73 
I rather wish that he had referred to the two years which are in question with 
regard to the beginning of the Olympiads ; but a paper on that subject lately 
read before the Society of Biblical Archaeology may be referred to with 
advantage by those curious upon the subject. I think that Mr. Savile has 
shown in some parts of his paper the very great accuracy of the Scriptures ; 
but in reference to that part of it which deals with the sojourn of Israel in 
Egypt, I would submit this consideration to the author, — whether the length 
of the period of the sojourn is not the cause of the great difficulty which we 
find in ascertaining the era of the Exodus. We are able, through the mists 
of antiquity, to trace some points somewhat distinctly. The date of the 
erection of the Great Pyramid is believed by some to have been fixed 
astronomically ; and there is a fair amount of agreement as to the time 
when Abraham was in Egypt, and as to the era of the expulsion of the 
Hyksos ; but, with reference to the question of the date of the Exode, we 
can only say, Adhuc sub judice lis est. The duration of the sojourn of 
Israel in Egypt is stated in Scripture very distinctly to be 430 years. In 
the 15th of Exodus the prophecy was, that the nation to whom they should 
be in bondage should afflict them evil for 400 years, and in Exodus we are 
told that the period of their sojourning in Egypt was 430 years. I cannot 
help thinking, though I know the difficulties in the way, that the Israelites 
were really 430 years in Egypt, and more or less under the oppression of the 
Egyptian policy for 400 years of that time. There is one chronology of the 
descendants of Ephraim in 1 Chron., chap, vii., which gives eighteen genera- 
tions. This relates to no less important a point than the descent of the 
Leader of the host of Israel, and is as follows (see Osburn’s “ Monumental 
History of Egypt,” ii. 630) : — The sons of 
1. Ephraim. 
10. Beriah. 
2. Sliuthelah (his firstborn, 
11. Rephah. 
Numb. xxvi. 35). 
1 
12. Resheph. 
3. Bered. 
| 
13. Thelah. 
4. Taliath. 
14. Tahan. 
5. Eladah. 
1 
| 
15. Laadan. 
G. Tahath II* 
1 
I 
16. Ainmihud. 
7. Zabad. 
| 
17. Elishama. 
8. Shuthelah II. 
| 
18. Non. 
9. Ezer — Eliad. 
1 
19. Joshua. 
# It was an Egyptian custom to name the firstborn after his grandfather. 
—(J. E. Howard.) 
