Chronology of the Bible

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Biblical chronology is the academic discipline of identifying the Gregorian calendar dates for events mentioned by the Bible. The dating of events from the narrative of Joseph to the times of the Babylonian captivity, are heavily reliant on the related discipline of Egyptian Chronology, the Old Testament, New Testament, Mishna sources, and on the work of James Ussher. Dates in the Bronze Age are traditional and do not have archaeological corroborations. Dates in the Iron Age and later are placed by the Bible into the wider framework of history, and so are dated by biblical references to historically verifiable events, such as Shishak's raid in 926 BCE.

For a historical look at the bible see The Bible and history

See Short chronology for a more detailed history of the Ancient Middle East and Ancient Near East region. See Timeline of Christianity for a more detailed chronology of the Christian Era.

The dates of events during the Iron Age Hebrew Kingdoms are based on the estimates of William F. Albright, Edwin R. Thiele, and Gershon Galil. For more detailed chronologies of this period, see Kingdom of Judah and Kingdom of Israel.

Contents

[edit] How To Date Biblical Events

Biblical chronology can be very complicated in some cases because it is necessary to reconcile different calendars and conflicting extra-biblical sources. However, the main way to "date" biblical events is to use pivotal dates. A pivotal date is a date that is agreed upon by all or the majority of sources consulted. With this date thus fixed it is possible to work backwards or forwards in time before or after that date to find either the approximate period an event took place or in some cases, even the exact date. The Bible has two pivotal dates, one for the Hebrew Scriptures, also known as the Old Testament and one for the Christian Greek Scriptures or the New Testament. The Old Testament pivotal date is 539 BC (539 years before the birth of Christ in the Western calendar) which is agreed upon as the year Cyrus the Persian overthrew Babylon. The New Testament pivotal date is 29 AD (also called CE for Common Era), which was the 15th year of reign of the Emperor Tiberius(in the Julian calendar).

Dating biblical events is still complex. One researcher described the Bible as being written like a Reader's Digest "condensed book", in that it contains all the information you need, but not all the information you want. Many books cover months or decades of time in just a few verses or a couple of chapters, or leave out certain time periods altogether. The Gospels for instance ignore 27 years of Jesus Christ's 33.5 years of life. Exodus ignores about 60 years of Moses life in a similar way. Often the Bible will change perspective. The opening chapter of Genesis for example is written like the overviewing prologue to a book, then switches perspective to focus in on individual persons like Adam as if you have turned the page from the prologue to chapter one. It is easy to be caught out.

A famous example is the Reverend Ussher. The WatchTower says that Adam was not created until the October of the year 4026 BC. The Reverend Ussher made a mistake in his calculations at this point and thus assigned the creation of the Earth to 4004 BC, instead of to Adam, which was still 22 years margin of error. A few hundred years after Jesus' death, a monk known as Dennis the Little, famously calculated the birth of Jesus but again got it slightly wrong to the effect that in our current calendar, Jesus Christ was actually born in 2 BC, or 2 years before Dennis calculated he was born!

Using these pivotal dates, it is possible to work backwards or forwards to assign approximate or exact dates to Bible events, for example, King Saul was made king by the prophet Samuel in 1117 BC according to the Bible. King Solomon died in the year 997 BC, and so on and so forth. Below is a general approximation of key events (remembering that there is a margin for error and not all sources agree. For instance, the Bible states the Exodus occurred in 1513 BC, and Solomon died in 997 BC, whereas the list below is over 150 years out with the Exodus date and has Solomon building the temple 30 years after his death). For instance, it is now more widely agreed that the Biblical Pharaoh "Shishak" was not Shoshenk I but may have been one of the Pharaohs Ramasses.

[edit] Bronze age

  • 4004 BC (circa) The World recreated by God (according to James Ussher)
  • 2150-1650 BC (circa) Middle Bronze Age Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
  • 1750-1450 BC (circa) Bronze Age Israelites in Egypt
  • 1450 BC (circa) Exodus from Egypt and travel to Canaan by Moses

[edit] Iron age to Babylonian exile

  • 1400-1020 BC Period of the Judges
  • 1020-931 BC reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon
  • 962 BC Solomon builds First Temple in Jerusalem
  • 926 BC Raid of Pharaoh Shoshenq I ("Shishak")
  • 931-722 BC Kingdom divided into Israel in the north and Judah in the south
  • 853 BC Ahab is king of Israel according to Assyrian records.
  • 841 BC Jehu is king of Israel according to Assyrian records.
  • 805-796 BC Jehoash is king of Israel at some point in this period, according to Assyrian records
  • 740-738 BC Menahem is King of Israel according to Assyrian records
  • 734 BC Ahaz is King of Judah according to Assyrian records
  • 732/731 BC King Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria conquers the Transjordan regions of Israel from King Pekah. Pekah is murdered and succeeded by Hoshea, according to Assyrian records.
  • 722 BC Northern kingdom of Israel conquered by Shalmaneser V of Assyria, and King Hoshea is made a prisoner
  • 720 BC The final revolt of Samaria, former capital of the northern kingdom, is suppressed by Sargon II of Assyria, who deports the remaining inhabitants.
  • 701 BC Sennacherib of Assyria launches a campaign against Hezekiah, King of Judah.
  • 677-676 BC Manasseh is King of Judah, according to Assyrian records.
  • 609 BC King Josiah of Judah is killed in battle with the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II at Megiddo.
  • 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar, Crown prince of Babylon, defeats Necho in battle at Carchemish.
  • 604 BC King Jehoiakim of Judah accepts Nebuchadrezzar, now King of Babylon, as his overlord
  • 601 BC Jehoiakim revolts against Babylonian domination.
  • 598 BC The Babylonians besiege Jerusalem. Death of Jehoiakim, his son Jehoiachin succeeding him as King
  • 597 BC Jerusalem is captured by the Babylonians, who exile Jehoiachin and appoint Zedekiah as king in his place.
  • 587 BC Zedekiah revolts against Babylonian domination. The Babylonians besiege Jerusalem.
  • 586 BC Destruction of the First Temple and southern kingdom of Judah conquered
  • 586-539 BC Babylonian exile to liberation by Persian King, Cyrus the Great

[edit] Second temple period

[edit] New Testament period

  • ~7 BC - 3CE Birth of Jesus.
  • ~33 AD Death and resurrection of Jesus

[edit] Common Era

[edit] Detailed Chronology from the Text

[edit] Adam to Exodus

  • Adam Genesis 5:1-2
  • +130 years, Seth born, Genesis 5:3, Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born
  • +105 years, Enos born, Genesis 5:6, Seth was 105 years old when Enos was born
  • +90 years, Cainan born, Genesis 5:9, Enos was 90 years old when Cainan was born
  • +70 years, Mahalaleel born, Genesis 5:12, Cainan was 70 years old when Mahalaleel was born
  • +65 years, Jared born, Genesis 5:15, Mahalaleel was 65 years old when Jared was born
  • +162 years, Enoch born, Genesis 5:18, Jared was 162 years old when Enoch was born
  • +65 years, Methuselah born, Genesis 5:21, Enoch was 65 years old when Methuselah was born
  • +187 years, Lamech born, Genesis 5:25, Methuselah was 187 years old when Lamech was born
  • +182 years, Noah born, Genesis 5:28-29, Lamech was 182 years old when Noah was born
  • +600 years, The Flood, Genesis 7:6,11, Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters was on the earth
It was the 600th year of Noahs life, 2nd month, 17th day.
  • +2 years, Arphaxad born, Genesis 11:10, Shem begat Arphaxad two years after the flood
The Bible is imprecise when dating the birth of Shem. Genesis 5:23 lumps all three sons of Noah together as being born when he was 500 years old. The flood however is dated very precisely to the day of Noahs life. Therefor, we date the birth of Arphaxad in relation to the flood, not to his father's age. Based on this logic, Shem would have actually been 110 years old when Arphaxad was born.
  • +35 years, Shelah born, Genesis 11:12, Arphaxad was 35 years old when Salah was born
  • +30 years, Eber born, Genesis 11:14, Salah was 30 years old when Eber was born
  • +34 years, Peleg born, Genesis 11:16, Eber was 34 years old when Peleg was born
  • +30 years, Reu born, Genesis 11:18, Peleg was 30 years old when Reu was born
  • +32 years, Serug born, Genesis 11:20, Reu was 32 years old when Serug was born
  • +30 years, Nahor born, Genesis 11:22, Serug was 30 years old when Nahor was born
  • +29 years, Terah born, Genesis 11:24, Nahor was 29 years old when Terah was born
  • +70 years, Abram born, Genesis 11:26, Terah was 70 years old when Abram, Nahor and Haran were born
Abram was the most important child, so the expectation that the dating given by the Bible applies to Abraham is assumed.
  • +100 years, Isaac born, Genesis 21:5, Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born
  • +60 years, Jacob and Esau born, Genesis 25:26, Isaac was threescore years old when the twins were born
  • +130 years, Jacob comes to Egypt, Genesis 47:9, Jacob was 130 years old when he spoke to Pharaoh
  • +430 years, The Exodus, Exodus 12:40-41, The children of Israel were in Egypt for 430 years
It is assumed that this count began when Jacob comes to Egypt.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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