True Bible Chronology Stated A.m

[R1980 : page 112]

TRUE BIBLE CHRONOLOGY STATED A.M.

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THE arrangement of Chronology in our Common Version English Bibles was made by Bishop Usher. It begins with the era known as Anno Domini (the year of our Lord--although Usher believed, with many scholars, that our Lord was born 4 years earlier than that era,--and we claim 1-1/4 years earlier.)* Usher reckons backward from A.D., calling the years B.C., and in our chapter on Chronology in MILLENNIAL DAWN, VOL. II., we have followed the same usage. But since some might grasp the subject better by a presentation of it in consecutive order, from Adam's creation to the present time, we will here give such a presentation, known as A.M. (Anno Mundi) or the year of the world. Otherwise the statement following will be found to coincide exactly with the presentation in MILLENNIAL DAWN, VOL. II.

*See MILLENNIAL DAWN, VOL. II., p.54.

PERIOD FROM CREATION TO THE FLOOD.

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A.M.

Adam's age when Seth was born--Gen. 5:3--was 130 = 130
Seth's " " Enos " " " 5:6" 105 = 235
Enos' " " Cainan " " " 5:9" 90 = 325
Cainan's " " Mahaleel " " " 5:12" 70 = 395
Mahaleel's " " Jared " " " 5:15" 65 = 460
Jared's " " Enoch " " " 5:18" 162 = 622
Enoch's " " Methuselah " " " 5:21" 65 = 687
Methuselah's " " Lamech " " " 5:25" 187 = 874
Lamech's " " Noah " " " 5:28" 182 = 1056
Noah's " " the flood was on the earth 7:6" 600 = 1656

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Total years from Adam to the day the flood
was dried up--Gen. 8:131656

PERIOD FROM THE FLOOD TO THE ABRAHAMIC
COVENANT.

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A.M.
Flood dried up (Gen. 8:13)......................................1656
Arphaxad was born two years after the Flood (Gen. 11:10)........1658
Arphaxad begat Salah when 35 (Gen. 11:12).......................1693
Salah begat Eber when 30 (Gen. 11:14)...........................1723
Eber begat Peleg when 34 (Gen. 11:16)...........................1757
Peleg begat Ren when 30 (Gen. 11:18)............................1787
Ren begat Serug when 32 (Gen. 11:20)............................1819
Serug begat Nahor when 30 (Gen. 11:22)..........................1849
Nahor begat Terah when 29 (Gen. 11:24)..........................1878
Terah died aged 205 years (Gen. 11:32)..........................2083
Abraham at that time was 75 years old (Gen. 12:4)...............2083

PERIOD FROM THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT TO THE LAW.

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A.M.

Terah was Abraham's father; and at his death (Acts 7:4; Gen. 12:4) Abraham removed into the land of Canaan. Thus by his faith and obedience he sealed to himself the great Abrahamic Covenant, which God had previously promised should be his, upon this condition. (Gen. 12:1-7.) And, since the period from the making of this Covenant to the giving of the Law was 430 years (Gal. 3:17), it follows that the first feature of the Law, which was the Passover, was instituted in the year.......................................................2513

(See Exod. 12:40-51and MILLENNIAL DAWN VOL. II., pp.45-47.)

PERIOD FROM THE LAW TO THE DIVISION OF THE LAND.

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A.M.

Israel's day of trial in the wilderness was 40 years--from "the self-same day" that the 430 years ended, on the fourteenth day of the first month, four days after they entered Canaan in.........................................................2553

There the Jubilee cycles began to count.--Compare Joshua 4:19 and 5:10; Lev. 25:2.

Six years were consumed by Israel in conquering the land and dividing it amongst the tribes. These preceded the first Sabbath year, and ended with the year.............................2559

(Josh. 14:7,10; MILLENNIAL DAWN, VOL. II., p.48.)

PERIOD OF THE JUDGES.

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A.M.

St. Paul, discussing this subject, says (Acts 13:19,20): "He [God] divided their land to them by lot; and after that he gave them Judges about [during+] the space of four hundred and fifty years [i.e., they had Judges off and on during that space of time], until Samuel the Prophet [inclusive]. And afterward, when they desired a king, God gave unto them Saul," at the close of the year...................................3009

(Compare MILLENNIAL DAWN, VOL. II., p.49.)

+The Greek word here rendered "about" is hos, and has the significance of during or while. The same writer, Luke, uses the same word in Acts 1:10; 10:17; Luke 24:32; and in each of these cases it is translated "while," in our common version. The Syriac reads thus,--"And for four hundred and fifty years he gave them Judges, until Samuel the Prophet"--the last of the Judges.

The record of 1 Kings 6:1is evidently a transcriber's error, 480 being stated instead of 580. The latter agrees perfectly with the Apostle's statement (Acts 13:19,20), and is in accord with the lapping and broken periods of the Judgeships and captivities recorded in the Book of the Judges.

The Emphatic Diaglott has the following footnote on Acts 13:20: --"A difficulty occurs here which has very much puzzled Bible chronologists. The date given here is at variance with the statement found in 1 Kings 6:1. There have been many solutions offered, but only one seems entirely satisfactory; i.e., that the text in 1 Kings 6:1has been corrupted by substituting the Hebrew character daleth (4) for hay (5), which is very similar in form. This would make 580 (instead of 480) from the exode to the building of the temple, and exactly agree with Paul's chronology."

PERIOD OF THE KINGS.

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A.M.

Saul's 40 year David's Solomon's " Rehoboam's " Abijah's " Asa's " Jehoshaphat's " Jehoram's " Ahaziah's " Athaliah's " Jehoash's " Amaziah's " Uzziah's " Jotham's " Ahaz's " Hezekiah's " Manasseh's " Amon's " Josiah's " Jehoiakim's " Zedekiah's "

---------- "space" of reigning (Acts 13:21) ended 3049
reign of 40 years (1 Chron. 29:27) " 3089
40 " 2 Chron. 9:30" 3129
17 " " 12:13" 3146
3 " " 13:2" 3149
41 " " 16:13" 3190
25 " " 20:31" 3215
8 " " 21:20" 3223
1 " " 22:2" 3224
6 " " 22:12" 3230
40 " " 24:1" 3270
29 " " 25:1" 3299
52 " " 26:3" 3351
16 " " 27:1" 3367
16 " " 28:1" 3383
29 " " 29:1" 3412
55 " " 33:1" 3467
2 " " 33:21" 3469
31 " " 35:1" 3500
11 " " 36:5" 3511
11 " " 36:11" 3522

[R1980 : page 113]

PERIOD OF THE "70 YEARS DESOLATION OF THE LAND."

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A.M.

This period began after Zedekiah's kingdom was overturned when the land was left desolate (Jer. 40:6-13; 40:10-18; 43:5-7).........................................................3523
It ended 70 years later, in....................................3593

PERIOD FROM THE RESTORATION UNTIL THE ERA A.D.

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A.M.

The date of the restoration of Israel to their own land, which terminated its seventy years of desolation "without an inhabitant," is clearly fixed in the Bible as the first year of the reign of Cyrus the Mede (2 Chron. 36:21-23), which was therefore, as above shown, the year...........................3593

Here the Bible chronology ends, giving us a good connection with secular history; for the first year of Cyrus is recognized by all competent judges as a clearly fixed date, 536 years before our era known as Anno Domini. (And it should be remembered that no earlier date than this can be clearly and unquestionably associated with Bible history and chronology.) Since the year 3593 was the same year as the first year of Cyrus, to add 535 years to it would show that the year B.C. 1 was the year..........................................4128

Our A.D. era followed.

To complete 6000 years would require 1872 years (to Oct. 1872 A.D.)...................................................1872
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Hence, the year ending Oct. A.D. 1872 was the year 6000

The date marked by the Jubilee cycles as the beginning of the Times of Restitution (Acts 3:19-21), Sept. 20th, 1874* was therefore the year............................................6002
The year which ended Oct. 1895 was.............................6023
The year ending Oct. 1900 A.D. will be.........................6028
The year ending Oct. 1914 A.D. will be.........................6042
and the full forty year "day of wrath" from October, 1874, will end Oct. 1914 A.D., the full limit of Gentile Times to tread down Jerusalem and its people.

*Two years in Eden, free from sin, may be reckoned as belonging to the Millennium, and thus the two years discrepancy between the end of the 6000 years and the beginning of the Times of Restitution be accounted for;--Man's week of evil, 6000 years, being measured in full. See MILLENNIAL DAWN, VOL. III., p.127.

All students of chronology may be said to be agreed, that the first year of Cyrus was the year 536 before the beginning of our Anno Domini era+. But there is, and can be, no agreement as to the dates of previous events, for several reasons:

(1) The records of secular history are fragmentary, and all hopelessly tangled. The Bible record is by far the most clear; yet, as we have seen, its Old Testament records would be insufficient without the inspired assistance of the New Testament writers.

[R1981 : page 113]

(2) In endeavoring to harmonize the statements of the Bible with the tangled statements of secular history, Bishop Usher (and nearly all more recent chronologists have followed his lead in this matter unquestioningly) counted the "seventy years" upon Israel to be years of captivity to Babylon and have dated them from the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, when he carried Jehoiakim and many of the people and the valuable vessels of the Temple to Babylon. The chronology arranged upon such a false supposition is of course incorrect; for, as we have shown, the Bible explicitly declares that those were "seventy years desolation of the land," without an inhabitant.

+Much confusion will be saved by remembering that between B.C. and A.D. is a fixed point which marks a new era chronologically; (not the birth of Christ, but that point of time once assumed to have been the date of his birth). Hence, whether our Lord was really born one and a quarter years earlier, or four and a quarter years earlier, would not alter the number of the years. Whatever would be added to the A.D. would come off the number of B.C. years, and the total years would be in every case the same. See MILLENNIAL DAWN, VOL. II., p.55.

Our method, of taking the Bible figures only, and exactly, is the only proper course; and we are thus assured that we neither deceive ourselves nor others. God will in due time vindicate his Word abundantly;--meantime we trust it implicitly. Whatever may be said of others, the chronology as given in the Bible itself is, in our judgment, the only one worthy of consideration by the child of God who believes that

"God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain."

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