178 , 



is a further proof of our calculus. In chap. 6. v. 39- 

 Ave have the genealogy of Asaph, fifteen generations 

 from Levi to Solomon, exactly conformable to the line 

 of David. In the succession after David, the same pre- 

 cision and accuracy is preserved ; and many other corres- 

 ponding genealogies might be selected, if necessary. On 

 these grounds, then, I hold to the authenticity of the text, 

 and contend, that, however inaccurate we may have been, 

 in arraniiins; the several items in the total, the atigregate 

 itself, could not have exceeded 480 years. 



But it will be expected, that I should make some observa- 

 tions on the various evidence in favour of the contrary sup- 



putation, 



who mention her with commendations, omit this : Josephus also seems unacquainted with 

 It, and yet he enlarges on the rewards granted to her, and it should therefore seem, that 

 It might have been one of the family of Rahab Salmon married, and that perhaps there 

 were two of the name of Salmon, or of Naashon, a circumstance not unusual in the 

 Jewish families: or perhaps it was rather the families of Salmon and Naashon, than the 

 individuals that were meant, of which we may find some remarkable instances in the 

 old testament : thus, in the last census, before the entrance into Canaan, (Deut 20.23 

 and passim) Tola and Pua are mentioned as fathers of families, and in Judges, c. x. i. 

 " Tolah, son of Puah," is recorded as judge of Israel, evidently meaning to specify, 

 that he was of the family of the Tolaites and Puniles, which were recorded in the book 

 of the law; and it is equally observable, that the names of the other judges may be 

 similarly traced in the record of the families in the books of Moses. (Vide I. C. c. 2. 

 and passim, James ii. 25. Heb. xi. 13. Josephus Ant. 5. c. I.) The argument, however, 

 from the genealogy of the other families, and of the priests, the succession of whom 

 is accurately preserved, both in Scripture and in Josephus, from the archives of the 

 temple, remains unshaken and invincible. 



