Note 854 — Chapter IX · (continued 2)
Reading edition
No chronology was accepted by the rabbis as authoritative till the twelfth century. The 40 and 1,000 are not exact numbers, but have been crammed in to answer monotheism and the exigencies of a religion calculated to appear different from that of the Pagans. (“Chron. Orth.,” p. 238). One finds in the “Pentateuch” only events occurring about two years before the fabled “Exodus” and the last year. The rest of the chronology is nowhere, and can be followed only through kabalistic computations, with a key to them in the hand.