My attempt at Bible Chronology

[Presentist]

Here is the link to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs...
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0b1w0

 

[intellichristian]

Great work Presentist! It gets even better if you create a chart with the lifespans of the first people. Interesting things come up then, such as Methuselah knew Adam for quite a while, or that Methuselah actually died during the flood...

 

[Presentist]

Great work Presentist! It gets even better if you create a chart with the lifespans of the first people. Interesting things come up then, such as Methuselah knew Adam for quite a while, or that Methuselah actually died during the flood...

That is true. We have a giant wall chart at home based on Bishop Usher's dates that shows just that.

Whereas, Bishop Usher's chronology would place creation around 4004 BC, I find that the dates in the Bible show that creation was actually around 3986-3980 BC.

If you don't agree. Where in this chart do you think the error occurs? I am open to suggestions.

 

[intellichristian]

I'm fine with both actually. Looking at the different chronological places in the Bible, I would say creation occurred around 4000 B.C. But I wouldn't claim to know the exact year of creation, due to slight differences in the calendar structures of the past. The Jewish calendar places creation at like 3500-3600 B.C. (or whatever year it is on the Jewish calendar since the last Hanukkah). I guess you could dig for a more exact date, but that would be a lot of work, going through all the historical archives on how long the month and year was at the time of writing of these chronologies, and determining who's calendar structure they used. I read St. Augustine's chapter in his "City of God" on Biblical chronology, and they had trouble with it even in the 4th century. But a few years plus/minus is nothing compared to the evolutionary timeframe of 12 to 20 billion years, or whatever the textbooks printed this year.

 

[granpa]

Here is the link to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs...
Go

your chart is impressive but dont take the dates too seriously.
many numbers given in the bible are symbolic.
the round number 40 occurs remarkably often.
480 years is 40*12 (also 80*6 which is comparable to 70*7)

960 is 480*2

 

[zeke37]

Chronological Charts, and Tables. - Appendix to the Companion Bible

Chronological Charts, and Tables. - Appendix to the Companion Bible

Summary of Principal Events. - Appendix to the Companion Bible

the third one is similar to your chart, but usesthe 4004 date as its beginning.

i find this to be the most accurate and reliable chart, from the Companion Bible, circa 1911, by Bullinger.

 

[Presentist]

i find this to be the most accurate and reliable chart, from the Companion Bible, circa 1911, by Bullinger.

I admit that Bullinger could be right (I said could), but almost no Bible scholars today think his chronology is accurate.

Bullinger's mistake was to try to connect all of the reigns of the judges and kings of Israel. But we know now that the successions were not that simple. For example, many kings began their reign while there father was still reigning which made their rules overlap.

That is why when I set out to create a Bible chronology, I tried to use the least fewest dates from the Bible that can be connected to create a continuous chronology. In other words, I tried to have the fewest "dots" to connect.

In addition, there has been archaelogical discoveries since Bullinger's time that dispute his dates, but that confirm the dates in the chart above.

For example, Bullinger's chronology placed the Exodus in 1491 BC, whereas the current understanding is that it occurred around 1450 BC and the time of Queen Hatshepsut.

 

[Presentist]

many numbers given in the bible are symbolic.

True. That is why when I set out to create a Bible chronology, I tried to use the least fewest dates from the Bible that can be connected to create a continuous chronology. In other words, I tried to have the fewest "dots" to connect.

 

[granpa]

according to the septuagint:
...and God called the darkness Nyx
...and God called the light Hemera
...and God called the firmament ouranos (should be aether)
...and God called the waters Thalassa
...and God called the dry land Gaia

 

[granpa]

Genealogies of Genesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Biblewriter]

Great work Presentist! It gets even better if you create a chart with the lifespans of the first people. Interesting things come up then, such as Methuselah knew Adam for quite a while, or that Methuselah actually died during the flood...

If you look up the translation of Methuselah's name, you will find that it means "his death sends." I believe that this is a prophetic utterance that the flood would come when Methuselah died, not that he died in the flood.

On a very interesting side note, the translations of the names of the entire line from Adam to Noah, given in order, are:

Man
appointed
miserable
lamenting
God of glory
descend
instruct
his death sends
afflicted
consolation

Here we find the essential gospel hidden in the very earliest history of the Bible.

 

[Biblewriter]

That is true. We have a giant wall chart at home based on Bishop Usher's dates that shows just that.

Whereas, Bishop Usher's chronology would place creation around 4004 BC, I find that the dates in the Bible show that creation was actually around 3986-3980 BC.

If you don't agree. Where in this chart do you think the error occurs? I am open to suggestions.

I do not remember the details, but when I set out to make my own chronology, I came up with a time period similar to yours. But after I later studied the sources for Usher's 4004 BC date, (actually exactly 4000 years from Adam to Christ, as he set the birth of Christ at 4 BC) I concluded that I had been wrong and he was right. Before you chisel your dates in stone, look up Usher's reasoning for his conclusion that it was an even four thousand years from the creation of Adam to the Birth of Christ. (And no, his reasoning had nothing to do with symbolism of the "one day equals a thousand years" theory.)

 

[granpa]