The chart below is based on the date,Calculated from Biblical Jubilees, for the Exodus.
It is convenient to analyse the chronology of the Judges period in
three sections: -
1. The three hundred year period from the conquest of the
land East of the Jordan river to the judgeship of
Jephtha.
2. The period from Jephtha to Solomon's fourth year, 480
years from the coming out of Egypt.
3. Finding space for periods for which there is no clear or
definite chronological data, such as Samson's 20 year, Eli's
40 year judgeship and the length of Samuel's lifelong
judgeship (which extended into the reign of Saul). Other
pieces of the jigsaw are Shamgar's judgeship and the 40 year
oppression by the Philistines.
Exlanatory notes: -
The first section, from the conquest of the land east of the
Jordan to the time of Jephtha, occupies 300 years ( Judges
11:26). This is not enough to accommodate consecutively all
the time periods given and still find enough time to allow,
“for all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and who
had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for
Israel”(2:7). Joshua lived to be 110 and we read that it was,
“a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto
Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed
old and stricken in age” (Josh.23:1), so clearly there
must be a sensible gap between the granting by Joshua of the
inheritance to Caleb aged 85, 45 years after the Exodus, and
the falling away of Israel after the death of the elders who
outlived Joshua.
These elders, apart from Caleb, must have been less than
twenty years old at the Exodus or they would have perished in
the wilderness with that unfaithful generation (Nu.14:22-24,
29-33). They must also have been old enough to witness and
appreciate God's great works. We can therefore assume a
minimum age for these later elders of, say, five years at the
Exodus (or even twelve years if they were to be held
responsible for this witness). Thus, at the time Caleb
received his inheritance, this group would have been between
50 and 64 years old. This puts an undefined yet sensible
upper limit on the length of their rule.
There followed alternate periods of oppression by enemies and deliverance by judges (2:14 -19). All the Judges in this period up to Jephtha are given in consecutive order interspersed with the oppressors - with the exception of the chapter following Deborah where there is no linking “after” or “then” in the narrative (6:1). Thus, there is the possibility of an overlap here. This has been incorporated in the chart so that the time following Deborah and Barak's defeat of Sisera (Jabin's commander) in Ephraim when “the land had rest forty years” (5:31), has been made concurrent with Gideon's forty years Judgeship of Manasseh (8:28). This also requires that the 7 years oppression by Midian prior to Gideon's deliverance must have occurred during the latter part of the 20 year oppression of Jabin before Deborah and Barak's deliverance. This gives a 13 year space for Shamgar, who followed Ehud, and was contemporary with Jael (who killed Sisera) while there was still oppression in Ephraim (5:6-7)
This compression leads to a 27 year period from the entry into the land west of the Jordan to the falling away after the death of the last elder (who could have lived to the age of 86 but no longer - except that Caleb would have been 108 had he survived that long). These are sensible figures and allow for the full 80 years of Ehud's judgeship. This latter figure has been questioned because of the need to compress the data in this 300 year period (Whiston, in a footnote in his “Josephus”, suggests it should be eight years). There is no justification for questioning the accuracy of the Biblical figure but there is the possibility that the 80 year period can be interpreted differently - for example the time from the entry to the land to Ehud's judgeship. There are other possible interpretations which result in a range of values for the period to the first falling away of Israel after the conquest.
The next period, 140 years from Jephtha to the fourth of Solomon, has to include the rest of the judges, including Samuel, followed by the reigns of Saul, David and Solomon. Based on Acts 13:20 (NIV), the chart puts Samuel's judgeship immediately after the last of the judges - it appears that, apart from Eli, they were all consecutive following Jephtha. Allowing for a 40 year reign for Saul, this results in a period of 26 years for Samuel's judgeship, plus the number of years David and Solomon reigned concurrently. (1K.1).
Samuel also followed directly after Eli's 40 year judgeship, so Eli must have been concurrent with other judges. It is also convenient to consider his time to be concurrent with the 40 year oppression by the Philistines, during which period we can probably also place Samson. The Philistines were subdued all the time of Samuel (1 Sam. 7:13).
It was when Samuel was old that Israel asked for a king (1 Sam. 8:1-5) so it is instructive to try to assess his age around this time. Eli was a priest and, under the law, a priest officiated between the ages of 20 and 60 years old. Eli was still officiating when Samuel had his message from the LORD. If we suppose that Samuel was twelve years old (the age of responsibility) on this occasion, he must have been at least 50 when Eli died at the age of 98. Thus, according to the chart, Samuel would be at least 76 years old when Israel asked for a king, an age which harmonises with the Biblical record that he was an old man (1 Sam. 8: 5).
One other piece of information, which has caused doubt concerning
the Biblical record, is the information that the ark abode in
Kirjath-jearim twenty years (1 Sam. 7:2). Since it was moved
from there by David when he reigned in Jerusalem (at least
seven years into his reign), it has been said that a reign of
40 years for Saul, as testified by Paul (Acts 13:21), is
impossible. However, according to the chart, the twenty years
of 1 Sam. 7:2 fell within Samuel's judgeship and we read
later, And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of
God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of
Israel
(1 Sam.14:18). This was while Saul was in Gibeah
of Benjamin. Therefore the ark had already been removed from
Kirjath-jearim before the time of David and must have been
sent back in the intervening period. This fact removes the
difficulty alluded to.
The chart throws up an interesting chronological synchronism with
Egypt. There is a unique and famous reference to Israel in a
granite stela of Pharaoh Merenptah, Israel is desolated
and has no seed...
Gardiner1
gives dates of c1224 - 1214BC for this Pharaoh. These dates
agree well with the seven year period of oppression of Israel
by Midian (1220 - 1213BC) where we read, [the Midianites]...
destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto
Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor
ox, nor ass...And Israel was greatly impoverished because of
the Midianites;...
(Jud.6: 4...6). The term 'has no
seed' is a description used several times in Egyptian records
for describing a defeated and plundered people, so it appears
that this reference to Israel was just describing their
current state of affairs in common with other parts of the
land of Canaan (including Gaza) referred to in the same
stela.
(1) Egypt of the Pharaohs, Sir Alan Gardiner, OUP, 1961.