How and Why We Have Confidence about Some Old Testament Dates
One of the most difficult subjects of Old Testament studies is biblical chronologies.[1] The authors of Old Testament books wrote to tell the history of Israel from a theological point of view, not necessarily a chronological focus. Therefore, when we try to determine Old Testament dates we need to look at both biblical and non-biblical information, note areas of correlation, and then try to fit that information into a cohesive system.
Firm Dates Known with Certainty in the Old Testament
There are some Old Testament events that can be identified with accuracy. Assyrian and Babylonia chronologies can be correlated with the reign of an Israelite or Judean king and accurate Bible dates can be determined within 10 years between 1,000 BC to 900 BC. After 900 BC the margin for error shrinks to less than a year.[2] This is possible because of the careful records kept by the kings of Assyria, precise records kept by Babylon, as well as a datable astronomical event.
Unfortunately, this type of information is rare and mostly limited to after 1,000 BC. Dates of Abraham’s journey to Canaan (Genesis 12-22) and the Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 12-18) are less certain. David Howard, who is an Old Testament professor at Bethel Theological Seminary, has said “the Bible does not have exact synchronic references in these earlier periods, and thus we see wider margins for error in dating such events as the exodus.”[3] Therefore, the farther you reach back into Old Testament history the larger the margin of error is. Conversely, more recent Old Testament historical events possess more confidence in their dates such as the ascension of David, Solomon’s rule, the final fall of Jerusalem, the edict of Cyrus, return of Nehemiah, etc.
One of the dates scholars can have confidence in is the ascension of David to the throne in 1010 BC (2 Sam. 1:1-2; 2:1-4).[4] Another date Bible scholars can be sure of is the date of Solomon’s rule (970-931 BC). Kenneth Kitchen, who served as professor of Egyptology at the University of Liverpool in England, has used Assyrian and Egyptian lists as well as historical records to assign an accurate date to Solomon’s rule that is within one year of accuracy.[5]
Another date we hold with confidence is the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 586 BC. We arrive at this date by starting with the death of King Josiah in 609 BC. Josiah’s death is described in 2 Kings 23:28-30 (as well as 2 Chronicles 35:20-25). A historian from Greece named Herodotus traveled the world and wrote a history of Egypt and Babylon. In his book, Histories, published in 430 BC he records this battle between King Josiah of Judah and Necho of Egypt.[6] The date of this battle is 609 BC.
The date of the battle of Carchemish also helps us firmly establish the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 586 BC. Jeremiah 46:1-12 depicts the battle of Carchemish where Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed the Assyrian and Egyptian forces (the same Egyptian forces that killed Josiah). This battle is recorded in what is called “The Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle” which is housed in the British Museum. The date of the battle of Carchemish is 605 BC.
Next we move on to King Jehoaichin who’s reign ended in Judah in 597 BC. A series of “Babylonian Chronicles” (currently located in the Pergamum Museum in Berlin Germany) were found in the royal archive room of King Nebuchadnezzar near the Ishtar Gate in Babylon. These tablets—dating 595 to 570 BC—record oil and grain given to King Jehoaichin and his sons while they were in captivity in Babylon.
Because of these contemporary records that correlate with biblical events, we hold with confidence that the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC. The death of Josiah in 609 BC, the battle of Carchemish in 605 BC, and the end of the reign of Jehoaichin in 597 BC[7] allow us to establish 586 BC as the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem because Zedekiah reigned for 11 years (2 Kings 24:18) until King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered Jerusalem and burnt the temple (2 Kings 25).
I hope you can see we don’t have to be wishy washy with some Old Testament dates. Because of biblical records that correlate to contemporary historical events, we can be certain of many Old Testament events after 1,000 BC. A few important ones it’s good to fix our minds on are the division of Israel into a kingdom in the north and south in 931 BC, the fall of Israel in the north to Assyria in 722 BC, the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem in Judah by the Babylonians in 586 BC, and King Cyrus of Persia’s conquering of Babylon in 539 BC which initiated a decree and return of Jews to the land of Judah.
Sources Used to Establish Biblical Chronologies
As we seek to establish a set of Old Testament dates it’s important to evaluate the sources we use to establish those dates.
Biblical Sources
Two sources are explicitly stated in the Old Testament that record events and establish Old Testament chronologies. These two sources are “the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah” (1 Kings 14:29) and “the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel” (1 Kings 14:19). In addition to these two sources in the books of Chronicles and Kings there are many other sources used to establish a biblical chronology. The author of 1 and 2 Chronicles used thirty-two different sources when writing those two books.[8] His sources can be summarized into three categories of official annals, genealogical records, and prophetic recordings. (“The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah” and “the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel” are annals—official court records—kept by the schools of the prophets.)[9] These are the main sources we use to establish reliable Old Testament dates.
Extra-Biblical Sources[10]
Extra biblical materials have not endured the same levels of preservation nor continuous interpretation as the Bible has. Thus we probably should not place a heavy weight on their use. Yet, there are still strong synchronisms that exist between the Babylonia and Assyrian records and the Bible that help us establish reliable dates for Old Testament events.[11]
The nation of Israel was located between Assyria (later Babylonia in the Northeast) and Egypt (in the Southwest). These nations record numerous wars, sieges, and conquering campaigns that they experienced. Because these nations kept detailed records for what they did and when they did them, that information can be reconciled with information in the Old Testament to establish accurate dates for Bible events.[12] These various extra biblical records are records of military campaigns, inscriptions related to a specific victory or dedication, annals which list the major accomplishments of a ruler, and pieces of pottery with inscriptions on them.[13] It is important to remember that these pieces of extra-biblical information supplement the account of the Bible, they do not replace the inspired inerrant text.
Among some of the most abundant extra-biblical information that helps to establish biblical chronologies are the limmu lists of the nation of Assyria. These are summaries of where and what specific kings did. Historians have provided dates for when they believe these Assyrians kings ruled on the limmu list. Thus, we can use the limmu lists and correlate them with the Assyrian kings that are mentioned in the Bible. (Out of the twenty-two foreign rulers mentioned in 1 and 2 Kings and in 1 and 2 Chronicles, twenty of those kings are attested in ancient near eastern literature.)[14] These lists were records of significant events that occurred each year under that specific king. These lists provide valid information that can be corroborated with the Old Testament and give us confidence when reconstructing the chronology of history that corresponds to biblical history.
I hope your confidence in the dates we set for when Old Testament events happened is strengthened as we look at this information. While we now have a basic understanding of the sources, it’s important to understand the different ways that different countries utilized those sources.
Significant Dating Factors Used to Establish Biblical Chronologies
When establishing a chronology of events in the Old Testament it is important to recognize that neither Judah nor Israel from (931-586 BC) recognized each other’s dating system. (1 Kings 12:16-20 describes how the nation of Israel split into two kingdoms under King Rehoboam in 931 BC.) Each nation wrote its own history using its own dating system. This is one—of many difficulties—that arise when attempting to establish Old Testament chronologies.
Regnal-Year Dating and Co-Regencies
Both Israel and Judah utilized different forms of what is called Regnal-Year Dating. This is a dating system by reference to the years of a king’s reign.[15] Even though both Israel and Judah used regnal-year dating, they utilized this system in different ways. Thankfully the Assyrian and Babylonia kings appear in the Old Testament text (particularly 2 Kings and in Chronicles) which makes it possible to assimilate the regnal dating of the Old Testament with regnal dating of the Assyrian and Babylonian time.[16]
Accession-Year Dating Used by Judah as well as Babylon
Accession-Year Dating is a form of Regnal-Year Dating in which a nation (particularly Babylon and Assyria) counted the year that a new king took his throne as belonging only to the previous king. This meant that the year that a king took the throne was not counted as part of his reign. Therefore his “first year” was actually the second year of reigning as king.
Another way to explain the accession-year system is that it “distinguished a king’s accession year (the incomplete calendar year in which he began to reign) and reckoned by the number of New Year days a king lived in his reign.”[17] This leads to a separate “accession-year” which is excluded from the account of a king’s reign and is rather credited to the previous king whose reign just ended.[18] Accession-year dating was under David and Solomon and continued in Judah after the split of Israel in 931 BC.[19]
Non-Accession-Year Dating Used by Israel and Egypt
Egypt and the Northern Kingdom of Israel recorded what is called Non-Accession-Year Dating. In “Egypt (and elsewhere) the new king reckoned the partial year as his Year 1, disregarding his predecessor. This is the non-accession-year system, or ante-dating. And that’s what the kings of Israel used.”[20] This means that one year would often be counted twice: once for the previous king and once for the new king.[21] Israel in the north used non-accession-year dating starting in 931 BC possibly because it wanted to distinguish itself from Judah in the south (from which it had rebelled) or it might have been used because Jeroboam I (son of Nebat) had spent time in Egypt to escape from King Solomon and learned about that system while there (1 Kings 12:2).[22] Further explanation for the non-accession year system is that “the remainder of a previous king’s last year is counted as the first year of his successor, and then subsequent years are calculated from Nisan to Nisan in Israel, or Tishri to Tishri is Judah.”[23]
Co-Regencies
Another factor that makes creating a biblical chronology difficult is co-regencies. For example, the nation of Judah sometimes made their sons “co-regents” as a way to provide on the job training and to ensure a smooth transition of kingship power.[24] In the nation of Judah we see Jehoshaphat, Jerhoram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh all began as co-regent kings with their father.[25] Because of co-regencies in both Judah and Babylon (Belshazzar, a king in Babylon also was a co-regent with his father, Nabonidus), another layer of complexity is added to the dating of events.
Co-regencies in Scripture are an issue because “sometimes the number given is from the time a ruler became coregent; sometimes it is from the time he became king. Similarly the total years ruled may or may not include co-regency years and unless this is written into the translation it is not possible to make sense of the figures.”[26] This further adds to confusion, not necessarily errors in the biblical text. “When events are dated during the life of a king or coregent . . . it is a fact—which may not be significant—that these are dated according to his kingship. There are no instances of such events dated from the time of the king’s son became coregent.”[27] Even though this information might appear insignificant, it makes establishing a historical chronology difficult.
Factors That Make “Year” Chronologies Difficult
Another factor that makes chronologies of the Old Testament difficult is that the “calendar year” was different than what is used today. Furthermore, the calendar years used by neighboring nations were different than each other. “This ambiguity in dates [which we see today] existed even in ancient times because neighboring kingdoms used different systems. Years in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah began in different seasons; a year in one kingdom, therefore, straddled two years in the other.”[28] No wonder counting years accurately is so complex!
The nation of Israel used a calendar system that went from the month of Nisan to Adar in the Hebrew calendar (approximately April to March).[29] This calendar was also used by the nation of Babylon.[30] The nation of Judah used a calendar system that went from the month of Tishri to Elul in the Hebrew calendar (approximately September to August).[31] This calendar system started under the reigns of David and Solomon and continued after the split of Israel in 931 BC.[32]
Further complicating this is that the calendar systems of Israel, Judah, Babylonia, Assyria, and Egypt used do not correlate to the modern January to December yearly calendar currently practiced in the modern world. Even if these nations all kept exact dates, it is difficult for modern scholars to work backward more than 3,000 years, reconcile the modern calendar system to ancient nation calendaring systems, and reconcile different calendar systems with each other independent of the modern calendaring system.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
While there are many factors involved in the process of setting dates of Old Testament events, I hope what you’ve read gives you a greater appreciation for the work that goes into determining the dates that specific Old Testament events happened. And I hope that you have learned to accept some flexibility if some of these dates differ slightly in different study resources.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boda, Mark and J. Gordon McConville, Editors. Dictionary of the Old Testament Prophets. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2012.
Comfort, Philip W., and Walter A. Elwell, eds. Tyndale Bible Dictionary: A comprehensive guide to the people, places, and important words of the Bible. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001.
Drinkard, Joel F., Jr., and E. Ray Clendenen. “Chronology of the Biblical Period.” Edited by Chad Brand, Charles Draper, Archie England, Steve Bond, E. Ray Clendenen, and Trent C. Butler. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003.
Gerhald Larsson, “Chronology as a Structural Element in the Old Testament,” Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament, vol. 14, no. 2, (2000): 207-219.
Howard, David. An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1993.
Kenneth Kitchen, “How Do We Know When Solomon Ruled,” Biblical Archeology Review, September/October 2001, 32-37, 58.
McFall, Leslie. “A Translation Guide to the Chronological Data in Kings and Chronicles.” Bibleotheca Sacra (Jan-March 1991): 3-45.
Merrill, Eugene. Kingdom of Priests: A History of Old Testament Israel, 2 Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008.
Rusten, E. Michael and Sharon. The Compete Book of When and Where in the Bible. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 2005.
“The Chronology of Israel’s Monarchy.” In New Living Translation Study Bible. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2007.Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Vol. 1. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985.
Young, Rodger. “When Was Samaria Captured? The Need for Precision in Biblical Chronologies,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society¸ vol. 47, no. 4 (December 2004): 577-595.
[1] Leslie McFall, “A Translation Guide to the Chronological Data in Kings and Chronicles,” Bibliotheca Sacra (Jan-March 1991): 42.
[2] David Howard, An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1993), 168-169.
[3] Ibid., 169.
[4] Ibid., 167.
[5] Kenneth Kitchen, “How Do We Know When Solomon Ruled,” Biblical Archeology Review, (September/October 2001), 34.
[6] Herodotus also records many details of the Persian Empire that can be correlated with details recorded in the Bible in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Jeremiah
[7] Philip W. Comfort and Walter A. Elwell, eds., Tyndale Bible Dictionary, 277.
[8] David Howard, Introduction to the Old Testament, 272.
[9] Rodger Young, “When Was Samaria Captured? The Need for Precision in Biblical Chronologies”, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society¸ vol. 47, no. 4 (December 2004): 586.
[10] I firmly believe in the inspiration, inerrancy, sufficiency, and authority of Scripture, thus it is difficult to place a high emphasis on extra-biblical materials
[11] David Howard, Introduction to the Old Testament, 168.
[12] Kenneth Kitchen, “How Do We Know When Solomon Ruled,” 32-33.
[13] Philip W. Comfort and Walter A. Elwell, eds., Tyndale Bible Dictionary, 272.
[14] Gordon Johnston, “OT in the Public Square: Part Four—Historicity of the Divided Monarch Period” (slide 169) in OT 103 Elements of Hebrew, Dallas Theological Seminary, 2015 .
[15] “The Chronology of Israel’s Monarchy,” in New Living Translation Study Bible, (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2007), 562.
[16] Ibid.
[17] “Leslie McFall, “A Translation Guide,” 7.
[18] Kenneth Kitchen, “How Do We Know When Solomon Ruled,” 34.
[19] “Chronology of Israel’s Monarchy,” in NLT Study Bible, 563 quoted from Edward R. Thiele, “The Mysterious Number of the Hebrew Kings,” 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1983), 47-51.
[20] Kenneth Kitchen, “How Do We Know When Solomon Ruled,” 34.
[21] “Chronology of Israel’s Monarchy,” in NLT Study Bible, 563.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Leslie McFall, “A Translation Guide,” 7.
[24] “Chronology of Israel’s Monarchy,” in NLT Study Bible, 564.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Leslie McFall, “A Translation Guide,” 7. Emphasis added.
[27] Ibid., 41.
[28] Kenneth Kitchen, “How Do We Know When Solomon Ruled,” 35.
[29] “Leslie McFall, “A Translation Guide,” 7 and Kenneth Kitchen, “How Do We Know When Solomon Ruled,” 35.
[30] “Chronology of Israel’s Monarchy,” in NLT Study Bible, 563.
[31] “Leslie McFall, “A Translation Guide,”7 and Kenneth Kitchen, “How Do We Know When Solomon Ruled,” 35.
[32] “Chronology of Israel’s Monarchy,” in NLT Study Bible, 563.