280 F. GARD FLEAY^ ESQ.^ M.A., ON THE SYNCHRONOUS 



this establishment, but he himself is represented as saying " If this 

 people go up " not " continue to go up " to do sacrifice in Jerusalem, 

 then shall their heart turn again unto their lord Kehoboam." 

 Therefore we have the whole period from the beginning of the 

 ■divided monarchy down to the commencement of the great siege 

 given by the Bible as 390 years. 



Now this figure I find with very little adjustment in either line 

 to agree with the detailed chronology of the reigns in the kingdoms 

 of Judah and Israel. And further it agrees with the other well 

 known sum total of years given in 2 Chronicles xxxvi, 21. As 

 ; stated there, the whole period during which the land lay desolate 

 was to be seventy years, that the land might enjoy her sabbaths, or 

 '.sabbatical years. Therefore the whole sabbatic period up to the 

 end of this desolation (or the completion of Ezra's temple)* was 

 490 years, or up to the beginning of this desolation it was 420 

 years. 



Now from the beginning of the siege 

 (end of Zedekiah's 9th year) to the 

 end (middle of his 11th) was ... 2 years. 



Add 390 „ 



Therefore from the beginning of the 

 Divided Kingdom to the end of the 

 Jewish Kingdom was ... ... 392 „ 



Take this from 420 „ 



And you have ... ... ... ... 28 „ 



into the reign of Solomon, that is since he reigned 40 years, back 

 to the twelfth year of his reign, which was the year after the temple 

 was completed. But by the chronology given in the paper there is 

 no room for the 420 years, they are made to begin ere the temple's 

 foundations were laid. Yet surely during the most God-fearing 

 seven years of Israel's history while the temple was being built 

 the sabbatic year could not have failed of observance. 



Lastly, I find by reckoning back to the entrance of the Israelites 

 into Canaan, that the twelfth year of Solomon was itself a sabbatic 

 year. Thus : — 



Compare Zecli. viii, 5, with Ezra vi, ItJ. 



