History

As written, the Bible counts years in small increments, usually years in the life of someone. Different eras have different textual riddles that must be unpacked in order to chain those references together. Each article in this chapter takes a different era, solving the textual riddles and then chains the year counts together. By the end of the chapter we have years from Adam assigned all the way to Ezra's era.

  • Timeline: Adam to Abraham

    More human history happened between Adam and Abraham than any other period. The time implied by this interval is captured in the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11. The key for finding the right overall time for this interval is hidden away in Luke. That key forces most, but not all, of the life spans in Genesis to be run together end-to-end. (2,843 words)

  • Timeline: Abraham To The Exodus

    Unlike previous generations, the Bible does not give Jacob’s age at the birth of his sons. Instead the Bible gives a reference from Jacob’s life to the Exodus directly. From that we can piece back together the years for the other events in the period. (5,077 words)

  • Timeline: Moses and the Wilderness

    Moses lead the people for 40 years in the wilderness. Caleb’s life marks the end of the use of genealogies which contain decorations establishing the Chronology until the time of the Kings. Even then the rules will have changed. (1,197 words)

  • Timeline: Judges

    This period has a major riddle, many more years are recorded about it than were actually lived. The key lives in Solomon’s temple construction were he states when that project was started. The result shows which year intervals are subsumed by the trunk chronology through the period. (1,802 words)

  • Timeline: Unified Kingdom Kings

    Three kings ruled over all the children of Jacob in ancient times. Those kings were Saul, David and Solomon. The dates for the main periods in the rule of these men can be known. At the end of Solomon’s reign the kingdom was divided by civil war and remains divided to this day. (1,343 words)

  • Timeline: Judean Kings

    After the civil war Israel had two thrones. The throne of the southern kingdom was located at Jerusalem, the historical capital. This throne outlives the northern throne of Samaria and establishes the chronology across this period in history. (2,678 words)

  • Timeline: Seventy Year Captivity

    The use of king’s reigns to establish dates ends at the fall of Jerusalem. For 70 years the city sat empty. At the end of this period a remnant of Jews returns and rebuilds the temple and wall. This chronology can be established using Bible time references alone and shows the second temple going up 500 years after Solomon’s temple. (727 words)

Phil Stone 2021-01-05 2022-03-02