1 Kings 6
1 Kings 6:1
"And it cometh to pass, in the four hundred and eightieth year of the going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year -- in the month of Zif, it [is] the second month -- of the reigning of Solomon over Israel, that he buildeth the house for Jehovah" (YLT)
Commentary: 1 Kings 6:1 is particularly interesting from a chronological point of view. A major controversy lies in the number 480 years from the Exodus to the beginning of the construction of the Lord's temple. My conclusion, which I justify in the extended commentary, is that there was an error at this point during the manuscript copying. Since in the Maccabean era letters of the alphabet were used to record numbers (1 letter = 1 numeral), such a mistake was not impossible. In fact, the existence of such errors in the text of the Old Testament is a confirmed fact. The problem is that accepting the number 480 years leaves only 350 years for the period of the judges, which directly contradicts other evidence in the Holy Scripture, including Judges 11:26 and Acts 13:19-20. The eight sub-periods mentioned in the Book of Judges are: 1) oppression by the Ammonites (Judges 10:8) - 18 years, 2) Jephthah as judge (Judges 12:7) - 6 years, 3) Ibzan as judge (Judges 12:8-9) - 7 years, 4) Elon as judge (Judges 12:11) - 10 years, 5) Abdon as judge (Judges 12:13-14) - 8 years, 6) captivity under the Philistines (Judges 13:1) - 40 years, 7) Samson as judge (Judges 15:20, 16:31) - 20 years, 8) Eli as judge (1 Sam. 4:18) - 40 years, totaling 149 years - it would have to fit within a period of 50 years. Since so many contextual Biblical testimonies contradict the 480 years given in 1 Kings 6:1, the inevitable and only possible conclusion is that there is a scribal error in this passage.
Related themes: