50. That chronology followed what footnote on Acts 13:20 as found in Wilson’s Emphatic Diaglott?

⁵⁰ The above chronology followed the suggestion that was made in Wilson’s The Emphatic Diaglott, in its footnote on Acts 13:20, which verse read: “And after these things, he gave Judges about four hundred and fifty years, till Samuel the prophet.” The footnote on this reading of the verse said:

A difficulty occurs here which has very much puzzled Biblical chronologists. The date given here is at variance with the statement found in 1 Kings 6:1. There have been many solutions offered, but only one which seems entirely satisfactory, i.e., that the text in 1 Kings 6:1 has been corrupted, by substituting the Hebrew character daleth (4) for hay (5) which is very similar in form. This would make 580 years (instead of 480) from the exode to the building of the temple, and exactly agree with Paul’s chronology.

51. (a) Accordingly, what did author C. T. Russell say on page 53 of “The Time Is at Hand” regarding 1 Kings 6:1? (b) According to that, when was man created, when did 6,000 years of sin end, and when did the Grand Jubilee begin?

⁵¹ Accordingly, on page 53 of the book entitled “The Time Is at Hand,” author C. T. Russell wrote, referring to 1 Kings 6:1:

It evidently should read the five-hundred-and-eightieth year, and was possibly an error in transcribing; for if to Solomon’s four years we add David’s forty, and Saul’s space of forty, and the forty-six years from leaving Egypt to the division of the land, we have one hundred and thirty years, which deducted from four hundred and eighty would leave only three hundred and fifty years for the period of the Judges, instead of the four hundred and fifty years mentioned in the Book of Judges, and by Paul, as heretofore shown. The Hebrew character “daleth” (4) very much resembles the character “hay” (5), and it is supposed that in this way the error has occurred, possibly the mistake of a transcriber. I Kings 6:1, then, should read five hundred and eighty, and thus be in perfect harmony with the other statements.

Thus, by inserting 100 years into the Bible chronology during the period of the Judges, man’s creation was pushed back 100 years to 4128 B.C.E., and the six thousand years of man’s existence on earth ended in 1872 C.E. (The Time Is at Hand, page 42) Then the allowance of two years before the entry of sin led to the year 1874 as the year in which six thousand years of human sin terminated and the seventh thousand years for the elimination of sin by Christ’s reign began. So the Grand Jubilee was then due to begin.

52. According to the oldest Greek manuscripts, the 450 years of Acts 13:20 apply before or during the period of the Judges, as shown by modern Bible translations?

⁵² According to the oldest manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures, however, the reading of Acts 13:20 is different from that given in The Emphatic Diaglott and the King James Authorized Version of the Bible. So, according to the most ancient manuscripts, the four hundred and fifty years are not applied to the period of the Judges. In verification of this, The New English Bible (of the year 1970) renders Acts 13:20 as follows: “for some four hundred and fifty years, and afterwards appointed judges for them until the time of the prophet Samuel.” The Jerusalem Bible (English translation of 1966) reads: “for about four hundred and fifty years. After this he gave them judges, down to the prophet Samuel.” The Revised Standard Version Bible of 1952 reads similarly, and so does the American Standard Version Bible of 1901 C.E.

53. Did the ancient Hebrew Bible manuscripts use alphabetic characters to stand for numbers?

⁵³ Furthermore, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts extant, like those of the Dead Sea Scrolls, spell out the numbers of the Bible and do not use alphabetic characters for numerals, thus not allowing for a transcriber’s visual error at 1 Kings 6:1.b

54. (a) The accepting of Bible chronology just as written would affect the beginning of what period here under discussion? (b) Did dropping of “Presence” from the Watchtower title mean that Christ’s presence was no longer believed in?

⁵⁴ The insertion of 100 years into Bible chronology during the period of the Judges is thus seen not to rest upon Scriptural grounds. The insertion should therefore be dropped and the Bible should be accepted just as it reads concerning its chronology.