In the most basic sense, the Bible’s timeline is endless and eternal, as it chronicles creation (date unknown; Genesis 1:1-31) and the End of Ages (Matthew 28:20).
From a more practical viewpoint, the timeline on which most scholars agree begins with Abram’s birth, renamed Abraham by God (Genesis 17: 4-6), in the year 2,166 Before Christ (B.C.) to approximately 95 A.D. (Anno Domini, “In the year of our Lord”). [Source: The NIV Study Bible, New International Version, Zondervan Bible Publishers, © 1985.]
Prior to Abraham’s birth, Genesis contains a rich history of creation, Adam and Eve, the Fall of Man, extensive genealogies, story of human travails leading up to Noah and the Great Flood (date also unknown), and much more. As an interesting exercise, read Genesis and note at what age these patriarchs had children. You will find that Adam was still alive when Noah was born.
Of course, this raises the question on how literally to interpret dates and other statements in the Bible. Genesis says that God created the world and everything in it in six (6) days (Genesis 1:31), Yet the Bible also says that with God a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day (2 Peter 3:8). And as Jesus told His disciples to forgive people not only seven (7) times but 70 times seven times (490), the context seems clear that Jesus exhorts us to offer limitless forgiveness to those who trespass against us (Matthew 6:9-13). So, the most accurate and practical way to regard biblical time is that only God knows the true beginning and end of His universe (Mark 13:32).
Yet, within the period between Abraham’s birth and the Apostle John’s writing of the book of Revelation in A.D. 95 from exile on the island of Patmos shortly before his death, history clearly documents and verifies many of the events and people addressed in the Old and New Testaments.
For example, Moses was estimated to be born in 1526 B.C., Joshua entered the Promised Land approximately 1,400 B.C., and the period of Israel’s 10 judges lasted until 1,050 B.C, or until the onset of King Saul’s reign, when most scholars agree concrete historically-verifiable dating was possible.
From there, Israel’s first king, Saul, the famous King David, from whose family Jesus Christ would be born, and David’s son, wise King Solomon, presided over a “United Kingdom” until 930 B.C. After King Solomon’s reign, Israel experienced a “Divided Kingdom”. Kings ruled the North (Kings of Israel) and the South (Kings of Judah) until the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C. and the Fall of Jerusalem (Southern Kingdom), which resulted in Jews being exiled to Babylonia in 586 B.C.
This exile lasted until 538 B.C. when Persian King Cyrus directed Ezra to return to Israel and build a temple for God at Jerusalem in Judah (Ezra 1). The Jews restored Israel between this time and approximately 432 B.C., when the last book of the Old Testament (Malachi) was written. What followed next is a period of approximately 430 years often referred to as “The Time between the Testaments”.
Shortly after Jesus was born, crucified, and resurrected, His apostles and followers wrote what we now call the New Testament, a collection of books composed comparatively very soon after His earthly ministry. Many scholars proficient in studying ancient texts believe that the currency of accounts plus the enormous number of copies produced and replicated over subsequent years makes the New Testament the most historically reliable document of all ancient texts. The first book of the New Testament (either Galatians or James) could have been composed as early as A.D. 49, or within two decades of Jesus’ death and resurrection. This meant that the original texts were written by eyewitnesses providing first-hand accounts of what took place.
Used by permission from GotQuestions.org.
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