OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY FOR DUMMIES
Reading Marcus Borg’s book “Reading the Bible Again For The First Time”, it is possible to piece together a thumbnail chronology of Hebrew history written in the Old testament. I thought others might find it interesting.
The traditional forefathers of the Isrealites, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, were thought to have lived in the 1700’s BCE. After Abraham left Paddan Aram they and their people were forced into Egypt and slavery and remained there for several centuries. Moses arose as God’s appointed leader and the exodus from Egypt began under his leadership in the 1300’s BCE. On their journey to the Promised Land the events at Mount Sinai, the Covenant and creation of the Laws, occupy a large part of the Pentateuch or first five books of the Bible.
After arrival in the “promised land” in Palestine the Jewish people lived for about two centuries in a tribal confederacy. In about 1000 BCE David unified the new kingdom and made Jerusalem its capital. His son Solomon built the magnificent temple in Jerusalem and extended the kingdom to the greatest extent it was to attain.
After Solomon died in 922 BCE and the kingdom divided into two parts: the northern part as Israel and southern as Judah including Jerusalem. The northern kingdom of Israel was conquered and destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BCE. The southern kingdom of Judah, including the temple in Jerusalem, were conquered and destroyed in 586 BCE by the Babylonians and some of the survivors were exiled to Babylon, near today’s Bagdad. The books of the classical prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel were written during the period of the divided kingdoms, their destruction, the exile, and the return. The exile lasted about 50 years when they were allowed to return in 539 BCE to Judah to rebuild their country and the temple.
Many of the noted “wisdom books” were written during this time after the return such as Proverbs around 500 BCE, Ecclesiastes in the mid 300’s. Job was earlier during the troubled exile period. In the centuries that followed the return, the Jewish people continued to live under political control of foreign empires.
Persia dominated until its conquest by Alexander the Great in 333 BCE and then the Greeks under Alexander. Jewish independence did not come until the time of the Maccabees in 164 BCE. Independence lasted only a century, however. In 63 BCE, the Jewish homeland was incorporated into the Roman Empire. Roman control was administered at first by local appointees, the most famous being Herod the Great. After Herod’s death, control eventually was transferred to prefects or governors sent from Rome. The most famous of these was Pontius Pilot, prefect from 26 to 36CE.
David Heck, August 2024