Acts 13:20

Acts 13:20. And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years. According to the received text, it would seem that the period during which the judges ruled in Israel was four hundred and fifty years; and this seems to agree with the chronology of the Book of Judges and the date given by Josephus, but it varies from the statement given in 1 Kings 6:1. These questions of obscure dates, especially in a period so confused as the times of the judges, are of little or no importance. In the present instance, however, the apparent discrepancy is done away with by the discovery of what is evidently the true reading. In the majority of the oldest Greek Mss ., the words, ‘about the space of four hundred and fifty years,' precede the words, ‘and after that he gave them judges.' The passage, then, runs thus: ‘He divided their land to them by lot' (or better rendered, ‘He gave them their land for a possession') ‘for about four hundred and fifty years, and after that he gave them judges until Samuel.' The only remaining question is, when did the four hundred and fifty years commence? The birth of Isaac, on the whole, seems to be the period when God chose their fathers for the possession of the land.