The Bible History, Old Testament

Volume I

By Alfred Edersheim

Date of Events

Dates of Events Recorded in the Book of Genesis, According to Hales, Ussher, and Keil.

B.C. = Before Christ
Y.W. = Year of the World
Y.C. = Year after the immigration into Canaan.

 

Ussher,

B.C.

Ussher.

Y.W.

Event Hales,

B.C.

Hales,

Y.W.

Keil,

Y.C.

4004 1 The Creation 5411 1  
3874 130 Birth of Seth 5181 230  
3769 235 Birth of Enos 4976 435  
3679 325 Birth of Cainan 4786 625  
3609 395 Birth of Mahaleel 4616 795  
3074 930 Death of Adam 4481 930  
3544 460 Birth of Jared 4451 960  
3382 622 Birth of Enoch 4289 1122  
3317 687 Birth of Methuselah 4124 1287  
3130 874 Birth of Lamech 3937 1474  
3017 987 Translation of Enoch 3914 1487  
2948 1056 Birth of Noah 3755 1656  
2348 1656 Deluge 3155 2256  
2346 1658 Birth of Arphaxad 3153 2258  
2311 1693 Birth of Salah 3018 2393  
2281 1723 Birth of Heber 2888 2523  
1998 2006 Death of Noah 2805 2606  
2247 1757 Birth of Pelag 2754 2657  
2233 1771 Confusion of Tongues 2554 2857  
2217 1787 Birth of Reu 2624 2787  
2185 1819 Birth of Serug 2492 2919  
2155 1849 Birth of Nahor 2362 3049  
2126 1878 Birth of Terah 2283 3128  
1998 2006 Death of Noah 1996 2008  
    Birth of Abram 2153 3258  
1921 2083 Abram in Canaan 2078 3333 1
1910 2094 Birth of Ismael 2067 3344 11
    Beg. Of Circumcision     24
1896 2108 Birth of Isaac 2053 3358 25
    Death of Sarah     62
1856 2148 Marriage of Isaac 2013 3398 65
1836 2168 Birth of Esau & Jacob 1993 3418 85
    Death of Abraham     100
    Esau's Marriage     125
    Death of Ishmael 1916 3495 148
1760   Jacob to Padan Aram     162
    Jacob's Marriage     169
1745 2259 Birth of Joseph 1902 3509 176
1739 2265 Jacob's to Canaan 1896 3515 182
1732 2272 Jacob's at Hebron 1889 3522 192
1728 2276 Joseph sold into Egypt 1885 3526 193
1716 2288 Death of Isaac 1873 3538 205
1715 2289 Joseph Gov. of Egypt 1872 3539 206
1706 2298 Jacob goes to Egypt 1863 3548 215
1689 2315 Death of Jacob 1846 3565 232
1635 2369 Death of Joseph 1792 3619 286

 

     The reader will find in ch. 10, some explanations regarding the systems of Chronology by Ussher and Hales. Hales professes to follow the text of the Greek or LXX translation of the Old Testament, correcting it by the Jewish historian Josephus, whose dates, however, are often manifestly very inaccurate. Ussher professes to follow the Hebrew text. The modern Jewish chronology places the birth of Isaac, when Abraham was one hundred years old, in the year of the world 2048. With this latter very nearly agrees the chronology adopted by a celebrated modern German commentator, Professor Keil, who places it only two years earlier, viz. in 2046. We have given in the last column, according to the chronology of Keil, the succession of events after the migration of Abram into Canaan. Keil places the latter event in the year of the world 2021, and before Christ 2137. From this the reader will easily be able to calculate all the other dates according to the chronology of Keil, which on the whole seems to us the most reliable. He bases it on the following data: according to 1 Kings 6:1, the Temple of Solomon was built 480 years after the Exodus, while the deportation of Israel into Babylon took place 406 years after the building of the Temple, that is, in all, 886 years after the Exodus. But as the commencement of the Exile must have fallen in the year 606 before Christ, we have the year 1492 before Christ (or 2666 after the Creation) as that of the Exodus. The year 606 before Christ is fixed as that of the commencement of the Babylonish exile, because it ended after 70 years, in the first year of the sole reign of Cyrus, which we know to have been the year 536 before Christ.