This is a contentious area, with different scholars holding strong and conflicting views. The table below presents the traditional view which provides the earliest dates based on the events recorded in each book and their traditional authorship.
Answers about chronology
The following chart (from my book The Times: a Chronology of the Bible) shows some of the major events during this period and shows the period that Israel was in Egypt from 1656 BC to 1446 BC, or 210 years. Some of the evidence for these dates is given below. The date of the Exodus [...]
In 2 Kings 5:27 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, is struck with leprosy:1 Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.” So he went out from his presence a leper, like snow. However, in 2 Kings 8:4 he is talking to the King. People with leprosy were excluded from regular society [...]
The timing and sequence of events in the last week of Jesus’ mortal life is very uncertain with nearly as many attempted chronologies as commentators. The one fixed time is the resurrection which occurred “on the first day of the week” before dawn (Lk 24:1; Mk 16:2-3); that is, early Sunday morning. But the day [...]
There are several hints in the Bible that the wise men came to see Jesus up to a couple of years after he was born. First, Jesus was in a house when they saw him (Matthew 2:11), and no longer in the animal shelter where he was born (Luke 2:7). Second, Herod killed all babies [...]
There is no way of knowing. Taphath and Basemath (or Basmath KJV) are only mentioned once each in the Bible (1 Kings 4:11,15) and then it is only to tell us who they married. We know that Solomon’s son Rehoboam was 41 years old when Solomon died (1 Kings 14:21), and that Solomon died when in his [...]
The age of Solomon when he began to reign is unknown. However, we can work out some dates and establish an approximate age. The following dates are explained in The Times (chapter 3) 1041BC David born 1011BC David starts to reign, age 30 (2 Samuel 5:4-5) 971BC David dies, age 70 (1 Kings 2:11) 971BC Solomon starts [...]
> My son (6-3/4 yrs old) is asking “how many days was Jesus alive on Earth?” Well, we don’t know exactly how old Jesus was when he died. He was born in summer (shepherds in the fields at night) and died in spring (passover). He was thirty years old when he started his ministry (Luke [...]
Adam lived to 930 (Genesis 5:5), Methuselah to 969 (Genesis 5:27), Noah to 950 (Genesis 9:29). Such long ages seem impossible to us today.
Despite our modern calendar having dates specified by AD (in the year of our Lord) and BC (before Christ), Jesus was not born in the year 0. In fact, there was no year zero. According to our calendar, the year 1 BC was followed by the year AD 1. Apparently a Scythian monk, Dionysius Exiguus, [...]
