Part 2: Timeline

There are numerous critical, fundamental, and internally contradictory issues with this story and its timeline. But, let us first establish the timeline before we explore the realities and possibilities, and then we will discuss the contradictions and internal problems with the biblical story.

Nowhere in ANY of the versions of the Old Testament are we given a date that we can identify on our current calendar. Due to this issue there are many consequent problems with identifying specific dates within bible stories. This issue stems from the Bible’s archaic methods of reference dating things (such as “…in the fourth year of the reign of such-and-such-a-king…) and contemporary society’s older versions of calendars and regional calendar systems.

The only method we have to correlate things is when multiple civilizations record the same event in their various and respective calendars; we can then establish a fairly confident and accurate timeline of occurrences and dates in relation to each other. There are two dates that historians and archaeologists have determined with pretty solid accuracy that help us establish a possible timeline for the Exodus:

1050 BCE: The year that the Kingdom of Israel became a nation in its own right
966 BCE: The year Solomon began construction on the First Jewish Temple (Temple of Solomon)

For the purpose of exploring the possibilities and realities of the Exodus story, these two dates will serve as our baseline since they are the dates that are closest to the Exodus events and are the best “hard” dates we have available to work with. All possible dates for the Exodus and Joseph’s entry into Egypt as a slave will be measured from these two known dates. It doesn’t matter which one we use since they are both quite solidly established AND they are only 84 years apart. The only difference between the intervening times is that various places in the bible as well as different versions of the bible use different baselines to count back from (i.e. 480 years after the Exodus is when, according to the KJV, Solomon began construction on the Temple, and this date is stated as being 440 years after the Exodus in the Greek Septuagint).

Using archaeology and correlation with other works of history from contemporary areas, we have been able to establish relatively firmly that the Kingdom of Israel was formed in the year 1050 BCE under the reign of King Saul. This foundation was transformational for the tribal society of the ancient Canaanites/Israelites. Up to this point in time, all of their societal structure was familial and tribal at the very largest in concept and practice. This transition in 1050 BCE created a somewhat unifying national identity for all the members of the various tribes as opposed to a cultural, familial, and tribal identity.

Archaeologists and historians have also correlated the reign of Solomon/Sh’lomoh with other rulers in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern areas who were contemporary with his rule. This correlation results in a date of 970 BCE as the beginning of Solomon’s reign. Solomon was anointed king at the age of 12, (upon the death of his father, King David/Dawihd) and reigned for 40 years, dying at the age of 52 in 931 BCE. Solomon began the construction of the First Jewish Temple in the fourth year of his reign, 966 BCE.

HOWEVER, I must emphasize here, that there is ZERO archaeological or historical evidence outside of the biblical story that provides ANY evidence that any of the first three Jewish Kings actually existed. Further, even if they did exist, they were barely more than minor local “kings” with functionally zero contemporary recognition or influence. This fact is borne out by the evidence of all of the surrounding civilizations and the archaeological evidence of the land called Canaan at the time in question. This area is one of the most archaeologically excavated and researched areas of the entire planet and the evidence gathered in this area is extensive and growing rapidly everyday.

In frame of context these early Israelite “kings” could be understood to be local heroes/leaders respected by their entire community, perhaps on the scale of recent historical Native American Indian Chiefs commanding respect and influence within their own tribes. The Indian Chiefs might have had some influence in the immediate vicinity of their territory, but their influence outside of a certain radius is completely undetectable. For example a tribal chief in the Pacific Northwest would be completely unknown to the tribes of the American Southwest. This would be the same reality for a tiny kingdom the size of United Israel under Saul, David, and Solomon, in the neighborhood of international superpower empires like the Assyrians, Hittites, Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, and the later Greeks and Romans…the Israelites are there, they exist, but they are barely a fly on the wall when it comes to the big-picture-international political, economic, and military scene. The various groups of people who collectively became known as the Chinese would probably have never heard of the Israelites contemporary to that time.

Despite these physical facts, the religious beliefs of this minor group of people have had a distinctly out-sized effect on the larger world and which effect has lasted well beyond what any reasonable Middle-Eastern person could have expected at the time of the founding of the Kingdom of Israel. But I digress, back to establishing the timeline.

Other theories that have attempted to isolate a date for the occurrence of the Exodus have generally fallen into two categories. These categories are broadly termed “Early Date” and “Late Date” theories. The Early theory posits 1450 BCE and the Late theory suggests 1250 BCE as the date for the Exodus. There are numerous problems with both of these theories. Among the problems for both of them are:

Ignoring the realities and facts of the world near to, but outside of the borders of Egypt at the time of the specific dates. (i.e. what the imperial borders of all the empires in the region were at the claimed times…who owned and controlled what areas).
Ignoring the realities and facts of life and culture in and around Egypt at the time of the claimed dates. (i.e. cultural cleanliness and body hair mores).
Failing to correlate the supposed events of the enslavement time and the Exodus with the realities and facts of ancient Egypt. (i.e. average family size, actual population numbers/estimates, male to female ratio, whether slavery was practiced or not at the claimed times, etc.)
Failing to account for the obvious and blatant discrepancies between the claimed events of the biblical account and the facts of Egypt’s documented history. (i.e. no pyramids were ever built using slave labor [a common misconception but not specifically mentioned in the Bible], slaves were used for building projects but not for huge monumental important ones and even when they were used, it was only during certain periods, there is zero evidence to suggest there was ever a large population of Hebrew/Israelite people in ancient Egypt at ANY time, much less a numerous enslaved population of them). There IS evidence that some very small and geographically separated communities of Jewish people were living and working in certain parts of Egypt. The evidence shows these Jewish residents were merchants and other professionals of the “middle-class” level of society, rather than slaves.
Failing to account for the realities and facts of the military, political, and sociological ramifications of what would actually happen in the real world if the events had actually occurred as claimed in the Exodus. (i.e. the Israelites supposedly took large amounts of jewelry, gold, and other valuables when they left, the account claims that Pharaoh and his entire army drowned in the Red Sea, one plague killed all the livestock of Egypt, and the tenth plague supposedly killed every first born son of Egypt). These are MAJOR events that would have had national and even regional ramifications and effects that would have been recorded in non-religious histories, would have left distinct, identifiable evidence in the archaeological record, and definitely would have changed the course of national and regional history in very specific and distinct ways.

Other people have written about and sought to correlate the biblical story with outside events and fit the events into a timeline using our calendar system. What they have generally not done though, is analyze the claims and assertions and small details in the larger context of the non-biblical history and known facts about the region and civilizations at that time in history. We shall do what no one else has done with various other theories (or not done enough of) and take into account ALL of the context surrounding this fantastical biblical story, demonstrate what is actually possible, could have happened, and point out where there are serious flaws, contradictions, and impossibilities. All of the bulleted issues above will be addressed individually and in depth.

Establishing the Timeline Through Religious Documents’ Dating of Events

Genesis 15:13

“And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;”

Exodus 12:40

“Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.”

Acts 7:6

“And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.”

Galatians 3:17

“And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.”

Here we see one of the innumerable minor inconsistencies within the Bible itself. All four of these verse are from ONE single version of the Bible. Other versions record similar but sometimes different time lengths. Two of these quoted verses enumerate a period of 400 years while the other two count 430 years. Ignoring the OBVIOUS problem with accuracy this discrepancy clearly demonstrates, we shall have to assume that the period of time was somewhere between 400-430 years in length according to the KJV. Thus we have our second piece of information for establishing our timeline. Let’s continue establishing the rest of our pieces of information so that we can assemble this puzzle. We shall now attempt to determine when Joseph entered into Egypt as a slave.

There are three separate and conflicting ways to figure Joseph’s entry into Egypt as a slave. The first is from the Biblical account using the stated 400 or 430 years the Israelites resided in Egypt, plus the 40 years of wandering, and adding those to the stated number of 480 years between that time and the building of the First Temple (the 7 years of conquest is supposedly already accounted for within the 480 years figure). Here is the relevant verse:

1 Kings 6:1

“And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.”

The second is using the Greek Septuagint account of 440 years of intervening time between the Exodus and the First Temple, added to the biblically stated 400 or 430 years spent residing as slaves in Egypt, plus the 40 years of wandering in the desert (again the 7 years of conquest time is supposedly accounted for in the 440 years figure). Here is the verse:

Greek Septuagint III Reigns 6:1

“And it happened, in the four hundred fortieth year of the departure of the sons of Israel from Egypt, in the fourth year in the second month, when King Salomon reigned over Israel, that the king commanded, and they took great, costly stones for the foundation of the house, and unhewn stones, and the sons of Salomon and the sons of Chiram hewed and laid them. In the fourth year he laid the foundation of the house of the Lord in the month Niso, the second month; in the eleventh year in the month Baal the house was finished in all its plan and in all its arrangement.”

The third is using the biblical Israelite king list and the history and periods of time recorded in the First Book of Samuel and from the Book of Judges, to count the years of the reigns of the kings and the leaders and specifically mentioned blocks of time back to the time of the Israelites’ entry into the Promised Land, and adding in the 40 years of wandering, plus the 400 or 430 years spent residing. This method results in somewhere between 510-593 years’ worth of timeline (adding the 7 years of conquest into this number gives us 517-600 years). This number pushes the Exodus date back between 37-160 years further than the previous two methods. For the purpose of this post I will use the 440, 480, and 600 year numbers to figure the absolute earliest, absolute latest, and general mid-range possible times Joseph COULD have been enslaved in Egypt based on the various available religious documents’ disparate claims.

Here we see yet more of the innumerable minor discrepancies and inconsistencies in this supposedly divinely inspired and absolutely “true” book (religiously speaking NOT ACTUAL truth or ACTUAL FACT, is what is meant here, which is why it is quotes). Which book its believers and adherents claim to be the infallible, unquestionable word of their all-knowing, all-powerful, god. Which of these counting methods is “true” and accurate? Which of these separate claims of time periods in various religious manuscripts is accurate. They all can’t be because they all say different things, often within the very same book. Accepting the stated number of years without question or assuming the list of Israelite Kings and the duration of their reigns gives us two different dates. Both cannot be correct and true (in ANY sense of the word) at the same time. The only two functional possibilities are that either one or the other is right, or they are both wrong. Since they disagree they cannot both be right.

Numerous other people have attempted to reconcile these discrepancies in stated intervening time periods with various forms of more or less hilarious methods of “creative math.” None of these attempts are viable or successful in reconciling these blatant inconsistencies.

We have four different variables to account for, two of which have already been mentioned and which will serve as our fixed points from which to count backwards using the other three variables:

Building of the First Temple date: 966 BCE.

Establishment of the Kingdom of Israel under King Saul date: 1050 BCE.

Combined with:

Length of time of slavery in Egypt: 400 or 430 years.
Duration of the Wandering: 40 years.
Generally known and specified, sometimes enumerated, sometimes not enumerated, amounts of time in the period between the Exodus and the beginning of the reign of Saul. Somewhere between 440-600 years depending on which source is used. This section also includes the known number of years it took to conquer the Promised Land (7 years) and other known lengths of time. Adding up the specified years in the biblical account gets you a figure of no less than 510 years of known time, but there are gaps of unspecified lengths that are in this period that we have no way of counting except by estimate.
- These unknown gaps of time include Joshua’s duration of leadership of the Israelites, Samuel’s career as prophet, and other specifically mentioned but unknown lengths of time, 600 years thus becomes the “best guess” reasonable estimate scenario.

With these known dates in hand, and the biblically stated periods of time, we can derive six possible dates for the Entry of Joseph into the land of Egypt. Using the stated 400 or 430 number of years spent in Egypt by the Israelites, combined with the three different methods of counting backwards from Solomon and the First Temple we derive nine possible dates for the Exodus. Finally, adding in the forty years of wandering in the desert we derive nine possible dates for the re-entry into Canaan. Since it doesn’t matter which of the two known dates we use, for simplicity I will only use the date of Solomon beginning construction of the First Temple.

There is one more aspect that we don’t know and no version of the bible currently in existence specifies: Whether the dates “from the Exodus” are from when the Israelites left Egypt and began the Exodus, or when the Israelites ended the Exodus by beginning the conquest of Canaan. Obviously this difference would change the assumption and possible dates by 40 years. I have assumed the intended meaning is from the END of the Exodus at the start of the conquest of Canaan. This wouldn’t change the possible dates hugely, but it is enough to change which pharaoh is the possible one by one or two rulers in the sequence. Having said that, let’s start the timeline examination. If I have done my math correctly, the specified dates in chronological order, earliest to latest, are:

Possible Dates of Joseph’s Entry Into Egypt as a Slave

2036 BCE (Solomon’s Temple Date 966 BCE + Israelite King/Judges List Years [including conquest] 600 +Slavery Years 430 + Exodus Years 40)
2006 BCE (Solomon’s Temple Date 966 BCE + Israelite King/Judges List Years [including conquest] 600 +Slavery Years 400 + Exodus Years 40)
1876 BCE (Solomon’s Temple Date 966 BCE + Stated Intervening Years 480 +Slavery Years 430)
1846 BCE (Solomon’s Temple Date 966 BCE + Stated Intervening Years 480 +Slavery Years 400)
1836 BCE (Solomon’s Temple Date 966 BCE + Stated Intervening Years 440 +Slavery Years 430)
1806 BCE (Solomon’s Temple Date 966 BCE + Stated Intervening Years 440 +Slavery Years 400)

Possible Dates of the Exodus Based on Joseph’s Slavery Date

1636 BCE (400 years after 2036 BCE)
1606 BCE (430 years after 2036 BCE & 400 years after 2006 BCE)
1576 BCE (430 years after 2006 BCE)
1466 BCE (400 years after 1866 BCE
1446 BCE (400 years after 1846 BCE)
1436 BCE (430 years after 1866 BCE & 400 years after 1836 BCE)
1416 BCE (430 years after 1846 BCE)
1406 BCE (430 Years after 1836 BCE & 400 years after 1806 BCE)
1376 BCE (430 years after 1806 BCE)

Possible Dates of the Re-Entry Into Canaan/Promised Land After 40 Years of Wandering the Desert

1596 BCE
1566 BCE
1536 BCE
1426 BCE
1406 BCE
1396 BCE
1376 BCE
1366 BCE
1336 BCE

The earliest possible date of Joseph’s entry into Egypt as a slave correlates with the Egyptian Middle Kingdom Period’s Eleventh Dynasty, the latest is near the end of the Twelfth Dynasty, and is only a few years prior to the Second Intermediate Period. The Middle Kingdom Period in the first time that slavery in practiced in ancient Egypt and also is the first time all of Upper and Lower Egypt is united under the rule of one king, Mentuhotep II of the 11th Dynasty. Both of these facts are relevant to our exploration and will be more fully and individually addressed later in this post.

Establishing The Timeline Through Correlation Between Archaeology, Secular History, And The Biblical Account

During the Old Kingdom Period of Egypt slavery was virtually unknown and was not commonly practiced. Not until the Middle Kingdom Period did slavery become widely used. The later Asiatic Hyksos Pharaohs, of the Second Intermediate Period, also practiced slavery so either of these two periods (Middle Kingdom & Second Intermediate Period) are possible candidates for the biblical description of slavery in use at the time.

Therefore the earliest date of Joseph’s entry into Egypt as a slave MUST be sometime after the beginning of the Middle Kingdom period in 2055 BCE. All of our possible dates for Joseph are later than the start of the Middle Kingdom and slavery was widely practiced in Egypt at all of these possible dates of Joseph’s reported enslavement. So this data correlates well. We can safely assume that it is POSSIBLE that Joseph could have actually been a slave in Egypt.

The Middle Kingdom period ends with the termination of the 14th Dynasty in 1650 BCE and the first Asiatic Hyksos Pharaohs were the 15th Dynasty which began the Second Intermediate Period of ancient Egyptian History that extended through 1580 BCE. So using our possible dates and correlating the known facts with the biblical account, he could have only been enslaved during one of these two time periods of ancient Egypt.

Now that we have established the factual possibility of Joseph’s enslavement we need to explore the realities of which pharaohs he could have met.

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The Myth of the Israelite Exodus: Part 2: Timeline

Part 2: Timeline