Chronology in Biblical History

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Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Definitions in Biblical History
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What is Chronology?
CHRONOLOGY
We present here a condensation of the article of R. S. Poole on this subject in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. We must seek a via media between putting absolute reliance upon the biblical chronological data and declaring them altogether vague and uncertain. The truth is, the Bible does not give a complete history of the times to which it refers; in its historical portions it deals with special and detached periods. This accounts for its scantiness and occasional want of continuity. Hence there is great value in independent evidence in the N.T. and in incidental evidence in the O.T. Scientific observation of the natural changes of the weather and the seasons was probably unknown to the Jews until the Captivity. But still these changes must have been noted, and from these observations we are safe in deducing their divisions of time. An hour was the smallest division the Jews recognized. The "sun-dial of Ahaz" -whatever instrument, fixed or movable, it may have been- implies a division of the kind. The civil day was reckoned from sunset, the natural day from sunrise. The night was divided into three watches, though the first must be inferred. The "middle watch" occurs in Jud 7:19; the "morning watch" is mentioned in Ex 14:24 and 1 Sam 11:11. In the N.T. four watches are mentioned -the Roman system; all four are mentioned together in Mark 13:35 -the late watch, midnight, the cock-crowing, and the early watch. The Hebrew week was a period of seven days, ending with the Sabbath, which word indeed is often used for "week." As the Egyptians divided their month of 30 days into decades, the Hebrews could not have borrowed their week from them; probably both it and the Sabbath were used and observed by the patriarchs. The month was lunar. The first day of it is called the "new moon," and was observed as a sacred festival. In the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth we find but one month, the first, the month Abib, mentioned with a special name, the rest being called according to their order. In 1 Kgs. three other names appear -Zif, the second, Ethanim, the seventh, and Bui, the eighth. No other names are found in any book prior to the Captivity. The year was made up of 12 lunar months, beginning with the first part of our April. The method of intercalation can only have been that which obtained after the Captivity -the addition of a thirteenth month whenever the twelfth ended too long before the equinox for the first-fruits of the barley-harvest to be offered in the middle of the month following, and the similar offerings at the time appointed. The later Jews had two beginnings to the year, the seventh month of the civil reckoning being Abib, the first of the sacred. The sabbatical and jubilee years began in the seventh month. Agricultural considerations probably led to this anomaly. The seasons do not appear to have been fixed among the ancient Hebrews. We find mention of the merely natural divisions of "summer and winter," "seed-time and harvest." Anciently, their festivals and holy-days were noticeably few; for besides the Sabbaths and new moons, there were but four great festivals and one fast -the feasts of the Passover, of weeks, trumpets, tabernacles, and the fast on the day of atonement. But after the Captivity many holy days were added, such as the feast of Purim, of the dedication -recording the cleansing and rededication of the temple by Judas Maccabseus- and fasts on the anniversaries of great national misfortunes connected with the Babylonish captivity. The sabbatical year was a year of rest. It commenced at the civil beginning of the year, with the seventh month, at the feast of tabernacles. Deut 31:10. The jubilee year began on the day of atonement, after the lapse of seven sabbatical periods, or 49 years. It was similar to the sabbatical year in its character, although doubtless yet more important. Eras seem to have been used by the ancient Hebrews, but our information is scanty. The Exodus is used as an era in 1 Kgs 6:1, in giving the date of Solomon's temple. The era of Jehoiachin's captivity is constantly used by Ezekiel. The earliest date is the fifth year, Ezekiel 1:2, and the latest the twenty seventh Ezekiel 29:17. The era of the Seleucidae is used in the First and Second Maccabees, and the liberation of the Jews from the Syrian yoke, in the first year of Simon the Maccabee, is stated to have been commemorated by an era used in contracts and agreements. 1 Macc 13:41-42. Regnal years seem to have been counted from the beginning of the year, not from the day of the king's accession. We may distinguish different periods in Jewish history, although we are not able with accuracy to assign them dates. 1. From Adam to Abram's departure from Haran. This period is the most indefinite of all. We have indeed two genealogical lists -from Adam to Noah and his sons, Gen 5:3-32, and again from Shem to Abram. Gen 11:10-26. But the Masoretic Hebrew text, the Septuagint, and the Samaritan Pentateuch greatly differ. The Septuagint makes this period 1000 years longer than the Hebrew. The question to which list the preference should be given is still unsettled. 2. The second period is from Abram's departure from Haran to the Exodus. The length of this period is stated by Paul in Gal 3:17 to be 430 years, and there is no difficulty in the way of accepting his figures which cannot be solved. 3. The third period is from the Exodus to the foundation of Solomon's temple. We may consider this period about 638 years, but others reduce it to one-half. 4. The fourth period is from the foundation of Solomon's temple to its destruction. We come now upon tolerably sure ground; from b.c. 1000 on we have contemporary evidence. Two interregnums have been supposed -one of 11 years, between Jeroboam II and Zachariah, and the other of 9 years, between Pekah and Hoshea. We prefer, in both cases, to suppose a longer reign of the earlier of the two kings between whom the interregnums are conjectured. The whole period may be held to be of about 425 years; that of the undivided kingdom, 120 years; that of the kingdom of Judah, about 388 years; and that of the kingdom of Israel, about 255 years. 5. The fifth period is from the destruction of Solomon's temple to the return from the Babylonish captivity. The difficulty in calculating this period springs from the prophesied number -the 70 years. Two numbers, held by some to be identical, must here be considered. One is the period of 70 years, during which the tyranny of Babylon over Palestine and the East generally was to last, Jer 25; and the other the 70 years of the Babylonish captivity. The commencement of the first is the first year of Nebuchadnezzar and the fourth of Jehoiakim, Jer 25:1, when the successes of the king of Babylon began, Jer 46:2, and the conclusion is the fall of Babylon. The famous 70 years of captivity would seem to be the same period, since it was to terminate with the return of the captives, Jer 29:10; and the order for this was published by Cyrus, who took Babylon, in the first year of his reign. Principal Systems of Biblical Chronology. -There are three, long, short, and Rabbinical. The long chronology takes the Septuagint for the patriarchal generations, and adopts the long interval from the Exodus to the foundation of Solomon's temple. The short chronology -that in the margin of the A.V., and derived from Archbishop Ussher (1580-1656)- takes the Hebrew for the patriarchal generations, and makes the second period to be 480 years. The Rabbinical chronology accepts the biblical numbers, but makes the most arbitrary corrections. We subjoin a table in which the results of some of the more important of the various chronological schools are contrasted:

Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'chronology' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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