Chronologia Sive Libellus De Mundi Duratione

The Chronology, or Little Book on the Duration of the World, of Julius Hilarianus. I. However long the mind of anyone fearing God is intent upon the divine laws, for that long will he learn to choose what is true, so that by learning he becomes wise, because the guide of the eyes of his heart is in the law: the Power of God the Father and Wisdom Christ (1 Cor. 1:24). And, as if the gates of heaven were thrown open, having heard with the very mouth of God, he rejoices, learning something truly wisely in the law; whence the wisdom of God does not permit a man to be silent; he is compelled (by truth itself compelling him) to speak, so that he may make others wise. But one who is joined to wisdom could not be envious. For this reason, the wise man wishes (through the wisdom of God by which he has been made wise), having set aside the envy through which death rules and reigns (Wis. 2:24), that all men in the world should be wise. For he knows it is foretold in the law that a multitude of wise men is the health of the world (Wis. 6:26). Therefore, when a discourse was being held from the law before the brethren, with wisdom as guide, and it was objected by the same that the beginning of the world and its end could not be thoroughly known by us—since some affirm that the world already has more than twenty thousand years; others, unwilling to give it either a beginning or an end; others (granting a beginning) have wished it to be eternal—to these things I say: This is to be established by art, by worldly philosophy and empty deception; they have loved and are lovers of the pomp of words and of opinion rather than of truth.

For if we listen to the command of God, which is faithful, we must accept whatever the divine law has faithfully related to us; which, with the Lord’s consent (if you permit), will be simply related to you. For there are those who think that the years in the Law were written down idly or superfluously, as if not necessary—not knowing that such people have too little faith, who do not believe that what the Law of God sets forth is true. But they say: “Is it a great thing, then, to bring forth something from the Law and commit it to writing?” Truly, I say: for as you yourselves know, I once wrote at your urging concerning the reckoning of Easter and the number of years of the world; but I kept silent for some time, lest those little works of mine be unreasonably seasoned with the spices of alien wisdom. Hence, having better arranged the matters, we have already sent forth a little book on the most sacred day of Easter; in which we also demonstrated, according to the Law, which is the first month. Then, in this little work, we also note the course of the years from the foundation of the world, in its proper order, by calculation.

II. In these promises, then, the brothers whom we have more carefully instructed take great joy. For on this matter, very many have written not equally but variously; so that the reader’s mind, remaining in doubt, cannot know what is truer. I will do as you wish, as I myself promised, with the Lord, God Christ, showing the way, of course. Therefore, I will pursue all the parts and rules of the years with skill and care; so that the exposition itself may seem to those reading, as if walking, a delightful, level, and smooth path. After the various compositions of past writers (especially those who are held to have a prejudiced opinion), to say something is neither impious nor proud; but I will speak; for it is necessary, with reason compelling, although I believe it is not proud if at a later time, by anyone, something better concerning the law is brought forth. This the holy apostle Paul, consulting peace, also testifies and says: “But if another sitting has had a better revelation, let the former be silent” (1 Cor. 14:30). And certainly the apostle said this concerning any dispute of the law: concerning which matter, however someone has thought, as he has thought and well, it can be better admitted. Now the matter turns on the complete number of years; where one cannot set an imperfect number for a perfect one, or exceed the perfect number itself; and to assert as true what is less, and what is more than the perfect number.

Therefore, let us now come to the matter at hand, and relate everything in its proper order; and let it be understood in what place I have either fully or partially pursued this reasoning. III. When this world was established by the Creator God, and He saw that everything had appeared from nothing by His command, He promptly set in place the heaven with its adornments—that is, the sun, the moon, and the stars, shining with light for the sake of the seasons and the signs of the times; the earth, full of the verdure of all seeds, having flowers of diverse colors by divine painting; the seas, confined by the barriers of shores and mountains, as if besieged by a kind of rampart, and from that point also having within themselves the first motion produced, and every living soul. After this perfection of the world, therefore, it pleased the omnipotent God to institute man, whom He wished to be something beyond the other animals: for He created those by His command and word; this one He fashioned with His sacred hands (Gen. 1:27), and set him as a free master over all His works: those, so that they might be ruled by him; this one, so that as a wise, rational, and shrewd animal, he might govern himself in the world. From the time of this man and his descendants, we have shown all generations (running) down to our own age; how many years there are since the world in which we live was made—but which, according to the evangelical Voice, is now placed at its end: from the eighth day before the Kalends of April.

holding that the beginning of this world was commenced and made, we have already set forth in the Paschal booklet, with the running calculation, and we have narrated that the world was without man for five days, and that on the sixth day it was formed and given life by the breath of God. IV. From the birth of the first-formed, that is Adam, up to the flood that occurred under Noah, there are 2257 years, which are faithfully confirmed through each individual generation. Adam begot Seth in his year. Seth begot Enos. Enos begot Cainam in his year. Cainam begot Malalehel in his year. Malalehel begot Jareth in his year. Jareth begot Enoch in his year. Enoch begot Matusalam in his year. Matusalam begot Lamech in his year. Here, the first years of Matusalam, which an error of the scribes produced, no one saw, no one examined, no one corrected by diligent inquiry: that he lived years and begot Lamech; after that he lived years, which cannot be true, because it is shown that there are more years up to the time after the flood. For no one escaped the flood, no one lived beyond it except by the ark. Therefore, Matusalam lived in his year and thus begot Lamech; and after this he lived 787 years, for thus the true faith of divine Scripture demonstrates, which narrated that Matusalam both lived and died before the flood.

Lamech in his year begot Noah; for in the six hundredth year of Noah, the flood occurred and was completed. From the time of the flood up to the year of Abraham, when he set out from his land for his sojourn, there are 1012 years. Thus in order: the second generations, from Shem the son of Noah, are shown. But because the years of Shem were completed at the conclusion of the flood, that is, the years according to the reckoning of the sum which we designated after the flood, they are necessary: for Shem himself, two years after the flood, was 100 years old, and thus he begot Arpachshad; which years the writers of this reckoning did not place in the number of years, just as they did not foresee them. Therefore after the flood, Shem lived years and begot Arpachshad. Arpachshad in his year begot Shelah. Shelah in his year begot Eber. Eber in his year begot Peleg. Peleg in his year begot Reu. Reu in his year begot Serug. Serug in his year begot Nahor. Nahor in his year begot Terah. Terah in his year begot Abram. Abram in his year set out from his land (as we said) to Haran. From the sojourn of Abraham up to the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt to the wilderness, there are 430 years. Thus they are more certainly declared by us.

Abraham sojourned for years and received Isaac, the son of the promise. When he had desired to hear the word of the Lord, as to when his seed might inherit the land of Canaan, with a sacrifice prepared at evening the Lord spoke to him, concluding and indicating at the same time that his seed would still sojourn in the land of Canaan and in the servitude of the Egyptians for 400 years, as the divine Scripture in the book of Genesis testifies to Abraham himself: "You shall know that your seed will be a sojourner in a land not their own and will be reduced to servitude, and they will rule over them for 400 years. But the nation to which they served, I will judge" (Gen. 15:13-14). And therefore the most wise lawgiver Moses, with our God as author, following this, says: "The dwelling of the children of Israel, which they dwelt in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, they and their fathers, was 430 years" (Exod. 12:40). This the disputers of the years, paying less attention, have vainly recalled that the children of Israel were in Egypt only 350 years, and not the full 430. For to show more fully and thus better, we demonstrate by running through their generations that the years through the seed of Abraham, from the birth of Isaac up to their departure from Egypt, are completed (not in the land of Egypt alone, but in the land of Canaan). Isaac in his year begot Jacob. Jacob, when he was of age, entered Egypt with his sons and grandsons and all his progeny, among which grandsons was Kohath, son of Levi, who is the grandfather of Moses; therefore Amram was born in Egypt.

Amram begat Moses; in his own year, the same Moses departed from Egypt with the sons of Israel, and by this, from the birth of Isaac until Jacob’s entry into Egypt, they dwelt in the land of Canaan for 140 years, and in Egypt they spent 210 years. This suffices for the clarification of those years about which very many who had spoken concerning them were in doubt. VII. And therefore, from the foundation of the world until the departure of the sons of Israel from Egypt, there are 3,646 years. They were in the wilderness for 40 years; then, after the death of Moses, Jesus son of Nave, with dry foot through the bed of the Jordan, transferred the peoples to the land of promise; and with the divinity favoring them, subduing fierce nations, he judged as a just man. Under the Judges, however, there were times of captivity there, from Jesus Nave until the prophet Samuel, who anointed King Saul, through 561 years. But so that our total may be known to be fully collected, and that the apostle Paul in the Acts of the Apostles correctly set it forth, let it be recognized by readers that, as Jesus Nave divided the land of Canaan among our fathers, the Lord God gave them judges through the years until the prophet Samuel. For the apostle Paul, proceeding otherwise in the Acts of the Apostles and persuading something else, named not the times of captivity, but only those in which they had judges and held dominion: “And He gave them judges,” he says (Acts 13:20). For when handed over into captivity on account of their sins, they did not have their own judges, but were oppressed by outsiders.

For not even the Apostle Paul himself could come against the faith of the Scripture of the Book of Judges, if he had wished to run through the quantity of the times. He named the judges given by God to the people, wishing to insinuate the faith of the Lord Christ; for he made speeches to the people up to David, so that he might relate that Christ had come from his seed: in whom he preached that those believing (if they wished) would have their sins remitted. VIII. Finally, these times of the judges are shown thus: Joshua son of Nun judged with the elders for 30 years. After this, sinning, they were handed over to Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia for eight years; and the Lord stirred up for them Othniel as help: who, after killing Cushan-rishathaim, judged Israel for 50 years. After him, sinning, they served Eglon king of Moab for 18 years. Ehud killed Eglon, and Ehud judged for 80 years. When he died, the people sinned, and they served Jabin king of the Canaanites for 20 years. Against him the Lord stirred up Deborah, and when Jabin was killed, she judged for 40 years. Sinning again, they were handed over to the Midianites for 7 years. Over them arose Gideon and judged the people for 40 years. After him, his son judged for 3 years. After him, Tola judged for 22 years. When Tola died, Jair was chosen by the people, and he himself judged the people for 22 years. After his death, the people sinned, and they were handed over to the Ammonites for 18 years; and crying out to the Lord from the oppression, he stirred up Jephthah for them, and he judged for 6 years. And Ibzan judged for 7 years. Then the people sinned, and they were handed over to the Philistines for

40. Again, when they turned to the Lord, he raised up Samson for them, who, having defeated the Philistines, judged for 20 years. After his death, Semergar judged for 1 year. After him, the people were at peace, and they had no ruler; but each one did what pleased him, and they themselves were judges for themselves for 30 years. IX. Therefore, after these years had passed, the priest Eli judged for 20 years. Samuel, himself also a priest of God, succeeded him; and he judged for 40 years, until he anointed Saul as king. Thus all the years amount, as we have said, to 561. For those who think that the Apostle narrated something else concerning these years, let them attend more carefully: they have not observed that those who described the history of the years, because the times of the Judges alone (as the Apostle did) are separated, without the years of captivity, are 111 years. Therefore, all the years from the foundation of the world up to Samuel, who anointed Saul as king, are 4300. Then the times of the Kings followed. They also had Kings for years from Saul up to Zedekiah, to whom Nebuchadnezzar, removing his eyes, killed him in the mill. Thus the years of the Kings are then confirmed. Saul reigned for 40 years, David reigned for 40 years and 3 months, Solomon for 40 years, Rehoboam for 17 years, Abijah for 3 years, Asa for 41 years, Jehoshaphat for 25 years, Joram for 8 years, Ahaziah for 1 year, Athaliah for 6 years, Joash for 40 years, Amaziah for 29 years, Uzziah for 52 years, Jotham for 17 years, Ahaz for 15 years, Hezekiah for 29 years, Manasseh for 55 years, Amon for 2 years, Josiah for 31 years, Jehoahaz for 3 months, Jehoiakim for 11 years, Jehoiachin for 3 months and 20 days, Zedekiah for 11 years.

Therefore, as we have said, there are 514 years of the kings. X. From the foundation of the world, that is, up to Zedekiah, when Jerusalem was overthrown and the people were deported to Babylon, there are 4814 years. After the eleventh year of Zedekiah, therefore, Jerusalem was overthrown by King Nebuchadnezzar; the Jewish people were deported into Babylonian captivity. This captivity lasted for a number of years; how these years were completed is demonstrated more clearly than light, when from here we come to the weeks of Daniel; so that these weeks, from what time and where they were completed, are most diligently confirmed. For Daniel, in his thirteenth vision, when he had been intent with all his attentive and anxious mind in prayer to God, wishing to know whether the state of Jerusalem and its people, after the Babylonian captivity, would suffer no further evil from enemies, the angel of God appeared to him, saying: "Daniel, I have now come forth to show you the meaning; for the Lord's command has gone out, and I have come to demonstrate to you: for you are a man of desire. Therefore, reflect on the command, and understand the vision; seventy weeks are cut into your people and into the city of Jerusalem" (Daniel 11:22–24).

XI. Therefore, the angel indicates to Daniel both the sum in seventy weeks, and again divides them in their order, when and how they are to be completed. And concerning the same, the angel proceeds thus, saying: "To blot out what they had received, and to consummate sins, and to supplicate injustices, and to abolish offenses, and to devise eternal equity, and that the vision and prophecy be concluded, and that the Holy of Holies be anointed: and rest and understand concerning the outcome of the Saints, or the command to be answered and the city of Jerusalem to be built, up to the leader Christ, seven weeks" (Dan. 24, 25): which weeks are years: which years pertain to the body of years of the captivity of Jerusalem. For in the first year of King Darius, who reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, and who also killed King Balthazar, Daniel saw the vision: and it was the year of the captivity of Jerusalem; for Nebuchadnezzar lived for years after he plundered Zedekiah and Jerusalem, and his son Balthazar reigned for 3 years, in which third year he was killed, and Darius took up the kingdom. In whose first year, the seventy weeks are spoken to Daniel by the angel: which when they were divided, seven weeks, first, were named by the same angel: which (as has been said) are forty-nine years, which are joined to the captivity, when Daniel saw the vision; and they become seventy years, which were completed in Babylon, so that the vision and prophecy of Jeremiah might be fulfilled.

After these years, Cyrus, king of the Persians, orders the peoples to go to Jerusalem in the first year of his reign, so that Jerusalem might be rebuilt and the Holy of Holies, which was the most sacred part in the Temple of God, might be anointed. XII. Therefore, the peoples return from Babylon, having with them the leader Zorobabel, of whom mention is made by the angel to Daniel; up to the anointed leader, seven weeks. For every king of the people of God is called anointed in the divine law. For the prophet Zechariah also speaks of him as the future king to the people, saying: "The hands of Zorobabel have founded this house, and his hands will complete it, and you will know that the Lord Almighty sent me to you; for who despised you in your small days? And they will rejoice in you, and they will see in the hand of Zorobabel a tin stone" (Zech. 4:9-10): which today emperors seem to carry in their right hand, as if bearing the people. The angel repeats and says to Daniel from the weeks of the Lord, that is, in which, with the temple and the city of Jerusalem restored, they served the Lord in their offerings. These weeks are 434 years, which years were completed in the time of the Maccabees in the year of the reign of the Greeks. For at that time, Antiochus was ruling the Greeks with a proud mind.

XIII. And although this order of years of the divine law, from the foundation of the world, suffices in itself; nevertheless, so that we may seem to satisfy the mind of the reader, we also show, running through the kings of the Persians, from the histories of public letters, that the weeks were fulfilled by Cyrus at the time of the Maccabees. For Cyrus reigned over the Persians for 30 years, Artaxerxes reigned for 9 years, Argus reigned for 9 months, Darius reigned for 36 years, Artaxerxes the second reigned for 19 years and 2 months, Socidanus for 7 months. Xerxes the elder son reigned for 20 years, Artaxerxes reigned for 72, Artabus reigned for 7 months, Darius Nothus reigned for 29 years, Olus reigned for 22 years, Arser reigned for 17 years, Darius reigned for 6 years. Alexander the Great of Macedon killed him; from whose time the history of the Maccabees, with a response to the warning, runs through the Greek years in divine narrative. Therefore, the entire sum of the years of the kings of the Persians is 263, and from Alexander of Macedon up to the times of Antiochus, that is, up to the year of the Greek kingdom, 62 weeks were completed (as we have said), that is, 434 years.

XIV. After the weeks (says the angel), the anointing and the Holy Place will be destroyed. Therefore, after the weeks, one week remains, which makes the years for the conclusion of the sum of the weeks. In this week, namely, the wickedness of the nations increased, as had already been said by the angel; so that even in the middle of that same week, the sacrifice was removed from the holy place by Antiochus, king of the Greeks; and the Holy Place itself was polluted by a feminine contempt, and the Abomination of Desolation was placed upon the altar, and a statue of Jupiter, whom they call Olympius, was set up there. This same Antiochus, bearing the image of the Antichrist with a perverse mind, attempted to make one people and one sacrilegious nation under his rule. For he also granted to apostate men to build a gymnasium, that is, a place of study, in Jerusalem; and where Almighty God commanded a temple to be placed for himself, to be entreated and for holy sacrifices to be offered to him, that man desired to defile with the spectacles of idols.

XV. Therefore, when the weeks had been completed, in that first week (as was said above) he commanded the Jewish people to burn the books of the Law, to sacrifice to idols, and to eat unclean food; and this continued until the twenty-fifth day of the month of the year of the reign of the Greeks. In that year, all 70 weeks are completed, which the angel, running through them, designated to Daniel concerning the disturbance of the city of Jerusalem and the overthrow of the people; concerning which matter Daniel himself, longing, was inquiring of the Lord. XVI. From that point until the year of the reign of the Greeks, at which time Lucius Licinius Lucullus, who was a consul of the Romans, gave letters concerning alliance and friendships to Simon, brother of Judas Maccabaeus, there are 26 years. For from that consulship, inquiring into the annual consuls, we find that up to the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, up to the sixteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, the years are complete. And on this account, from the building of the world to the passion of our Savior Christ, there are 5530 years. Therefore, for the conclusion of six thousand years, 470 years are owed. For it is necessary that, just as the sons of Israel, after the promise made by the Lord God to Abraham, received the land after the years of the promise, so also we Christians, after the same number of years, will have the first resurrection. For the Jewish people, in all things, bear our figure: in whom the ends of the ages have converged (1 Cor. 10:15).

Therefore, from the passion of the Lord Christ (from which time the Son of God promised resurrection to those believing in him), 470 years must be completed, so that the sum of six thousand years is concluded. When the seventh and thousandth year begins, those believing with true faith will be freed from the world; for then will be the first resurrection of all the Saints. XVII. Concerning the true seventy years from the passion of the Lord, in the consulship of Caesarius and Atticus, on the ninth day before the Kalends of April, 369 years have passed. Therefore, years remain so that the 6000 years may be completed, which years are not completed unless, first, near the end, ten kings come forth into the world and remove the daughter of Babylon, which now holds sway, from the midst of the world. Against them one powerful one will suddenly come forth, who is named the Dragon in the Apocalypse, and he will overcome the ten kings; and some of them he will destroy, others will remain under his rule. Then that impious one, the son of perdition, who is puffed up against everything that is called God or that is worshipped, will be revealed, so that, sitting in the temple of God, he shows himself as if he were God himself (2 Thess. 2:8, 4). This will be the Antichrist himself. That most powerful Dragon, to whom the ten kings yielded, will hand over his force and power to him, and all mortals will marvel.

And the times of Antichrist (which times must necessarily be times of mortality) will be such as those when Antiochus, under his reign, attempted to drive one people into apostasy; to whom (because the time was not yet) such things did not happen as Antichrist will attempt to bring about. When he comes, he will come for the destruction of the unbelievers: his time will be grievous and nefarious; he will be slain by the Lord Christ alone with the breath of his mouth, and he will be laid waste by the presence of his coming (Ibid., 4). XVIII. Therefore, when Antichrist has been overcome and slain, the sum of six thousand years having been completed, the resurrection of all the saints will take place while the world still stands; with a thousand years also running, during which that ancient dragon (Rev. 20:3), the devil and Satan, bound in the abyss, will be kept apart so that he may seduce no one, until three years are completed; which three years will be counted among those who remain under the sign of Antichrist, and all these will marry and be given in marriage, and will die: upon these, those plagues described in the Apocalypse will also come, and this world will be cut down piece by piece. For the Saints of God, in the resurrection there will be one day; and that day of the Saints will be prolonged into light as much as, for the impious of that time living in the world with punishment, a thousand years will be counted. This is the seventh day, and the eternal and true Sabbath, whose image and figure the temporal Sabbath written in the law of Moses holds.

Just as it was said to the Jewish people: Work six days at the works of the world; but on the seventh day, which is called the Sabbath, rest from your works (Exod. 23:12): so it is for all the saints who have been from the beginning of the world, and now for those believing in Christ with true faith; when the six days have passed (that is, six thousand years) in which there was labor and torment for them, the seventh day and the true Sabbath comes. XIX. For this reason the Lord Christ forewarned every soul in the Gospel to hasten to believe in Him beforehand, not at that time when eternal punishment for the impious and a good reward for the saints must be rendered according to the merits of each: "Pray," He says, "that your flight not be in winter or on the Sabbath" (Matt. 24:20). After the seventh and thousandth year, Satan will be loosed from his prison, and will go out to lead astray the nations of Gog and Magog; and gathering them to the camps of the Saints as if to fight: and fire will descend from heaven, and all men will be consumed: and then there will be the second resurrection for all flesh; and all will be judged by the just judgment of God for not having believed, but having pleased themselves in their own righteousnesses. And after this, this heaven and this earth will be taken away; and that city which is described in the Apocalypse, prepared, will descend from heaven with the riches of God, in which the just will dwell: and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and both will remain in perpetuity: the impious in eternal burning; but the just with God in eternal life. Amen.