129 



the Amorites' oppression in the jurisdiction of Jair. If we were 

 to reckon regularly tlie reposes and servitudes in exclusive 

 succession,* rather than in inclusive, we should find a number 

 much exceeding that of Jepthali, and which of course he 

 would have used as making more in favour of his argument, 

 drawn from a long possession of the country, and concluding 

 from that an indefeasible right to it. But it is singularly re- 

 markable, that if we subduct the periods of servitude and 

 oppression, by including them, as I have done, in the dura- 

 tion of the preceding reposes, or in the government of the 

 Judges, (as in the case of Jair,) the calculus completely 

 answers; the system, therefore, must be founded in fact. 

 But we may also remark, that the princes of Gilead, when 

 assembled to elect a chief to lead them against the Am- 

 monites, can only promise " he shall be head over all the 

 inhabitants of Gilead," (10. v. 18.); which is a strong con- 

 firmation of the opinion we have delivered on the nature 

 and confined limits of the jurisdiction of the Judges. The 

 civil war against Ephraim (c. xii.) proves, that in the first 

 instance, at least, his authority Avas disputed. 



After Jepthah, Ibsan, Elon, and Abdon, judged Israel 

 respectively, 7, 10, and 8 years which afford no difficulty, 



s 2 but 



* The calculus would amount to above three hundred years, from tlie commencement 

 of Othniel, without including the jurisdiction of Joshua and the elders, the length of the 

 generation succeeding the conquerors of the land, or the servitude of Cushan. Vignoles 

 is compelled to reckon 363 years. 



