Bible Timelines & His Story

The Bible Timeline & His Story Bible Study series is designed to enhance the student’s knowledge of the Bible by a) enhancing cultural knowledge of the characters referenced in the Old Testament, b) emphasizing the cause-and-effect relationships of Man’s actions and consequences from God’s perspective, and c) tracing God’s process of dealing with Man as He reveals Himself and points to the promised Messiah. This page and the works here are a work-in-progress, and will continue to grow over time.

The materials for this study consists of Bible Timelines (PDF), lesson outline for the teacher (Microsoft Word), and slides of photos, charts and maps (PowerPoint). Right-click on the links to save these Adobe Acrobat file to your computer. You will need to install Foxit PDF Reader  (free) or Adobe Acrobat Reader (free) on your computer in order to view and print the documents.  (Note: The original files were created in Libre Office. If you want to edit the ” Creation to the Cross” and “Kings & Prophets” timelines to suit your own purposes, you can download the original here (8mb). You will have to have Libre Office or Open Office installed on your computer in order to edit the file.)

• Bible Timeline: From Creation to the Cross (2M PDF. 12/1/2011)
  This timeline begins with Creation and ends at the cross. It includes extra-Biblical historical items to help the reader keep world history in perspective alongside Biblical history
• Bible Timeline: Noah’s Flood (186K PDF. 3/11/2013)
  The events of Noah’s flood.
• Bible Timeline: Abraham (88K PDF. 12/20/2011)
  The life and times of Abraham, including his father and grandchildren. Each relevant section of Gen 11-25 is presented.
  – Genealogy: Abraham Quiz (513K PDF. 9/20/2013)
• Bible Timeline: Kings & Prophets (500K PDF. 12/1/2011)
  From King Saul to the Babylonian Exile, this timeline shows the lineage of Hebrew kings and prophets alongside the kings of other nations: Syrian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, etc. Special attention is given to the battles that decimated various nations.
• Originals:
  • Bible Timeline: Original format (8M ODG. 12/1/2011)
    Use this to edit the “From Creation to the Cross” and the “Kings” timelines. Requires Libre Office or Open Office. Abraham’s timeline will be posted soon.)
  • Dates and sources (14K XLS).
    Dates and passages used in compiling the timelines.
• Bible Timeline Notes (5M DOC)
  This document gives background information about the items on the timeline, particularly the archaeological discoveries that support Biblical narratives. It’s a work in progress too.
• His Story Notes & Lesson Outline (100k DOC)
  This lesson outline is a series of verses, thoughts, questions and references designed to challenge the teacher as he/she prepares for the lesson. It works through the OT looking at the covenants between God and man, and focuses on the faith issues faced by the recipients of those covenants. They are not designed to be handed out to the students, although depending on your audience, they may be well suited for that task. At least one of the pages is not complete.
• Male Populations of Genesis
  Frequently, questions arise about the nature of genealogies in the OT: whom did Cain marry; how many people were alive at the time of Noah’s flood; how did 70 men of Jacob’s clan become 600,000 Children of Israel in so short a time. This page shows the reasonableness of speculations on the numbers involved in OT genealogies.
• Genealogical Ages of Genesis
  If we take the ages of Genesis 5 and Genesis 11 at face value, what do we get? Who was alive when the flood hit? Who was born while Shem was still alive? What’s the minimum number of hands that would have been required to pass a book from Adam to Abraham?
  You may be surprised.
• Early Date vs Late Date Exodus
  While the Bible, plainly read, argues for the early-date Exodus, some archaeologists claim that there is a lack of evidence to support this. They prefer to put the Exodus at 1270BC with Ramses the Great as the pharaoh of the Exodus. There are a number of reasons to reject the Late Date Exodus.

These timelines are anchored on three widely accepted specific dates:

• Solomon’s Temple in 966 BC. Most Biblical and secular scholars are in agreement on this date for a variety of reasons, so this is assumed to be a correct starting point.
• Children of Israel’s Exodus in 1446 BC. According to 1 Kings 6:1, the Exodus took place 480 years prior to the construction of Solomon’s Temple. This is taken as a literal 480 years.
• Jacob’s migration to Egypt in 1876 BC. Exodus 4:21 says that the Exodus took place 430 years, to the exact day, after their sojourn to Egypt began. (The Septuagint includes Abraham’s sojourn in this 430 year time span; most Bibles do not, therefore, this timeline does not.) From this standpoint, Paul’s reference to “430 years” in Gal 3 is understood to refer to the last conveyance of the Abrahamic Covenant, given to Jacob, immediately prior to his migration to Egypt – Gen 46:1-5.

As I said earlier, this stuff is a work-in-progress and some of it is still in its rough draft form. But it’s here, so use it as you see fit. I continue to update the material.

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