138 



Abijah attributes the conduct of Relioboam, in rejecting the 

 complaints of the ten tribes, to his youtli, (11 Chron. xiii. 7.); 

 yet he was then above forty years of age, (11 Ciuon. xii. 13.) 

 2d. If this opinion is not received, it will be evident, 

 that the duration of the Philistine oppression continued 

 longer than the period assigned to it in the text; for, as we 

 have already accounted for 36 or 38 years of it, if there suc- 

 ceeded an anarchy of 20 years after the death of Eli, it must 

 follow, that these also are to be allotted to the dominion of the 

 Philistines, as, according to the opinion of many of those who 

 uphold this interregnum, it was a necessary' consequence of 

 tlie victory of the Philistines; and it is perfectly absurd to 

 suppose that they did not take advantage of their victory and 

 of the anarchy ensuing, to establish and consolidate their 

 power. Therefore, this supposition extends the period of 

 servitude beyond the limits in the text, and, of course, can- 

 not be admitted. 



3d. Scripture affords no authority for the supposition, and 

 the text, (v. 7- 2.) which has been produced as sanctioning it, 

 only states, that " the ark remained in Kirjathjearim 20 years," 

 and it certainly required the micropscopic discrimination of 

 Josephus and his followers, to find, in that text, an authority 

 for so long an anarchy, " non nobis licet esse tarn disertis." 



After perusing the remarks we have offered on the last 

 period, the learned reader may well enquire, on what grounds 

 Marsham has assigned the twentieth year of the Philistine 



oppression 



