Biblical Chronology

We present our Biblical chronology in Table VII, which spans exactly 7,000 years. Adam was created on 1 Nisan (15 April, Friday) 3970 BC and the world will end on 29 Adar 3031 AD. The chronology is purely based on Scriptural passages of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible and on the proof that Solomon's temple was first destroyed in 587 BC (see Chapter 11). The Biblical verse references and/or comments are provided in the last column of the table. In the second column, we provide years, seasons, and dates.

From the creation of Adam to the birth of Noah, the chronology is straightforward. No detailed explanation is required nor provided. In the following sections, we will provide detailed explanations for certain parts of the chronology that are not so straightforward.

Based on the Scriptural passages of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible, we deduce that Adam was created in the spring of 3970 BC. But on which day was he created? The Scriptures provide us with insight. First, according to Moses, he must have been created on a Friday, on the sixth day of God's creation week. Second, God told Moses to set up the tabernacle of God on the first day of the first month (Exodus 40:2). Third, God's tabernacle on the earth symbolizes God's dwelling with us (Exodus 25:8, Revelation 21:3). God created man in His image to have dominion over all His creations on the earth (Genesis 1:26) and to have a loving relationship with Him (God dwells with man). When God made Adam and Eve, He stayed in the Garden and lived with them. God dwelled with them in the sixth day. Therefore, Adam should have been created on Nisan 1, during the sixth day of God's creation week.

According to the calculated Hebrew lunisolar calendar, Nisan 1 of 3970 BC should have been on April 14, on Thursday. That is one day off from Friday. This discrepancy can be naturally resolved if we accept the fact that God doubled the length of a day for Joshua, as recorded in the book of Joshua (Joshua 10:12-13). Because the Sun and the Moon appeared to be still and the day length doubled (Joshua 10:13), the Earth's rotation in that day should have been slowed down significantly while the orbital motions of the Sun and the Moon remained intact. After God did this miracle for Joshua, He should have reset the Earth's rotational speed back to the original one.

Because the calculated Hebrew calendar is based on the assumption that there has been no change in the motions of the Moon, the Sun, and the Earth from the creation, the miracle in the time of Joshua should lead to a modification for the calculated Hebrew calendars before the miracle day in 1417 BC, when God doubled its length. The modification causes the first months of all the lunar months in the calculated lunisolar calendars before the miracle day of 1471 BC to be shifted forward by one day to yield the true calendars. In Chapters 7 and 9, we did not make the one-day correction before the miracle day of 1417 BC when we described various astronomical phenomena such as the predicted lunar and solar eclipses. However, the calendars before the miracle day of 1417 BC listed in Appendix D are the true calendars, which have been corrected by the one-day shift. With this correction, Nisan 1 of 3970 BC was on April 15 (Friday) in the true calendar (see Appendix D). This appears to cause a problem: the first day of the 7^th month is correspondingly moved to Sunday, which is not allowed according to the rules of "postponement" (see Chapter 2). Since the rules of "postponement" have been designed for observing the Feasts of God, there is no point in respecting these rules before starting the Feasts of God in 969 BC. Therefore, it is permissible for Nisan 1 of 3970 BC to be on April 15 (Friday).

How special is Nisan 1 of 3970 BC? The number of days for the 7,000 lunisolar years from 1 Nisan (April 15) 3970 BC to 1 Nisan (17 March) 3031 can be calculated from the Julian day numbers of these two days. From the Stellarium Program, we find JD 271485 for the day of 15 April 3970 BC and JD 2828185 for the day of 17 March 3031. Thus, there are 2,828,185 – 271,485 days = 2,556,700 days from Nisan 1 of 3970 BC to Nisan 1 of 3031. The average number of days per year within the 7,000 lunisolar years is 2,556,700/7,000 = 365.242857 = (7×7×7) + (7+7+7) + 7×(1/7+1/49+1/70). It is remarkable that the 365.242857 days for the year length can be perfectly expressed by God's holy number 7 and its multiples. If the first lunisolar year had started from any other year, the average number of days per year within the period of 7000 lunisolar years would not be the "magic" number. If God had not doubled Joshua's day length, neither would one get the "magic" number.

Nisan 1 of 3970 BC should be the beginning of the second year in the lunisolar calendar. The first year was before Nisan 1 of 3970 BC and lasted for only five days in terms of God's absolute clock. The five days may have been very long in terms of the human clock (see Chapter 28).

Genesis 8:1-5 reads, "Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.  The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. And the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen."

These verses tell us that at the end of 150 days of the flood the waters decreased, and after 150 days from the flood the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat in the 17^th day of the 7^th month. Verses 3 and 4 talk about two different events which are connected by the Hebrew word "ו" meaning "and." The connection with the word "and" means that the two different events could happen at the same time or sequentially. Since the first event occurred at the end of 150 days after the flood, the second event should have taken place at least 150 days after the flood. We also know that the second event happened in the 17^th day of the 7^th month, which was five months after the flood started in the 17^th day of the 2^nd month (Genesis 7:11). Therefore, the second event took place five months or at least 150 days after the flood. If the author had used a lunisolar calendar to record the flood events, the record would not make any sense because the maximum number of days for 5 lunar months is 148 days, which cannot match the day number of at least 150. Therefore, Moses (in fact Noah himself) must not have used a lunisolar calendar to record the flood.

A solar calendar was described in the book of Enoch (see Chapter 4). Since Enoch was the great grandfather of Noah, it is likely that Noah used Enoch's solar calendar to record the flood events. If this is the case, there should have been 152±1 days from the 17^th day of the 2^nd month to the 17^th day of the 7^th month (see the calendar of 2315 BC in Appendix D). The uncertainty of ±1 day is because the exact starting time of the flood and the exact resting time of the ark are unknown. The 152±1 days for the 5 Enoch's months are over 150 days, in perfect agreement with the flood account. Therefore, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat at least one day after the waters started to decrease at the end of 150 days from the flood.

The first day of the first month in Enoch's solar calendar is always on the Wednesday of the week within which the Vernal Equinox falls. The flood started on the 17^th day of the second month, in the six hundredth year of Noah's life (Genesis 7:11). Since the first day of the first month of the coming year was in the six hundred and first year of Noah's life (Genesis 8:13), Noah must have been born on or before the first day of the first solar month.

The flood started on the 17^th day of the second month, in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, which was on 25 May 2315 BC (see the calendar of 2315 BC in Appendix D). The rain lasted for 40 days and 40 nights and stopped on 4 July 2315 BC. The 17^th day of the 7^th solar month in 2315 BC was on October 24 while October 25 was on the feast day of Tabernacles (Tishri 15). Thus, the ark should have rested on the mountains of Ararat right before sunset of October 24 so that Noah's family might have celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles after sunset of October 24.

On the 27^th day of the second month of the following year (3 June 2314 BC), in the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, God commanded Noah and his family to leave the ark. Because God commanded them to enter the ark one week before the flood started (Genesis 7:4), one week should have been enough time for them to bring many living creatures into the ark and to place them in prescribed locations. Similarly, it may also have taken one week for them to untie and bring these creatures out of the ark and to clean the waste in the ark. After finishing all the work probably on 10 June 2314 BC, on Sivan 6 (the sixth day of the third lunar month), on the day of Pentecost, Noah built an altar and made burnt offerings to Yehowah. Then Yehowah made a covenant with Noah and set a rainbow in the cloud for the sign of the covenant. This is the everlasting covenant between Yehowah and every living creature: He shall no longer destroy the earth and living things with a flood.

Even after the recent discovery of Noah's ark on Mt. Ararat, Biblical scholars have not been able to provide any convincing explanation as to where the flood fits in history. Our Biblical chronology indicates that Noah's flood began on 25 May 2315 BC and the waters started to decrease after 150 days. It is amazing that Noah's flood took place in the same year as that of China's great flood recorded by both the Bamboo Annals and the Canon of Yao. The Bamboo Annals recorded, "(帝尧)六十一年，命崇伯鲧治河." Our English translation is: "In the 61^st year of (Emperor Yao), Yao commanded Chong Bo Gun to control the flood." The Canon of Yao also recorded that in his 61^st year, Yao appointed Gun to control the flood because the waters of the very destructive flood had embraced the hills and overtopped the great heights, threatening the heavens. China's great flood described in the Canon of Yao was similar to Noah's flood (Genesis 7:19), "The waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that under the whole heaven were covered."

According to the Chinese chronology presented in Chapter 9, the first year of Emperor Yao was from the fall of 2376 BC to the fall of 2375 BC. Thus, the 61^st year of Yao was from the fall of 2316 BC to the fall of 2315 BC. Noah's flood started on 25 May 2315 BC and the rain was upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights (Genesis 7:12). The period of the flood (from 25 May to 4 July 2315 BC) was indeed in the 61^st year of Yao. This proves that the flood recorded by the Chinese was the same as the one recorded in the Hebrew Bible. Since the Chinese chronology is based on concurrently recorded historical events with the astronomical phenomena, it has no uncertainty concerning the time of the flood. Therefore, the Chinese chronology has verified the great accuracy of the Biblical chronology, which is purely based on the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. This also proves that the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible, which has been so carefully and faithfully preserved by the Jews, is the most accurate Hebrew Bible.

There is some disagreement among Biblical chronologists as to whether Terah was 70 or 130 years old when his son, Abram (later renamed Abraham), was born. The view that Terah was 130 years old at the birth of Abraham is based on the following verses: Acts 7:4, Genesis 11:32, and Genesis 12:4. Acts 7:4 says, "Then he (Abraham) came out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Haran, and from there when his father was dead, He (God) moved him into this land in which you now dwell." Now consider also Genesis 11:32, "And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran," and Genesis 12:4, "... Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran." Subtracting 75 from 205 yields 130 for Terah's age at the birth of Abraham.

The view that Terah was 70 years old at the birth of Abraham is based on Genesis 11:26 and Genesis 17:17. Genesis 11:26 says, "And Terah lived 70 years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran." If one assumes that Abram was Terah's firstborn because his name was mentioned first, he would have been born when Terah was 70. However, the first mention of his name does not necessarily mean that Abram was the firstborn.

To prove this point, let's look at the other places in the book of Genesis. Genesis 5:32 states: "And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth." Like the situation with Terah's begetting of Abraham, Nahor, and Haran, here we read that at the age of 500, Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Was Shem the firstborn? Or was Shem mentioned the first because of his significance? In all likelihood, the evidence indicates that Shem was not the firstborn but was instead born three years after the firstborn.

Genesis 7:6 says, "Noah was six hundred years old when the flood waters were on the earth." Also take account of Genesis 8:13, "And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry." Moreover, Genesis 11:10 states, "Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood." If Shem was the first-born, he would have been 103 years old at the end of two years after the flood. But Genesis 11:10 reveals that Shem was 100 years old at that time. This proves that Shem was indeed not the first-born but simply mentioned first. In fact, Japheth is older than Shem according to Genesis 10:21, "And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder."

Therefore, the firstborn must have been Japheth. Whether or not Shem was older than Ham depends on our understanding of Genesis 9:24, "So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew that his younger son (Ham) had done to him." Here, "younger" translated in NKJV could be also translated into "youngest," as found in other versions of English translation. If "younger" is the only correct translation here, his younger son could refer to the second or the youngest. If the names of Noah's three sons were mentioned according to their importance, Japheth would be mentioned right after Shem, and Ham would be the last because one of his sons Canaan was cursed. In all likelihood, Moses arranged the names from the youngest to the oldest, as in both cases: Noah's begetting of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Terah's begetting of Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. Both Shem and Abraham were the youngest.

Genesis 17:17 is another verse that appears to support the view that Terah was 70 years old at the birth of Abraham. In Genesis 17:17, when God told Abraham that he would have a child at the age of one hundred, Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?"

Abraham would not have thought that it was strange at all if his own father (Terah) had been 130 years old when he was born. Although this appears to be a reasonable argument, we can discount it by considering the following facts:

1. Abraham didn't seem to have any trouble believing that he could bear a child by Hagar

2. It would be extremely difficult for Sarah to bear a child at her age. Abraham's own health may have also been deteriorating. This may partially explain his unbelief.

3. Since he had now been living with Hagar for 13 years without bearing additional children, he may have had the idea that he was no longer able to beget.

4. After Sarah had died at the age of 127 (Genesis 23:1-2), Abraham was over 140 years old. He took another wife and had 6 more kids by her (Genesis 25:1-6). This proves that Abraham's age of 99 and Terah's age of 130 had no problem with childbearing.

The above facts show that a man of 100 years old would have still been considered to be able to father children, while a woman of 90 years would be extremely difficult to bear a child. This point is further supported by Genesis 18:11, "Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing." This verse provides a general view of that generation that only Sarah but not Abraham passed the age of childbearing although both were old. Therefore, Abraham's unbelief could be due to the age of his wife Sarah only.

When Abraham was 75 years old, he and his family left Haran and went to the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:4-5). He also went down to Egypt and dwelt there when there was a famine in the land (Genesis 12:10). When Abraham left Haran, God blessed him and promised that all the families of the earth shall be blessed in him. From the time when Abraham settled in Canaan to the time when the children of Israel went out of Egypt, there should have been 430 years. The time interval of 430 years is inferred from Exodus 12:40-41, which says, "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt (and Canaan), was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of Yehowah went out from the land of Egypt." Both Samarian Pentateuch and Greek Septuagint read "who dwelt in Egypt and Canaan."

Abraham is considered to be the father of the nation of Israel. God often refers to Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (e.g., Genesis 50:24 and Exodus 3:15). This name of God emphasizes the covenant that God made with Israel. The Israelites have become God's chosen people from the time of Abraham. God repeated the Abrahamic Covenant to three different generations: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All were given the promise of land, many descendants, and blessing. God first called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan, establishing a covenant with him (Genesis 12:1-3). God reaffirmed the same covenant with Abraham's son, Isaac (Genesis 21:12; Genesis 26:3-4), and later with Isaac's son, Jacob (Genesis 28:14–15). God who established and ratified this covenant is rightly called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, the 430-year period started from the time when Abraham moved to Canaan at his age of 75.

Two thousand years ago, the orthodox Jews understood Exodus 12:40-41 similarly. Josephus stated in Antiquities of the Jews (book 13, 61), "Solomon began to build the temple in the fourth year of his reign, on the second month, which the Macedonians call Artemisius, and the Hebrews Jur, five hundred and ninety-two [592] years after the exodus out of Egypt; but one thousand and twenty [1020] years from Abraham's coming out of Mesopotamia into Canaan." This statement implies that there should have been 1020 – 592 years = 428 years from the time when Abraham entered Canaan to the time when the Israelites went out of Egypt. The length of 428 years is close to the length of 430 years stated in Exodus 12:40-41.

Josephus told us that 592 years had elapsed from the exodus from Egypt to the start of the construction of the holy temple. This is inconsistent with 480 years directly quoted from 1 Kings 6:1. Masoretic Text, Targum, and Vulgate all read 480 years except for 440 years in Septuagint. The forty years shorter in Septuagint may be due to mistranslation or a copyist error.

The length of 592 years may be inferred from the Biblical interpretation of the Jews at that time. According to Josephus, the Israelites took 40 years to wander in the wilderness, 30 years to conquer and divide the land, 20 years to be led by Saul (Antiq., bk. 6, 378) after the judge's period, 40 years to be reigned by King David, and 4 years to be reigned by Solomon before he began to build the temple. Adding all the numbers above yields 134 years. The length of the judge's total ruling period is calculated to be 458 years by subtracting 134 years from 592 years. The number of about 460 years could be deduced from the book of Judges on the assumption that the ruling periods of different judges did not overlap. However, this number of 592 years is much different from that of 1 Kings 6:1, suggesting that there were significant ruling overlaps among different judges.

1 Kings 6:1 says, "And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Yehowah." We know that 480 years elapsed between the exodus from Egypt and the time that King Solomon began to build the holy temple, in the fourth year of his reign.

2 Chronicles 3:2 reads: "And he began to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign." Solomon started to build the temple in the second day of the second month, in the 4^th year of his reign. The date should have been on 16 April 977 BC (also see discussion in Chapter 11).

The lunisolar calendar in 977 BC needs to be carefully constructed according to the intercalation rule: the 13^th month is added only if the first full moon after the 12^th month falls before the day of the Vernal Equinox. The first full moon after the 12^th month of 978 BC was at 22:15 on March 29 of 977 BC, which was on the Jewish day of March 30. The Vernal Equinox in that year was at 7:35 on March 30, so the full moon fell on the same day as the Vernal Equinox. According to the intercalation rule, the year of 978 BC was a regular year without the 13^th month. Therefore, Nisan 1 was on March 16, and the second day of the second month was on April 16 (see the calendar of 977 BC in Appendix D).

The children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt on the 15^th day of the first month of 1457 BC (25 April 1457 BC). One can easily show that the time difference of the two events was 480 solar years minus 4 days. This number means that the construction of the holy temple indeed started at the end of the 480^th year from the time when the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt. This confirms the accuracy of the Biblical statement: "And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the second day of the second month, that he began to build the house of Yehowah."

From the chronology of Judah and Israel's Kings (see Chapter 11), we see that the time interval between the commencement of building Solomon's temple and the destruction of Jerusalem is 390 years. This confirms the prophecy of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 4:4-5), "Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel." Ezekiel's prophecy is about the siege and destruction of Jerusalem as seen from the previous verses (Ezekiel 4:1-3): "You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem. Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around. Moreover take for yourself an iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it."

The end-point of the 390-year prophetic period corresponds to the time when Jerusalem was destroyed, but the prophet did not provide any information about the starting point of the prophetic period. Therefore, nobody was able to verify whether this prophecy had been fulfilled. Nevertheless, we can get insight from the following prophecy (Ezekiel 4:6): "And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year." This second prophecy is about the destruction of Jerusalem for the second time due to the iniquity of the Jews. It is well known that Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, exactly forty years after crucifixion of Yeshua in 30 AD (see the date of Yeshua's crucifixion in Chapter 12). Yeshua referred to his own body as the temple and prophesized that his body would be destroyed and be raised up in three days and three nights. This implies that the resurrected body of Yeshua is the temple of God, which was built after his resurrection, in agreement with Revelation 21:22, "But I saw no temple in it, for Yehowah God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple."

For the second prophecy, the starting point of the 40-year period was the construction of a spiritual temple, which was the resurrected body of Yeshua. By analogy, the starting point of the 390-year prophetic period should have been the starting time of building the physical temple. Indeed, there were 390 years plus about 100 days from the commencement of the construction of Solomon's temple to the destruction of Jerusalem (see Chapter 11).

In Chapter 11, we will show that Jerusalem was destroyed on 28 July (10 Av) 587 BC (the 10^th day of the fifth month). This exact time is consistent with the Babylonian chronology (see Chapter 8), which is confirmed by all recorded astronomical phenomena. This fixed point of reference allows us to construct the absolute Biblical chronology very accurately. The accuracy of the chronology can be independently confirmed by the Chinese chronology, which is accurate back to 2716 BC due to the concurrently recorded astronomical phenomena (Chapter 9). The chronology is also in agreement with the chronology of the Ancient Near East (Chapter 7), where the first mighty Mesopotamian king Sargon was actually Nimrod, the Almighty man described in Genesis 10:8-12.