│ │ │ │ OF REIGN. ───────────────────┴───────────┴─────────────┴────────────┴─────────── The period of the Judges closed at the time when Saul was appointed king, B. C. 1095. Joshua died B. C. 1426, as is supposed, but some[81] have thought that at least thirty years passed between the death of Joshua and the first servitude, and the general opinion is that at least four hundred years, or even four hundred and fifty, must be taken as the length of time from Joshua to Saul, the first king. By adding the time of the servitudes and those of the rules of the Judges, including the time from the death of Joshua, we have about the sum stated in Acts 13:20. But it is difficult to reconcile the chronology of this period with that of other periods because of the want of sufficient fulness of statement in the history of the Judges.[82] CHAPTER II. THE SCRIBES OF THE AGE. =1. It should be remembered= that during these ages in all prominent nations =the office of scribe= or historian was a very important one, the existence of which was very general. Before the Exodus the historians accompanied the kings of Egypt and Assyria in their expeditions. Several references to such persons are found in the Scriptures, 2 Kin. 25:19; 2 Chron. 26:11, as especially belonging to the army. They are called “remembrancers” and “writers of chronicles” or “recorders” in the time of David, 2 Sam. 8:16. There were =also poets=, who described the events of the national history or the prowess of the king, not only in Egypt and Assyria, long before David, but also in Israel. The book of Jasher referred to in Josh. 10:13 and 2 Sam. 1:18 was probably a poetic history of heroic acts, very similar to one discovered in Egypt, called the poem of Pentaur, celebrating the courage of the Pharaoh, Rameses II., who was contemporary with Moses. =2. The number= of writers of different kinds must have been =much greater= than is generally supposed. At a very early period during the residence of the Israelites in Egypt the taskmasters were always accompanied with “writers,” called “officers” in our version, Exod. 5:6, and we find them pictured on the monuments, with their tablets and reeds, writing even while walking. The children of Israel had scribes also on their brick-fields to check off the records of those who wrote for the taskmasters, Exod. 5:15, 19. So also the Judges in “the gates”[83] had their writers, Deut. 16:18, also called “officers.” Writers were employed for such engineering purposes as are recorded in Josh. 18:9, and these were not simply draughtsmen who mapped the country in a book, but also recorded the position of cities, of which not less than four hundred and eleven are mentioned by name.