An Astounding Timeline

*  According to Daniel’s prophecy, if you count 69 groups of 7 years, with each year being 360 days (69x7x360) from that date, the count lands in April of the year AD 32 – the year in which the Messiah was to be “cut off” (executed). Note that we use 360 days/year in the calculation to coincide with the Jewish calendar. In Luke, Chapter 2, there’s the story of Anna and Simeon, who had used OT prophecy (from Daniel) to tell them when to look for the Messiah. Daniel’s prophecy extended to the execution of the Messiah, yet Mr. Law added an 8^th Period because it made sense to conclude his timeline with the death of Jesus. The ~33 years of Jesus’ life and ministry are not counted because they are included in Daniel’s prophecy.

I thought that Steve’s premise was brilliant, so I wanted to share his approach in this blog. I won’t be going into the same level of detail as he did, so if you want more specifics, please read his article. I will, however, do my best to verify all his claims.

Period #1: From Adam to the Flood (1,656 years)

In Genesis 5, the entire genealogy from Adam to Noah is listed in great detail. It tells how old each successive person was when they had their first child and how old they were when they died. There were 10 generations from Adam to Noah, and all you have to do is do the math. The number 1,656 pops out with no difficulty. This is the longest of the eight periods, but it is the easiest one to calculate.

Period #2: From the Flood to Abraham (427 years)

Abraham was a descendant of Noah’s second son, Shem. There were eight generations between Noah and Abraham, according to the genealogies in Genesis 11:10-12:4. Things are not as simple to calculate here, as some adjustments are made for when each of Noah’s sons were born and how that affected the start of the Flood. However, the adjustments are minor – only a couple of years in either direction.  The counting ends when Abraham enters the Promised Land, as the next period is tied to a rather specific prophecy. Bottom line, the total years for this cycle equals 427 years.

 Period #3: From Abraham to the Exodus (430 years)

This period is not as straightforward as the first two due to confusion about how to interpret certain prophecies. For example, in Exodus 12:40 (CEV) it says, “The Lord’s people left Egypt exactly 430 years after they had arrived.” Pretty clear, right? The 430 years appear to apply only to the time the Israelites were in Egypt. But Galatians 3:17 (NCV) says, “God had an agreement with Abraham and promised to keep it. The law, which came four hundred thirty years later, cannot change that agreement and so destroy God’s promise to Abraham.” God made that agreement (covenant) with Abraham while Abraham was still in the Promised Land. So, which timeline is correct? Steve Law’s article does not deal with this apparent contradiction. Fortunately, I have. In my book, God (still) has BIG Plans for the Jews, in Appendix A, I quote an article by David Wright[2] In his article, Dr. Wright points out that Israel was only in captivity in Egypt for 215 years, but from the time of God’s covenant with Abraham to the captivity was another 215 years, thus a total of 430 years. Again, for brevity, if you would like to know more, please read Dr. Wright’s article (or, better yet, my book).

Period #4: From Exodus to when the 1^st Temple was Built (480 years)

The main issue with this period revolves around the timing of the Exodus. But thanks to scholars like Dr. Wright (and others), much of this confusion has been resolved. Steve draws out the math as follows:

• • The Jews spent 40 years in the wilderness.
  • There were 300 years of early judges.
  • There were 50-60 years of later judges.
  • Kings Saul and David ruled for 80 years.
  • Then, add 4 years to King Solomon’s reign, which is the year he began building the Temple.

40+300+50+80+4 = 474 years. Ten more if we use “60” years instead of “50.” Apparently, we’re not yet there, so what’s missing? 1 Kings 6:1 (NCV) says:

“6 Solomon began to build the Temple four hundred eighty years after the people of Israel had left Egypt. This was during the fourth year of King Solomon’s rule over Israel.”

Case closed.

Period #5: From the 1^st Temple to its Destruction and Judah Exiled to Babylon (426 years)

This is, without doubt, the most confusing and difficult period to calculate because, after King Solomon’s reign, Israel split up into two kingdoms – both of which were ultimately sent into exile – at different times. As Steve points out, the Bible does provide (once again) pretty clear genealogies for the Kings of both Judah and Israel; unfortunately, there is a 20-year discrepancy between those reigns. Steve quotes one scholar, Edwin Thiele, as having resolved much of the controversy by aligning the biblical chronology with a chronology of Assyrian kings during the same period and determining a span of 345 years for the split kingdom. Then, if one works backward from the Temple’s destruction in 586 BCE using these new numbers, the span for this period is 390 years. This syncs up with a prophecy in Ezekiel 4:

⁴ “Then lie down on your left side, and take the guilt of Israel on yourself. Their guilt will be on you for the number of days you lie on your left side. ⁵ I have given you the same number of days as the years of the people’s sin. So you will have the guilt of Israel’s sin on you for three hundred ninety days.  Ezekiel 4:4-8 NCV

Now, we can finish the math by adding in the final 36 years of Solomon’s reign after the Temple was built: 390+36 = 426 Years.

Period #6: From the Babylonian captivity to Daniel 9 ( 130 146 years)

At this point in the exercise, I have to totally refute Steve’s assertion that one could make these calculations “in an hour.” Although the Bible is helpful, there are many “blind spots” along the way that could add or subtract a few years from the calculation. I’ve spent hours just “back-checking” and “fact-checking” Steve’s logic. To assemble this stuff from scratch would be even harder. I still think it is a worthwhile adventure because (in the end) we’ll have a reasonably good number to establish humanity’s timeline.

The 9^th chapter of Daniel records one of the most important prophecies in the entire Bible. In it, Daniel reveals God’s timeline for Israel’s future and the coming of the Messiah. However, the first step in that process required something extraordinary to happen to the Jews in Babylon. As Steve points out, “This is one of the amazing aspects of Israel’s story, which is unique in the history of the world.” Only God could have arranged such a miracle! The significance of what took place during this period cannot be overstated. Several key events had to line up in preparation for the coming of the Messiah (And take note that the Jews did not recognize nor appreciate what was happening at the time, at least not with regard to the Messiah):

• • The King of Babylon, King Cyrus, issued a decree that allowed the Jews to return to their native lands, rebuild their cities, and worship their own God. No conquering king had ever done anything like that before! This was nothing less than a miracle of God!
  • Since the tribe of Judah was one of the two tribes exiled to Babylon (Benjamin was the other), this allowed Judah to preserve the integrity of its tribe, unlike the other 10 tribes of Israel, which were lost to assimilation when they were conquered by the Assyrians. They are now referred to as the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” God did this because Judah is the tribe of King David, and many prophets had predicted that the Messiah would come from the line of King David, so this tribe needed to preserve the integrity of its line.
  • This action by King Cyrus also set in motion Nehemiah’s bid to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls of the city, which ultimately led to the rebuilding of the Second Temple – the one that had to be built before the coming of the Messiah.

To accurately date the length of this period, we know that the Jews were in captivity for 70 years based on the first “week” of Daniel’s prophecy (or, if you prefer, Jeremiah 25:9-11 (NCV): “⁹ I will send for all the peoples of the north,” says the Lord… “and these nations will be slaves of the king of Babylon for seventy years.”  The exile began in ~606 BCE and, 70 years later, King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return in ~536 BCE.

At this point, I’m going to dispute the timeline provided by Steve in his account. There is no question that Period #7 has to be 483 years long, as that is where the math takes us in Daniel’s prophecy. And Period #7 begins when King Cyrus issues a decree allowing the rebuilding of Jerusalem (not the Temple, but the city). We read in Daniel 9:25 (NCV) that “A command will come to rebuild Jerusalem.” Nehemiah 2:1 (NCV) tells us, “It was the month of Nisan in the twentieth year Artaxerxes was king.” So, it was King Artaxerxes who allowed Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The only question is, “In what year did that take place?” Well, as I remember my high school math, solving an equation where there is only one variable is a piece of cake.

• • IF the endpoint of this calculation is when Jesus was crucified, THEN we’re talking roughly 33AD. The prophecy in Daniel 9: 25-26 (NCV) is clear, which says:

A command will come to rebuild Jerusalem. The time from this command until the appointed leader comes will be forty-nine years and four hundred thirty-four years (483). Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and a trench filled with water around it, but it will be built in times of trouble. ²⁶ After the four hundred thirty-four years, the appointed leader (the Messiah) will be killed; he will have nothing.

Daniel does an interesting thing in this passage – he divided it up into 49 years (7 weeks) and 434 years (62 weeks) for a total of 69 of his 70-week prophecy. One theory suggests that because Nehemiah is the last book in the Old Testament, there were 49 years between the time Nehemiah rebuilt the wall and when he wrote his book. Then, there were 434 years in which God was silent before the coming of Jesus.

• • If we subtract 483 years from 33AD, we get a date of 430 BCE – a date that fits just fine with what is known about the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

Now, using my math versus Steve’s, our starting point is 606 BCE, and our end point is 430 BCE – for a total of 146 years, 16 years longer than what Steve came up with.

Period #7 and #8: From Daniel’s prophecy to the Messiah’s Death (483 years)

Since we already know that this period is covered in the Daniel prophecy, I could just stop here. But Steve has me fired up! When was Jesus actually born? What was the timeline of his life? And what do we know about the year of His death? Here’s what I learned[3]:

• • Jesus was born somewhere between 6 BCE and 2 BCE. Because of the many Gospel references to Tiberius, Herod, the census, and when Jesus began His ministry, it can be determined that Jesus was born between August of 4 BCE and August of 2 BCE.
  • Jesus was most likely born in the Summer, not the winter, for at least two reasons:
    • Shepherds would not be out in the fields with their sheep in winter – it’s too cold.
    • The most logical astrological signs mentioned in the Bible can be traced to having taken place in August or September, not December.
  • In Luke 3:23, we are told that Jesus began His ministry at the age of 30 (In accordance with Numbers 4:3, where the minimum age of a priest was set at 30).
  • Once one dates the periods when Caiaphas was the high priest and Pilate was the governor of Judea, any crucifixion could only occur between 26 AD and 36 AD. Now, after looking at which dates fit with the celebration of Passover (Nisan 14 – the day the lambs were slain), you only get two:
    • Friday, April 3, AD 33
    • Friday, March 30, AD 36

The only one that fits all the facts is in AD 33. Thus, Jesus would have been approximately 35-37 years old when he died.

• • Finally, if you’d like to watch a video that shows (better than anything I’ve ever seen) what Jesus’ life looked like, check out this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ5YeHbpeJU

What does it all mean?

And there you have it! The history of the world from Adam to the present day looks like this:

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