Basics of Bible Chronology: Old Testament

 When was Creation? When was the Flood? When was the Exodus? When did King Solomon live? And where does the Bible tell us?

Before we dive into these questions, the purpose of this post isn’t to put together a detailed timeline of Biblical events. That would require a far longer study. No, the purpose of this post is simply to give the reader a general idea of when key Biblical events took place.

To answer these questions, we need to start with a date we already know and work from there. Unlike many researchers, and for reasons beyond the scope of this post, I reject many of the dates of Egyptian and Assyrian history. The later dates of Babylonian and Persian history are more firmly established.

Based on analysis of Babylonian records, as well as details provided by Jewish records, it can be determined that King Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian army destroyed the Jerusalem temple in 587 BC. This spelled the end of the Kingdom of Judah. Of the last king of Judah, Zedekiah, the Book of Jeremiah tells us, “Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death” (Jer. 52:10-11).

These events happened a little over 600 years before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in AD 30, and a little more than 2,600 years before our present day.

Before this, Zedekiah had reigned for eleven years (2 Kings 24:18; 2 Chron. 36:11; Jer. 52:1). By adding up the reigns of his predecessors, we can determine that Judah’s sister kingdom, the northern kingdom of Israel, fell about 133 years earlier, around 720 BC.

Now, reconciling the reigns of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah is a major undertaking because, at first glance, the numbers don’t line up at all. Apparently, some of the kings of Israel and Judah shared the throne with their sons, leading to overlapping reigns. Reconciling all these numbers isn’t necessary for our purposes today, though.

By adding up all the reigns of the kings of Israel listed in 1 & 2 Kings, we learn that the northern kingdom could’ve lasted no longer than 242 years, placing the division of the Israelite tribes into two kingdoms no earlier than 962 BC. This happened at the death of King Solomon, as 1 Kings 12 and 2 Chron. 10 describe.

The mainstream chronology places Solomon’s death and Israel’s division around 930 BC. My own calculations place these events around 945 BC.

According to the Biblical record, King Solomon reigned for 40 years (1 Kings 11:42; 2 Chron. 9:30). Near the beginning of his reign, in the fourth year of his reign, he began to build the temple of God (1 Kings 6:1; 2 Chron. 3:2). This means he began to build the temple about 36 years before the division of Israel, that is, c. 966 BC by the mainstream chronology or c. 981 BC by my calculations.

1 Kings 6:1 further tells us that Solomon began building the temple “in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt.” And just like that, by adding 480 years, we’ve already got a rough date for the Exodus: c. 1460 BC!

Israel’s wandering in the wilderness, the events of Joshua and Judges, and the reigns of Saul and David all happened within that 480 years.

Now, here’s what we’re told about the Exodus: “Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years — on that very same day — it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt” (Ex. 12:40-41).

However, the Book of Galatians tells us that this 430 years began at the time God made His promise to Abraham in the land of Canaan: “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later….”

Likewise, the Septuagint renders Ex. 12:40, “And the sojourning of the children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, was four hundred and thirty years.”

This places Abraham’s entry into the Promised Land — and God’s promise to him — 430 years before the Exodus, that is, c. 1890 BC. That’s over 1,900 years before Jesus’ sacrifice, and over 3,900 years before our own time!

Gen. 12:4 tells us that Abraham was already 75 years old when God told him to leave his father’s family and journey to Canaan. That puts his birth c. 1965 BC. In Acts 7:4, we learn that God brought Abraham to Canaan “when his father was dead.”

Since Abraham’s father, Terah, lived to be 205 (Gen. 11:32) and Abraham was 75 when he journeyed to Canaan, that means Terah was roughly 130 years old when Abraham was born. That puts Terah’s birth c. 2095 BC. And, according to Gen. 11:26, he was 70 years old when Abraham’s oldest brother was born.

Abraham’s genealogy is listed in Gen. 11:10-26, going all the way back to Noah’s son Shem. By adding up the years of these generations, from father to son, we find that the Flood happened roughly 222 years before Terah’s birth, or c. 2317-2315 BC.

The generations before the Flood, from father to son all the way back to Adam, are found in Gen. 5. They add up to 1,656 years. That puts Creation c. 3973-3970 BC.

And there we have it! A basic timeline of key Old Testament events, all the way back to Creation.

To quickly recap, the whole of Old Testament chronology hinges on a few key points, around which everything else flows.

• Destruction of the temple in 587 BC

• Fall of Samaria 133 years earlier, c. 720 BC

• Division of Israel and Judah c. 945 BC (930 BC by mainstream chronology)

• Temple construction begun c. 980 BC

• Exodus 480 years earlier, c. 1460 BC

• Abraham journeys to the Promised Land 430 years earlier, c. 1890 BC

• Birth of Abraham 75 years earlier, c. 1965 BC

• Birth of Abraham’s father Terah 130 years earlier, c. 2095 BC

• Based on the genealogy of Gen. 11:10-26, the Flood happened c. 2315 BC

• Based on the genealogy of Gen. 5, Creation happened c. 3970 BC

Remember, there’s some margin of error in calculations like this. This isn’t meant to be a pinpoint-precise timeline. I’m not convinced it’s even possible to nail down most Biblical events to a specific year without any margin of error. However, this offers a basic framework.