Bible history

Period of the Theocracy

Blackwood’s Comprehensive Aids to the Study of the Bible · Vol. I, p. 32

Begins on Vol. I, p. 32

From Joshua to Samuel (335 Years).

Before Christ.	Events from Joshua to Samuel.
1451	10 Nisan, 13-14 April, passage of the Jordan; circumcision at Gilgal, passover 14 Nisan, 17-18 April, siege of Jericho, seven days; war with Ai; convocation on Mount Ebal, perhaps at Pentecost. Peace with Gibeon; confederacy of the five kings of the south; their defeat; after which, in one campaign, Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, Debir, are taken and destroyed; thus the south is conquered.
1450 to	Jabin of Hazor and the other kings of the north are defeated in a battle at Merom. The north is conquered. This war lasted a long time.
1445 1445	In 1445, after the return to Gilgal, the separate wars begin, viz., those in which the tribes were to take possession and exterminate the remainder of the Canaanites, especially the Anakim. "They consulted the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first." Judg. i. 1, 2. Caleb claims Hebron, Josh. xiv. 13. The battle in Bezek, Judg. i. 4-7. Jerusalem is taken and burnt, ver. 8; thence the army, commanded by Caleb, goes to the highlands; Hebron and Debir are taken, Josh. xv. 14 ff.—Meanwhile, Joshua is exterminating the Anakim and other Canaanites from the highlands of Israel, Josh. xi. 23 ff. Thus the subjugation of the land is complete, with the exception of the parts noted, Josh. xiii. 2-6.
1444	The convocation at Shiloh; the tabernacle erected; the land divided among the seven tribes, the boundaries of Judah and Joseph having been first defined, Josh. xviii., xix. The cities of refuge and of the Levites are assigned; the trans-Jordanic tribes dismissed, Josh. xx.-xxii.
Ab. 1443	Joshua, one hundred and ten years old, holds a convocation of the whole nation [at Shiloh, Josh. xxiii.], in which he delivers his parting charge; the convocation assembles again at Shechem, and renews the covenant. Joshua dies.
—	The Angel of the Lord rebukes the people at Bochim, Judg. ii. 1-5.
A period of about 30 years.	The people served the Lord all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel, Judg. ii. 7. "All that generation died, and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel," ver. 10. "The children of Israel did evil," etc., Judg. iii. 7.
1413	The first servitude, Chushan Rishathaim of Mesopotamia eight years, Judg. iii. 8.
1405	The first judge, Othniel, son of Kenaz, Judg. iii. 9. The land had rest forty years, ver. 11.
1343	The second servitude, Eglon of Moab, eighteen years, Judg. iii. 14.
1325	The second judge, Ehud, Judg. iii. 15. Rest, eighty years, during which time, after the death of Ehud, the third judge was Shamgar.
1305	The third servitude, Jabin of Canaan, twenty years, Judg. iv. 3.
1285	The fourth judge, Barak, forty years.
1245	The fourth servitude, the Midianites, seven years, Judg. vi. 1.
1238	The fifth judge, Gideon, forty years, Judg. vi. 11, 12.
	Abimelech reigns three years.
	The sixth judge, Tola, twenty-three years, Judg. x. 1.
	The seventh judge, Jair, twenty-two years, Judg. x. 3.
	The fifth servitude, Philistines and Ammonites, eighteen years, Judg. x. 7.
	The eighth judge, Jephthah, six years, Judg. xii. 7.
	The ninth judge, Ibzan, seven years, Judg. xii. 9.
	Eli, high-priest, forty years.
to	The tenth judge, Elon, ten years, Judg. xii. 11.
	The eleventh judge, Abdon, eight years, Judg. xii. 14.
	The sixth servitude, Philistines, forty years, Judg. xiii. 1.
	The twelfth judge, Samson, twenty years, Judg. xv. 20. The birth of Samson was announced during a time of Philistine oppression, Judg. xiii. 5; that is, while the Philistines were oppressing the south and west, and the Ammonites the east, Judg. x. 7. At the beginning of the sixth servitude, he might be between twenty and thirty years old.
1116	Autumn. The ark is taken; Eli dies. Somewhat earlier, Samson is taken; the ark is in captivity seven months; restored in the days of wheat-harvest, 1 Sam. vi. 1, 13 (hence the time of capture is defined). The return of the ark must have preceded Samson's death and the great overthrow of the lords of the Philistines. Perhaps the great sacrifice to Dagon, in Gaza, besides its connection with the rejoicing on account of the capture of Samson (Judg. xvi. 23), may have been intended as a celebration of the deliverance from the plagues, 1 Sam. v., vi.