Jesus’ Bible

Going back to the beginning, Creation, using strictly biblical dates we start at c. 4175 BC. This would be the time of creation, Adam and Eve, the garden of Eden and the fall. Shortly after this would be the account of Cain killing his brother: Able. The Flood was the next major world event in c. 2519 BC. About a hundred years after the flood is the Tower of Babel in c. 2417 BC., where the peoples of the earth were divided, the common language was lost to a host of new languages, and the people groups were spread across the globe. 

The book of Job is a difficult book to set in a historical setting. The human author is not known nor is the time of its writing. Many would place the setting as during the Patriarchs, but this is not certain.

Abraham would have been born c. 2166 BC in modern day Iraq. At the age of seventy-five he left his home and traveled to a land he did not know: present day Israel. At one hundred years old he finally had the promised son: Isaac. Isaac becomes the father of Jacob who in turn fathers twelve sons whose descendants become the twelve tribes of Israel. In an encounter with God, Jacob is renamed Israel. Jacob and his family leave the Promised Land moving to Egypt around 1876 BC. Genesis closes with the death of Joseph, Jacob’s son, in c. 1805 BC. 

The major event of the OT was the Exodus in c. 1447. After the death of Joseph and that generation, the Egyptians made the Hebrew people slaves. After approximately four hundred years of hardship, God sent Moses and ten plagues to rescue the Israelites from their captivity. After crossing through the Red Sea, Israel is given the ten commandments, and the other laws along with the instructions for building the Tabernacle, feast days, and sacrifices. Due to their disobedience, Israel wondered the wilderness for 40 years but were then led into the Promised Land. Moses does not enter with them for he dies on the east side of the Jordan River as a result of a failure in the wilderness. Sometime before his death in c. 1407, Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch. The book of Joshua tells the story of Joshua leading the Israelites to conquer the land from the nations that had created societies in rebellion to God. The Israelites are not just taking the land but carrying out God’s judgement. Judges tells of Israel’s cycle of falling away from true worship of God to following other gods, being oppressed by the various Canaanite Kingdoms, they then repent, call out to God. God sends a leader to deliver them: a Judge. The Judge defeats the oppressors, there is peace in the land for several years, but then the people go back to false gods, and the cycle starts again. Ruth gives us a look at everyday life of the Israelites during the time of the Judges through the love story of King David’s great-grandmother and great-grandfather.

During this period, the Book of Psalms (most of which were written by David), Solomon’s writings: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon (aka Song of Songs) were produced. As with much of the OT, later editing may have been done. This editing would still have been part of God’s work of inspiring the final edition of the books of the OT that we have today. 

After conquering Canaan with Joshua and the work of the Judges to fight off oppression from area kingdoms, the people reject direct rule by God and want a king like the other kingdoms have. God gives them Saul. He was made king in c. 1050. Saul was replaced by David in c. 1010 BC with Solomon succeeding David in c. 970 BC. This brings us to 1 Kings chapter 12. It was during Solomon’s reign the first temple was built in c. 963 BC.

With Solomon’s death in c. 930, and the foolish behavior of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, the northern ten tribes split from the southern two tribes to form a separate kingdom. The southern kingdom was known as Judah (Simeon was part of the southern kingdom but seems to have been absorbed into Judah and is rarely if ever mentioned). The Northern Kingdom was made up of the other ten tribes. Benjamin was located on the border between the two kingdoms. Being fought over often, it was controlled by each of the kingdoms at various times until the northern kingdom was destroyed in 722 BC. 

Northern Kingdom: Israel

Dates: 930 to 722 BC
Bible: 2 Kings 12-23 & 2 Chronicles 10 – 36

Prophets: The prophets Elijah and Elisha while not having their own books, were written about in the books of 2 Kings. Amos (8^th century), Hosea (8^th century), Jonah (c. 770 BC. went to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, to preach repentance)

The northern kingdom was generally known as Israel but at times is also called Jacob or Ephraim (one of tribes of Israel, Ephraim was one of the sons of Joseph). In the biblical books covering this period, evaluations are given of each king of the two kingdoms. While Judah in the south has a mix of good and bad kings (mostly bad), Israel in the north never had a single king who was seen as good. The story of the Northern Kingdom is one of continual betrayals, assassinations and coups. Each and every king led the people in the worshipping of false gods, even to the point of one king sacrificing his own child to a pagan god. As a result of this idolatry, God led the Assyrians, the world power of its day, to attack, destroy and carry many people of the north away into exile in 722 BC. While some may have returned to Israel over the centuries, there was never a major return of these exiled people.

Southern Kingdom: Judah

Dates: 930 to 586 BC
Bible: 2 Kings 12-23 & 2 Chronicles 10 – 36

Prophets: Joel (9^th to 6^th century), Isaiah (8^th century), Micah (8^th century), Nahum (7^th century – preached against Assyria), Habakkuk (7^th century), Zephaniah (7^th century), Obadiah (6^th century), 

The prophets of God who witnessed in Judah used the destruction of the northern kingdom as a warning to the southern kings. They told them of their coming destruction if they continued to follow the northern tribes in their idolatry. Sadly, they were not willing to heed the warning. While there were periods that the kingdom was ruled by godly men, they would be followed by horrible kings who like the kings of the north led the people to worship false gods. Yet God kept his promise to David, his dynasty lasted until the end. As with the northern kingdom, God punished Judah for its idolatry with being conquered by the Babylonians, Jerusalem and the temple being destroyed, and the exile of substantial portions of the population. 

Prophets: Jeremiah (c. 628–585 BC) Jeremiah wrote Lamentations, Ezekiel (6^th century BC), Daniel (6^th century BC)

From 601 to 586 BC Nebuchadnezzar, emperor of the newest world empire—Babylon— attacked, destroyed, and carried the people of the south away into exile. It was during this dark time that Daniel and his friends were taken to Babylon as we read in the book of Daniel.

Prophets: Haggai (520 BC), Zechariah (6^th century), Malachi (6^th-5^th century)

In 538 after the Medes and Persians conquer Babylon taking over as the world empire, the Israelites are allowed to return to the Promised Land. The second temple is completed in 516 BC. The last biblical prophet to the restored kingdom was Malachi around 400 BC. This closed the OT record and the prophetic utterances from God until John the Baptist in the first century AD.