea or no? If hee were, then was hee born when Terah was 70 yeeres of age, Gen. 11. 26. and not as this Table layeth it, at his 130. And if hee were not his eldest son, why hath Moses named him first of all his sonnes?
Answer. First, Hee was not his eldest Sonne: for, 1. Hee marryed his brother Harans daughter [for so all men hold Sarah to have been] and shee was but ten yeeres younger then himself, Gen. 17. 17. which was impossible, if her Father were younger then hee. 2. Hee is said to bee but 75 yeeres old, when hee departed out of Hanan, Gen. 12. 4. And this was after his Fathers death, Act. 7. …. Now had hee been born at Terahs 70, he had been 135 yeeres old when his Father dyed: Wee must therefore compute and reckon backward thus, that since hee was but 75 yeeres old when his Father dyed, it must needs bee concluded that hee was born when Terah was 130. as is laid down in the Table.
Answer. Secondly, Hee is reckoned first of Terahs sonnes, as Sem is of Noahs, not because hee was the first in time, but the first in dignity. For that Sem was not the eldest sonne of Noah, is cleere by comparing these places, Gen. 5. 32. Noah was 500 yeeres old when hee begat his first sonne, and Gen. 7. 11. when Noah was fix hundred yeeres old, was the Flood of waters upon the earth, and then was one of his sonnes an hundred yeeres old: But Sem was not so till two yeeres after, Gen. 11. 10. And yet is hee ever named the fi…t of his sonnes, Gen. 5. 32. & 6. 10. & 7. 13. & 9. 18. & 10.
There are some, that not content with this plain, necessary, and undenyable explication of the difficulty, do hold that Abram took two journeys into Canaan, one before his Fathers death, and another after: whereas Moses and Steven well compared together, do plainly shew the contrary, and fully, and sufficiently cleere the matter under scruple: That which hath made men to fall into the mistake of his two journies into Canaan hath been this, that they have taken the words of God in Act. 7. 3. Get thee out of thy Countrey, &c. and his words in Gen. 12. 1. Get thee out of thy Countrey, &c. to bee of the same time, and spoken in the same place, whereas there is a vast difference in the words themselves, and so was there of the time and place where they were spoken. Steven telleth, that while Abraham was in Mesopotamia or Chaldea, as ver. 4. before hee dwelt in Haran, God appeared to him, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy Country, and from thy kindred, but not a word of departing from his Fathers house, for hee took his Father and his whole household along with him, and dwelt with them a good while in Haran, Gen. 11. 31. And Terah dyed in Haran, ver. 32. Then the Lord said unto Abram, for so should Gen. 12. 1. bee translated, and not, Now the Lord had said: And his saying was this, Get thee out of thy Countrey, and from thy kindred, and from thy Fathers house too, for that also hee now left behind him, namely Nahor and all his Fathers Family, but onelyonly L…t and Sarah, that were fatherlesse children: And this difference considered, as necessarily it must, it doth make this difficulty which hath cost so much canvasing so easie, as a thing needeth not to bee more.
Sect. III. From the promise given to Abram upon his Father Terahs death to the delivery of the people of Israel out of Aegypt, and to the giving of the Law, were 430 yeeres, Exod. 12. 40. Gal. 3. 17.
This summe being joyned to that before of 2083. it maketh the world to bee in the two thousand five hundred and thirteenth yeere of her age,The delivery out of Egypt, Anno mundi, 2513. when Israel was delivered and the Law given.
This space of time of 430 yeers betwixt the promise and the Law, the divine wisedome and providence cast into two equall portions, of 215 yeeres before the peoples going down into Aegypt, and 215 yeeres of their being there.
The former moyety was taken up in these parcells:
Five and twenty yeeres betwixt the giving of the promise and the birth of Isaac, compare Gen. 12. 4. with Gen. 21. 5.
Sixty yeers betwixt the birth of Isaac, & the birth of Jacoh, Gen. 25. 26▪
An hundred and thirty yeeres betwixt the birth of Jacob and Israels going into Aegypt, Gen. 27. 9.
The latter in these:
Ninety five yeers from their going into Aegypt, to the death of Levi.
Forty yeeres from the death of Levi to the birth of Moses.
Eighty yeeres from the birth of Moses to their delivery.
Sect. IV. From the comming of Israel out of Aegypt, to the laying of the foundation of Solomons Temple, were 480 yeeres, 1 King. 6. 1. and seven yeeres was it in building, ver. 38.
So that joyne these 487 that passed from the comming out of Aegypt to the finishing of the Temple, to the 2513. yeeres, of which age the world was when they came out of Aegypt, and it will appeare that Solomons Temple was finished exactly in the three thousandth ye…r of the world.Solomons Temple finished, Anno mundi, 300…
This summe is made up of these many parcells.
Israel in the wildernesse 40 yeeres.
Joshua ruled 17 yeeres.
Othniel judged 40 yeeres, Judg. 3. 11.
…hud judged 80 yeeres, Judg. 3. 30.
Deborah, &c. 40 yeeres, Judg. 5. 31.
Gideon, 40 yeeres, Judg. 8. 28.
Abimelech, 3 yeeres, Judg. 9. 22.
Tolah, 23 yeeres, Judg. 10. 2.
Jair, 22 yeeres, Judg. 10. 3.
Jephtah, 6 yeeres, Judg. 12. 7.
Ibsan, 7 yeeres, Judg. 12. 9.
Elon Judged 10 yeeres, Judg. 12. 11.
Abdon, 8 yeeres, Judg. 12. 14▪
Sampson, 20 yeeres, Jud. 15. 20. & 16. 31.
Eli, 40 yeeres, 1 Sam. 4. 18.
Samuel & Saul, 40 yeeres, Acts 13. 21.
David, 40 yeeres, 1 Kings 2. 11.
Solomon, 4 yeeres, 1 Kings 6. 1.
Totall 480. Now among all these parcels, there is no number that hath not a text to warrant it, but onelyonly the date of the Government of Joshua, which yet cannot bee doubted of to have been seventeen yeeres; seeing that so many yeeres onelyonly are not specified by expresse Text of all the 480 mentioned, 1 King. 6. 1. And here also may the reader observe that the yeers that are mentioned in the book of Judges, for yeeres of Israels oppression, as Judg. 3. 8. 14. &c. are not to bee taken for a space of time distinct from the time of the Judges, but included in the summe of their times.
Now it thus falling out, as it is more then apparent, that Solomons Temple was finished and perfected in the yeere of the world 3000▪ this belike hath helped to strengthen that Opinion that hath beene taken up by some, That as the World was six dayes in creating, so shall it bee six thousand yeeres in continuance, and then shall come the everlasting Sabbath. And indeed the observation could not but please those that were pleased with this opinion: for when they found that the first three thousand yeeres of the World did end, in the perfecting of the earthly Temple, it would make them to conclude the bolder, that the other three thousand should conclude in the consummation of the spirituall.
Sect. V. From the finishing of Solomons Temple, to the falling away of the ten Tribes, were 30 yeeres.
For Solomon reigned 40 yeeres,The falling away of the ten Tribes, Anno mundi 3030. 1 King. 11. 42. and in the eleventh yeere of his reigne was the Temple finished, 1 King. 6. 38. And so count from that yeere to the expiration of his reigne, and the beginning of his son Rehoboam, and it will appeare easily, that the falling away of the ten Tribes was 30 yeeres after the Temple was finished, and in the yeare of the world 3030.
Sect. VI. From the falling away of the ten Tribes under Jeroboam, to the captivity of Judah into Babylon, were 390.
These are thus reckoned in a grosse summe by Ezekiel, chap. 4, 5. I have laid upon thee the yeeres of their iniquitie according to the number of dayes, three hundred and ninety dayes. So shalt thou beare the iniquity of the house of Israel, vers. 6. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie againe on thy right side, and thou shalt beare the iniquity of the house of Judah forty dayes, I have appointed thee each day for a yeere.
Now these are not to be taken for two different and distinct sums, as if it were 390 yeeres from the falling away of the ten Tribes, to the captiving of the ten Tribes, and 40 yeeres from thence to the captiving of Judah, for it was but 200 yeeres and a little above an halfe, between the two first periods, and above an hundred yeeres between the two last: but the forty yeeres are to bee reputed and counted within the 390, as the last yeeres of them; and marked out so singularly because of Judahs rebellion in and under so cleare and powerfull preaching of Jeremy, who-prophefied so long a time among them.
Now for the casting of these 390 yeeres into parcels as the Books of Kings and Chronicles have done them, the surest and clearest way, is to make a Chronicall table of the collaterall Kingdomes of Judah and Israel while they last together, from yeare to yeare, as they will offer themselves to parallel one another. In which course some considerable scruples will arise before the Student as hee goeth along, which unlesse hee see and resolve, hee will never be able to make the account right, and which unlesse hee frame to himself such a Chronicall table as is mentioned, hee will never see nor find out. Hee will by the very Table, as hee goeth along see, that sometimes the yeeres are reckoned compleat, as Reboboams seventeen are counted, 1 Kings 15. 1. Sometimes current, as Ahijams three, 1 Kings 15. 1, 2, 9. and Elahs two, 1 Kings 16. 8. But this will breed no difficulty, since it is ordinary in Scripture thus variously to compute, and since the drawing of his Table wil every where shew him readily this variety: But these things will hee find of more obscurity, and challenging more serious study and consideration.
First, it is said that Jeroboam reigned two and twenty yeeres' 1. Kings 14. 20. and Nadab his Sonne two yeeres, chap. 15. 25. yet that Nadab began to reigne in the second yeere of Asa, which was in the one and twentieth yeere of Jeroboam, and so Nadabs two yeeres fall within the summe of his fathers two and twenty.
Now the reason of this accounting is this: It is said in 2 Chron. 13. 20. that the Lord stroke Jeroboam and he died: that is, with some ill and languishing disease, that he could not administer nor rule the Kingdome, therefore was hee forced to substitute his Sonne Nadab in his life time, and in one and the same yeer both Father and Son died.
Secondly, it is said that Baasha began to reigne in the third yeere of Asa, 1 King. 13. 28. and reigned foure and twenty yeeres, ver. 33. then it followeth that he died in the six and twentyeth yeere of Asa, as the text reckoneth the yeeres current, 1 King. 16. 8. And yet in the fix and thirtieth yeere of Asa, Baasha came up and made war against Judah, 2 Chron. 16. 1. So that this warre will seeme to bee made by …im nine or ten yeeres after hee is dead.
But the resolution of this from the originall is easie: For that text in the Chronicles meaneth not that Baasha made warre against Judah in the six and thirtieth yeere of Asaes reigne, but in the six and thirtieth yeere of Asaes kingdome: that is, six and thirty yeeres from the division of the Tribes under Rehoboam: For Re…oboam reigned seventeen yeeres, Abijam his son three yeeres, and in the sixteenth yeere of Asa was this warre made: thirty six yeeres in all from the first division. The word foreign therefore should there be rendred the Kingdom, and not the Reign, and the thing were cleare. Now the text dateth this warre, not from the time of Asaes reigne, but from the time of the division of the Tribes: because that though they were divided hitherto in regard of their Kings, yet not totally in regard of their converse and affection, for some of the revolted ones affected still the house of David: but Baasha to make the division sure: buildeth Ramah, that none might goe in or out to Asa King of Judah, and this was as a second division; and therefore the Text reckoneth from the first.
Thirdly, it is said, 1 King. 16. 23. that in the one and thirtieth yeere of Asa King of Judah, began Omri to reigne over Israel twelve yeers, six yeeres reigned bee in Tirzah: And yet in verse 29. it is said, that In the eight and thirtyeth yeere of Asa, began Ahab th… sonne of Omri to reigne.
Now how can there possibly be twelve yeeres reigne betwixt Asaes thirty first and thirty eight?
Answer. Omri began to reigne as soon as ever he had slaine Zimri, which was in the twenty seventh of Asa: but he was not sole and entire King till his thirty first: For Tibni his competitor and corrivall for the Crowne, held him in agitation and warres till Asaes thirty first. And then was he overcome, and Omri acknowledged absolute King by Tibnies souldiers, and so from thence forward he reigned sole King in Tirzah.
But yet the doubt remaineth how Omri beginning his monarchy in the thirty first of Asa, and ending it in his thirty eight, can bee said to have reigned but six yeeres, whereas it was eight current.
Answer. The six compleat yeeres only are reckoned: for the thirty first of Asa was even ending when Tibni was conquered, and the thirty eight but newly begun when Omri died: Such another kind of reckoning may be observed in casting up the age of Abraham and Ismael at their Circumcision, compared with the age of Abraham at Ismaels death.
Fourthly, the beginning of the reigne of Joram the sonne of Jehoshaphat hath three dates. The first in the seventeenth yeere of Jehoshaphat his father, compare 2 Kings 22. 51. and 2 King. 1. 17. and 2 King. 3. 1.
The second in the fifth yeere of Joram the son of Ahab, 2 King. 8▪ 16. This was the in the two and twentyeth yeere of his father Jehoshaphat.
And the third at his father Jehoshaphats death, 2 Chron. 21. 1.
Now the resolution of this Ambiguity is thus. The first time hee was made Viceroy, when his father went out of the Land for the recovery of Ramoth Gilead: and because Ahab the King of Israel, went with him, Ahaziah his Son is made Viceroy in that Kingdome also.
The second time hee was Viceroy again in his Father Jehoshaphats absence upon his voyage into Moah with Jehoram, 2 Kings 3. and from this time doth the Text date the fixed beginning of his reign, as is plain, … Kings 8. 17. 2 Chron. 21. 20. For Jehoshaphat after this …me was little at home, but abroad, either in his own Land, pera… bulating it, to reduce the people to true Religion, or in Moah, to reduce that to subjection, 2 Chron. 19. 20.
Fifthly, but a greater doubt meeteth you by farre when you come to cast up the times of his son Ahaziah. For whereas Joram was thirty and two yeeres old when hee began to reigne, and reigned eight yeeres in Jerusalem, 2 King. 6. 17. 2 Chron. 21. 20. and so died when hee was forty yeeres old; and instantly the inhabitants of Jerusalem set Ahaziah upon his throne, who was his youngest Son, yet was this Ahaziah forty two yeeres old when hee began to reigne, 2 Chron. 22. 1. and so will prove to be two yeeres older then his father.
Answer. The booke of Chronicles in this place meaneth not that Ahaziah was so old when hee began to reigne; for the book of Kings telleth plainly that he was but two and twenty, 2 King. 8. 26. but these two & forty yeers have relation to another thing; namly, to the kingdom of the house of Omri, and not to the age of Ahaziah. For count from the beginning of the reign of Omri, and you find Ahaziah to enter his reign in the two and fortieth yeer from thence; as he wil readily see, that shall make such a Chronicall Table as is mentioned.
The Originall words therefore, Ben arbaguim ushethajim shana…, are not to be translated as they be, Ahaziah was two and forty yeeres old, but Ahaziah was the Son of the two and forty yeeres, as Seder Ol…m hath acutely observed long agoe.
Now the reason why his reigne is thus dated differently from all others the Kings of Judah, is, because he in a kind was an impe of the house of Omri: for Athaliah his mother, was Ahabs daughter, 2 King. 8. 18. And she both perverted her husband Joram, and brought up this her sonne Ahaziah in the Idolatry of the house of Ahab; therefore is not Ahaziah fit to be reckoned by the line of the Kings of Judah, but by the house of Omri and Ahab: see the Evangelist Matthew setting a speciall mark upon the house of Joram, at the notes on Mat. 1. 8.
Sixthly, there is yet one scruple more arising concerning the beginning of the reigne of this Ahaziah. For the same book of Kings saith, that he began to reigne in the twelfth yeere of Joram the son of Ahab, 2 King. 8. 25. and in the eleventh yeere of Joram the son of Ahab, 2 Kings 9. 29.
Answer. The resolution of this doubt will bee easie to him that hath such a Chronicall Table as wee have spoken of before his eyes. For there will hee see that Jehoram reigned one yeere before his Father Ahabs death: For in the twentyeth yeere of Ahab, which was the seventeenth of Jehoshaphat, did Ahaziah the sonne of Ahab, begin to reigne, 1 King. 22. 51. being made Viceroy, when his Father went to Ramoth Gilead.
Hee reigning but that yeere, Jehoram his sonne was Viceroy or began to rule in his stead, the next yeere, namely in Ahabs one and twentyeth. Ahab in his two and twentyeth dyed: and so Jehoram became absolute and intire King, and reigned so eleven yeeres: So that his reign hath a double reckoning, hee reigned as Viceroy twelve yeeres, but as intire King but eleven.
7. Amaziah beganne to reigne in the second yeere of Joash King of Israel, 2 King. 14. 1. this was the eight and thirtyeth yeere of his Father Joash King of Judah, three yeeres current before his death: And the reason was, because his Father had cast himselfe into so much misery and mischiefe, through his Apostasie and murder of Zacharies, 2 King. 12. 17, 18. 2 Chron. 24. 23, 24, 25. that hee was become unfit and unable to manage the Kingdome.
8. Vzziah or Azariah the sonne of this Amaziah, being but sixteene yeeres of age in the seven and twentyeth yeere of the reigne of Jeroboam the second, 2 King. 15. 1, 2. it appeareth that hee was but foure yeers old at his Fathers death: Therfore was the Throne empty for eleven yeeres, and the rule managed by some as Protectors in the Kings minority.
9. There is also an interregnum or vacancy of 22 yeers in the kingdome of Israel, between Jeroboam the second, and Zachariah: whereof what the reason should bee, is not easie to determine: whether through warres from abroad, which Jeroboam might have provoked against his house by the conquest of Hamath and Damascus, 2 King. 14. 28. or through war at home, as appeareth by the end of Zachariah, 2 King. 15. 10. or through what else it was, it is uncertain, but most sure it was that the Throne was so long without a King, since Jeroboam beginning to reigne in the fifteenth yeere of Amaziah, and reigning forty one yeeres, 1 King. 14. 23. dyed in the fifteenth of Vzziah; and Zachariah began not to Reigne till the eight and thirtyeth, 2 King. 15. 8.
10. Hoshea is said to slay Pekah in the twentyeth yeere of Jotham the Sonne of Vzziah, 2 King. 15. 30. whereas Jotham reigned but sixteene yeeres in all, 2 King. 15. 33. But the reason of this accounting is because of the wickednesse of Achaz, in whose reigne this occurrence was, and the Holy Ghost chuseth rather to reckon by holy Jotham in the dust, then by wicked Ahaz alive: For in the slaughter of Pekah, the Lord avenged upon Pekah the blood-shed and misery hee had caused in Judah, for hee had slaine of the men thereof 120000 in one day, 2 Chron. 28. 6. Now Ahaz had caused this wrath upon the people in withdrawing them from the wayes of the Lord, therefore when the Lord avengeth this injury of his people upon Pekah, the time of it is computed from Jotham who was holy and upright, and not from Ahaz who had caused the mischiefe.
11. There is a scruple of no small difficulty about the reckoning of this twentyeth yeere of Jotham, if it once bee spyed out: And that is this; If Pekah began to reigne in the two and fiftyeth or last yeere of Vzziah, and reigned twenty yeeres, as 2 King. 15. 27. and if Jotham beganne to reigne in the second yeere of Pekah, 2 King. 15. 33. then certainly the twentyeth yeere of Pekah, the yeere when Hoshea slew him, was but the nineteenth yeere of Jotham, and not the twentyeth.
Answer. In this very difficulty, hath the Text fixed the time of Vzziahs becomming leprous, which else-where is not determined: and it sheweth that it was in the last yeere of his reigne, when hee assayed to offer incense in the Temple, and was struck with the leprosie, a disease with which the Priests who were to bee the Judges of it, could not bee touched nor insected, and his sonne Jotham was over the house judging the land, 2 King. 15. 5. till the day of his death. Now that last yeere of Vzziah is counted for the first of Jotham, in this reckoning that wee have in hand, and although hee beganne to reigne as absolute and sole King in the second yeere of the Reigne of Pekah, yet beganne hee to reigne as Viceroy, in the diseasednesse of his Father, the yeere before.
12. It is said that Hoshea the sonne of Elah, beganne to reigne in the twelfth yeere of Ahaz, 2 King. 17. 1. whereas hee had slaine Pekah in the fourth of Ahaz, or the twentyeth of Jotham: which sheweth that hee obtained not the Crown immediately upon Pekahs death, but was seven or eight yeeres before hee could settle it quietly upon his head. It is like that Ahaz in this time did disquiet Israel, when his potent enemy Pekah was dead, in revenge of that slaughter that hee had made in Judah, and that hee kept Hoshea out of the Throne, and for this is called the King of Israel, 2 Chron. 28. 19. as well as for walking in the wayes of those Kings.
13. It is said that Hezekiah began to reigne in the third yeere of Hoshea the sonne of Elah, 2 King. 18. 1. Now Hoshea beginning in the twelfth of Ahaz, 2 King. 17. 1. it is apparent that Hezekiah began in the foureteenth, and so reigned two or three yeeres with his Father Ahaz, who Reigned sixteen yeeres, 2 King. 16. 2.
The reason of this was, because of the wickednesse of Ahaz, and because of the miseries and intanglements that his wickednesse had brought him into, as 2 Chron. 28. 16, 17, 18. and chap. 29. 7, 8, 9. And this sheweth the zeale of Hezekiah, in the work of Reformation, the more, in that hee assayed and perfected it so much in the very time of his wicked Father.
14. But yet there ariseth another doubt in the computation of the times of Hezekiah, parallel with the times of Hoshea; For whereas hee beganne to reigne in the third yeere of Hoshea, as is cleere before, then the seventh yeere of Hoshea should bee counted his fifth yeere, and yet it is called but his fourth, 2 King. 18. 9.
Answer. The beginning of Hezekiahs reigne, is of a double date: Hee beganne indeed to bee Viceroy, and to beare the rule in the third of Hoshea, which was the fourteenth yeere of his Father Ahaz, but the time of that yeere was but short, that hee was in the royalty, and hee did but little or nothing of note that yeere, but the next yeere, which was the fifteenth of Ahaz, and the fourth of Hoshea, on the very first day of the yeere, or the first of Nisan, hee beganne the Reformation, and stirred bravely in the restoring of Religion, 2 Chron. 29. 3. and therefore that is owned as the most remarkable and renowned beginning of his dominion: And so the seventh of Hoshea, and his fourth yeere fall in together. In his sixth yeer the ten Tribes are captived, 2 King. 18. 10. And so the parallelling of the two Kingdomes of Judah and Israel in their Chronicall Annals is at an end, and now the times of the kingdome of Judah lye in an easie and continued Chronicle, to the captivity in Babel, without any great scruple: OnelyOnly about those turbulent times of Jehoachaz and Jehoiakim, there is a little difficulty: For there passed some yeeres between the death of Josiah, and the Reign of Jehoiakim, in troubles and distempers, though the Text hath mentioned the three moneths onelyonly of Jehoachaz: The grosse summe of 390. between the division and the burning of the Temple, keepeth all right, and sheweth how much space this was, when all the other particulars are taken up, as the 480 between the delivery out of Aegypt, and building of Solomons Temple do, by the time of the rule of Joshua, though the Text expressely hath not determined it.
So that now adde these 390 yeeres mentioned by Ezekiel, which was the exact space between the falling away of the ten Tribes, and the destruction of Jerusalem, to the 3030 yeeres, of which age the world was when the ten Tribes fell away, and wee finde that Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, Jerusalem destroyed, Anno mundi, 3420.and the Babylonians, in the yeere of the world 3420.
Sect. VII. From the burning of the Temple by Nebuzaradan, 2 King. 25. Jer. 52. to the return from Babel, 2 Chro. 36. 22. Ezra 1. 1. were fifty yeeres.
It hath been no small controversie among the learned, that have handled the current of these times that wee are about, where to begin the seventy yeeres of the captivity in Babel, so renowned in Scripture, Jer. 25. 11, 12. and 29. 10. 2 Chron. 36. 21. Zech. 1. 12. For since there were three captivities of Hierusalem by the Babylonian, namely in the third yeere of Jehoiakim, 2 Chron. 36. 6. Dan. 1. 1. In the yeere of Jehoiachin, 2 Chron. 36. 9, 10. and in the eleventh of Zedekiah, 2 King. 25. 2, 3. Jer. 52. 4, 5. it may very well bee questioned, where those seventy yeeres of captivity did beginne, and where those 390 yeeres from the falling away of the ten Tribes should terminate.
To omit varieties of opinions and reasons that fix these periods, some here, some there; these reasons do plainly and sufficiently demonstrate, that the seventy yeeres of Judahs captivity in Babel, did begin from the third yeere of Jehoiakim.
First, Because Daniel that measured out the whole space of that captivity, and that giveth account of the state of the people that time, beginneth from thence, Dan. 1.
Secondly, Because it is most proper to beginne the seventy yeeres captivity by Babel from the very first time that any captivity by Babel began.
Thirdly, It is prophecyed by Jeremy, chap. 25. 11. that not onl the Jews, but also all Nations round about them should serve the King of Babel 70 yeeres. So that those seventy yeeres are to bee counted the time and space of the absolute Monarchy of Babel, and they are to beginne from the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar the first Monarch.
Now the beginning of his Monarchy is easie to settle, viz. in the third of Jehoiakim, from these Texts: Jer. 32. 1. and 52. 12. It is true indeed that in Jer. 25. 1. the fourth of Jehoiakim is called his first, and so it might bee very well: for the first of Nebuchadnezzar might take up part of two yeeres of his Reigne, as any one yeere of the King takes up much time of two Lord Majors, hee entring his yeere in the Spring, and they in Autumne. Thus doe the seventy yeeres beginne from the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar, but the 390 that wee have been so long upon doe not there end, but they end at his nineteenth, or at the eleventh of Zedekiah, when the City and Temple was utterly ruined, and the captivity entirely consummate, as the chaine of the yeere drawn out to the length, doe really fix it; and as the very intent and stile of the Prophet doth the like, who in that summe doth comprehend the whole time of the peoples being in their own Land, after the r…volt under Jeroboam: So that nineteen yeeres compleat out of the seventy, must wee take into that sum, and so there are but fifty yeeres of that captivity to the time of their delivery under Cyrus remaining;The Jewes returne to Babel Ezra 1. 1. Anno mundi 3470. which summe being added to the age of the world, at the burning of the Temple 3420. doth make the world to bee 3470 yeeres old at the first of Cyrus, when the captivity did return.
Sect. VIII. From the return of the Jewes out of Babel, to the death of Christ 490 yeeres.
This is so plain in Dan. 9. in the seventy weekes, or seventy time seven yeeres there mentioned, from the Commandement going forth from Cyrus to restore and build Hierusalem, to the cutting off of the Messias, that it needeth as little to confirme it, as to tell that seventy times seven is foure hundred and ninety. For if the Angel speak not of a fixed and certaine time in this summe, hee nameth this summe to no purpose in the world, but hee doth so cleerely fix the time, the two termini of its extent, and some particular linkes of it as it passed, that nothing can bee more cleere, evident, and perspicuous. Now adde these 490 yeeres, which reach to the death of Christ, to the age of the world 3470. at the time when they began, and it resulteth, that our Saviour dyed in the yeere of the world 3960. Out of which subduct the two and thirty yeeres of our Saviours life, and it appeareth that hee was borne in the yeere of the world 3928. that yeere being then but newly begunne, stilo veteri, or according to the account used from the beginning of the world, from Tisri or September: Christ born, Anno mundi, 3928.so that that yeere was his first yeere, and 3929. his second yeere, at the which the wise men came to visit him; 3930. his third yeere, and so 3960. halfe passed, or at Easter, his two and thirtyeth and an halfe, at which age hee dyed.
And now hee that desireth to know the yeere of the world, which is now passing over us this yeere 1644. will finde it to bee 5572. yeeres just now finished since the Creation; and the yeere 5573 of the worlds age, now newly begunne this September at the Aequinox.