Acts Chapter 13 verse 20 Holy Bible

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(20) After that he gave unto them judges . . .--The statement in the text, assigning 450 years to the period of the judges, and apparently reckoning that period from the distribution of the conquered territory, is at variance with that in 1Kings 6:1, which gives 480 years as the period intervening between the Exodus and the building of the temple. The better MSS., however, give a different reading--"He gave their land to them as an inheritance, about 450 years, and after these things he gave unto them judges," the 450 years in this case being referred to the interval between the choice of "our fathers," which may be reckoned from the birth of Isaac (B.C. 1897 according to the received chronology) to the distribution of the conquered country in B.C. 1444. So far as any great discrepancy is concerned, this is a sufficient explanation, but what has been said before as to the general tendency in a discourse of this kind to rest in round numbers, has also to be remembered. (See Note on Acts 7:6.) Josephus (Ant. viii. 3, ? 1) gives 592 years from the Exodus to the building of Solomon's Temple. Of this period sixty-five years were occupied by the wanderings in the wilderness and the conquest under Joshua, eighty-four by the reigns of Saul and David and the first four years of Solomon, leaving 443 years for the period of the Judges. This agrees, it will be seen, sufficiently with the Received text in this passage, but leaves the discrepancy with 1Kings 6:1 unexplained. There would of course, be nothing strange in St. Paul's following the same traditional chronology as Josephus, even where it differed from that of the present Hebrew text of the Old Testament.Parallel Commentaries ...Greek[All this took about]ὡς (hōs)AdverbStrong's 5613: Probably adverb of comparative from hos; which how, i.e. In that manner.450 {}τετρακοσίοις (tetrakosiois)Adjective - Dative Neuter PluralStrong's 5071: Four hundred. Plural from tessares and hekaton; four hundred.years.ἔτεσιν (etesin)Noun - Dative Neuter PluralStrong's 2094: A year. Apparently a primary word; a year.Afterμετὰ (meta)PrepositionStrong's 3326: (a) gen: with, in company with, (b) acc: (1) behind, beyond, after, of place, (2) after, of time, with nouns, neut. of adjectives. this,ταῦτα (tauta)Demonstrative Pronoun - Accusative Neuter PluralStrong's 3778: This; he, she, it. [God] gave [them]ἔδωκεν (edōken)Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person SingularStrong's 1325: To offer, give; I put, place. A prolonged form of a primary verb; to give.judgesκριτὰς (kritas)Noun - Accusative Masculine PluralStrong's 2923: A judge, magistrate, ruler. From krino; a judge.until the timeἕως (heōs)PrepositionStrong's 2193: A conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until.of SamuelΣαμουὴλ (Samouēl)Noun - Genitive Masculine SingularStrong's 4545: Samuel, a Hebrew prophet. Of Hebrew origin; Samuel, an Israelite.theτοῦ (tou)Article - Genitive Masculine SingularStrong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.prophet.προφήτου (prophētou)Noun - Genitive Masculine SingularStrong's 4396: From a compound of pro and phemi; a foreteller; by analogy, an inspired speaker; by extension, a poet.Jump to PreviousAfterwards End Fifty Four Hundred Judges Prophet Samuel Space Time