Biblical Chronology: After the Genealogies Part 2

Now let's look at the other side of the issue.  This side says that the 430 years spent in Egypt begins with Israel's move to Egypt when Jacob (Israel) was 130 and Joseph was 39.  It then ends with the Exodus.

Arguments on this side include:

• The plainest reading of Exodus 12:40-41 (in the Masoretic Text, which is the foundation of all of our English Bibles) is dated this way.
• In the early church days, the scriptures being used were the Septuagint. Paul might simply be referring to what his copy of the scriptures said in Galatians 3:17. The differences between Septuagint and Masoretic texts are primarily in the areas of the chronology.
• Genesis 15:13 and Acts 7:6 have 400 years of oppression (or mistreatment) and enslavement.  We see no evidence for this during the time of Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob.
• Genesis 15:16 says that the 4th generation of those who are strangers in a different land will come out and return to Canaan.  Genesis 46:6-27 lists 4 generations who moved to Egypt.  How do we count those generations?  From Jacob himself?  From the youngest of those moving to Egypt?
• There were 70 men (not counting wives) who moved to Egypt.  There were more than 603,000 men of fighting age (over 20) who came out in the Exodus.  Population growth of this magnitude would require each generation...Levi, Kohath, and Amram...to have 37 children.  But scripture records much smaller numbers of children in these generations.
• From Numbers 3:14-37 we see the census of the males in the tribe of Levi.  Listing their generations, we see Levi, 3 sons, 8 grandsons, but if Aaron and Moses are truly in the next generation, a phenomenal number of children would have to be born to those 8 grandsons, for the population was 22,000 males!
• Other genealogies list more generations in the same timeframe.  Joshua 17:3 lists 6 generations from Joseph to the time of Joshua.  1 Chronicles 2:3-6 lists 6 generations from Judah to the time of Moses.  1 Chronicles 2:3-20 lists seven generations from Judah to the time of Moses following different individuals. 1 Chronicles 7:20-27 lists 10 generations from Joseph to Joshua.  (Joshua was a descendant of Joseph)
• Joseph lived long enough to see the 2nd generation of Manasseh's sons and the 3rd of Ephraim's.  Those children would be the same generation as Moses and his sons.  Amram's generation would have been the same generation as the youngest to come to Egypt with Jacob.
• There were 3 covenants with Abraham. Genesis 12 when Abraham was 75 and God instructed him to leave his family and home in Harah and travel to another land that is promised to him. Genesis 15 which is sometime just before Abraham is 85 and God promises the land to Abram, promises his descendants will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years, and come back to the land in the fourth generation. And Genesis 17 when Abram is 99 and God changes his name, promises the land again, and institutes the rite of circumcision. Which one of these covenants does Paul refer to? 
• Galatians 3:17 says the time of the confirmation or ratification of the covenant was the start of the 430 years.  The covenant was first given in Genesis 15:13-21 to Abram.  It was reiterated to Abram, and repeated for Isaac and Jacob, the last time being right before Jacob and his descendants entered Egypt in Genesis 46:1-5.  This was when the covenant was confirmed and when the 430 year count begins.

If we are to make a decision on this issue, it will have to be based on the strongest arguments.  To  me it seems that the plain reading of the 430 years spent in Egypt is more readily supported and that is what our timeline will use.  This places the Exodus 430 years after Jacob's 130th year, when all of Israel moved to Egypt at Joseph's request.

Jacob was born in 2168 AM and his 130th year would be 2298 AM. 

The Exodus would be in 2728 AM.

The Temple was begun in 3208 AM.

Solomon's reign began, therefore, in 3204 AM and lasted until 3244 AM, when the kingdom was divided.

At this point we will be able to put some dates BC into our timeline.

Biblical Chronology: After the Genealogies Part 1

In Genesis 5 and 11 and in the selected other scriptures we looked at last week, we had what are called Chronogenealogies.  These are genealogies that have chronological information included that allow dates and timespans to be assigned to the people in the genealogies.  Genesis 5 and 11 contain that information in a very succinct form. 

But after Joseph there are genealogies although they contain no chronological information.  Without that, we are going to have to look for other types of details.

First, we will jump forward to the time King Solomon began the building of the temple in Jerusalem.  In 1 Kings 6:1 we have the record of Solomon beginning the construction work in the 480th year after the Exodus, in the second month.  It further states that this was the fourth year of the reign of Solomon.

Backing up, we find that Exodus 12:40-41 tells us that the Exodus was 430 years, to the very day, that Israel entered Egypt.

This looks simple, but it is on this latter point that scholars disagree.  The argument has run for hundreds of years, is sometimes heated, and is somewhat involved.  I will attempt to summarize the arguments on both sides.  There are 8 or 10 different scriptures involved, but for the sake of space, I will refer to those in the supporting arguments.  You can grab your Bible and read along with the arguments as I give them.

The issue hinges around Galatians 3:17.
¹⁷ My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.

Here are the arguments made by the first side:

• Paul is saying that the law came 430 years after God made the covenant with Abraham.  This is taken as referring to the first covenant God made with him in Genesis 12.  That was after the death of Abram's father Terah when Abram was 75 and was when God commanded Abram to leave Haran and go to the place He would show him.
• 1 Chronicles 6:1-3 says that Levi had a son named Kohath, whose son was Amram, whose son was Moses.  Exodus 2:1-2 and Exodus 6:16-20 repeat the same information, adding that Amram's wife was a daughter of Levi, and her name was Jochabed.
• Exodus 6:16-20 also tells us that Levi lived 137 years, Kohath 133 years, and Amram 137 years.
• Both the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Alexandrian Septuagint (but not the Vatican Septuagint) express Exodus 12:40 this way: "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, and of their fathers, which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt, was 430 years."

I'm going to let you mull that one over for a bit.  I'll come back next post to deal with the arguments on the opposing side, which are more extensive. 

Biblical Chronology: Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph

The genealogies of the Hebrew Patriarchs are scattered throughout the remainder of the book of Genesis, but the appropriate scriptures are listed in the last column of the table.

The result of reading those passages gives us this information:

We don't have straightforward information on Joseph's birth, but we are able to use several scriptures to derive what we need.

• Genesis 41:46 Joseph was 30 when he stood before Pharaoh at the beginning of the 7 years of plenty.
• Genesis 45:6,9 Joseph reveals himself to his brothers two years into the famine and urges his family to come to Egypt without delay.
• Genesis 47:9 On Jacob's entry into Egypt, he tells Pharaoh that he is 130 years old.

You remember the Bible story...Joseph interpret's Pharaoh's dream as 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine.  At that time Joseph was 30 years old.  Two years into the famine, Joseph's family is there for food (for the second time) and Joseph reveals himself to his brothers.  At this time Joseph is 39 years old (7 years of plenty and 2 of famine).  We will assume that the family did as directed by Joseph and came to Egypt "without delay".  Joseph immediately took them to Pharaoh where, upon being asked, Jacob says that his years are 130. 

Simple subtraction tells us that Jacob was 91 when Joseph was born.  I imagine you weren't thinking that Jacob was that old at Joseph's birth.  I wasn't!

So, if you fill in the rest of the chart, this is what you have:

This is the end of the genealogies with dates and ages that are recorded in scripture. From this point forward, we will be looking for other kinds of details to establish connections to later events and happenings. But that's for next week!

Biblical Chronology: Genesis 11

Next we'll work with the genealogies of Genesis 11.

Fill in the table here, just like you did those in the last post.
And this is what you end up with.

Like the discussion of the three sons of Noah, some discussion is necessary for the three sons of Terah: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Genesis 11:26 states that Terah lived seventy years and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. We can ask the same questions. Were the brothers triplets? Or were they born at different times, the first being born when Terah was 70 years old.

Again, there are other scriptures that will help us clear the issue up.

• Genesis 11:32 says that Terah died at 205 years
• Genesis 12:4 says that Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran to continue on to the promised land
• Acts 7:4 says that Abram left Haran after the death of his father.

It is obvious here in these three scriptures that if Abram was 75 when he left Haran after the death of his father, who was 205 when he died, that Terah was 130 when Abram was born.  It is likely that Haran was the oldest, born when Terah was 70.  (His daughter married her uncle Nahor, her father's brother.)  Abram was born when Terah was 130, and Nahor could have been between the two, or younger than Abram.  Only Terah's age at the birth of Abram is significant to our genealogy.

So this is the result of our labors thus far.

We'll finish up with Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph in the next post.

Biblical Chronology: Genesis 5

The logical place to begin our chronology is with the genealogies recorded in the book of Genesis.  They give detailed information on the lifespans of the individuals listed and the ages at which their children were born.  We'll start with chapter 5.

This table is your worksheet for the genealogies of Genesis 5. At the current time we will work only with dates after creation (Anno Mundi or AM). The scriptures needed to fill in each line are given in the last column. Of the six columns of information, three will be taken directly from those scriptures:

• The age at the birth of the son (column 2)
• The years lived after the birth of the son (column 4)
• The total years of life (column 5)

You will calculate the others. 

• Column 3 is the sum of column 1 and column 2
• Column 3 goes into column 1 on the next line
• Column 6 is the sum of column 1 and column 5

Here is your table filled in with the genealogies up through our first quandry. In Genesis 5:32 the Bible tells us that Noah was 500 years old when he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Were the boys triplets? Is there another explanation? Let's look at a couple of other scriptures to see if we can resolve the issue.

 Genesis 7:6 tells us that Noah was 600 years old when the flood came on the earth. Genesis 11:10 tells us that Shem was 100 years old when his son Arphaxad was born, two years after the flood. So, we can see that someone was born to Noah 100 years before the flood, but that it was not Shem, who was 98 at the time of the flood. In Genesis 9:24 we see that Ham was the youngest, so Japheth was the eldest child, born when Noah was 500, Shem is the middle child, born when Noah was 502, and Ham is the youngest. Our completed table looks like this:

Next post we will extend those genealogies.

Biblical Chronology: Introduction

There have been many attempts to derive a chronology of mankind from the Bible...to set the date of creation, if you will.  Some believe the Bible does not offer enough data.  Some believe otherwise, since it gives ages for the births of successive generations, and essential information is given to overcome the potential of confusion.

There are differences between chronologists when creating a chronology from the Bible.  And there are both valid reasons and personal opinions for those differences.  Here are some examples of some conflicting arguments:

• The genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 contain gaps
• These genealogies can't be trusted since manuscripts contain differences
• The genealogies are only accurate if the son was born on the father's birthday
• The ages in genealogies are always when the first child was born, not the named son.
• There are different understandings as to the time spent in Egypt
• There is a missing individual in the genealogies based on Luke 3:36
• In establishing dates BC, there are disagreements over dates of fixed historical events
• Does "two years after the flood" mean after the beginning or after the end
• And so on...

We will never be able to fully resolve the issue and say, "God created the world in ______ BC."  But we will be developing a generally accurate chronology, counting from Creation.  We will be making some assumptions:

• The Bible gives us enough information to provide that generally accurate chronology
• There are no grounds for supposing gaps in the Genesis genealogies
• The Masoretic text will be our text of choice, as opposed to the Septuagint (LXX) or the Samaritan Pentateuch.  Most, if not all, of our Old Testament texts are based on the Masoretic Text

We will use one particular scheme of chronology for this timeline, and the reasons for our choices in this scheme will be given as needed.  Other schemes that could be used would be that of Archbishop James Ussher (1658) or that of the Seder Olam Rabbah, a Jewish text.  We will look at supposed chronological difficulties and disagreements as we get to them.

Introduction: Part 4 Class Information

This is the focus of our study: The Story of Man. Our study will be loosely divided into 3 parts:

The Biblical Chronology

We will begin with what we know is TRUE in our biblical worldview...the overview of man's origin and history as given in the Word of God.

Thus, we will develop a chronology from the events recorded in the Bible. Yes, it is possible. While an absolute, unquestionable, inerrant, perfect chronology is NOT possible, we CAN create a generally accurate chronology that will become the foundation for interpreting the evidence found by archaeologists.

The Historical Events recorded in the Bible

The chronology is like a skeleton. It is the framework upon which we will flesh out our Story of Man. We'll look at the major events in human history that God has recorded for us, like...
...creation
...the flood
...the tower of Babel
...Israel's sojourn in Egypt
...the judges
...the united and divided kingdoms
...the exile and return from exile
...the coming of Christ and the beginning of the church

The Historical Events that we have little or no record of in Scripture

We'll look at samples of actual evidence and compare the interpretations of competing worldviews. Some of the evidence we'll look at is...
...the ice age
...the beginnings of civilizations
...buried civilizations and the myth of Atlantis
...cave man and Neanderthal man
...the stone age, bronze age, and iron age
...Egypt's timeline, since that is the basis for dating most other cultures
...ancient peoples living in the Americas (Columbus wasn't the first, and neither were the Vikings)
...Archaeological artifacts that are too advanced for the supposed timeframe where they were found
...astronomy and astrology

We will always evaluate which worldview best matches reality. It is my goal to present this information in chronological order, but sometimes that becomes difficult. However, we WILL be looking at the difference between what we always hear about these topics...in the media, in school, in books...and what we understand about them when they are properly placed in a biblical worldview.

Introduction: Part 3 History and Chronology

History is more than lists of dates and tales of events and dead people. All these things are merely annals. To get a TOTAL picture of man's ancestry, ALL the evidence (fossils, human artifacts, and historical records) must be taken into account. History must then set all these events and records into a coherent and meaningful structure. Without structure, everything is vague and uncertain. And to get an ACCURATE picture, no evidence can be censored or ignored.

The Bible used to be regarded as the primary source for historical information, then using that for the framework, all the additional secular history was successively fleshed into that skeleton, resulting in the creation of a comprehensive body of world history.

Today that is not the case. Current culture challenges the idea that man was created. Specifically it challenges the biblical concept of man's creation. It is claimed that the biblical account of origins is not actually a historical account...that it doesn't represent reality...that it isn't TRUE. Instead, the story of man, as presented in the current secular history, is purely speculative, and based on humanistic philosophy.

Why begin with Chronology?

It has been said that Chronology is the backbone of history. It is the fixed central core around which the events of any nation or people must be correctly grouped to correctly understand:
...the life of the people
...the relationship to their neighbors.

If chronology is truly the backbone of history, then we must understand that attacks on the BIBLICAL chronology undermine the historicity and veracity of the Bible.

The fact is that the biblical chronology was accepted as TRUE until very recent times. One recent Old Testament scholar commented:
..."Though biblical chronology may in mondern times seem to be an area for cranks and crackpots, in older times it occupied some of the greatest minds."

The evangelical assumes the Bible is reliable for several reasons.
...At the human level, the Israelites are the only people in the history of the world to have developed more than a rudimentary sense of history. It was only the Israelites who had such things as a doctrine of creation, a concept of linear non-repetitious time, and a view of progress and eschatology.
...It is in the Bible, and ONLY in the Bible, that we have a historical chronology. Other nations would produce their history in king-lists, but only in the Bible do we have history firmly connected to a chronology.

This is where the "rubber meets the road" as far as Biblical chronology is concerned. The Bible seems to provide a chronology from creation to the cross, but it is not the same as the chronology of the ancient world that is in use today in both secular and in evangelical Christian circles.

Biblical chronology is regarded as unacceptable because it is too short. And there is no question that the reason for this was the rise of evolutionary geology, paleontology and archaeology.







The problem arises from the fact that...
...IF the Bible is inerrant,
...THEN its chronology is inerrant.
And...
...IF the Bible's chronology is inerrant,
...THEN a great deal of secularist speculation about the ancient world is in error.

If this is true, the Bible-believing community is confronted with a massive revisionist project. This being the case, let's not worry about what others may think, and ask the question: What say the scriptures?

Introduction: Part 2 Worldviews

The fact remains, every one of those scientists in every one of those archaeological digs bases their interpretations on what they already believe about the history of man. In our examples, those beliefs have been rooted in the evolutionary presuppositions of an old earth. That is their WORLDVIEW...the set of beliefs that are held, and through which they interpret everything in the world around them.

What is a WORLDVIEW? By definition, a worldview is a conceptual framework or system of thought through which everything is given meaning and context. A worldview frames and organizes everything we experience. It is the basic assumptions, values, and allegiances by which we interpret the world around us.

Assumptions...the things presumed to be true, no proof necessary or possible, cannot be disproved.
Values...qualities or traits we cherish or esteem by which we assess the worth, goodness, or importance of things and persons.
Allegiances...loyalty or faithfulness to an individual, group, or cause.

Introduction: Part 1

This article appeared in the December 18, 1995 issue of TIME magazine.

After discussing recent archaeological finds in Israel and surrounding areas, the article categorizes people into 3 groups based on how they would respond to the finds.
...Jewish and Christian Ultra-conservatives who would say that "nothing in the Bible is fiction"
...Atheists who would say that "everything in the Bible is fiction"
...The Moderate Majority who would say that "we must make sure that the Bible is scientifically grounded in truth"

What do WE believe? What do WE accept as TRUE? Is God's word TRUE in its entirety all the time? Or do we only accept it when it is "verified" by science? Have we allowed science to be our source of TRUTH?


Psalms 119:128 says this: And because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path. Is that our attitude?

Let's look at a couple of examples of the type of archaeological finds covered in that article in TIME.

The book of Joshua, chapter 6, records the destruction of the walls of Jericho, allowing the Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua, to conquer the city.

TIME tells us that after extensive excavations at the site of ancient Jericho, archaeologists have determined that the site was abandoned for 400 years during the supposed time of Joshua. According to them, no walled cities existed during this time in this area of Canaan. The skeptics doubt that Joshua even existed. Without a battle, who needs a general, right?

How do they know? Were they there?

They published their theories. They debated...and accepted this conclusion as true. Unless and until some new evidence comes along, the modern science of archaeology has determined that the Israelite conquest of Canaan as described in the book of Joshua is fiction...Joshua didn't fight the battle of Jericho. This is an archaeological "truth", or more accurately, a testing by archaeological research methods of a Biblical story, and the Bible fails the test.

We would disagree, but we would be accused of religious bias. So let's look at another example, one that has no religious significance.

In about 800 BC, a blind Greek poet named Homer composed the first, and arguably the greatest, poem of European literature: The Iliad. This epic tells of the great war fought about 400 years earlier between a number of Greek city-states and the rich and powerful city of Troy, on the coast of what is now Turkey.


Perhaps you recall the story. Paris, a royal prince in Troy, carried off Helen, the queen of Sparta. This outraged the Greeks, and they combined forces and sailed off to Troy. The city was under seige for 10 years without result. So subterfuge was planned. They built the famed hollow wooden horse and made a present of it to the city.

A group of Greek soldiers hidden inside then left the horse in the middle of the night and opened the gates to the Greek army. Troy was burned entirely. The victorious Greeks sailed home with Helen, the cause of it all, "the face that launched a thousand ships".


Ever since Roman times, scholars have debated The Iliad. Does it describe real events, or is it a myth? If it is real, how accurate is the tale? In the mid-1800's, modern archaelogy took up the debate when the site of Troy was discovered. The city contains 50 levels of continuous occupation, nine of which show total, violent destruction.

If Homer's tale is true, which level is the one described in his work? Each excavator working on the dig has provided his own explanation for the same artifacts. Each successive archaeologist has thrown out the conclusions of his predecessor and provided his own tale.

To be continued in the next post.