The “Times of the Jews”
Timeline
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Introduction
To the right is a timeline that shows historical events and their associated dating as provided by in the Holy Bible and some secular dating. A quick summary of this block of time of history is provided in its entirety from the book for your study. Chapter 10 “Times” of The Jews (2nd Trimester) The “Times of the Jews” is
the 2nd trimester of God’s plan. It covers the 2,029 years and two months from
Abraham’s promise to the birth of Jesus. This period of history (the Age of
Law, the “growing season” of God) is the middle segment of God’s plan for man
and will further support the symmetry of God’s map for us. Let’s take a brief
(first pass) look at the details of this Age as recorded in the scriptures in
Table 10-1. This quick peek reveals that the time period of the second Age is
identical to the time calculated for it in God’s plan. Both are 2,029.1666
years long! |
Copyright
2008 |
Table 10-1
|
Event |
Time |
Totals |
Passage |
|
Abraham’s
Promise till Isaac’s Birth |
25 (100-75) yrs |
25 yrs. |
Gen.
12:4 & Gen. 21:5 |
|
Isaac |
60 yrs |
85 yrs. |
Gen.
25:26 |
|
Jacob |
60 yrs |
145 yrs. |
Gen.
26:34 & Gen.. 31:38 |
|
Exodus |
430 yrs |
575 yrs. |
Ex.
12:40 |
|
Exodus
to Solomon’s 4th year (1) |
440 yrs |
1,015 yrs. |
1st
Kings 6:1 |
|
Solomon’s
Reign |
36 yrs |
1,051 yrs. |
2nd
Chronicles 9:30 |
|
Kings
Of Judah (2) |
393.5 yrs |
1,444.5 yrs. |
2nd
Chronicles 9-36 |
|
Jerusalem’s
Desolation |
70 yrs |
1,514.50 yrs. |
2nd
Chronicles 36:21 |
|
Time
to Ezra |
58 yrs |
1,572.50 yrs. |
Secular
dating |
|
Daniel’s
69 ‘Sevens’ |
490 yrs |
2,062.50 yrs. |
Dan.
9:25-26 |
|
Christ’s
Lifetime |
-33.33333 yrs |
2,029.1666 yrs. |
1
S-day |
(1)
Hebrew
Septuagint; four hundred and fortieth year and not four hundred and eightieth
year
(2)
Details
of this data are shown in Appendix B.
We have
captured all the time from the promise God gave Abraham until the “Anointed
One” (Christ) is cut off (death) as mentioned in Daniel’s prophecy. But the
“Times of the Jews” are to the birth of Christ and not his death. Therefore in
Table 10-1, we subtracted the life span of Jesus at his death to get the exact
number. I will show later that Jesus was between 33.333 and 33.5 years old when
he died.
A further look at the data in Table 10-1 reveals more information. Daniel’s sixty-nine ‘sevens’ is the only exact amount of years after being converted to man’s perspective in the list. The years of Jerusalem’s desolation, Exodus, and the time from Exodus to Solomon’s reign appear to be exact times, but are not as we will show! It has been shown with genealogy calculations that there is some leeway (months) in this timing as well. This is also true for the Kings of Judah listing.
Let’s
analyze these key events as we did in the Age of Adam using more precision in
our analysis by not limiting these events to rounding errors.
Table 10-2
|
Event |
Time |
Min. Time |
Max. Time |
Range of Time |
|
Abraham |
25 yrs. |
25 yrs. |
26 yrs. |
25 - 26 |
|
Isaac |
60 yrs. |
60 yrs. |
61 yrs. |
85 - 87 |
|
Jacob |
60 yrs. |
60 yrs. |
61 yrs. |
146 - 148 |
|
Exodus |
430 yrs. |
429.9 yrs. |
430 yrs. |
575.9 - 578 |
|
Exodus
to Solomon’s 4th year |
440 yrs. |
439 yrs. |
440 yrs. |
1014.9 - 1018 |
|
Solomon’s
Reign |
36 yrs. |
36 yrs. |
36 yrs. |
1050.9 - 1054 |
|
Kings
Of Judah |
393.175 yrs. |
393.0 yrs. |
394.0 yrs. |
1443.9 - 1448 |
|
Jerusalem
Desolation |
70 yrs. |
70 yrs. |
71.021 yrs. |
1513.9 - 1519.021 |
|
Time
to Ezra |
58 yrs. |
58 yrs. |
60 yrs. |
1571.9 - 1579.021 |
|
Daniel’s
69 Sevens |
483 G-yrs. |
490.044 yrs. |
490.044 yrs. |
2061.944 - 2069.065 |
|
Christ’s Lifetime (1 S-day) |
-33.333 G-yrs. |
-33.819 yrs. |
-33.333 yrs. |
2028.125 - 2035.732 |
This
analysis shows a 7.6-year window from our original calculations and gives us a
final range of 2,028.125 to 2,035.732 years. The ranges used for certain events
will be discussed in the next few chapters so you can see how these numbers
were derived. We see in the range of possibilities a familiar number. Since the
beauty of God’s plan is its symmetry and simplicity, we can know with
confidence that the time span for the “Times of the Jews” is 2,029.1666 years.
Identical to the “Times of Adam”! If we knew the date of Christ’s birth or of
the promise to Abraham we could convert this range of years to actual dates.
For now we will leave those calculations for other chapters. The point of this
analysis was to show that by using more accurate dating and not rounding, it is
still possible that the second trimester of God’s plan is the same length as
the first.
The
analysis of the second trimester in God’s plan for mankind is divided among the
next six chapters. This is done for ease of analysis and at the end we will add
the times together for these separate pieces just as we did in our analysis of
the “Times of Adam”. Furthermore, we
will investigate other sources besides the Bible to see what they have to say
about this block of time in history and how they compare to the biblical
accounts and God’s calendar.
We will see how God’s prophets during the “Time of
the Jews” provide timing details that are in total agreement with the Lord’s
overall plan as presented to you. These prophesies of past and future events,
provide supporting key indicators of the truth of His plan… an analysis for
those students of prophecy that you don’t want to skim over lightly.
Appendix B.
Details of the Kings of Judah
|
King |
Date |
Time |
Passage |
|
Rohobam |
980 B.C. |
17 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 12:13 |
|
Abijah |
963 B.C. |
3 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 13:2 |
|
Asa |
960 B.C. |
41 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 16:13 |
|
Johoshaphat |
919 B.C. |
25 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 20:31 |
|
Jehoram |
894 B.C. |
8 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 21:20 |
|
Ahaziah |
886 B.C. |
1 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 22:2 |
|
Athaliah* |
885 B.C. |
6 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 22:12 |
|
Joash |
879 B.C. |
40 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 24:1 |
|
Amaziah |
839 B.C. |
29 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 25:1 |
|
Uzziah |
810 B.C. |
52 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 26:3 |
|
Jotham |
758 B.C. |
16 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 27:1 |
|
Ahaz |
742 B.C. |
16 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 28:1 |
|
Hezekiah |
726 B.C. |
29 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 29:1 |
|
Manasseh |
697 B.C. |
55 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 33:1 |
|
Amon |
642 B.C. |
2 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 33:21 |
|
Josiah |
640 B.C. |
31 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 34:1 |
|
Jehoahaz |
609 B.C. |
3 months |
2nd Chronicles 36:2 |
|
Jeholakim |
609 B.C. |
11 yrs. |
2nd Chronicles 36:5 |
|
Jehoiachin |
598 B.C. |
3 months & 10 days |
2nd Chronicles 36:9 |
|
Zedekiah |
597 B.C. |
11 yrs. |
Jeremiah 52:1-6 |
|
Totals |
587 B.C. |
393.5274 yrs. ** |
2nd Chronicles 12-36 |
* Athaliah was a woman ** See further analysis below for final number
Since the genealogy of the Kings of Judah was continuous until Zedekiah, it is assumed when the control of the kingdom changed hands from one king to the next, that scripture recorded that year of service to only one of the two kings so that no double accounting crept into the overall record. With this premise stated, the only error with the total years of the Kings of Judah would be with the starting point of the table and the last king’s (Zedekiah) accounting. It’s possible that Zedekiah’s credited years might be up to one year off since no king replaced him so this means of accounting could not continue. Examining Zedekiah’s account in detail, we notice that his record of 11 years was too long and was rounded up as might be expected.
Biblical
scholars say Babylonian records indicate Jehoiachin, King of Judah, was
captured on March 16, 597 B.C. At that time, Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiakim’s
uncle Mattaniah king and changed his name to Zedekiah. The Bible further
states, Nebuchadnezzar began a siege of Jerusalem in the ninth year of Zedekiah
that lasted one year and seven months, which ended the seventh day of the fifth
month of Zedekiah’s 11th year (587 B.C.). The seventh day of the fifth
month (Av) was July 21, 587 B.C. These dates yield 10.34766 (596.79466-586.447)
years for Zedekiah’s reign. So we see that giving Zedekiah 11 years’ reigning was too much and it
was only 10.34766
years. Even
though I indicate his years as king accurately, it is hard to determine
precisely since we don’t know the exact date he took the throne (only when
Jehoiachin was captured) and at what point Zedekiah officially stopped being
king… when the Jews lost control of the city, or when the Babylonian’s caught
Zedekiah after a chase in the desert, or when they burned out his eyes, or when
they burned down the city and Temple? You see the dilemma?
Also,
using the March 16, 597 B.C. date and counting backwards in time three months
and ten days (approx. 100 days) for the reign of Jehoiachin, we get to December
6, 598 B.C. Counting back another eleven years and three months for the reigns
of Kings Jeholakim
and Jehoahaz respectively gets us to September 7, 609 B.C. After this, the Bible records only full
years for the reigns of the Kings of Judah. Counting back the remaining years
for the remaining kings plus 36 years to the fourth year of Solomon’s reign
(Solomon reigned 40 years) gets us to September 7, 1016 B.C., which is the year
the first Temple was started. The Temple construction was started in the month
of Ziv (Iyar), which was April 26th to May 24th. Also,
May 24th was a Sabbath so construction would not start on this date
and most likely would start at the beginning of a week. Assuming a May 19th
construction start date gives an additional 111 days (.30 yrs) to account for
to bridge the last King of Judah with the start of construction on the first
Temple.
Taking the 393.5274 years from the table and adding the additional 0.3 years to the Temple construction and subtracting .65234 (11-10.34766) years for Zedekiah gives “393.175 years” for the Kings of Judah. If we add forty years for Solomon’s reign another 40.5 for King David’s reign we get 473.675 yrs. Fourteen S-days is equal to 473.47222 yrs. The 14 S-days and the calculated years of Judah Kings are essentially the same. Although we tried to calculate this time as accurately as possible, you can be sure that God’s plan is exact and that the length of rule by the kings of Judah was precisely 14 S-days on God’s calendar.