details of the different reigns, although in spirit and point of view they are allied. Our author is a man of prophetic sympathies, and we can perceive the keen zest with which he introduces these prophetic episodes. We may be safe in inferring that there were, at the time this Book of Kings was written, story-books of a somewhat popular character relating the sayings and doings of the more distinguished of the prophets, and that from such sources our author drew his materials under this head. But no hint is given here of the authorship of such productions, and it is possible that they had no authorship in the strict sense of the term. They may be the written deposit of what were at first oral recitals, repeated in similar substance and variant phraseology in those so-called 'schools of the prophets,' or prophetic societies, of which we hear not a little in this book. If we knew more of what went on in these circles we might be able to explain a good deal that is now obscure as to the origin and preservation of ancient writings in those times. The manner in which the Book of Jeremiah was produced, as related in the thirty-sixth chapter of that book, is instructive in this regard; and in the Book of Chronicles we hear occasionally of a work of this or that prophet called his 'Story,' or in the margin of our Version, Commentary,' but in the original Midrash, i.e., very probably an address or addresses of a homiletical character. Some of the narratives contained in our book partake of this character, and they may be the written form which was assumed by the addresses or discourses held in these prophetic gatherings. The suggestion is worth considering whether a good many of the variations and presumed interpolations found in many of the O.T. books, which critics are disposed to regard as later additions, are not as old as the time of

the first writing down of the documents, coming from the time of transition from oral recital to written form.

IX. Chronological System. From the fact that the Book of Kings gives a few positive dates for leading events, and is so systematic in stating the years of accession and duration of the reigns of the successive kings, it is plain that the author had a chronological scheme within which his materials were arranged. On closer examination, however, it appears that his figures are not strictly consistent among themselves, and certain of the dates do not agree with conclusions derived from other quarters. In other words, we must conclude that the chronological scheme is only approximately and not strictly precise. The Book of Judges presents here also a striking comparison, in which the aggregate of the numbers given under each judge does not correspond with the whole period as stated in other places. Both in the Book of Judges and here we can see a manifest tendency to reckon by forties, indicating that the round number was given when it was only approximately applicable. We have a striking example of this free use of numbers in 2 Sam. v. 4, 5, where it is first stated that David reigned forty years, and then that he reigned seven years and six months over Judah and thirty-three years over all Israel.

It would appear that, according to the chronology observed in this book, the whole history of Israel, from the Exodus till the close of the Babylonian Exile, fell into two great cycles of 480 years each, or twelve times forty. The first of these great periods extended to the beginning of the building of the Temple, and this is given as a leading date in 1 Kings vi. I. Unless, however, we are to regard this as merely a rough

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approximation based on the convenient reckoning by forties, it is difficult to reconcile the date with computations of the details and with statements of other books. For, first of all, the Septuagint Version in this verse gives the number as 440, and Josephus makes it 590. Then, if we sum up the various numbers given in the Book of Judges, and add to them the figures necessary to complete the time from the Exodus to the fourth year of Solomon, we obtain a total of 498 years, which is perhaps the nearest approximation to the date given in our book. It is to be observed, however, that this does not agree with the statement put in the mouth of Jephthah (Judges xi. 26) that the Israelites had possessed the territory beyond Jordan for 300 years; but this may be simply a general estimate of the period. Again, in Acts xiii. 20, St Paul, according to the received text, gives 450 years as intervening between the division of the land under Joshua and the time of Samuel; and if we add here again the necessary numbers for the remaining space, we get a total of 554 years. It is right, however, to observe that the R.V., following the best textual authorities, transfers the clause to the preceding verse, thus shifting the basis of computation. But even then we are left without means for checking the date given in the Book of Kings.

The perplexity of the chronology increases when we come to details of the several reigns. For example, the book gives the synchronism of the two kingdoms, as we have seen. Yet if we add up the numbers given in detail, from the disruption of the kingdoms to the extinction of the northern line, we obtain a total of 242 years for the kingdom of Israel, while the total for the kingdom of Judah up to the same point is 259, Or again, if we count from the disruption of the kingdom to the death of

Ahaziah of Judah and Joram of Israel, who were killed at the same time by Jehu (2 Kings ix. 24-27), we get 95 years for the Judæan kings and 98 for the Israelite; and from that date onward to the fall of the Northern Kingdom, the number is 165 years for the Judæan and 144 for the Israelite. It is evident that there is not precise accuracy either in the synchronisms or in the statements as to the duration of the reigns. And it seems, on the whole, probable that parts of years were not reckoned, and also that, in the synchronisms, the last year of one reign was sometimes counted as the first of another. We must, in short, be content to take the numbers as approximate, and not shut our eyes to the evident partiality for what was apparently a Hebrew habit of reckoning by forties. Towards a more precise determination of the chronology of the period of the kings we derive valuable data from the Assyrian monuments, especially when events thereon recorded are associated with astronomical phenomena whose dates can be computed.

X. General Review.

During the four centuries covered by the Book of Kings the people of Israel lived the greatest part of their consolidated national life as an independent state, from the time when David left the warlike tribes welded into a powerful empire till the two kingdoms into which it became divided were swept away, and Palestine became a province of the great Eastern Empire. Within this period the house of David, one unbroken dynasty, had a series of twenty kings from Solomon; while in the Northern Kingdom, while it subsisted, there was the same number of kings, but a succession of nine different families or dynasties. Of some of the kings we are

told little or nothing, on other reigns the author dwells at greater length. But, when all is said, it is comparatively little that we are told of the political movements and social conditions which, in our ordinary estimation, make up the great part of national life. We have, indeed, hints which only whet our curiosity to know more about the political relations with surrounding states, about the growth of commerce and the activities of industry. But after the time of Solomon we hear little of wealth or magnificence in the kingdom of Judah; and, although the reigns of Ahab and Jeroboam II. in Israel must have been times of no little splendour, our author has little heart to dwell on these things, or to esteem them as of account. Though he goes through reign after reign putting down faithfully the leading events as they appear to him, it is evident throughout that he considers the principal business of Israel to be-religion. One might be tempted to pronounce his view narrow and his recital monotonous. Yet, if it is the part of a writer of history to penetrate to the roots of a nation's life, and to trace the nation's contribution to the general good of the world, he is a true historian. Israel made no great conquests, built up no world empire, has left no great monuments or works of art, and, when national independence was gone, Palestine was no better than any of the other lands that fell under the hand of the conqueror. Yet the history of the world has been powerfully controlled by the religion of Israel. During these four centuries there was a succession of those prophetic men, under the influence of whose spirit our author wrote, statesmen without office at the courts, leaders appointed by no popular party, patriots unrequited, yet feared and honoured above kings. Joining hands over the centuries, proclaiming the principles