134 



to separate the offices of Judge and leader, which latter pro- 

 l)ablv tliey possessed from the period of their original appoint- 

 ment, as well as at their death, (Saml.2. 25.); and as, in fine, 

 we observe the duties of the leader of the army and those of 

 the judges clearly defined and distinguished, not only in the 

 example of Moses, constituting Joshua leader of the host, 

 and retaining to himself the legislative jurisdiction, but also 

 afterwards, when Moses was dead, we find Joshua repre- 

 sented surrounded by his " Judges and officers," and the 

 " Judges standing at the side of the ark," (Jos. c. 8. v. 33. and 

 c. 24. V. 1.) as religious functionaries or interpreters of the 

 law. 



But this means of interpretation affords us another ad- 

 vantage, not to be overlooked — it explains the reason of a 

 difference in the reading of the text, observed by many 

 chronologists and commentators. Several of the ancient MS. 

 and versions particularly the Sixtine edition of theSeptuagint, 

 grant only 20 years to Eli ; and Eusebius* and Procopius 



concur 



• Eusebius, it must be admitted, in another Work, grants Eli the forty years assigned 

 in Scripture, and Procopius acknowledges the Hebrew allotted him forty years. Syncellus, 

 p. 175. (Edit. Goar. Par. 1652.) accuses Eusebius of inconsistency, in granting 40 

 years to Eli, "contrarium poUicitus," &c. says he, in the language of his translator. He 

 himself, although enlarging the interval between the exod and foundation of the temple, 

 adheres to the Septuagint, and accounts only 20 years to Eli. Nicephorus (ad calcem 

 Syncelli,) likewise grants him but 20 years, and diminishes the oppression of the Phi- 

 listines also to the same term, uto, x." The very learned Petavius, (vide Pet. Doc. tem- 

 ponum vol. 2. p. 60. in Bibliothcca Fag. CoUegii Dub.) also admits, that to reconcile 



the 



