Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CHRONOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

Cylinder recording Cyrus’ bloodless capture of Babylon (536 b.c.e.), his restoration of captives’ temples, and the return of prisoners to their own lands (Copyright British Museum)

The OT contains an extensive set of chronological data which have been used to orient the history recited in time. Beginning at the end of the OT period we possess quite precise figures for the chronology of the Persian and Babylonian periods. The chronology present there probably does not vary by more than plus or minus one year. By the time one reaches the time of David at the beginning of the 1st millennium b.c.e. that variation is probably still limited to less than a decade.

The chronology for the biblical events of the 2nd millennium is based upon more variables; thus there is more flexibility to the possible times when those events occurred. The grand scheme of OT chronology worked out here places the three landmark personalities of Abraham ca. 2000, David ca. 1000, and Ezra ca. 450, providing dates for events that spanned over 1500 years.

Special Issues in Biblical Chronology

Intercalation

Virtually all Semitic calendars of Western Asia operated upon the basis of the lunar month, which is approximately 29.5 days. However, lunar months yield a year that is more than 10 days short of a solar year, the time that it takes for the earth to make a complete revolution. In order to keep the lunar calendar in alignment with the solar year, which determined the agricultural year, adjustment had to be made by adding an extra month about every third year. The postexilic community of Judah may have followed the Babylonian pattern of intercalation, which they could have brought back from exile. At most the difference involved here is one month, which is not significant.

Spring or Fall Calendars

Moses is credited with introducing a spring-to-spring calendar for the religious year (Exod. 12:2). This applied to the first Passover and then subsequently to the religious festivals that followed throughout the year (Lev. 23). The matter was complicated later, however, by the addition of a fall new year (rōʾš haššānâ), which has been designated the civil year.

It appears that the spring new year was used for the civil year in the northern kingdom and the fall new year was used for the regnal year rather consistently in the southern kingdom, although some would reverse this application. Calculating the regnal years of kings, there may be a difference of up to six months, depending on if the king ascended to the throne after the spring new year or after the fall new year.

Accession and Nonaccession Year Reckoning

The ancients employed two systems to deal with the rest of the regnal year after the old king died. In nonaccession year reckoning, the first regnal year of the new king began immediately, so there was an excess of regnal years in contrast to calendar years. There was no accession period (year 0 of the new king). This was the system used in Egypt and, possibly, for some periods in the northern kingdom of Israel.

In accession year reckoning, the rest of the calendar year after the old king died was not counted, but was reckoned as year 0. The first full regnal year of the new king began at the next new year, either in the spring or the fall, whichever was in use at the time. This system kept the number of regnal years and the number of calendar years even. This system was used in Assyria and Babylonia, and also regularly in the southern kingdom of Judah. The difference that these two systems presented could involve as little as a few days or more than months.

Coregency

The practice of two living kings or co-kings on the throne at one time was an Egyptian custom as early as the 12th dynasty (ca. 2000 b.c.e.). There may have been coregencies in Judah near Egypt, but probably none of significance in the northern kingdom. It seems probable that there were some coregencies during the divided monarchy, following the precedent of David and Solomon. When Adonijah sought to supplant David, the aging king put Solomon on the throne (1 Kgs. 1). Thus there were two kings or coregents on the throne of the United Kingdom; David was the senior king and Solomon the junior king. Coregency was apparently adopted in times of war or when the older king was physically disabled.

Use of the LXX

In a fair number of cases the Hebrew and the LXX give a different number of years for a particular king. When taken together these variants offer a different chronological system. Probably the LXX is expansionistic (cf. Exod. 12:40).

Relative and Absolute Chronology

The OT contains a massive amount of chronological data, but almost all of it is in relative terms. For the Divided Monarchy, e.g., the dates are given in terms of the lengths of reign and synchronisms with the opposite kingdom. That gives a relative dating of king A to king B, but it does not give an absolute date b.c.e. for either of them.

Thus there needs to be a synchronism external to both kingdoms which provides an even better system of connecting these relative dates to absolute dates b.c.e. For the period of the Divided Monarchy, this is supplied by records from Assyria and Babylonia. These include king lists, eponym lists which name every year, and year-by-year entries in the royal annals or chronicles, all of which can be calibrated astronomically and mathematically by the records of eclipses, which can be dated in absolute terms by modern astronomers. Unfortunately, external synchronisms between the Bible and the ancient Near East have not yet turned up for the 2nd millennium and earlier.

OT History

From these theoretical considerations we turn to the actual chronology of the OT. Most chronologies begin at the beginning and work their way through the course of OT history to its end. The approach taken here is somewhat the reverse for the reason that the historian works from the well known to the less known.

Persian Period

Extrabiblical chronology for the postexilic period comes from various sources dating the Persian kings: cuneiform contract tablets, the Greek Olympiads, an eclipse text that mentions the death of Xerxes, and a Seleucid-period king list.

Several biblical books contain dated material from this period, which began in 539 with the fall of Babylon (Dan. 5). Cyrus’ decree for the return of the Jews is dated in his first regnal year in Babylonia (2 Chr. 36:22; Ezra 1:1), 538. Darius I came to the throne in 522. In 520 the prophets Haggai and Zechariah urged the rebuilding of the temple, which was completed early in 515. Esther provides chronological data from the reign of Xerxes (biblical Ahasuerus, Esth. 1:3-4; 2:16; 3:7, 12, 13; 8:9, 12; 9:1-21). The second return of the Jews from exile led by Ezra himself following a decree by Artaxerxes I reached Jerusalem probably in the summer of 457, if Ezra was using a Jewish fall calendar (Ezra 7:7-8; cf. Neh. 1:1). Nehemiah records that he was sent back to Judah by Artaxerxes in his 20th year (Neh. 1:1; 2:1) and served as governor of Judah for 12 years (5:14), 444-432.

Neo-Babylonian Period

The chronology of the Neo-Babylonian kingdom is well established through extensive dates from contract tablets and the chronicles of Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar II, and Nabonidus, and calibrated through an eclipse text from year 37 of Nebuchadnezzar. The period begins with Nebuchadnezzar coming to the throne in 605 and ends with the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539.

For biblical purposes this period may be extended back to 609, the year King Josiah died in battle with the Egyptian Necho II at Carchemish (2 Kgs. 23:29). The chronology of the last four kings of Judah after the death of Josiah follows a pattern:

Jehoahaz reigned three months (2 Kgs. 23:31)

Jehoiakim reigned eleven years (2 Kgs. 23:36)

Jehoiachin reigned three months (2 Kgs. 24:8)

Zedekiah reigned eleven years (2 Kgs. 24:18)

Correlations with Nebuchadnezzar’s chronicle indicate that Jehoiakim ruled until the end of 598, and Jehoiachin surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar on 2 Adar 597. Zedekiah reigned until 587 if a spring calendar was used in Judah at this time or 586 if a fall calendar was used. Assuming the fall calendar, Jerusalem held out against Nebuchadnezzar for three years instead of two years. Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of the city began early in 589 and ended in the summer of either 587 or 586.

Not only did the writers of 2 Kings and Jeremiah know the chronology of the kings of Judah well, they also knew that of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. They double dated the last years of Judah to Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, and to Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kgs. 24:12; 25:2, 8).

Later Years of Judah

Most of the dates in this period are uncomplicated and straightforward, but its beginning with the reign of Hezekiah is one of the most difficult of problems in biblical chronology. This problem stems from the fact that the accession of Hezekiah appears to be dated in two different ways, each connected with a different event in which the Assyrians were involved. Hezekiah’s “first” accession is dated in the third year of Hoshea, the last king of the northern kingdom (2 Kgs. 18:1). This would appear to date Hezekiah’s accession to 728 and the siege of Samaria to 724-722. But another major Assyrian incursion in the west, which can be correlated directly with Sennacherib’s third campaign in 701, is dated only in the 14th year of Hezekiah, not his 27th or 28th year. This is clarified by assuming a coregency, whereby Hezekiah’s father Ahaz appointed his son as coregent in 728 and Hezekiah’s sole reign began in 715 when Ahaz died.

The dates for the kings of Judah after that kingdom stood alone after the fall of Samaria can be tabulated as follows:

Hezekiah — 728-686
coregent with Ahaz — 728-715
coregent with Manasseh — 696-686

Manasseh — 696-642
coregent with Hezekiah — 696-686

Amon — 642-640

Josiah — 640-609

Later Years of the Divided Monarchy

The year 841 provides a convenient turning point in the chronology of Israel and Judah because the kings of both kingdoms were executed and a new king and queen (a female regent) took over those kingdoms.

This period is one of the most complicated in all of biblical chronology because of an excess of years in relative chronology of Israel and Judah in relation to the number of calendar years in absolute chronology derived from synchronisms with Assyria. Minor adjustments made for spring and fall calendars and accession and nonaccession practices can account for a few of these.

All of the kings of Judah in this period were coregents (although the parallel reigns of Athaliah and Joash were only a quasi-coregency). For Israel, where coregency does not appear to have been practiced, the solution lies in scribal errors or adjustments. Both the reigns of Jeroboam and Pekah appear to be inaccurate by precisely a decade.

The external synchronisms available from Assyrian sources include: (1) Shalmaneser III’s reception of tribute from Jehu (841), (2) the payment of tribute by Jehoash of Israel to Adad-nirari III (probably 796), (3) the payment of tribute by Menahem to Tiglath-pileser III (probably ca. 742-740), (4) the payment of tribute by Pekah to the same Assyrian king (732), (5) the conquest of Samaria by Shalmaneser in 722, and (6) the reconquest of Samaria by Sargon after a revolt in 720.

Early Years of the Divided Monarchy

The Hebrew monarchy was divided into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah shortly after the death of Solomon in 932. This date is determined by working backward through the list of successive kings. Since the first of both kingdoms dated their regnal years from Solomon’s death, it makes a useful boundary for the beginning of this period. The relatively simultaneous deaths of kings Joram and Ahaziah in 841 mark a convenient ending point for this period. The only external synchronism of significance in this period is the contact between Ahab and Shalmaneser III at the Battle of Qarqar in 853.

The date of Ahab’s death is disputed. The reference from Shalmaneser’s annals indicates he was alive during the summer of 853. The question is whether he died later that same year or the next.

There are three coregencies in the southern kingdom in this period. The most obvious is that between Jehoram and Jehoshaphat, since the accession of Joram of Israel is double dated in terms of both of their reigns (2 Kgs. 1:17; 3:1). Jehoshaphat also had been coregent with his father Asa. Ahaziah may have been appointed as a coregent when his father Jehoram fell ill (cf. 2 Kgs. 8:25; 9:29).

United Monarchy

The dates of two of the three kings of the United Monarchy are relatively straightforward. The official regnal years of Rehoboam and Jeroboam begin in 931, placing the death of Solomon in the preceding year, 932. 1 Kgs. 11:42 indicates that his reign lasted 40 years. Given the detailed nature of court records by that time, this figure can be taken at face value.

The reign of David is also dated at 40 years. Since this figure is broken down into seven years of rule at Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem, the specificity of those figures should be accepted (1 Kgs. 2:11). We are given no specific indication as to how long the short-lived coregency between David and Solomon lasted and whether it was included or excluded from the totals of their regnal years. One might estimate it could have lasted from six months to two years (cf. 1 Kgs. 2:39, 46).

The length of Saul’s reign is more problematic. Part of a date formula for his reign in 1 Sam. 13:1 appears to have been lost in the transmission of the text. The number “[20 and] two years” is a common estimate here, but other combinations are possible. The reference in Acts 13:21 to Saul’s reign as lasting 40 years appears to be a schematized method of dealing with this gap by projecting the 40-year reigns of David and Solomon back into the time of Saul.

The dates for the kings for the United Monarchy can be outlined as follows:

Saul — (2)2 years, 1034(?)-1012

David — 40 years, 1012-972

Solomon — 40 years, 972-932

Period of the Judges

The book of Judges is replete with an extensive amount of chronological data. Approximately two dozen chronological statements are almost evenly divided between statements about the length of periods of oppression by Israel’s enemies and that of periods of peace or rest initiated by Israel’s liberating judges. At first glance these data would appear to provide an extensive chronology of the judges.

However, there are no synchronisms external to Israel with which to quantify the internal data. Israel’s enemies in the book of Judges, with only one exception, are local enemies and not the great powers of the ancient Near East. Also, some of the oppressions were contemporary. Judg. 10:7 states that Israel was oppressed by the Philistines (in the west) and the Ammonites (in the east) during the same period of 18 years. How many more of the oppressions elsewhere in Judges were contemporaneous is not easy to determine because of lack of specific data. This question can be extended to ask how many of the oppressions in some parts of Israel were contemporaneous with periods of peace led by the judges in other parts. For example, not all tribes answered the call to arms given by Deborah and Barak (Judg. 4-5). Likewise, the oppression of Moab in Judg. 3 seems mainly to have been a northern tribe exercise.

Once the date of the Exodus has been fixed, the dates in Judges can be prorated out, since the lower limits of this period with Samuel and Saul can be fixed with reasonable approximation. Fixing the date of the Exodus, however, is not an easy process. There is, however, one more longer-range datum in Judges that may assist with that task. Jephthah’s claim (Judg. 11:26) that the Israelites had settled in Ammonite territory 300 years before provides a round figure that is not precise, but it still is useful. If Jephthah’s date is estimated at ca. 1100, then the initial settlement was ca. 1400. This is consistent with one of the lines of chronology that provide dates for the Exodus.

Date of the Exodus

The Exodus from Egypt was identified as a landmark event in the formation of ancient Israel as a people who covenanted with their God at Sinai. First, however, came the deliverance. Since the pharaoh of the Exodus is not named in the book of Exodus, more indirect means must be applied to determine the date of that event. This has led to four main solutions:

1. Late 16th century. This is consistent with Josephus’ use of the Egyptian historian Manetho in synchronizing the departure of the Israelites with the defeat and expulsion of the Hyksos. It is universally rejected by modern scholars.

2. Mid-15th century. This date is based upon the chronological statement in 1 Kgs. 6:1 that Solomon began to build the temple in his 4th year, 480 years after the Exodus. A minority of scholars, mostly conservative, have adhered to this date.

3. 13th Century. This view is based upon three main points: (1) The name of Rameses for one of the store cities built by the Israelites in Egypt (Exod. 1:11) from which they left at the time of their departure (12:37). Rameses II was a famous and important king who ruled Egypt for more than half a century, covering the first half of the 13th century. He built up his northern capital of Per-rameses in the area of Avaris, the former Hyksos capital. The identification of this city with the biblical city is the first cornerstone of this theory. (2) What was thought to be a “wave of destructions” caused by the Israelites at strategic biblical sites in Canaan. More careful study has determined that this was a much more complex and irregular phenomenon. (3) Merneptha’s stela (ca. 1200), which names Israel as a people who were settled in Canaan by the time it was written.

4. 12th Century. As the consensus about the wave of destructions in Canaan in the late 13th century crumbled, people looked elsewhere, both earlier and later, for the Exodus and the subsequent settlement. Rather specific archaeological evidence for the settlement of Israel appears in the 12th century, in the form of many small village settlements spread over the land with mainly Israelite features.

While a majority of scholars probably now lean towards the 12th century for the date of the Exodus, a significant minority leans back to the 15th century.

Sojourn

An estimate for the length of time that the Israelites spent in Egypt depends upon two main factors. (1) The genealogical statement in Exod. 6 gives the two generations that went into Egypt (Levi and Kohath) and the two generations at the end of the sojourn (Amram and Moses). If this is a complete genealogical list, then the sojourn should have been a relatively short period of time. If, however, there is a gap in the middle of that genealogy, then the sojourn could have been considerably longer. (2) Exod. 12:40 states that the Israelites were in Egypt 430 years. A 13th-Dynasty Egyptian papyrus from the late 18th century favors the longer chronology for the sojourn. This is a list of female household slaves, a number of whom bear Semitic names, some rather distinctively Israelite. If these were descendants of Jacob and his sons, they would have to have come to Egypt during the 12th Dynasty, not the 15th (Hyksos) Dynasty as the short chronology for the sojourn would indicate.

Thus far archaeological evidence illuminating this period has been minimal. The question remains open until further evidence is discovered which bears upon the question.

Patriarchs

According to Gen. 47:7, 28, Jacob was 130 years old when he came to live in Egypt. He was born when Isaac was 60 years old (2:26). Abraham came to Canaan when he was 75 years old (12:4), and Isaac was born to him when he was 100 (21:5). These ages look inordinately high to moderns, but the historian should at least work with these figures as hypothetical.

In general terms, biblical chronology places the date for the entry of Abraham into Canaan at ca. 2000, with a margin of error of plus or minus a century. There has been considerable debate about which archaeological period should be identified as the time of the patriarchs. Those who favor Early Bronze IV note the seminomadic experience of Abraham. Those who favor Middle Bronze II A note the number of settled cities in these narratives.

Bibliography. D. N. Freedman and E. F. Campbell, “The Chronology of Israel and the Ancient Near East,” in The Bible and the Ancient Near East, ed. G. E. Wright (1961, repr. Winona Lake, 1979), 203-28; G. Galil, The Chronology of the Kings of Israel and Judah (Leiden, 1996); J. H. Hayes and P. K. Hooker, A New Chronology for the Kings of Israel and Judah (Atlanta, 1988); S. H. Horn, “The Chronology of King Hezekiah’s Reign,” AUSS 2 (1964): 40-52; N. Naʾaman, “Historical and Chronological Notes on the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah in the Eighth Century b.c.,” VT 36 (1986): 71-92; R. A. Parker and W. H. Dubberstein, Babylonian Chronology 626 b.c.–a.d. 75 (Providence, 1956); W. H. Shea, “Exodus, Date of the,” ISBE 2 (Grand Rapids, 1982): 230-38; “Menaham and Tiglath-Pileser III,” JNES 37 (1978): 43-49; E. R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, rev ed. (Grand Rapids, 1994); A Chronology of the Hebrew Kings (Grand Rapids, 1977); D. J. Wiseman, Chronicles of Chaldean Kings (626-556 b.c.) (London, 1961).

William H. Shea

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CHRONOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)