In this statement the writer, having abruptly mentioned
Jerusalem in the 7th verse, says immediately after, in the
8th verse, by way of explanation, "Now the children of
Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and taken it ;" conse-
quently this book could not have been written before Jeru-
salem had been taken. The reader will recollect the quota-
tion I have just before made from Joshua xv. 63, where it
said that the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at
Jerusalem at this day ; meaning the time when the book of
Joshua was written.
The evidence I have already produced to prove that the
books I have hitherto treated of were not written by the
persons to whom they are ascribed, nor till many years after
their death, if such persons ever lived, is already so abun-
dant, that I can afford to admit this passage with less weight
than I am entitled to draw from it. For the case is, that
so far as the Bible can be credited as an history, the city of
Jerusalem was not taken till the time of David ; and conse-
quently, that the book of Joshua, and of Judges, were not
written till after the commencement of the reign of David,
which was 370 years after the death of Joshua.
no THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE.
