OLD TESTAMENT TIMELINE

 

A large amount of archeological and historical evidence has been discovered that corroborates the events described in the Old Testament.  In order that these correlations may be more clearly seen, a review of some portions of Biblical history and Scriptural chronology is first necessary.  That is undertaken here, followed by a list of much of the secular historical evidence, and finally, a visual Old Testament timeline combining both.

This Old Testament timeline is grounded in the genealogy of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ as found in the gospel of Saint (St.) Luke, beginning with the first man, Adam, and ending with the foster-father of Christ, St. Joseph.  The ages of the patriarchs when each fathered the next in line of descent are taken from the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament.   

The Greek Septuagint (hereinafter the “LXX”) is a translation of the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures into Greek that was completed by 132bc (before Christ).¹  The early Christian churches used the LXX as their Scripture² and most New Testament quotations of the Old Testament are taken from the LXX.  The New Testament was written in Greek during the 1st century AD (Anno Domini—"in the year of our Lord") but was not compiled until later.  

Most modern Bible translations use the Hebrew Masoretic text as the basis for their Old Testament, only using the LXX for help in discerning difficult passages.  The Hebrew Masoretic text (hereinafter the "MT") was finalized a few centuries after the New Testament was written. 

The LXX has 1386 more years between the creation of Adam and the birth of Terah, Abraham's father, than what is found in the MT.  The difference is due to 12 of the patriarchs being 100 years older when they fathered the next-in-line, one being 50 years older, one being six years older, and there being a second Cainan, not found in the MT, who was 130 when he fathered the next-in-line.  The MT contains only the first Cainan, the son of Enos (Genesis chapters 5 and 11).  St. Luke's genealogy, like the LXX, includes the second Cainan, son of Arphaxad, grandson of Shem (Luke chapter 3: verse 36).

One point of dispute among biblical historians is the length of time that the Jews (the descendants of Abraham and his household—God’s chosen people) were enslaved in Egypt.  Some say 400 years, relying on what God told Abram in Genesis 15:13 (He would later change his name to Abraham).  God said: "Your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.”  Abram had been a stranger from the moment he had followed God's command to leave his native land and go to the land of Canaan, and his descendants would be strangers there and mistreated before they ever went down to Egypt (Genesis 26:3, 31:42 & 37:1; Exodus 6:2-4).  God went on to say: "In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete ... To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates." (Genesis 15:16 & 18). 

Because of Abram's obedience, God would bless all mankind (Genesis 12:1-3 & 22:18).  Though he and his wife, Sarai, were advanced in years, God assured Abram that he would be the father of many nations and Sarai the mother of nations.  He changed their names to Abraham and Sarah, accordingly.  Sarah would bear Abraham a son—Isaac, and through Isaac God's plan would unfold (Genesis 17:19 & 26:4).  When Abraham's descendants returned to Canaan, they were to destroy the inhabitants (including the Amorites), tear down their altars, burn the graven images of their gods (idols) and worship only the one true God (Deuteronomy 7:1-7). 

St. Paul in his letter to the Christian churches in Galatia wrote that 430 years passed between God's promise to Abraham and when the Law was given (Galatians 3:17).  St. Paul likely meant the promise made to Abram before he left Haran for Canaan, 25 years prior to Isaac's birth.  Also included is Isaac living to age 60 before fathering Jacob (whose name God changed to Israel), Israel reaching age 130 before moving to Egypt with his family to escape a famine (Genesis 47:9), the Israelites residing in Egypt as guests, then as slaves, the Exodus from Egypt, and finally, receiving God’s Law through Moses.  In the MT, Exodus 12:40 seems to say that the Jews were in Egypt for 430 years, which would contradict St. Paul.  In the LXX, on the other hand, it states that the Jews/Israelites were in the land of Egypt "and in the land of Canaan" for 430 years.

There is a factor that limits the period of time the Jews could have been enslaved in Egypt—Moses is the great-grandson of Levi, one of the 12 sons of Jacob/Israel (Exodus 6:16-20; I Chronicles 6:1-3).  Levi was a grown man when he went down to Egypt, about 50 years old.  Moses was 80 when he led the Exodus out of Egypt (Exodus 7:7).  For the Jews to have remained there 400 years or more, at least 320 years would have passed before the birth of Moses, far too long for just two more generations.

Going back to St. Luke's genealogy of Jesus, the descendants (or tribe) of Judah, another of Jacob/Israel's sons, were led by a man named Nahshon during a 40 year span the Jews/Israelites spent in the desert between the Exodus and their entry into the Promised Land (Canaan) (Numbers 1:7).  Nahshon’s son, Salma/Salmon, was young enough to escape the judgment of God, given two years after the Exodus, that all men who had reached the age of 20 (the fighting age), except Joshua and Caleb, would die before reaching the Promised Land (this may not have included the priestly tribe of Levi [Numbers 14:29; Deuteronomy 2:16]).  This was due to the Israelites' initial refusal to enter the Promised Land for fear of its inhabitants, and is why they remained in the desert for 40 years. 

Of the 12 spies that had been sent to survey the land, only Joshua and Caleb had trusted that God would keep His promise to deliver it to them (Numbers Chapter 13).  When they did finally enter, God chose Joshua to fill the shoes of Moses and lead his chosen people.

St. Paul, when preaching the Gospel to the Jewish synagogue at Pisidian Antioch, reminded them of this history:

The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers.  He made them into a great people during their stay in Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out of that land.  He endured their conduct for about forty years in the wilderness.  And having vanquished seven nations in Canaan, He gave their land to His people as an inheritance.  All this took about 450 years (Acts 13:17-20 [in part]) (450 years is not universally translated as referring to the previous sentences; the KJV, for example, applies it to the thereafter-described period of judges).

Upon arriving in the Promised Land, Nahshon's son, Salma, married Rahab of Jericho, who had assisted the Israelites, and fathered Boaz (Matthew 1:5).  Boaz married the much younger Ruth (Ruth 3:10), who bore him Obed.  Obed fathered Jesse.  Jesse fathered David, the second king of Israel, whose son, Solomon, began building the temple four years after David, at age 70, named him as his successor and, soon thereafter, died.

The MT says 480 years passed between the Exodus from Egypt and the beginning of construction of the temple; the LXX says 440 years (III Kings [I Kings] 6:1).  Four hundred forty years works if Boaz, Obed and Jesse were all close to 100 years old when they fathered the next-in-line.  Therefore, something a little less than that is more likely.  Of course, it may not have been the intention of the writer of III Kings (I Kings) that the number, whether 440 or 480, be taken literally, though the actual number should be something close.

The lifespans and begetting ages of the patriarchs in this Old Testament timeline are from the New English Translation of the Septuagint (hereinafter "NETS"), with one exception.  NETS lists the age of Methuselah as 167 when he begat Lamech.  This results in Methuselah living 14 years after the Flood.  Because there is some variance among manuscripts of the LXX (due to copyist errors), just as there is variance among older MT manuscripts, some copies of the LXX have the begetting age of Methuselah as 187, with the result being that he died six years before the Flood (because his lifespan remains the same).  The MT also has his begetting age as 187.  Common sense dictates that Methuselah died before the Flood, since he was not on the Ark with Noah, so that one change from the NETS was made.

Wikipedia.org was used to find up to date archeological and historical information, though this is not an endorsement of the opinions expressed there.  In addition to the dates for the various empires, reigns, and military campaigns, the following dates are from Wikipedia: (1) birth of Judah (circa [about] 1600bc), (2) birth of Obed (c.1203bc) and (3) siege of Jebus/Jerusalem by King David (c.1010bc).  

The following are archeological explanations for some of the dates on the timeline:

1. The Flood: All the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the flood gates of heaven were opened (Genesis 7:11 [in part]).   Only Noah and his immediate family survived this punishment for mankind's sins, by following God’s instructions to build an ark. 

The Shuruppak flood, which occurred, at a minimum, in the region of Mesopotomia, ended the Jemdet Nasr period³ in c.2,900bc.⁴  It forms the basis of perhaps the earliest written flood account, the story of King Utnapishtim (which has similarities to the Biblical event, such as the building of an ark to save certain people and animals, and the releasing of birds from it to determine if the land was again dry).  There is also evidence of an approximately 5,000-year-old underwater impact crater (Burckle Crater) in the Indian Ocean; a meteor or comet may have caused a tsunami⁵ that coincided with heavy rain and overflowing of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.  Mesopotamia is where the Tower of Babel (Babylon) was later constructed and is where Abraham would be born, in Ur of Chaldees.

2. Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: God rained fire and brimstone upon these cities as a punishment for their exceedingly grave sins. This occurred about a year before Abraham’s son, Isaac, was born.  

There is evidence that a meteor airburst destroyed cities in the region just north of the Dead Sea where Sodom and Gomorrah are believed to have been located (Tell el-Hammam excavations).  In addition to the explosion, the resulting vacuum sucked in salt and other minerals from the Dead Sea and deposited them onto the cities.⁶  According to pottery/stratigraphic evidence this occurred sometime between 1750 and 1650bc.

3. Entry of Jacob/Israel and family into Egypt: one of Jacob’s sons, Joseph, was brought to Egypt as a slave but, being blessed by God, was raised by the pharaoh to second-in-command.  Through Joseph, God saved His chosen people, as well as the Egyptians, from the effects of a seven-year famine.  Jacob/Israel and his household were welcomed to Egypt.

This would have occurred during the Hyksos period (c.1650 – 1522bc⁷), ending with Pharaoh Khamudi's reign.  The Hyksos ruled lower, and part of upper, Egypt and were originally from the Levant (greater Syria including Canaan).⁸  Only a Hyksos pharaoh would have been willing to place Joseph, who was from the Levant, as second-in-command (ancient Egyptians looked with contempt on most non-Egyptians).  Later a pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph, and enslaved the children of Israel (Exodus 1:8-11).

4. Exodus from Egypt: in order to free the Israelites, God devastated Egypt with ten plagues.  Pharaoh finally freed them, but changed his mind and led his army out into the desert in pursuit.  God divided the water of the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to cross, then released it onto pharaoh’s army and chariots (the Bible does not claim that pharaoh himself drowned) (Exodus 14:28; Deuteronomy 11:4). 

This likely occurred during the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III (1391 – 1353bc or 1388 – 1351bc).  Egypt's economy⁹ and international power¹⁰ were in steep decline during the latter part of his reign, and unlike other pharaohs of that period, he only engaged in one military campaign during his entire 38 year reign, in the fifth year (1387 or 1384bc).¹¹  This is understandable if, not long thereafter, his army was drowned in the Red Sea. 

These events also explain why Amenhotep’s son and successor, Pharaoh Akhenaten, was the only monotheist (worshipper of one god) in ancient times besides the Jews.  God designed the ten plagues to systematically undermine the polytheism (worship of multiple gods) of Egypt (Exodus 7:5).  Akhenaten may have witnessed them himself or learned about them as a child. 

The tenth plague slew the first-born son of every Egyptian family, including that of pharaoh.  Akhenaten's older brother, Crown Prince Thutmose, is thought by some scholars to have died as an adult during the third decade of Amenhotep III's reign, because of his titles, such as "High priest of Ptah in Memphis" and “Overseer of the Priests of Upper and Lower Egypt”, and because someone stood in for the heir of Amenhotep III during his 30^th regnal year celebrations; the assumption is that Thutmose had died shortly prior, before Akhenaten could be named as successor.¹²  However, the mummy of an unidentified, roughly ten-year-old boy was found buried next to Amenhotep III's wife, Tiye.¹³  Tiye was married to Amenhotep by the second year of his reign.¹⁴  

Arielle Kozloff holds the opinion that Amenhotep III and Tiye married and had Thutmose before Amenhotep’s reign began.  She places Thutmose’s death during a large gap in Amenhotep's otherwise prodigious record keeping (from c.1380 to 1373bc), putting Thutmose in his late teens or early twenties.  This was likely a period of plague and pestilence, since Amenhotep commissioned hundreds of statues of the goddess Sekhmet in an attempt to ward these off and promote healing.¹⁵ 

An elaborate sarcophagus was carved for Thutmose's pet cat, possibly a hint that he was young at the time.  His full titles are inscribed on this sarcophagus.

5. Entry into and conquest of Canaan (the Promised Land): over a seven year period the Israelites conquered land east of the Jordan River (because the inhabitants refused to let them pass peaceably) and, after God held back the waters of the Jordan to allow them to cross, most of the Promised Land west of the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea (Deuteronomy 2:14 & 2:26 - 3:2; Joshua 3:15-16 & 14:6-10).  The initial conquest of the Promised Land was led by Joshua (guided by an angel—likely St. Michael the archangel [Joshua 5:13-16]).  God had allowed Moses to see across the Jordan into the Promised Land before he died, but as a punishment for his sins, He had not allowed him to enter. 

Scarabs inscribed with Pharaoh Amenhotep III's cartouche were found in tombs at Jericho, the first Canaanite city destroyed by the Israelites, so its destruction must have been after his reign had begun (in either 1391 or 1388bc¹⁶) and probably well after.¹⁷  More precisely, several of the letters that were written by Egypt’s Canaanite vassals to the pharaohs during, or just prior to, the Amarna period begged for help in fighting off attacking Habiru.¹⁸  

The Amarna period began when Pharaoh Akhenaten in the fifth year of his reign (c.1346bc)¹⁹ established a new capital at what is now called Amarna, and ended shortly after Pharaoh Tutankhamun announced its abandonment in 1330bc.²⁰  Based on the chronology of events described in these and other Amarna letters, the particular letters in question were probably written in the latter part of the Amarna period.²¹  

Habiru (Hebrews) was a Canaanite term meaning "nomads", "raiders" or "rebels" and became another name for the Israelites.  “All Israelites were Hebrews, but not all Hebrews were Israelites."²²  These letters (more accurately, clay tablets) describe a severe war, in which cities are being lost to the Habiru.²³  One letter from the king of Gazer (Gazru) to an unnamed pharaoh captures the mood:

I have listened to the words of the messenger of the king, my lord, very carefully.  May the king, my lord, the Sun from the sky, take thought for his land.  Since the 'Apiru (Habiru) are stronger than we, may the king, my lord, give me his help, and may the king, my lord, get me away from the 'Apiru lest the 'Apiru destroy us.²⁴

The Egyptians sent them no assistance.  According to the Bible, Egypt's army had still not recovered after the incident at the Red Sea (Deuteronomy 11:4). 

Eijah and Jonah are included in this Old Testament timeline due to their importance to the New, as well as the Old, Testament.  Elijah came with Moses to converse with Jesus at His Transfiguration about His own upcoming exodus.  While Moses and Elijah had ceased living on Earth long before they met with Him, there is no reason to doubt that they were physically present.  Elijah had been taken up to heaven in a whirlwind (IV Kings [II Kings] 2:11), and sometime after Moses' death his body had been retrieved by St. Michael the archangel (Jude 1:9).  Jonah is included because Christ drew comparisons between Himself and Jonah, who had also been willing to sacrifice his life for others (Jonah 1:12). 

by Mark A. Calhoun

Composed: 2024