“And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet” (Acts 13:20)
At first glance, 450 years of judiciary rule does not seem to fit with the chronology of the post-exodus history given in 1 Kings 6:1.
Scholars have tried to solve this apparent difficulty through various means; and the most popular way has been by following the Alexandrian reading and moving the phrase “about the space of four hundred and fifty years” from the sentence pertaining to the time of the judges to the previous sentence pertaining to the time of the exodus and the conquest. These scholars attribute the 450 years to the combined years of slavery (400 years), wandering (40 years), and conquest (10 years).
However, there is another way to understand these 450 years; and there is no need to correct the Textus Receptus or the KJV in order to do so. The “after” used in Acts 13:20 of the KJV is not the adverbial “after” (which indicates sequence) but rather the prepositional “after” (which indicates agreement).
Although it is common to read the underlying Greek, “μετα ταυτα” as “after these things” in a sequential sense, the Greek “μετα” (preposition, used with the accusative case) can also mean “according to” (Liddell-Scott-Jones Greek-English Lexicon). Thus, “μετα ταυτα” can be read, “according to these things.”
The English word “after,” which translates “μετα,” can also mean “in accordance with” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). For example, “After this manner therefore pray ye…” (Matthew 6:9, emphasis added) is understood by everybody as meaning, “In accordance with this manner therefore pray ye….”
Thus, Acts 13:20 in the KJV can be understood as saying, “And [in accordance with] that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.” So Acts 13:20 is not saying that 450 years followed the preceding events described from verse 17 to 19, but that God gave judges for about 450 years in accordance (or in the manner) with all that transpired in the narrative from verse 17 to 19. Acts 13:20 is simply saying that God gave judges to Israel for about 450 years until a king ruled over Israel (Acts 13:21).
Samuel, the last judge, judged Israel until at least about 1051 BC. We know this because Saul became king in about 1051 BC (this date is accepted by conservative scholars). However, Samuel continued to “teach” Israel even after Saul became king (1 Samuel 12:23). In fact, the great Jewish historian Josephus records that Samuel “governed and presided over the people… eighteen years together with Saul the king” (Antiquities of the Jews 6:13:5). Thus, Samuel continued to act as judge until about 1033 BC.
By adding 450 years to 1033 BC, we come to 1483 BC – the date when God supposedly began to give judges to Israel. But this begs the question: what was happening in 1483 BC? And was there even a judge of Israel in 1483 BC?
By using 1 Kings 6:1 we can calculate the date of the exodus as being 1447 BC (we add 480 years to 967 BC, Solomon’s fourth year as king, to get 1447 BC). This is the traditional date of the exodus accepted by conservative scholars. Thus, 1483 BC was about 40 years before the exodus (36 years to be exact). This is the approximate date when Moses slew the Egyptian who smote a Hebrew slave. We know this because Moses slew the Egyptian and immediately fled to the wilderness and stayed there for 40 years (Acts 7:30) until the exodus. This makes Moses the first judge, and his becoming judge occurring in about 1483 BC.
There is little contention regarding the fact that Moses was the first judge of Israel. In Exodus 18:13 we read, “Moses sat to judge the people.” Later in the chapter Moses appoints judges under him (Exodus 18:25-26). There was no judge before Moses; thus Moses was the first judge. The contention, however, is regarding “when” Moses became the first judge. To accept the fact that Moses became the first judge of Israel in about 1483 BC, we must first realize what being a judge meant.
Judges 2:16 says, “Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.” Thus, a “judge” in the biblical sense is a person who delivers God’s people out of the hands of their enemies. Although judges had many responsibilities, such as executing judgment, the pattern we see in the book of Judges indicates that a judge of Israel was someone who delivered the children of Israel out of the hands of their oppressors.
When was it that an Israelite was first delivered out of the hands of his oppressor? It was when Moses at the age of 40 (Acts 7:23) slew the Egyptian who smote a Hebrew slave (Exodus 2:12). Although the Israelites would remain in slavery for another 40 years, this was the defining moment in history when a helper came to a Hebrew. In Exodus 2:11 we read, “[Moses] went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens.” Furthermore, the next day when Moses called out a Hebrew who smote his fellow, the Hebrew dismissively said to Moses, “Who made thee a prince and a JUDGE over us?” (Exodus 2:14, emphasis added).
We see here that Moses was already responding to his calling not only as a deliverer, but also as an arbiter of the Israelites. The next 40 years God allowed Moses to become a shepherd, presumably to train him in the art of shepherdry to prepare him in the task of shepherding the children of Israel.
Thus, we see that even before the burning bush incident God was already raising Moses up as a judge of the Israelites in about 1483 BC. Thus, the numbers in 1 Kings 6:1 and Acts 13:20 in the KJV fit together extremely well if we understand “after” in Acts 13:20 as a preposition and realize that Moses was raised up to be the first judge in about 1483 BC.
There is only a 4 year discrepancy between the histories in 1 Kings 6:1 and Acts 13:20, which is completely acceptable since we are dealing in most cases with round numbers. Acts 13:20 in the KJV is not an error, but a clear statement as to how many years God gave judges to Israel.
Dear Sirs:
In the course of my efforts to find “the few” scholarly others who clearly understand the year 1447 BC as the true historical year of the Exodus, in both the extant literature and in the internet, I have encountered your post.
Your understanding of the Acts 13:20 text is most excellent so far. It is your dilemma which I address. The established birth year for Moses is 1527 BC, working back from 1447 and the 1 Kings 6:1 proclaimation of the 480th year, and the 2nd month Ziv of the REGNAL YEAR of Solomon, 968-967 BC, the 4th year of his co-regency with David. The Regnal Year begins in the 7th month on the Day of Trumpets (07.01), Rosh Hashannah, literally “the head of the year,” just as the king is the head of the nation. By correlating 1 Samuel 8:7-9 citing Israel’s rejection of God as king, and demanding a king of their own as the first king, we understand that God is clearly enumerating from the Regnal Year, which begins 6 months earlier than the Liturgical Year which begins on (01.01). The 2nd month is found in both of these well defined years. And this is where the understanding of “the many” fails, by their ignorance of the Regnal Year, leading to the great mistake of delaying all event years of the ordained history of national Israel, as well as the appointed time, by one full year, the proverbial domino effect.
Adding 479 years to the well established, 480th Regnal (or Civic) Year resolves the contention of the Exodus year as 1447 BC.
Therefore Moses is 40 in the year 1487, thus resolving precisely your dilemma of exactly 4 years, notwithstanding the caveat of the extra-biblical Josephus account which would add 4 years to the exact 450 as above, well within the time span of the great apostle Paul’s well-defined historical review of “about 450 years.” Of this we can be certain. Your “problem” is no more !!!
Beyond all this, Samuel annointed David in 1017, in David’s 20th year, (the first year of his adulthood, born in 1037, dying 70 years later in early 967) but Samuel had died just before David was made king in Hebron in 1007, toward the end of the 10 full years David was parrying with the house of Saul and the Philistines, having first slain Goliath in 1017. Accordingly, Saul was annointed in 1047, reigning for 40 years. (Acts 13:22.) All this a certainty of Paul.
It is in all likelihood, that Samuel was born in 1107, and that he became recognized in all Israel as “the prophet” (Acts 13:21.) in the established year 1064, by leading all Israel in its momentus, God ordained, victorious battle against the Philistine oppressors, being about 43 years old.
(Israel was released by God from the oppression of the Egyptians after 430 years.)
Clearly Samuel died at some point after the 1017 annointing, and before 1007. But he is 70 when David is born in 1037, and 90 in 1017. Thus he may have lived more than 90 years, perhaps even as long as the 98 years of Eli?
The year 1064 is well established by Dan 9:25, but again there is no true understanding of the text as the great and grand expansion of the redemptive years. The true understanding of the 70 weeks is revealed, not as Sabbath Years, the ubiquitous error of all the ages, but as Jubilee Years. Hence the year 1064. The symbolic “annointed one” or Messiah (Heb) deliverer of 9:25 is none other than Samuel (“God hears”) “the prophet.” (Acts 13:21)
Do you ” hear” this proclamation? I trust that you shall, and that your eyes may be opened, as I bear witness to these things, these mysteries.
I’ve tried to be as concise as possible with your dilemma, while expanding on some related elements as well, and I apologize in advance if I have not been thorough enough.
PS: The “rating” given above is the unfortunate result of a misapprehension of how one was to proceed, from one star up to the five star rating. I began to enumerate with the first star, thinking I could continue to the fifth. Apparently I am not wise enough in these matters, after 74 years.
My heritage is of the Reformed Church, from my earliest years, having come under the exegesis of the brilliant Rev. Arie R. Brouwer in the 1960s, later named as the general secretary of the World Council of Churches. I thank God for his life, and many others. But it is our great Teacher of John 14-16 who leads us into all truth !!!
☆☆☆☆☆.
Well done.
PPS: With apologies for my oversight:
1487 – 450 = 1037 BC.
In 1037, Samuel is 70, (the year David is born), and it is here that he likely retired from his anointing as the last judge at 70 years, (three score years and ten), 10 years after Saul is made king. But according to this extra-biblical account of Josephus, he continued to “teach” for fully 18 years after the anointing Saul in 1047, apparently retiring from his teaching in 1029 at the age of 78? This Josephus account, if perceived and adopted as authentic, would ruin the apostolic account of Paul.
It’s notable that if you go to the book of Judges and add up the number of years given for each period of judging and oppression, and add Eli’s judgeship from 1 Samuel, you get… exactly 450 years. I think we have to reckon with the idea that this number may have been what Paul was referring to. When you add the forty years in the wilderness, a maximum of 51 years between entering Canaan and Joshua’s death, an unknown length of Samuel’s ministry before Saul becomes king, and then another forty years for Saul and David both, we are now running in excess of six hundred years. It has been proposed that the 480 years given in 1 Kings 6:1 purposely leaves out a number of years for theological reasons. It’s worth noting the Septuagint has 440 there. (Not a Septuagint defender, just pointing it out.) I’m personally not convinced either way of what should be considered the “true” number by which the other is judged, just wanted to say that there is a wide range of thought.
And regardless of any of this, I disagree heavily with the dates given here for the exodus, reigns of the kings, etc. I think Ussher was a lot closer on the money in having an Exodus at 1491/1492 BC bare minimum.
Thank for this analysis. I had spent several hours trying to understand this text until I finally found your interpretation in Google search. May God continue to bless you for your good work.