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Before we dig in, I just need to point out how thick the spiritual warfare has been of late. I’ll spare you the litany of examples from my own life as I know I’m far from alone in this, but things have recently become so flagrant, so utterly obvious that even the more skeptical within my circle are seeing what’s happening and noting that it’s clearly demonic.
First, let me encourage you with the understanding that the enemy has limited resources. Ammunition doesn’t come cheap and the fact is that if the enemy is expending ammunition on you, it’s because you’re a threat. Secondly, allow me to point out whose team you’re on… I’ve read the end of the book; God wins. There isn’t anything the enemy can do to thwart the purposes of God, and if you’re acting on a calling, I encourage to stand tall and remain steadfast in your call and purpose.
So last week, I stated that we had everything we needed to place ourselves in God’s timeline… but that’s not actually true. You see, we have learned to reckon time as regards the Gregorian calendar, but to this point we have seen that the Bible doesn’t utilize the Gregorian calendar – rather, it uses God’s accounting of time, and we should too.
In order to correlate the times we’ve calculated thus far with that of our understanding of time, we have to have a touchstone – a key of sorts that will allow us to place these events on our calendar. This will likewise allow us to reconcile our calendar with God’s and, in so doing, we can find out when now actually is. You follow? No? Let me explain….
What we’re looking for is a specific time or event that we can place both within the time-frame of the Biblical calendar and the man-made calendar we use today. This would allow us to calculate, not only the biblical and Gregorian dates of the events we’ve discussed so far, but it would allow us to see what time it actually is now.
Understand that with regards to placing such an event, there will exist a margin of error, as there are few – if any – events in antiquity that historians can pinpoint an exact Gregorian year and all agree on. The reason for this is that the method through which we reckon time is relatively new and throughout ancient history, most events were dated according to a “regnal year”; that is, “in the nth year of the reign of King such and such.” Without a firm Gregorian date through which to place the reign of the King in question, dating the event becomes more… complicated.
Fortunately, we have such an event and, what’s more, there’s a far smaller margin of error than with other events, allowing us to place some confidence in the calculations. It is none other than the construction of the 1st Temple by King Solomon:
In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites left Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, during the month Ziv (the second month), he began building the Lord’s temple.
1 Kings 6:1
You may recall that last week we had calculated that the Israelites left Egypt in the year 2513 AM. Utilizing this passage from 1 Kings, we can easily see that construction of the first temple would have begun in the year 2993 AM. Additionally, we know that this occurred in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, therefore if we can date Solomon’s reign or the beginning of temple construction according to the Gregorian calendar, then we have the key we need to reconcile the two calendars.
Now it should surprise no one when I say there’s some debate about the dating of the Temple… there’s always a debate when it matters. Suffice it to say however, that some of the critics deny not only the timeline, but question the very existence of David and Solomon at all… which pretty much discredits them as far as I’m concerned ~ but I digress.
For our purposes, we need to know that the generally accepted date for construction of the first temple beginning is 967 BC. I’m sure if you look around a bit, you’ll see some other proposed dates, but they’re going to range within one or two years of this at most. I could go into my reasoning for pointing specifically to 967, but that really isn’t my purpose… nor do I want to backtrack through years of study to provide footnotes, etc. Suffice it to say that I’m confident in it, but you can at least know that the potential range here isn’t decades – it’s a couple years.
This now becomes a lynch-pin of sorts. From this we can correlate dates, and If 967 BC represents 2993 AM, we can then conclude the following:
| LINEAGE / EVENT | YEAR AM | YEAR BC |
| Adam | 1 – 930 | 3960 – 3030 |
| Seth | 130 – 1042 | 3830 – 2648 |
| Enosh | 235 – 1140 | 3725 – 2820 |
| Kenan | 325 – 1235 | 3635 – 2725 |
| Mahalalel | 395 – 1290 | 3565 – 2670 |
| Jared | 460 – 1422 | 3500 – 2538 |
| Enoch | 622 – 987 | 3338 – 2973 |
| Methusaleh | 687 – 1656 | 3273 – 2304 |
| Lamech | 874 – 1651 | 3086 – 2309 |
| Noah | 1056 – 2006 | 2904 – 1954 |
| The Great Flood | 1656 AM | 2304 BC |
| Shem | 1558 – 2158 | 2402 – 1802 |
| Aprhaxad | 1658 – 2096 | 2302 – 1864 |
| Selah | 1693 – 2126 | 2267 – 1834 |
| Eber | 1723 – 2187 | 2237 – 1773 |
| Peleg | 1757 – 1996 | 2203 – 1964 |
| Reu | 1787 – 2026 | 2173 – 1934 |
| Serug | 1819 – 2049 | 2141 – 1911 |
| Nahor | 1849 – 1997 | 2111 – 1963 |
| Terah | 1878 – 2083 | 2082 – 1877 |
| Abraham | 2008 – 2183 | 1952 – 1777 |
| Isaac | 2108 – 2288 | 1852 – 1672 |
| Jacob | 2168 – 2315 | 1792 – 1645 |
| Sojourn | 2083 – 2513 | 1877 – 1447 |
| Exodus | 2513 – 2553 AM | 1447 – 1407 |
| Conquest of Canaan | 2554 – 2559 | 1406 – 1401 |
| 1st Temple | 2993 – 3410 | 967 – 550 BC |
| Common Era | 3960 – 5981 | 1 – 2021 CE / AD |
Now, that’s a lot of data and mathematics, but you may be asking yourself why any of that really matters. I mean, you either believe the Bible or you don’t, right? Well… yes and no. To believe is all well and good, but then as James so aptly points out, “even the demons believe…”. (James 2:19).
Those familiar with the Hebrew calendar may note that my calculations and the year according to Rabbinic Judaism are off by exactly 200 years. Judaism reports the year (as of this writing) as 5781, while I have calculated the year to be 5981. Interestingly, throughout my research I noted commentaries from among Rabbinic theologians noting that the calendar was acknowledged to be off by + / – (plus or minus) 250 years, so I find the apparent discrepancy unsurprising.
As a side note, I am not certain as to the details of the discrepancy, I’m just doing math and the numbers say what the numbers say. Moreover, I have clearly sought to do so in a manner that accounts for the various reports from the scriptures themselves and when one does so, there are a very finite number of conclusions one can reach; such as when the sojourn began, or how long the Hebrews were actually enslaved in Egypt… it’s 215 years by the way.
I plan to conclude this series next week and, in so doing, explain to you why I believe that now, during this time, the information presented here is critical. The thing is, if you’ve thought that anything I’ve presented on this site to-date has been controversial, then buckle up, because this will take the cake.
To be clear, I’m not trying to bait anyone – you know I’m not selling anything here. I do feel however, that the topic is bound to ruffle some feathers, but it deserves an article all it’s own, and only through utilizing the work we’ve done thus far, does the magnitude of the information even begin to register.
Plus, my brain is tired from all that math. =)
Until next time,
שלום עליכם – Shalom Aleichem – Peace Be Upon You