One
perceives that these two figures cannot both be counted in,--they
are mutually exclusive equivalents. For my own part, I prefer to
retain the interregna; they alone, so far as we can see at
present, being appropriate to the peculiar scheme of the Book of
Judges. The balance of 9 or IO years still remaining to be
applied are distributed between Jephthah (6 years), and Solomon
(down to the building of the temple), who claims 3 or 4 years, or,
if these are left out of account, 3 years may be given to
Abimelech.
The main thing, however, is not the chronology, but the religious
connection of the events. The two are intimately associated, not
only formally, as can be gathered from the scheme, but also by a
real inner connection. For what is aimed at in both alike is a
connected view of large periods of time, a continuous survey
of the connection and succession of race after race, the detailed
particulars of the occurrences being disregarded; the historical
factors with which the religious pragmatism here has to do are so
uniform that the individual periods in reality need only to be
filled up with the numbers of the years.
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