CHAPTER TWO

Page 6

From 1255 (exodus) to 569 BC (to Nebuchednezzar’s 7 years of madness), there were 686 years, that is, 14 jubilees.

From 1255 to 520 BC, when the second temple was founded in the second year of Darius, there were 735 years (7 x 105), that is, 105 jubilees.

From 1255 (exodus) to 457 BC, there were 798 years, that is, 114 sabbaticals.

From 1255 (exodus) to 422 BC, the rabbinic date for when the first temple burned (instead of after 588 BC), there were 833 years (17 jubilees).

From 1255 (exodus) to 331 BC, when Alexander the Great conquered Jerusalem, there were 924 years, that is, 132 sabbaticals.

From 1255 to 27 AD, the first year of Christ & John the Baptist, there were 1282 years, that is 183 sabbaticals (after adding year 0).

From 1255-54 BC to 69-70 AD, when Jerusalem fell to Rome, there were 1324 years, that is 27 jubilees (after adding year 0).

From 1255 BC to 132 AD, the beginning of the Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans, there were 1387 years that is, 198 sabbaticals (after adding year 0).

These dates, except for the exodus in 1255 BC, align with those endorsed by Ben Zion Wacholder. Dates endorsed by Dr. B. Zuchermann are one year earlier.

251 or 479 or 590 years after the Exodus

There are three different views about when the Israelites left Egypt under Moses. All three views were held during the first century.

1. Kenneth Kitchen, Professor Emeritus and Honorary Research Fellow, University of Liverpool, England, thinks the exodus was during the reign of Ramesses II who began to reign in 1279 BC. This is supported by Matthew 1:17, which shows there were only six generations from Nashon (King David’s ancestor at the exodus) until David captured Jerusalem at the age of 37 (Nashon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse & David). This would most likely represent 251 years (1255-251=1004) and 294 years (6 jubilees) to the completion of Solomon’s temple in 961 BC. Kitchen says the exodus was in about 1260 BC. Jack Finegan says it was in 1250 BC. Why not 1255? There could be 251 years from the exodus to the temple if there were only 111 years of oppressions running sequentially, without any overlapping. But why would some scholars reject the next view when it seems so clear in the text of Judges and 1 Kings?

2. I Kings 6:1 says there were 479 years from the exodus to Solomon’s temple. This is supported by Judges 11:26. Jephthah was a judge 300 years after Moses’ conquest east of the Jordan and 140 years before the temple. This would be the case if we include only the 339 years of judges and include the 111 years of oppressions within that time. But this view clashes with the idea these 490 years had 450 years of judges (Acts 13:20). How could this be? Should we accept Acts 13:20 or 1 Kings 6:1?

3. Josephus said there was 592 years from the exodus to Solomon’s temple (Antiquities 8.3.1). Early Classical Greek writers and Acts 13:20 indicate there were 590 years to the temple. It is very unlikely that the six generations between the exodus and David can be stretched 590 years. There would be 98 years (two jubilees) between each father and son. The 590 likely results from allegedly having 450 years of judges (Acts 13:20), that is, 111 years of oppressions and 339 years of judges running sequentially, without any overlapping (339 + 111 = 450). Why would the book of Acts reject the second choice above? Why does it reject 1 Kings 6:1, which says there were 479 years? In Acts 13:20, the Judges lasted 450 years.

Note: This third view incorrectly defines the exodus as the time when the Asian Hyksos were driven out of Egypt at the beginning of the 18^th Dynasty.