The Strand Study Bible

A gain, good men’s opinions will vary on most things and the field of dating and Bible chronology is no exception. Nevertheless, the variance of a few years amongst scholars and/or the placement of certain passages of Scripture hardly disrupt the flow of any basic chronological order. Floyd Nolen Jones in The Chronology of the Old Testament notes: Chronology is the science of dividing time into regular intervals and assigning dates to historic events in their proper order. Without it, we would find it impossible to understand the sequence of historical events, biblical or non- biblical. As chronology is the very foundation on which history rests and the skeletal framework giving it structure and shape, the events of history can only be meaningful and properly understood as long as they are kept in their proper time sequence. 1 Henrietta C. Mears in What the Bible Is All About notes: “Most people’s knowledge of history is like a string of graduated pearls without the string,” said an historian. This statement seems to be especially true of Bible history. Many people know the Bible characters and the principal events, but they are hopelessly lost when they are called upon to connect the stories in order. Anyone who has experienced the thrill of learning to place the individual characters in their right setting as to place and time, can realize the difference it makes in his enjoyment of God’s Word. 2 Because I believe God to be a God of order, I chose to follow the dating pattern given to us by Peter in II Peter 3:3-8:

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as [they were] from the beginning of the creation . For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day…

The one day that Peter spoke about here in verse eight refers back to the beginning of the creation (week of creation) found in Genesis 1-2. Just as the creation of the earth took six days and then God rested on the seventh, so there would seem to indicate a six thousand year period followed by a thousand year rest, called the Millennium. Therefore, creation started around 4000 BC. I have discovered that, given a date in which to start, the Bible unfolds itself in a tabulated manner.

1 Jones, Floyd Nolen. The Chronology of the Old Testament , Green Forest, AR, Master Books, 1993-2004 2 Mears, Henrietta C. What the Bible Is All About , Glendale, CA, Regal Books, 1953. Print

8

Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker