Bible Chronology / Timeline from Adam to Zedekiah

Overview

I’ve spent a good 15 years trying to test a literal biblical timeline against contemporary ancient king lists, timelines, archaeological evidence, geological evidence and other modern channeled texts.

One of the things that’s really stuck out to me in studying Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian and Akkadian histories is that these ancient people used cultural genealogies to legitimize their authority in the same way that modern Western culture uses science to claim cultural superiority. Each of them followed a similar template of claiming direct descent from the ancient heroes and demigods–passing through the ancient cataclysms–straight to their established rulers and religious priesthoods. For them it was a form of nationalism, ego and pride. To have the oldest, most cohesive history of one’s culture was to be able to lay claim of superiority over other cultures (for examples, see this article on ancient examples of history revisionism). In a tradition carried out by many Jews and Christians alike today, to possess the “true” history (ie. scripture) of the world was to be able to claim the mandate of heaven and approval of the gods or God himself. Josephus’s “On the Antiquity of the Jews” is a prime example.

Despite being forced by overwhelming evidence to drop overly literal interpretations of the bible, my scholarly research has not altogether destroyed my faith in the Bible. In fact the more I study the enduring scriptural texts of ancient and modern cultures, the more I’m convinced that much of scripture come from a source of higher intelligence and that the king lists and timelines up to the period of the judges are likely the most accurate and complete one’s known. But what I have come to believe through reading a great deal of historical and channeled material is that the Bible is a text of mysticism as much as it is a text of history. The numbers, dates, names and accounts for periods before Moses seem to be trying to teach hidden concepts more than they seem to be trying to give a literal history. That’s not to say there is not literal basis for some of the incredible historical events mentioned in the text (such as the Fall, Flood, Peleg, Tower, etc). But it is to say that to interpret them as most literalists do (such as biblical creationists) is to destroy their purpose and depth—and especially their mystical significance.

For an in depth example, one only need read Swedenborg’s, mystic interpretation of the Bible in his Arcana Cœlestia.  As another example… take the narrative given in the channeled Oaspe text. In this account it is inferred that the list of individuals from Adam to Noah, and from Noah to Terah, may actually be archetypes pointing to cycles of time spanning tens of thousands of years instead of a literal father-son genealogy spanning a mere few hundred years. Studying the king lists in  Egyptian, Sumerian and Babylonian culture also adds a good deal of insight. As well as the creation accounts found Hindu scripture or texts like The Kolbrin.

For an excellent treatise on the patterns and ancient context of biblical dates see “Making Sense of the Numbers of Genesis“.

For a well research literal timeline of the Bible, see the work of Daniel Gregg at Torahtimes.org

>

Gen	Descendant of Adam	Notes about Life	Total Life Span	Begat son at…	Lived after that …	Prstd Ordin- ation	BIRTH (Yr-BC)	DEATH (Yr-BC)	Scripture reference’s) which give exact ages/dates.
1	Adam	Dates start at the Fall of Adam	930	130	800	–	4000 BC	3070 BC	Moses 6:10, 11, 12 – Gen 5:3, 4, 5
2	Seth	.	912	105	807	69	3870 BC	2958 BC	Moses 6:13, 14, 16 – Gen 5:6, 7, 8
3	Enos	.	905	90	815	134	3765 BC	2860 BC	Moses 6:17, 18 – Gen 5:9, 10, 11
4	Cainan	.	910	70	840	87	3675 BC	2765 BC	Moses 6:19 – Gen 5:12, 13, 14
5	Mahalaleel	.	895	65	830	496	3605 BC	2710 BC	Moses 6:20 – Gen 5:15, 16, 17
6	Jared	.	962	162	800	200	3540 BC	2578 BC	Moses 6:21, 24 – Gen 5:18, 19, 20
7	Enoch	Enoch translated either when 365 or 430 yrs old (in 1052 A.F. Or 2948 BC)	N/A	65	N/A	25	3378 BC	N/A	Moses 6:25 7:68 8:1 – Gen 5:21, 22 D&C 107:49
8	Methuselah	.	969	187	782	100	3313 BC	2344 BC	Moses 8:5, 6, 7 – Gen 5:25, 26, 27
9	Lamech	.	777	182	595	32	3126 BC	2349 BC	Moses 8:8, 10, 11 – Gen 5:28, 30, 31
10	Noah	See Note about Bible discrepacy	950	492	458	10	2944 BC	1994 BC	Moses 8:12 – Gen 5:32 9:29
11	Shem	.	610	110	500	–	2452 BC	1852 BC	Gen 11:10, 11, 12

Noah’s Flood: Occurred when Noah was 600, and Shem was 108. That’s 1548 years from fall or 2344 BC. Noah died 350 years after it ended, around 1994 BC–Thus contemporary with Abraham. The Book of Jasher has Abraham being trained under Noah & Shem (who LDS accounts equate with Melkezidek). It also has him contemporary with Nimrod & the Tower of Babel who it places around the time of Peleg’s birth, adding meaning to the phrase “in his days was the earth divided”. These details may be substantiated in the LDS Jaredite record, give the length of ages & ‘dearth’ equating with Moses.
(Gen 7:6,11 8:17 9:28).

Gen	Descendant of Adam	Notes about Life	Total Life Span	Begat son at…	Lived after that	Prstd Ordin- ation	BIRTH (Yr-BC)	DEATH (Yr-BC)	References
12	Arphaxed	.	438	35	403	–	2342 BC	1914 BC	Gen 11:12, 13
13	Salah	.	433	30	403	–	2307 BC	1884 BC	Gen 11:14, 15
14	Eber	.	464	34	430	N/A	2277 BC	1823 BC	Gen 11:16, 17
15	Peleg	In his days the earth is divided	239	30	209	N/A	2243 BC	2014 BC	Gen 11:18, 19
16	Reu	.	239	32	207	N/A	2213 BC	1984 BC	Gen 11:20, 21
17	Serug	.	230	30	200	N/A	2181 BC	1961 BC	Gen 11:22, 23
18	Nahor	.	148	29	119	N/A	2151 BC	2013 BC	Gen 11:24, 25
19	Terah	See Note about Bible discrepacy	205	70-130	+/-105	N/A	2122 BC	1927 BC	Gen 11:26, 32, 12:1,4
20	Abraham	Bk of Jasher makes contemporary with Shem, Nimrod & Peleg	175	100	75	?	2022 BC?	1847 BC?	Gen 21:5,25:7,8
21	Isaac	.	180	60	60	?	1922 BC	1742 BC	Gen 25:7 36:28
22	Jacob	.	147	68	79	?	1862 BC	1715 BC	Gen 47:28 9?
23	Levi	=Joseph in Egypt	137	64?	73?	–	1794 BC	1657 BC	Exodus 6:16
24	Kohath	Very little info (Only age at death given)	133	70?	63?	–	1730 BC?	1597 BC?	Exodus 6:18
25	Amram	Very little info (Only age at death given)	137	63?	74?	–	1660 BC?	1523 BC?	Exodus 6:20
26	Moses	Translated at age 120	N/A	40-80	N/A	40-80	1597 BC	1477 BC	Deut. 34:7, Exodus 7:7, Acts 7:23,30

The Exodus: See Note. Occurred when Moses was 80 years old. In 1517 BC, 430 years after Abraham was 75 or 215 years passed from the time that Jacob entered Israel to the exodus (Acts 7:23,30 – Gal 3:17 – Gen 15:13,16).

Gen	Descendant of Adam	Notes about Life	Total Life Span	Begat son at…	Age Made King	Total Reign	Beg Reign (lds)	Reign (accepted BC)	Scripture reference’s giving exact ages/ dates.
	Joshua	See Note for explanation for length of riegn	110	N/A	75	35	1477-1422		Josh 24:29
27	Othneil	8 yr captivity to Mesopt. 40 year freedom	–	N/A	–	40	1442-1402		Judges 3:ll (also see Judges 3:8)
	Ehud/Sham.	18 yr captivity to Moab. 80 year freedom	–	N/A	–	80	1402-1322		Judges 3:30 (also see Judges 3:14)
28	Deborah	Rules w/ Barak. 20 yr captivity to Canaan.	–	N/A	–	40	1322-1282		Judges 5:31 (see also Judges 4:2–3)
	Gideon	7 yr captivity to Midian. 40 year freedom	–	–	–	40	1282-1242		Judges 8:28 (See also Judges 6:1)
29	Abimelech	Son of Gideon (Judg 9:18,21)	–	N/A	–	3	1242-1233		Judges 9:22 (16-55)
	Tola	Son of Puah of Issachar	–	N/A	–	23	1239-1216		Judges 10:1
	Jair	Of Gilead	–	N/A	–	22	1216-1194		Judges 10:3
30	Jephthah	18 year oppression by Philistines	–	N/A	–	6	1194-1188		Judges 12:7 (see also Judges 10:8)
	Ibzan	of Bethlehem (1 chron )	–	N/A	–	7	1188-1181		Judges 12:8–9
	Elon	Of Zebulun	–	N/A	–	10	1181-1171		Judges 12:11–12
	Abdon	Son of Hillel, of Pirathon	–	N/A	–	8	1171-1163		Judges 12:13–14
31	Samson	40 year oppression by Philistines	–	N/A	–	20	1163-1143		Judges 15:20 (see also Judges 13:1)
	Eli	40 is not civil reign shouldn’t be counted?	98	N/A	–	40	1143-1103		1 Samuel 4:15,18
32	Samuel	Rules solely for a time and jointly with Saul	105	N/A	59?	7	1103-1096		Josephus? (is 66 when he anoints Saul)
	Saul	Born ? (40 yrs includes Samuel?)	60	N/A	20	27	1102-1060	1037-1010	Acts 13:21
33	David	Born 1040 BC?	70	–	33	40	1062-1022	1010-970	2 Sam 5:4–5, 1 Chr. 29:27, 3:4
34	Solomon	Born 990 BC? Temple lain in 1018 BC?	58?	?	–	39/40	1022-952	970-931	2 Chr. 9:30, 1 Kings 11:42

Foundation of Temple is Lain: Solomon lays temple foundation in 4rth year of his reign in approximately 1018-1019 BC, and
480 years after the Exodus (1 Kings 6:1).

Gen	King	Life Notes	Life Span	Begat son at…	Age Made King	Total Reign	Reign (lds)	Reign BC	References
35	Rehoboam	Fights against bro, Jeroboam all his life.	58	–	41	17	982-965	931-915	2 Chr. 12:13, 1 Kings 14:21
36	Abijam	(a.k.a. Abijah) Wicked like his father	–	–	–	3	965-962	915-912	2 Chr. 13:2, 1 Kings 15:2
37	Asa	Rightous	–	–	–	41	962-921	912-871	2 Chr. 16:13, 1 Kings 15:10
38	Jehoshaphat	Rightous	60	28	35	25	921-896	871-849	2 Chr. 20:31, 1 Kings 22:42
39	Jehoram	Wicked	40	18	32	8	896-888	849-842	2 Chr. 21:5,20, 2 Kings 8:17
40	Ahaziah (x)	Chronicles says he started to reign at 42	23	22	22	1	888-887	842-841	2 Chr. 22:2 , 2 Kings 8:26
	Athalia	Wicked wife of Jehoram. Userps throne	–	N/A	–	6	887-881	841-835	2 Chr. 22:12, 2 Kings 11:3
41	Joash	Son of Ahaziah, saved by High Priest	47	22	7	40	881-841	835-796	2 Chr. 24:1, 2 Kings 12:1, 11:21
42	Amaziah	.	54	38	25	29	841-812	796-767	2 Chr. 25:1, 2 Kings 14:2
43	Uzziah	(a.k.a. Azariah) big earthquake during reign	68	43	16	52	812-760	767-740	2 Chr. 26:3, 2 Kings 15:2
44	Jotham	.	41	21	25	16	760-744	750-735	2 Chr. 27:1,8, 2 Kings 15:33
45	Ahaziah	(a.k.a Ahaz)	36	–	20	16	744-728	735-715	2 Chr. 28:1, 2 Kings 16:2
46	Hezekiah	Sun goes back 15 degrees	54	42	25	29	728-699	715-687	2 Chr. 29:1, 2 Kings 18:2
47	Manasseh	.	67	45	12	55	699-644	687-642	2 Chr. 33:1, 2 Kings 21:1
48	Amon (x)	Murdered	24	16	22	2	644-642	642-640	2 Chr. 33:21 2 Kings 21:19
49	Josiah	.	39	14	8	31	642-611	640-609	2 Chr. 34:1 2 Kings 22:1
50	Jehoiakim	(a.ka. Eliakim) vassal to pharaoh	36	15	25	11	611-600	609-511	2 Chr. 36:5, 2 Kings 23:36
“	Zedekiah	(a.k.a. Mattaniah) Johoiakim’s cousin	32	32	21	11	600-589	597-586	2 Chr. 36:11. 2 Kings 24:18

BOM Timeline: Babylonian Captivity. This puts us into the BOM and established written history. (See 1 Nephi 10:4)

REGULAR FONT = Date calculated using bold dates.
? = Uncertainty in date calculation

Kings Reigns and Dates of The Kingdom of Israel

Gen	King	Life Notes		Life Span	Age Made King		Total Reign		Reign (lds)	Reign BC		References
35	Jeroboam I	Splits Northern Kingdom from Judah & pure Davidic Line		?	–		21		961-940	931-911		1 Kings 11:26–40, 2 Chron #
	Nadab	Killed by Baasha		–	–		2		940-938	911-910		1 Kings 15:25
36	Baasha			–	–		24		938-914	910-887		1 Kings 15:33
	Elah	Killed by Zimri (only reigns 7 days, thus omitted here)		2	2		2		914-912	887-886		1 Kings 16:8
	Omri	Tibni reigns after Zimri for 5 years as rival to Omri		12	12		12		912-900	886-875		1 Kings 16:23
37	Ahab			22	21		22		900-878	875-853		1 Kings 16:29
38	Ahaziah			–	N/A		2		878-876	853-852		1 Kings 22:51
39	Jeroham	Killed by Jehu in 841		12	12		12		876-864	852–841		2 Kings 3:1
40	Jehu			28	28		28		864-836	841-814		2 Kings 10:36
41	Jehoahaz			17	17		17		836-819	814-798		2 Kings 13:1
41	Jeoash			16	16		16		819-803	798-753		2 Kings 13:10
42	Jeroboam II	with Joash/Jehoash from 793/792		41	–		41		803-762	782-753		2 Kings 14:23
43	Menahem	Several short-lived claimants omitted.		10	10		10		762-752	752–742		2 Kings 15:17
43	Pekahiah	Murdered by Pekah	x	2	2		2		752-750	742-740		2 Kings 15:23
44	Pekah	Killed by Hoshea	x	20	12		20		750-730	740-732		2 Kings 15:27
45	Hoshea	Samaria and Israel fall to Assyria in 722		9	-16		9		730-721	732-722		2 Kings 17:1

About General Date Accuracy

Dates accuracies range from high at the reign of Zedekiah (BOM), to +/- 10-20 yrs at Rehoboam, to poorer during the reign of the judges.  LDS revelation, given in D&C 77:6–7, 12 & D&C 88:108–110 emphasizes the mystical importance of the 7000 year cycle in the bible timeline (1 Ne. 13:40, Mormon 7:9.  see also the Jaredite genealogy and the book of Moses as well, as seen in my genealogical tables)

For Mormon’s, Book of Mormon verses in 1 Nephi 1:4 & 2:4 state that Nephi’s family left Jerusalem in the first year of the reign of Zedekiah. 1 Nephi 10:4 & 19:8 assure that this was in 600-601 BC. Thus we use this as our starting point, and count back through the kings of Judah until David. We can assume an error of a few years because dates for this period are only accurate to the year, not the month. Dates from Adam to David are counted forward from Adam with an arbitrary starting point of 4000 BC (D&C 76:11). At Solomon, where the two dating schemes meet, we amazingly find only a 15 year error.

Pre-‘Flood’ Notes

Joseph Smith’s Moses 1:41 would suggest that some aspect of the dates given in that book and Genesis were channeled much like modern texts like Oahspe or The Book of Mormon. This antediluvian chronology is actually given in seven different books of both LDS and non-LDS scripture (see genealogy chart). The channeled text “The Law of One”, suggests that life spans of 900 years were common during earth’s first precessional cycle after humans were brought to the planet 75,000 years ago.  Oahspe suggests that the sinking of Pan/Lemuria occured 50,000 years ago.  Of course, none of these channeled events can be verified scientifically.

Genesis 5 says that Noah had three sons but does not give specific years, only stating that he was 500 when they had all been born. Moses 8 clears this up by giving exact years for each son’s birth.

Patriarchal Era Notes

Nimrod is the great grandson of Noah (Noah-Ham-Cush-Nimrod) said to be born around the time of Salah. He is credited with building the city of Babel (Genesis 10:10) and the tower (Apocrypha). It’s climax and destruction (I.e. Brother of Jared leaving) seem strangely out of place given the suggested populations for those who hold to a global flood. Apocryphal sources state that Nimrod lived long enough to be a contemporary of Abraham.

All three of Terah’s children are mentioned as being born when Terah was 70 (Genesis 11:26)
Lectures on faith, gives another chronology on the patriarchs which is very similar but diverges as follows: (under construction)
Jacob was about 68 calculated from….
Levi, Kohath, and Amram’s age when they had their patriarchal son is not given.
Moses and Aaron were brothers, both born of Amram; Aaron was three years older than Moses.

Exodus Notes

Jacob entered Egypt at age 130 (Gen 37:9 gives exact age)

The Septuagint copy of Exodus 14:40 says Israel was in captivity for exactly 215 years. This date fits nicely with genealogies and would have spanned from the time Jacob/Israel and his sons entered Egypt until the Exodus. Jacob died in the year 1715 BC at age 147, so he lived in Egypt for 17 years before his death. This puts his entrance into Egypt in 1732 BC. We know the exodus was in 1517 BC, so these date match since 1732 – 1517 = 215 years.  However, Oahspe puts this event thousands of years earlier.

Exodus 12:40 says “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was 430 years”. The septuagint and Samaritan copies correct this wording to say “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, and of their fathers, which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt was 430 years”. (p156 skousen) Gen 15:13–16 substantiates that the septuagint correction is the proper wording.

Gen 15:13–16 says that Abraham’s seed would be “sojourners in a strange land for four generations” or “400 years”. This appears to be giving a rounded estimate. The 430 year version given in Ex. 12:40 and the septuagint are likely the more exact dates.

The exodus occurred 430 years from the time of Abraham’s vision in Canaan. (Gen 16:3, 15–16 suggests that this vision was shortly before Abraham married Hagar, which was 10 years before Abraham was 86) (430 year figure comes from Gal 3:17, Acts 7:6–7, & Gen 15:13, 16. This amount of time matches well with genealogies and other dates given) The 430 years could have also have started when Abraham had Ishmeal and left Canain, which would only change dates by a few years.

Acts 7:23 tells that Moses was 40 when he smote the Egyptian and fled. Acts 7:30 tells that Moses refuge in Midian for another full 40 years. Exodus 7:7 further supports this and says Moses was 80 years old when he returned to liberate Israel. From this we know that Moses was ordained to the priesthood by Jethro and bore both his two sons during this 40 year period between the ages of 40 and 80.

Clarke’s Bible commentary 1:883 suggests that Joshua was 57 at the time of the Exodus. After 40 years in the wilderness, this would put the death of Moses, and the beginning of his reign at age 97. [reigning 13 years]

Judges Notes

Dates given for the period of the Judges seem to be the most questionable or unreliable of all post Moses Bible periods. This is somewhat expected since it was a period of repeated captivity and apostasy. Adding up the dates given equals about 536 years, but with all the apparent rounded or estimated numbers it doesn’t seem very trustworthy. However, 1 kings 6:1 clears up the problem, telling that the Solomon’s temple began to be built in the fourth year of Solomon’s Reign and “480 years after the children of israel were come out of Egypt”. Which puts us at 1499 BC. But this still begs the question of whether this date points to the Exodus, or the entry into Israel. Since the record states “come out of Egypt” instead of “Come into Canaan” we will suppose it is referring to the exodus.

A second witness comes in Judges 11:26, where Jephthah says that Israel had been living in the coasts of Israel for 300 years. Which fits appropriately with the 480 year number given in kings, since Jephthah lived a bit more than half way through the period of the judges.

A third witness is given in Acts 13:20, which says God gave unto Israel “judges about the space of 450 years until Samuel the prophet”. Samuel began to reign about 80 years before Solomon began the temple, so this may conflict a bit with the 480 from Kings or it is likely that the periods of “servitude” listed in the Book of Judges are actually also included in the rounded numbers given. If not it seems quite a coincidence that the servitude periods add up to be very close to the number needed to make the dates match 480. (8+18+20+7+18+40=111, And 585?-111=474)

Either way we have a good ballpark figure for the Exodus of about 1499 BC (1019+480) for the Exodus. (many scholars use the date 1446 BC).

Kings Notes

The period of the Kings is the most recent found in the Old Testament, and given the intricate detail involved is probably quite accurate. Many of the names and dates given in Kings and Chronicles fall within secular recorded history and can be “scientifically” verified. However, it is this same fact which has led to some confusion as archeologists and historians find slightly conflicting dates. I believe the Bible is more accurate than these however, as historical dates often used calendars and counting systems which I believe were less accurate than that of the Hebrews. The Bible’s internal chronology for this period (calculated from the length of king’s reigns) gives 429 (433-4) years from the fall of Judah to the building of Solomon’s Temple.

The book of Mormon tells us Lehi left Jerusalem 600 years before the birth of Christ (1 Ne. 10:4), which it also tells us was during the 1st year of the reign of Zedekiah (1 Ne 1:4). So to get the date for the building of Solomon’s temple we add up reigns which total 433 years. And 433 minus 10 (Zedekiah lived about 10 years after Lehi left Jerusalem) minus 4 (Solomon started his temple in the 4rth year of his reign) gives us 419 years. So all together that’s 600+419 or 1019 BC (give or take a few years because kings reigns are not accurate to the month).

General Breakdown

The mystical significance of the biblical 7000 year cycle seems to be emphasized by the fact that the bible also gives dates covering each major epoch of time.

-Adam to Abraham
Approximately 2,048 years passed from the Fall to God’s vision to Abraham. (Moses 6:10–25, 7:68, 8:1-12, Gen. 5:3–32, 11:10-32, Lectures on Faith: Lecture Second.)
-Abraham to Exodus
Approximately 430 years passed from around the time of Abraham’s vision until the Exodus. (Exodus 12:40, Gen. 15:13–16)
-Exodus to Solomon
480 years passed from the Exodus to the building of the Temple of Solomon. (1 Kings 6:1)
-Solomon to Fall of Judah
Approximately 418 years passed from the building of the temple to the reign of Zedekiah and fall of Judah to Babylon (Period well documented in books of Kings & Chronicles)
-Zedekiah to birth of Christ
600 years passed from the time Lehi left Jerusalem (the first year of Zedekiah’s reign) to the time of Christ. (1 Nephi 1:4, 2:4)

2048+430+480+418+600= +/- 3976 Years from Adam to Christ

Related Pages
Biblical Chronology- Kings of Israel Line

Jaredite Chronology

Biblical Genealogy Tables