Thread by @JamesBejon

THREAD: The Joy(s) of Biblical Chronology

TITLE: Patterns and Coherency in Biblical Dates

SUB-TITLE: (Far) Too Long in #Lockdown

SUB-SUB-TITLE: A picture paints a thousands words. (See below.)

For those who have questions, please scroll down.

Biblical chronology is a source of constant fascination and occasional beauty.

In my opinion at least, more people should get involved in it,

and more people should know about its results,

many of which owe to the tireless efforts of Rodger Young (rcyoung.org/papers.html):

In the present thread, I want to (try to) illustrate the coherency of the Bible’s chronological details.

We’ll start with a consideration the Bible’s year-stamps,

i.e., references to ‘the Xth year of Y’, where Y denotes an era of some kind.

First up, then, the Antediluvians.

ANTEDILUVIAN DATA

Scripture’s first year-stamp is found in Genesis 8,

where the flood is said to occur in the 600th year of Noah’s life (cp. Gen. 7.11 w. 8.4, etc.).

The lifetime of Noah is hence treated as a kind of ‘era’, which seems a natural course of action.

Noah is after all the head of the only family to survive the flood.

His lifetime therefore forms a natural context in which the flood can be dated.

EARLY ISRAEL

The Bible’s next year-stamp is found in Exodus 12.

By the time they leave Egypt, the Israelites are said to have sojourned there for 430 years,

which is a stay they may well have wanted to keep track of (especially when they’d been promised at least 400 years of persecution in a foreign land: Gen. 15.13–14).

P.S. Let’s not worry about Galatians 3 for now. We’ve got enough on our plate already.

At the same time, the Israelites are granted a (new) calendar, which runs from Nisan to Nisan.

Previously, it would have been natural for the Israelites to view the year in terms of an agricultural cycle (from Tishri to Tishri).

Crops were planted in late autumn, and the harvest came to its climax in late summer (as is reflected in the 10th cent. Gezer Calendar),

hence Ugarit’s coronation ritual took place in autumn.

But, with the exodus, a new kind of year is born in Israel (cp. Exod. 40.17, where the Tabernacle is erected on 1st Nisan).

As a result, the book of Exodus contains memories/traces of an autumnal year (cp. Exod. 34.22, where the 7th month = ‘the turn of the year’, w. 23.15–16: Clines 1974:26–30),

against the backdrop of which a new year is defined (12.2, 13.4, etc., Deut. 16.1).

At the same time, year-counts begin to be grounded in ‘the year when Israel left Egypt’ (cp. Exod. 40.17, Deut. 1.3),

which explains what we find in 1 Kgs. 6, where Solomon is said to start work on the Temple in the 480th year since the exodus.

As Rodger Young points out, the Pentateuch regularly employs the phrase ‘the Nth month/year + לְצֵאת + a reference to Israel’ as a kind of ‘era-stamp’,

akin to the letters ‘AD’ in the expression ‘70 AD’ (cp. Exod 16.1, 19.1, Num. 1.1, 9.1, 33.38, 1 Kgs 6.1).

And the consistent employment of such an era-stamp could explain how the Israelites were able to keep track of the interval between the exodus and the construction of Solomon’s Temple.

JUDGES

Next, we come to the book of Judges.

The text of Judges mentions a number of rulers’/judges’ reigns, both inside and outside of Israel.

Its chronological indicators, however, are significant for at least two reasons.

First, if they’re viewed as strictly consecutive, the intervals of time listed in Judges can’t reasonably be accommodated by the Biblical narrative.

The book mentions intervals of 8 years, 40 years, 18 years, 80 years, 20 years, another 40 years, etc., etc., all of which sum to a total of 410 years (Steinmann 2005:491),

yet, as we’ve noted, Solomon began to build the Temple in the 480th year of the exodus era (1 Kgs. 6.1),

which, once we account for Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness (pre Judges) and the 40-year reigns of Saul and David (post Judges), doesn’t allow enough time to accommodate a period of 410 years (Chisholm 2009:247–248).

By implication, then, at least some of the judges’ reigns must have overlapped with one another,

which shouldn’t surprise us.

The book of Judges records the history of a disintegrated nation.

No monarchy exists in the judges’ days.

A number of Israel’s tribes appear to have been lived quite isolated lives (hence the Ephraimites’ development/retention of a distinctive pronunciation of ‘Shibboleth’).

And, as we’ll see, Samson’s judgeship can be shown to have overlapped with a number of other judgeships,

which is consistent with what we know of Samson’s character.

Indeed, one of Samson’s distinctives is his relative isolation and propensity to operate as a lone agent.

(Consider, for instance, how the Judeans help the Philistines capture him, and how no-one takes advantage of Gaza’s vulnerability after Samson removes its defenses: 15.11, 16.3.)

Second, the book of Judges doesn’t include any references to regnal years, nor does it posit any synchronisms (e.g., ‘P was born in the Nth year of Q’s reign’).

Again, that fact shouldn’t surprise us.

If regnal years are to serve as a calendar, a nation needs an established centre of authority and administration,

which Israel lacks in the days of the judges.

Nevertheless, a progression can be observed in the book of Judges.

In chs. 3–8, we’re provided with little if any background information about Israel’s judges (e.g., the name of their father, their place of birth and burial, etc.),

nor is the duration of any of their careers stated.

All we’re told is how long Israel are oppressed for prior to their intervention,

and how long a period of peace they establish, shown below:

As can be seen, however, as the book continues, the situation begins to change.

We’re told the duration of each judges’ career.

We’re provided with information about judges’ descendants and/or place of burial.

And we have a more complete/continuous record of Israel’s judges.

Ehud, for instance, seems unlikely to have ruled Israel for the entire duration of the 80 years of quiet he establishes.

Certain judges must, therefore, be omitted from the book’s earlier narratives.

Meanwhile, in the book’s later narratives, a number of fairly unremarkable judges are listed, which is not the case in earlier narratives.

In addition, we have a more dense/detailed record of Israel’s judgeships.

We’re provided with details, for instance, of contemporary judgeships, as is illustrated into the stylised timeline below,

which fans out horizontally as the narrative becomes more dense. (Details to follow.)

As such, the book of Judges appears to be predicated on records which, for one reason or another, become more detailed over time.

(Perhaps later records were more detailed in the first place, or perhaps later records were just better preserved.)

At the same time, Israel itself appears to have become a more connected entity/society.

As a result, judges succeed one another.

Ibzan is said to judge Israel for 7 years ‘after’ Jephthah has died;

Elon is said to judge Israel for 10 years ‘after’ Ibzan has died;

and Abdon is said to judge Israel for 8 years ‘after’ Elon has died (Judg. 12).

News of a judge’s death therefore appears to have been circulated among the Israelites so another judge could (somehow) be selected to take his place.

A similar practice appears to be reflected in Genesis 36’s record of Edom’s kings at the time (cp. 36.31), which takes the general form,

In sum, then, the text of Judges reflects the history of a disintegrated nation which gradually develops better systems of administration and communication.

Not until a monarchy is established, however, do regular and formulaic statements of regnal years begin to appear in the Biblical narrative,

which is as one would expect, and which we’ll look at next time round.

THE END (FOR NOW).