Simple Dates

This is just some really simple observations that you may not have noticed.

2,000 year steps

2000 is 40, the number if judgment, times 50, the number of jubilee or renewal. Look at “The Significance of 40 and 50” for more detail on these numbers. Then see if the following does not make you wonder? Note that Jesus is thought to have been born 5 or 6 years BC.

My dates here were taken out of a time line in my NIV Study Bible. If I was using a timeline based on James Ussher predictions, I would insert Abraham's birth at 1996BC instead of Jacob's birth date at 2006BC. Roughly equivalent dates for the founding of Israel. If anyone wants to debate the exact dates, just keep in mind the big picture. God starts with Adam. 2000 years later He raises up just one nation, Israel to be His own. 2000 years later He sends Jesus to redeem Israel and all nations. 2000 years on, Now!

In Appendix A1 and A2 of Page-1-God, I offer a more detailed timeline and some references to other timelines on the web. You will find some subtle variances in dates and that’s OK, we don’t need to know the exact day or hour. But there is a large group of timeline references that put Abraham’s birth at 1996 BC. All biblical timelines put Abraham’s birth nearly exactly 2000 years after Adam. For example, Seth was born to Adam when Adam was 130, but on average it might have been 6 months after his birthday. So some cumulative effect of unspecified fractional years might cause some actual variance that we cannot ascertain. I’m sure there are other complex reasons for slight variances. But if you are looking at a timeline which put Abraham's birth at 1996 BC and the Crucifixion at 33 AD, then the above table would now look like…

By the way, it seems that if you subscribe to an AD 33 crucifixion then you just assert that the 40 year period to the destruction of the temple, started from the time Jesus was first revealed to Israel, at the start of his 3 year ministry and not the end. If you are going to play numbers – it’s a bit of a game sometimes. Don’t worry too much about exactness but let your heart be stimulated to being alert. I’m not trying to trick you – just warn you.