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“And 41 years reigned he [Asa] in Jerusalem” (1 Kings 15:10).
“And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead” (1 Kings 15:24).
4592+41=4633
4658 (-892). The beginning of Jehoram’s [Joram’s] reign
“And he [Jehoshaphat] reigned 25 years in Jerusalem” (1 Kings 22:42).
“And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead” (1 Kings 22:50).
4633+25=4658
4666 (-884). The beginning of Ahaziah’s reign
“And he [Jehoram] reigned 8 years in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 8:17).
“And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead” (2 Kings 8:24).
4658+8=4666
4667 (-883). The beginning of Athaliah’s [Hotholia’s] reign
“And he [Ahaziah] reigned 1 year in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 8:26).
“And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal. But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. And he was with her hid in the house of the LORD six years. And Athaliah did reign over the land” (2 Kings 11:1—3).
4666+1=4667
4673 (-877). The beginning of Jehoash’s [Joash’s] reign
“And the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the LORD, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the LORD, and shewed them the king’s son [Jehoash]” (2 Kings 11:4).
“And they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king’s house. Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign” (2 Kings 11:20—21).
Jehoash began reigning after six full years, on the seventh year of Athaliah’s reign.
4667+6=4673
4713 (-837). The beginning of Amaziah’s [Amasia’s] reign
“And 40 years reigned he [Jehoash] in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 12:1).
“And he [Jehoash] died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Amaziah his son reigned in his stead” (2 Kings 12:21).
4673+40=4713
4742 (-808). The beginning of Azariah’s reign
“He [Amaziah] was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and reigned 29 years in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 14:2).
“And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah” (2 Kings 14:21).
4713+29=4742
4794 (-756). The beginning of Jotham’s reign
“And he [Azariah] reigned 52 years in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 15:2).
“So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead” (2 Kings 15:7).
4742+52=4794
4810 (-740). The beginning of Ahaz’s reign
“And he [Jotham] reigned 16 years in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 15:33).
“And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead” (2 Kings 15:38).
4794+16=4810
4826 (-724). The beginning of Hezekiah’s reign
“And [Ahaz] reigned 16 years in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 16:2).
“And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead” (2 Kings 16:20).
4810+16=4826
4855 (-695). The beginning of Manasseh’s reign
“And he [Hezekiah] reigned 29 years in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 18:2).
“And Hezekiah slept with his fathers: and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead” (2 Kings 20:21).
4826+29=4855
4910 (-640). The beginning of Amon’s [Ammon’s] reign
“Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty <and five> years in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 21:1).
“And he [Manasseh] reigned 55 years in Jerusalem” (2 Chron 33:1).
“And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead” (2 Kings 21:18).
The conjecture <and five> here helps to remove inconsistency between 2 Kings 21:1 и 2 Chron 33:1. This numeral was probably lost in the process of copying the manuscript long before the Septuagint was created. It is also absent in the Jewish-Masoretic Torah.
4855+55=4910
4912 (-638). The beginning of Josiah’s reign
“And he [Amon] reigned 2 years in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 21:19).
“And he [Amon] was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead” (2 Kings 21:26).
4910+2=4912
4943 (-607). The battle of Megiddo, the reign of Jehoahaz, captivity in Egypt, the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim
“And he [Josiah] reigned 31 years in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 22:1).
“In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead” (2 Kings 23:29—30).
“And he [Jehoahaz] reigned 3 months in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 23:31).
“And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there” (2 Kings 23:34).
4912+31=4943
4954 (-596). The reign of Jehoiachin [Jeconiah], the Babylonian captivity, the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah
“And he [Jehoiakim] reigned 11 years in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 23:36).
“So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead” (2 Kings 24:6).
“And he [Jehoiachin] reigned in Jerusalem 3 months” (2 Kings 24:8).
“And he [Nebuchadnezzar] carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon” (2 Kings 24:15).
“And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his [Jehoiachin] father’s brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah” (2 Kings 24:17).
4943+11=4954
4965 (-585). Judea is enslaved by Babylon
“And he [Zedekiah] reigned 11 years in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 24:18).
“So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon. And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about. Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away” (2 Kings 25:6—11).
Modern science dates the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (c. 634 – 562 BNE) to 586 BNE.
4954+11=4965
5012 (-538). The conquest of Babylon by Cyrus II, the end of the Babylonian captivity of the Jews
“And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil 70 years” (2 Chron 36:19—21; compare Jer 25:11—12; Jer 29:10; Dan 9:2; Zech 1:12; Zech 7:4—5).
Modern science dates the conquest of Babylon by the Persian king Cyrus II (c. 593 – 530 BNE) to 539 BNE. As you may have noticed, the beginning of the seventy-year devastation of Judah falls on the date of the battle of Megiddo, 608 BNE. Three major captivities were experienced by the Jews in this period. The first was the exile inflicted at the hands of the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II in 608 BNE. The second one happened in 597 BNE, and the third one was in 586 BNE. The last two times they were captured by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II. Obviously, the 70-year-long period of the devastation of Judah is divided up into 11 years in Egypt and 59 years in Babylon.
4965+ (586—539) =5012
It is also important to note that 5550 years between the foundation of the world and the start of the new era is an approximate number. Taking into account the number of time intervals which make up the whole duration, as well as their number rounded to the accuracy of one year, the resulting error can roughly be estimated as plus or minus 50 years.
Modern-day scientists will, probably, disagree with dating the age the Earth as several thousand years. They will, most likely, cite scientific arguments in favor of the much older Solar system and Universe. It would be worth discussing this question separately, but it would probably require another book. At this time, let us limit ourselves to the information that we have from the Bible.
Section 3. Versions of the Gospel chronology
Christian sources on the life of Jesus Christ
The main sources of information on the life of Jesus Christ are the canonical Gospels written by the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The Gospel of Matthew was written about the third quarter of the 1st century. Tradition holds that it was written by Levi Matthew, the son of Alphaeus, one of the Twelve (see Mt 9:9; Mk 2:14; Lk 5:27). Originally it was written in the old Hebrew, but later it was translated into Greek and became widely accepted.
“So, Matthew wrote the Gospel for the Jews in their own language, while Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome and founded the Church” (Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies, 3,1,1; compare Eusebius of Caesarea. Church History, 5,8).
“Initially Matthew preached the Gospel to the Jews; but then he took it to other nations, though it was written in his own tongue. When summoned to go elsewhere, he left them with his Scripture” (Eusebius of Caesarea. Church History, 3,24,6).
“Matthew the Apostle, who was also called Levi, used to be a tax-collector; he complied the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the sake of spiritual cleansing of believers. At first, it was published in Judea in Hebrew, but later someone translated it into Greek [compare Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, 3,39,16]. The Hebrew version survived to the present day [around the beginning of the 5th century] in the Library of Caesarea [Caesarea of Palestine], so arduously created and maintained by Pamphilus [of Caesarea]. I also had the opportunity to get the book described for me by the Nazarene from the Syrian town of Berea who had been using it. It must be noted that this Gospel-writer, in quoting the Old Testament testimonies, whether himself or on behalf of our Lord and Savior, always follows the Hebrew text of the Covenant, not the authority of the translators of the Septuagint. Therefore, there are the following two versions: ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son’ [Mt 2:15; Hos 11:1] and: ‘He will be called a Nazorean’ [Mt 2:23; Is 11:1 <heb. ‘NZR’ = Nazorean, a sprout, a root>; compare Num 6:21; Judg 13:5; 1 Sam 1:11; Am 2:11—12]” (Jerome of Stridon. On Famous Men, 3).
The Gospel of Mark was written around the middle of the 1st century. According to the tradition, it was written by John Mark (see Act 12:12), the nephew of Barnabas (see Col 4:10), who was one of the seventy apostles and a co-worker of Peter (see 1 Pet 5:13). It is regarded as the earliest of the four Gospels. It is the shortest of them all, and it was used as a source for writing the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
“These are the words of the presbyter [Papias of Hierapolis]: ‘Mark was the interpreter of Peter; he accurately recorded everything that the Lord had said and done, but not in order, for he himself did not hear the Lord speak, neither did he walk with Him. Later he accompanied Peter who taught as he saw fit based on the circumstances, and did not necessarily relate the words of Christ in order. In recording everything the way he remembered it, Mark did not err against the truth. His only concern was not to miss or misrepresent anything.’ That is what Papias said concerning Mark” (Eusebius of Caesarea. Church History, 3,39,15—16).
“Peter and Paul preached in Rome and founded a church there. After their departure, Mark, Peter’s disciple and interpreter, passed down to us in writing everything that Peter had taught” (Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies, 3,1,1; compare Eusebius of Caesarea. Church History, 5,8).
“Mark, the disciple and the interpreter of Peter, wrote a short Gospel at the request of the fellowship in Rome, having recorded everything that he had heard from Peter. Clement [of Alexandria] in the sixth book of his ‘Brief Explanations’, as well as Papias, the bishop of Hierapolis, both testify that Peter approved of this work and declared that this Gospel should be read in all the churches. Peter also mentions Mark in his first epistle, metaphorically calling Rome Babylon: ‘The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son’ [1 Pet 5:13]. Availing himself of the Gospel that he himself had compiled, Mark departed to Egypt, and, preaching Christianity in Alexandria, founded a church there, which became famous through its sound teaching and godliness, and was known for instructing all its adepts to follow the example of Christ. The highly-educated Jew by the name of Philo, witnessing the first church of Alexandria which was still Jewish by status, wrote a book about their way of life, confirming, according to Luke, that they had much in common with Jerusalem. Mark died in the eighth year of Nero’s reign [61/62 NE] and was buried in Alexandria. He was replaced by Annian” (Jerome of Stridon. On Famous Men, 8).
The Gospel of Luke was written around the third quarter of the 1st century. According to the tradition, it was written by Luke, the doctor, one of the Seventy and a co-laborer of Paul (see Col 4:14; Phm 1:24; 2 Tim 4:10).
“So, Luke, the co-laborer of Paul, wrote down in the form a book the Gospel which he preached” (Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies, 3,1,1; compare Eusebius of Caesarea. Church History, 5,8).
“As one can gather from his writings, Luke, the doctor from Antioch, was very knowledgeable in the Greek language. The author of the Gospel and Paul’s follower, he accompanied the apostle in all his journeys. Here is what Paul said of him: “And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches (Corinthians) [2 Cor 8:18]; “Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you” (Colossians) [Col 4:14], “Only Luke is with me” (Timothy) [2 Tim 4:10]. The other excellent work written by Luke, “Acts of the Apostles”, covers events during Paul’s second year in Rome, which was the fourth year of Nero’s reign [57/58 NE]. On this basis we conclude that this book was written in this city… Some believe that when Paul says in his epistle: “according to my gospel, [Rom 2:16], he refers to the book of Luke [the Greek for Gospel is “Good News)], and that Luke knew the stories of the Gospel not only from Paul who didn’t see the Lord in the flesh, but also from other apostles. He mentions it in the beginning of his work: “…Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word.” [Lk 1:2]. So, he wrote the Gospel on the basis of what he had heard from others, while “Acts of the Apostles” was written out of his own experience” (Jerome of Stridon. On Famous Men, 7).
The Gospel of John was written by the end of the 1st century. Tradition holds that it was compiled by John the Theologian, the son of Zebedee (see Mt 10:2; Mk 3:17; Lk 6:14; Jn 21:2, 24).
“Then, John, the disciple of Jesus who lay on His bosom [Jn 13:23], also published his Gospel during his time in Ephesus in Asia” (Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies, 3,1,1; compare Eusebius of Caesarea. Church History, 5,8).
“John, the apostle, the one especially loved by Jesus [Jn 21:20, 24], the son of Zebedee and the brother of Jacob who was beheaded by Herod after the sufferings of the Lord, last of all wrote his Gospel at the request of some bishops in Asia who contended against Cerinthus and other heretics, especially the teachings of Ebionites who taught that Christ didn’t exist before Mary. So, John was asked to speak in defense of the doctrine of Divine Birth. There was yet another reason: having read the works of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, John approved of their narratives and confirmed that they contained the truth, noting that these narratives only describe was happened during the one year after John [the Baptist] was put in prison and executed. So, he himself wrote about a period preceding John’s imprisonment, and it can be a revelation for those who diligently read the works of the Gospel-writers. In addition, this consideration removes the contradictions that seemed to exist between the text of John and others… On the fourteenth year after Nero [82 NE] Domitian began the second persecution against Christians. John was exiled to the island of Patmos and wrote there the Apocalypse, which was later commented on by Justin Martyr and Irenaeus. But after Domitian’s death [96 NE] and the abolition of his cruel decrees, John returned to the city of Ephesus and, remaining there until the arrival of the emperor Trajan, contributed in every way to the planting of churches throughout Asia. Died of old age in the 68th year after the Passion of the Lord and was buried near Ephesus” (Jerome of Stridon. On Famous Men, 7; compare Eusebius of Caesarea. Church History, 3,24,7—14).
So, out of the four canonical Gospels, two were written by the closest disciples of Jesus Christ, the apostles John and Matthew, who were eyewitnesses of the described events. The other two were written by Mark and Luke, the disciples of Jesus, who belonged to the Seventy and were called at a later time (see Lk 10:1—2). Nevertheless, they had been in close contact with the original Twelve. All of them related in their narratives not only what they could remember themselves, but also the accounts of those who lived near to the time of Jesus. So, the Gospel narratives are the firsthand and secondhand sources, which, by their very nature, are more accurate and have more credibility compared to any other sources of information.
In later chapter we will examine the exact information provided in the four canonical Gospels with regard to chronology.
In addition to the canonical Gospels, there is also a number of Apocryphal Gospels. They were not included in the Canon either because they contain a pious forgery or because of some heretical content. That is why it would be highly inadvisable to use them for the purposes of recreating biblical chronology.
Non-Christian sources on the life of Jesus Christ
Among the whole corpus of early non-Christian writings which shed light on the life of Jesus Christ, the following are particularly noteworthy.
