TH E CHRONOLOGY OF THE BIBLE. B Y S A M U E L S H A R P E , T H E H I Q I O R \ O F F C Y PT L O N DO N : . R U SSEL L SMI TH 3 6 S AR E J , , SOHO QU . L O N D O N PR I N TED B Y WOO F ALL AN D KI N DER D , I F R M L O R D L AN E S T AN D, “ , 57 P R E F AC E . V ER Y few words are needed to show the importance C hr n olo H i stor of o gy . The moral teachings of y r may gain our warmer admi ation , but Chronology is the skeleton or framework which supports the t several par s of History , and saves the whole from falling into a confused heap . The Hebrew Chrono on logy , in particular , has many claims our notice ; first , for its help towards our understanding the Bible ; and , secondly , for its contribution towards the Chronology of the neighbouring nations , par ticularl y of Egypt and Assyria . The Chronology of the ancient world is indebted first to Babylon for its recorded eclipses , preserved for us by Claudius Ptolemy the Astronomer , and then to those countries that were ruled by a succession of monarchs , whose reigns measured time with a con ven ie n c e unknown to their republican neighbours . Were all modern and intermediate Chronology de stroyed , or any number of links in the chain broken between the present time and the overthrow of the 4 PR EF AC E . Persian monarchy by Alexander the Great , yet our knowledge of the previous dates would remain un ’ changed . The moon s place as determined by an eclipse or by the occultation of a star is an in de pe n dent event , which , when recorded with its day and ’ a stron o hour , and year of a king s reign , enables an mer to fix by his calculations that otherwise unknown time with the same mathematical certainty that a sailor fixes hi s unknown place in longitude on the ocean . Thus the Babylonian eclipses give us a fixed point from which we may measure time . And the unbroken time of Jewish kings followmg one another son in quiet succession , from father to , reaching over a period of four hundred years from Solomon to Zedekiah , who all dated by the years of their reigns , carries our reckoning back with reasonable certainty from the time of these eclipses at Babylon to the tenth century before the Christian era . It thus ’ fixes the time of Solomon s reign , from which , as from a new starting point , the history of the world must be traced backwards along the line of Egyptian kings . The history of the Israelites under their Judges has come down to us in a form too broken to be of much chronological value and the succession of patriarchs before the time of the Judges can have no claim to attention as a portion of History . But the History , and therefore the Chronology , of the Hebrew monarchy deserve at least as much attention as they receive . During that time were E E 5 PR FAC . w written the most valuable of the Hebre books . Perhaps the Book of Judges alone was written before the rise of the monarchy ; and only the less valuable portions of the other books were written after its fall . The laws in the Pentateuch , when they are ecclesiastical , are also political ; the Psalms are as much political as devotional ; the writings of the Prophets are wholly political , though dictated by religious zeal and clothed in a religious dress ; and all these , to be properly understood , must have their place in History assigned , by noting what political events give rise to the laws or are spoken of as contemporaneous with the writer . Hence any ser vi ce that Chronology renders to the History is a servi ce rendered to the religious portions of the Bible . WO R KS B Y TH E S ME A AUTH O R . ’ TH E N EW E MEN ran s a r m e G riesb ach s x . T STA T, t l t d f o Te t F ifth TH E HE E E N ED n BR W SCRIPTUR S TRA SLAT bei g 3. Revisi on of th e A ri z e En is O l d e s amen I n 3 v s utho d gl h T t t . ol EX F M TH E H E ex a n e the he the T TS RO OLY BIBL , pl i d by lp of i e n n me n s An c t Mo u t . HISTORIC NOTES ON TH E BOOKS O F TH E OLD AN D N EW E A E T . e c n E i i n T ST M N S S o d d t o . CRITICAL NOTES ON TH E AUTHORIZED ENGLISH V ERSION F TH E N EW E TA E e c n E i i n . O T S M NT. S o d d t o TH E H O F E r m the Ear es mes ll the ISTORY GYPT, f o li t Ti ti h rab s A D 640 E i i n n e s b t e A in . r . Co qu t y , . Fou th d t o TH E H N AN D E H O F N EN E C RO OLOGY G OGRAP Y A CI T GYPT . ALEXAN DRIAN CHRONOLOGY . E N N N r m the r sh M s e m and her GYPTIA I SCRIPTIO S, f o B iti u u ot s rces . 21 6 a es i n o i . ou Pl t , F l o EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS bein g an Attempt to Explain eir a re ri in an d eanin Wi a V cab ul ar . th N tu , O g , M g. th o y EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES IN TH E BRITISH MUSEUM de s cri b e d . E N M H AN D E N H N GYPTIA YT OLOGY GYPTIA C RISTIA ITY, ir n fl en c on th e in i ns of ern ri s i ani with the I u e Op o Mod Ch t ty . TABLE OF C ON TEN TS. I ntroduction Recei ve d Age of the World ’ F rom the Creation to Solomon s R eign O n the Book of Judges The Chron ology of the Septuagin t His torical Chron ology TAB LE or TH E C H RON OL OG Y or TH E KI N G S Notes on the foregoin g Table The Seven ty Weeks of Dan iel ’ C H RON OLOG Y or C H RI ST S MI N I S TR Y The Year of the Baptism The Regnal Years ’ The N ew Year s Day The Year of the Crucifixion The Day of the Passover The Day of the Crucifix ion I n Ma he Mar an d e tt w, k , Luk Tabular V iew ’ I n John s Gospel The Preparation for the Pass over The Last Supper The Driving the D ealers out of the Temple - yard ’ Table of Christ s Ministry Year of H is Birth TH E CH RON OL O GY OF TH E B I B LE. D T IN TR O U C IO N . I N this work the writer ventures on no opinion about the age of the world , or the number of years that it has been inhabited by man , nor even attempts to decide the date of the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt , under Moses . His aim is merely to show at what times the Hebrew writers place those events . He has simply taken out the spaces of time mentioned in the Bible , and placed them together in a serie s till they come down to the recorded eclipses . Modern science tells us with certainty how many years before our own time these eclipses happened ; and thus to the Table of years which had been made n by counti g forward , we are able to put our own more usual and more convenient dates by counting backwards , from the Christian era . Thus , if an eclipse is known to have taken place 2489 years 1 868 before this present year , which we call , we 1 868 sa deduct from the above number , and y that 2 B C . 6 1 . it happened . The chronology of the Old Testament may con venien tl y be divided into two parts , the traditional chronology and the historical chronology . 10 TH E H N or TH E B I B L E C RO OLOGY . The first is formed by adding together the age of each of the patriarchs at the time of the son ’ s birth from which we learn that Abraham left Haran in S A. M 2023 yria in . that the Exodus of the Israelites 6 A. M 2 68 from Egypt took place in . ; and that S olomon , in the fourth year of his reign , built the A M . 8148 . Temple of Jerusalem in . Here the tra dition al chronology may be said to end ; and , after this time , the dates are recorded with so much i greater care , and with such an ev dent aim at exact ness , that we may safely consider that we have e n tei e d upon historical chronology .