Chronology
Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)
is the arrangement of facts and events in the order of time. The writers of the Bible themselves do not adopt any standard era according to which they date events. Sometimes the years are reckoned, e.g., from the time of the Exodus (Numbers 1:1; 33:38; 1 Kings 6:1), and sometimes from the accession of kings (1 Kings 15:1, 9, 25, 33, etc.), and sometimes again from the return from Exile (Ezra 3:8). Hence in constructing a system of Biblecal chronology, the plan has been adopted of reckoning the years from the ages of the patriarchs before the birth of their first-born sons for the period from the Creation to Abraham. After this period other data are to be taken into account in determining the relative sequence of events. As to the patriarchal period, there are three principal systems of chronology: (1) that of the Hebrew text, (2) that of the Septuagint version, and (3) that of the Samaritan Pentateuch, as seen in the scheme on the opposite page. The Samaritan and the Septuagint have considerably modified the Hebrew chronology. This modification some regard as having been wilfully made, and to be rejected. The same system of variations is observed in the chronology of the period between the Flood and Abraham. Thus: From the birth of Arphaxad 2 years after the Flood, Hebrew Septuigant Samaritan to the birth of Terah. 220 1000 870 From the birth of Terah to the birth of Abraham. 130 70 72 The Septuagint fixes on seventy years as the age of Terah at the birth of Abraham, from Genesis 11:26; but a comparison of Genesis 11:32 and Acts 7:4 with Genesis 12:4 shows that when Terah died, at the age of two hundred and five years, Abraham was seventy-five years, and hence Terah must have been one hundred and thirty years when Abraham was born. Thus, including the two years from the Flood to the birth of Arphaxad, the period from the Flood to the birth of Abraham was three hundred and fifty-two years. 1 1 Hebrew Text 1 Septuigant Text 1 Samaritan 1 1 1 1 1 Pentateuch 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 1 2 3 1 1 2 3 1 1 Adam 1130 800 930 1 230 700 930 1 130 800 930 1 1 Seth 1105 807 912 1 205 707 912 1 105 807 912 1 1 Enos 1 90 815 905 1 190 715 905 1 90 815 905 1 1 Cainan 1 70 840 910 1 170 740 910 1 70 840 910 1 1 Mahalaleel 1 65 830 895 1 165 730 895 1 65 830 895 1 1 Jared 1162 800 962 1 162 800 962 1 62 785 947 1 1 Enoch 1 65 300 365 1 165 200 365 1 65 300 365 1 1 Methuselah 1187 782 969 1 187 782 969 1 67 653 720 1 1 Lamech 1182 595 777 1 188 565 753 1 53 600 653 1 1 1 Thus from Adam 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 to the birth of no ah 11056 1 1662 1 707 1 1 1 From birth of 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Noah to the Flood 1 600 1 600 1 600 1 1 1 From Adam to 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 the Flood. 1 1656 1 2262 1 1307 1 1 = Lived years before the birth of first son. 2 = Lived after birth of first son. 3 = Total life. The next period is from the birth of Abraham to the Exodus. This, according to the Hebrew, extends to five hundred and five years. The difficulty here is as to the four hundred and thirty years mentioned Exodus 12:40, 41; Galatians 3:17. These years are regarded by some as dating from the covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15), which was entered into soon after his sojourn in Egypt; others, with more probability, reckon these years from Jacob’s going down into Egypt. (See EXODUS.) Iln modern times the systems of Biblical chronology that have been adopted are chiefly those of Ussher and Hales. The former follows the Hebrew, and the latter the Septuagint mainly. Archbishop Ussher’s (died 1656) system is called the short chronology. It is that given on the margin of the Authorized Version, but is really of no authority, and is quite uncertain. Ussher Hales Creation: 4004 B.C. 5411 B.C. Flood: 2348 B.C. 3155 B.C. Abram leaves Ha ran: 1921 B.C. 2078 B.C. Exodus: 1491 B.C. 1648 B.C. Destruction of the Temple: 588 B.C. 586 B.C. To show at a glance the different ideas of the date of the creation, it may be interesting to note the following: From Creation to 1894. According to Ussher, 5,898; Hales, 7,305; Zunz (Hebrew reckoning), 5,882; Septuagint (Perowne), 7,305; Rabbinical, 5,654; Panodorus, 7,387; Anianus, 7,395; Constantinopolitan, 7,403; Eusebius, 7,093; Scaliger, 5,844; Dionysius (from whom we take our Christian era), 7,388; Maximus, 7,395; Syncellus and Theophanes, 7,395; Julius Africanus, 7,395; Jackson, 7,320.