(BA) A biblical chronology: 4,000 years

...

_See also Chronology of Genesis.

Let us begin with the creation of the universe in Genesis 1, which we will call A.M. 0.^[2] According to Genesis 1, Adam is created on the sixth day of A.M. 0. So as to avoid problems, we will be rounding everything to the nearest year -- it's not realistic to try and be more accurate than that.

According to Genesis 5, Adam lives 130 years and becomes the father of Seth (A.M. 130). Seth lives 105 years and becomes the father of Enosh (A.M. 235). Enosh lives 90 years and becomes the father of Kenan (A.M. 325). Kenan lives 70 years and becomes the father of Mahalalel (A.M. 395). Mahalalel lives 65 years and becomes the father of Jared (A.M. 460). Jared lives 162 years and becomes the father of Enoch (A.M. 622). Enoch lives 65 years and becomes the father of Methuselah (A.M. 687). Methuselah lives 187 years and becomes the father of Lamech (A.M. 874). Lamech lives 182 years and becomes the father of Noah (A.M. 1056).

Let us read Genesis 5:6 as saying that Noah was five hundred years old when he became the father of Shem (1556).

According to Genesis 11:10, Shem was one hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad (1656). In the following verses, the lineage is extended down to Abraham. Arpachshad lives 35 years, and becomes the father of Shelah (1691). Shelah lives 30 years, and becomes the father of Eber (1721). Eber lives 34 years, and becomes the father of Peleg (1755). Peleg lives 30 years, and becomes the father of Reu (1785). Reu lives 32 years, and becomes the father of Serug (1817). Serug lives 30 years, and becomes the father of Nahor (1847). Nahor lives 29 years, and becomes the father of Terah (1876).

Let us read Genesis 11:26 as saying that Terah becomes the father of Abram at 70 (1946). According to Genesis 21:5, Abraham is 100 years old when he becomes the father of Isaac (2046). According to Genesis 25:26, Isaac is 60 years old when he becomes the father of Jacob (2106). According to Genesis 47:9, Jacob is 130 years old when he brings the Israelites down into Egypt (2236).

According to Exodus 12:40, the Israelites spend 430 years in Egypt before God brings them out (2666).

This particular chronology ignores the book of Judges, but for those who do consider it, it produces problems of its own. See Chronology of Judges.

The chronology of the Kings of Judah and Israel present a number of difficulties. On the one hand, Kings provides a tremendous quantity of chronological detail, which is helpful for lining up the reigns of the various kings of both kingdoms. But that very tremendous quantity is what creates problems -- not only are we given the lengths of reign of each king; we are also given synchronisms between the reigns -- we are told, for example, that Abijah began to reign over Judah in the 18th year of Jeroboam, and similar dates for many other kings. Attempting to make sense of the synchronisms immediately throws any simple attempt to add up dates into chaos. One attempt to deal with all these issues -- one among many -- is Thiele's Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings.

The kingdom of primary interest to the Hebrew Bible is that of Judah, and it is the kingdom of Judah whose story is followed to its end in the Hebrew Bible. After the demise of the kingdom of Judah, the Hebrew Bible ceases to keep a chronology. So it would make sense, if we're trying to put together a chronology of the Primary History, that we would use the reigns of the kings of Judah as our basis. So, for the section below, we will simply add up the years of the reigns of the kings of Judah, ignoring for the moment any complications that arise when thinking about the kings of Israel.

According to 1 Kings 6:1, it is 480 years from the Exodus until Solomon dedicates the temple in Jerusalem (3146). The verse places this in the fourth year of Solomon's reign, which therefore begins in 3142.

• Solomon rules for 40 years (1 Kings 11:42), and is succeeded by Rehoboam (3182).
• Rehoboam rules for 17 years (14:21), and is succeeded by Abijah (3199).
• Abijah rules 3 years (1 Kings 15:2), and is succeeded by Asa (3202).
• Asa rules 41 years (1 Kings 15:10), and is succeeded by Jehoshaphat (3243).
• Jehoshaphat rules 25 years (1 Kings 22:42), and is succeeded by Jehoram (3268).
• Jehoram rules 8 years (2 Kings 8:17), and is succeeded by Ahaziah (3276).
• Ahaziah rules 1 year (2 Kings 8:26), and is succeeded by Athaliah (3277).
• Athaliah rules 6 years (2 Kings 11:3), and is succeeded by Joash (3283).
• Joash rules 40 years (2 Kings 12:1), and is succeeded by Amaziah (3323).
• Amaziah rules 29 years (2 Kings 14:2), and is succeeded by Azariah (3352).
• Azariah rules 52 years (2 Kings 15:2), and is succeeded by Jotham (3404).
• Jotham rules 16 years (2 Kings 15:33), and is succeeded by Ahaz (3420).
• Ahaz rules 16 years (2 Kings 16:2), and is succeeded by Hezekiah (3436).
• Hezekiah rules 29 years (2 Kings 18:2), and is succeeded by Manasseh (3465).
• Manasseh rules 55 years (2 Kings 21:1), and is succeeded by Amon (3520).
• Amon rules 2 years (2 Kings 21:19), and is succeeded by Josiah (3522).
• Josiah rules 31 years (2 Kings 22:1), and is succeeded by Jehoahaz (3553).
• Jehoahaz rules 3 months (2 Kings 23:31), and is succeeded by Jehoiakim (3553).
• Jehoiakim rules 11 years (2 Kings 23:36), and is succeeded by Jehoiachin (3564).
• Jehoiachin rules 3 months (2 Kings 24:8), and is succeeded by Zedekiah (3564).
• Zedekiah rules eleven years (2 Kings 24:18), and it is in his time that Jerusalem is destroyed (3575).

It was at the beginning of Zedekiah's reign that Jehoiachin was exiled, and according to the Bible (2 Kings 25:27) Amel-Marduk became king of Babylon in the thirty-seventh year of Jehoiachin's exile (3601).

From secular sources, we can place the accession of Amel-Marduk around 562 BCE. Adding that to our 3601 Anno Mundi, we place the creation of the world right around 4163 BCE. That places the year 4000 smack-dab in the early phases of the Maccabee reestablishment of control over the Temple. Maybe it's a coincidence.

See also an interesting write-up on this in Vridar,^[3] whose analysis follows a number of biblical scholars.

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