Introduction to the New Testament

Extracted from JND Introduction to the Bible in his translation

NOTE ON THE CHRONOLOGICAL DATES

(Translated from the French)

The dates follow generally accepted chronology, and are based sometimes upon detailed information given by various passages of Scripture, and sometimes upon verses such as Ex. 12. 40, 41; Judges 11. 26; 1 Kings 6. 1; which cover a lengthy period of time. Only two or three of these passages require comment. For the reigns of the kings of Judah and Israel the duration of which is clearly stated, the reader is referred to the table below.

OF THE KINGS AND PROPHETS OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL,
subsequent to the reigns of SAUL, DAVID, and SOLOMON,
which were of 40 years each (B.C. 1O95-975) 

PROPHETS                                                               PROPHETS
OF JUDAH    KINGS OF JUDAH                      KINGS OF ISRAEL        OF ISRAEL

                       Reigned B.C.   1 Kings   B.C.    Reigned

Shemaiah    Rehoboam [17 years] 975  14.20,21   975 Jeroboam [22years] The man of
Iddo        Abijam    [3 years] 958    15.1                             God from
Azariah,    Asa      [41 years] 955    -- 9                             Judah
 son of                                                                 Ahijah
 Oded                                  -- 25    954 Nadab    [2 years]
Hanani                                 -- 33    953 Baasha  [24 years]
                                        16.8    930 Elah     [2 years]
                                       -- 10    929 Zimri     [7 days]
                                       -- 16    929 Omri    [12 years] Elijah
Jehu, son                              -- 29    918 Ahab    [22 years] Micah, son
 of Hanani  Jehoshaphat [25years] 914  22.41                            of Imlah
                                       -- 52    897 Ahaziah  [2 years] Elisha
Jahaziel,                             2 Kings
 the Levite                              3.1    896 Joram   [12 years]
Eliezer,    Jehoram   [8 years] 892     8.16
 son of     Ahaziah    [1 year] 885    -- 25
 Dodavah    Athaliah            884    10.36    884 Jehu    [28 years]
Zechariah   Jehoash  [40 years] 878     12.1
 son of                                 13.1    856 Jehoahaz[17 years] Jonah
 Jehoiada                              -- 10    841 Jehoash [16 years]
Un-named    Amaziah  [29 years] 839     14.1
 prophet                               -- 23    825 Jeroboam [41 years] Hosea
 (2 Chron.                                      784 Interregnum [11 years] Amos
  25.15)                                        773 Zachariah
Zechariah   Uzziah, or [52 years] 810  -- 21                [6 months]
 (2 Chron.   Azariah                    15.8    772 Shallum  [1 month]
  26.5)                                -- 13    772 Menahem [10 Years]
                                       -- 17    761 Pekahiah [2 years]
                                       -- 23    759 Pekah   [20 years]
Isaiah                                 -- 27                            Oded
Micah       Jotham   [16 years] 758    -- 32    739     (Anarchy of 9 Years)  (2Chron.
            Ahaz     [16 years] 742     16.1    730 Hoshea   [9 years]         28.9)

Nahum       Hezekiah [29 years] 727     18.1    721 Shalmaneser, king of Assyria. Puts
                                                     an end to the kingdom of Israel by
Joel        Manasseh [55 years] 698     21.1         taking Samaria, in the ninth year of
            Amon      [2 years] 643    -- 19         Hoshea, and carries away the people
Jeremiah    Josiah   [31 years] 641     22.1         to Assyria.
                                                      ------------------------
Habakkuk    Jehoahaz [3 months] 610    23.31              THE CAPTIVITY
Zephaniah   Jehoiakim  [11 years] 610  -- 36    606 Nebuchadnezzar reigns, at first con-
Ezekiel     Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah                  jointly with Nabopolassar -- and
Daniel      [3 months, 10 days] 599     24.8         carries away the Jews to Babylon.
Obadiah                                --  1         The 'times of the Gentiles' com-
            Zedekiah [11 Years] 599    -- 18         mence. Beginning of the 70 years' cap-
                                                     tivity in Babylon.
            Jerusalem taken; de- 588   25.      604 Nebuchadnezzar reigns alone.
             struction of the temple            588 Nebuchadnezzar completely destroys
                                                     Jerusalem, city and temple.
              -----------------------
         GOVERNORS OF JERUSALEM                 538 Cyrus, King of Persia. captures Bab-
          AFTER THE CAPTIVITY                        ylon: Reign of Darius the Mede.
                                                     Dan. 5.31.
Haggai    Zerubbabel            536  Ezra 1.11
Zechariah Ezra                  468   -- 7.1    536 Cyrus reigns there, and in the first
Malachi   Nehemiah              455  Neh. 1.1        year of his reign decrees a party un-
                                                     der Zerubbabel to go and rebuild the
                                                     temple at Jerusalem. (End of cap-
                                                     tivity of 70 years.) Ezra 1.8-10.
          Birth of the MESSIAH    5

529 Cambyses (son of cyrus) (called Ahasuerus). Ezra 4.6.
522 Smerdis (called Artaxerxes). Ezra 4.7.
521 Darius Hystaspes (called Darius). Ezra 4.24; Hag. 1.1; Zech. 1.1.
485 Xerxes (son of Darius Hystaspes) (called Ahasuerus). Esther 1.1.
474 Artaxerxes I, Longimanus (son of Xerxes) (called Artaxerxes). Ezra 7; Neh 2.
468 Return of Ezra from Babylon.
455 This twentieth year of Artaxerxes I (Longimanus) when the order was given through Nehemiah
      to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, is the starting-point of the 'seventy weeks' of Dan. 9. Neh. 2.1.

In order to determine the scope of the expression 'the residence of the children of Israel' (Ex. 12. 40), it must be borne in mind that the promise of God to Abram (Gen. 15. 13, 16) mentions 'four hundred years', and then the assurance that the patriarch's descendants would return in the fourth generation to the land of Canaan. It follows therefore that the time of the sojourn or pilgrimage of the elect family must be reckoned from the days of Abraham, and presumably from his entrance into the land of Canaan. Compare also Acts 7. 17.

The period of '450 years', mentioned in Acts 13. 20, appears to be an approximate figure covering the time which elapsed between the entry into the wilderness and the end of the reign of Saul, verse 21 being a parenthesis intended to fix the attention on the period the apostle had in mind, namely, the reign of David to whom the promise of Saviour-King had been made. We must remember that the Judges often exercised their authority over a part of the people only. Thus Ehud and Shamgar wrought amongst the tribes in the south, whereas Deborah and Barak brought about deliverance in the north. The reference to Ehud rather than Shamgar (Judges 4. 1), would prove that the 'rest' mentioned in Judges 5. 31 must form part of the 'rest' spoken of in ch. 3. 30, especially referring to the tribes in the south. Jephthah's reply to the Ammonites shows that the children of Israel, at this period, had been only three centuries in possession of Heshbon and Aroer -- all the country lying between the Arnon and the Jabbok having been won not from the Ammonites but from the Amorites (Num. 21. 24-26). Finally, it was during a part of the 'forty years' of Philistine oppression that Samson judged Israel (Judges 13. 1; 15. 20); this period came to an end with the victory of Samuel (1 Sam. 7. 13).

For the chronology of the lapse of time between the Old Testament and the New, we have to consider the '70 weeks' of Dan. 9. 24. As one of these 'weeks' of years refers to the future, there remain 69 'weeks', that is to say 483 years, reckoning 'from the going forth of the word to restore and to build' not the temple but the city of 'Jerusalem'. Permission to do this was given to Nehemiah by Artaxerxes I in the twentieth year of his reign; the state of desolation in which Nehemiah found the city on his arrival is given in considerable detail. Verse 26 of Dan. 9 shows that the sixty-nine weeks do not end before the manifestation of the Messiah to Israel (John 1. 31), perhaps not even before His death. It would therefore be necessary to deduct 33 years to arrive at the date of His birth, which would have been 450 years after permission was given to rebuild the city, or 530 years after the return of the first captives from Babylon. These considerations enable us to arrive at the following summary: 

                                                           Years
From the creation to the flood, when Noah was 600 years
 old (Gen. 5. 3 -- 29; 7. 11)                              1,656
From the flood to the birth of Terah (Gen. 11. 10-25)        222
When his father died at the age of 205 years, Abraham was
75                                                           130
                                                           -----
Which fixes his birth, from the creation of the world      2,008
His entrance into the land of Canaan took place 75 years
 later (Gen. 12. 4)                                           75
Up to the exodus from Egypt (Gen. 15. 13, 16; Ex. 12. 40)    430
Up to the building of the temple 480 years later             480
Length of Solomon's reign, less three years already past
  (1 Kings 6. 1)                                              37
Kings of Israel and Judah, up to the Babylonish captivity    370
Length of the captivity 70 years, and up to Nehemiah 80
 years                                                       150
Sixty-nine 'weeks' less 33 years (Dan. 9. 26)                450
                                                           -----
From the creation to the birth of the Messiah              4,000
                                                           =====
For the facts related in the New Testament, we have no chronological dates of the same kind as those in the Old Testament. It was of the greatest importance to be able to indicate accurately the time of the coming into the world of the promised Messiah, not however according to human calculation, but according to the principles of prophecy. The same divine wisdom which fixes our attention on what has already been fulfilled requires that our hearts should be alert during the whole period which elapses before the last 'week' of Daniel. The Lord said 'a little while and ye do not behold me; and again a little while and ye shall see me, because I go away to the Father'. It is sufficient to recall as a well-established historical fact, that the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans took place forty years after the Saviour's death (Luke 19. 41-44; 21. 20-24; 23. 28, 29).