Logical Timeline provides a logical solution to the historic timeline of humanity.
I was studying a story in the Old Testament of the Bible and I wanted to lookup when this was happening in history. I found three results from seemingly reputable sources and all three provided different years for the events I looked up. This began my journey to finding a logical timeline for historical events, specifically those mentioned in the Bible.
I will be using the term, "BC" to indicate "Before Christ". If I mention anything after the birth of Christ I will use the term, "AD" to indicate "Anno Domini", or "in the year of the Lord". You can translate that into whatever system you see fit.
The time concept "BC" is ued to denote years in the past before the birth of Jesus Christ. For example, if we say "100 BC", it means 100 years before the estimated birth of Jesus Christ. Another example is the 7th century BC covers the years from 601 BC to 700 BC (newest to oldest).
The time concept "AD" is the current time system we use today. We are currently living in 2024 AD. The 7th century AD covers the years 601 AD to 700 AD (newest to oldest).
I wanted to start with something that both Christians and non-Christians agreed upon. It needed to be something that I could directly tie to an event that transpired in the Bible. Enter, Babylonia's King Nebuchadnezzar II and the destruction of the Temple. It is widely considered fact that the army of Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylonia, destroyed the first Temple in either 587 BC or 586 BC.
Narrowing a specific event that was recorded in the Bible to happening in one of two specific years is amazing!
Another year that is widely accepted is the year Nebuchadnezzar II became king of Babylon, 605 BC. This is an even more exact entry than above, offering us an exact year as a reference in our timeline.
This entire system will have set or fixed times which are recorded and it will have variable times which are mentioned but not specified. For the fixed times it is easy enough to just use the recorded times, but for the variable times I looked at providing a realistic allotment and used it as a variable time. Variable times can be shifted left or right, and changing one variable time will cascade and change all subsequent events as well. In this first version being posted the site will not be interactive, or it will not allow for you to adjust the times and the new modified times be displayed. This is a technical and time limitation on my part, as it is much easier for me to just put a static page up than a dynamic page.
Methods used to calculate time are simple math, approximation based on travel, approximation based on example, logical assumptions.
Also, in this first static version of the Logical Timeline, I will be walking the reader through each calculation. In later versions of this site these descriptions will most likely be on other pages should the reader wish to read them.
The Logical Timeline, in its current form, is a logical reference which can be used to quickly determine historical timelines. More on this as we walk through the process.
To keep this visually digestable I am going to show no more than seven entries of the Logical Timeline at once. I will show the most relevant years to whatever is being discussed in that section. A complete version of the Logical Timeline will be available as well.
To begin, it is commonly accepted that Nebuchadnezzar II becomes King of Babylon in the year 605 BC.
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 605 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II becomes King of Babylon |
Nebuchadnezzar II Takes Jerusalem.
In 2 Kings 24 we read Nebuchadnezzar II attacks the land of Judah. Initially, 2 Kings 24 tells us how Nebuchadnezzar II attacked Judah while Jehoiakim was king of Judah. Verse 1 mentions that Jehoiakim rebels against Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 6 tells of Jehoiakim’s death. In verse 8 we read that Jehoiakim’s son, Jehoiachin, replaces Jehoiakim and becomes king of Judah at the age of 18. The Bible then states that Jehoiachin was on the throne in Judah for only three months when Nebuchadnezzar II attacked Judah again, at the city of Jerusalem. Verse 11 places Nebuchadnezzar II physically at this attack. Then, verse 12 says Jahoiachin surrenders to Nebuchadnezzar II in the eighth year of the reign of the king of Babylon.
So we can now accurately date the year Nebuchadnezzar II took Jerusalem by moving the clock forward eight years from 605 BC. As I mentioned in the introductory section above, if this is found to be off by a year or two, simply changing this entry and tallying the following calculations used to establish the Logical Timeline will quickly adjust the entire timeline.
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 605 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II becomes King of Babylon | |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II takes Jerusalem | 2 Kings 24:12 |
2 Kings 24:13, the next verse following the above reference which, says Nebuchadnezzar pillages the Temple. There is no mention of the Temple being destroyed. The Temple remains standing.
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 605 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II becomes King of Babylon | |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II takes Jerusalem | 2 Kings 24:12 |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II pillages the Temple. The Temple remains standing. | 2 Kings 24:13 |
2 Kings 24:17-18 tells us Nebuchadnezzar II appoints Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, King of Judah and changes Mattaniah’s name to Zedekiah.
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 605 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II becomes King of Babylon | |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II takes Jerusalem | 2 Kings 24:12 |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II pillages the Temple. The Temple remains standing. | 2 Kings 24:13 |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II appoints Zedekiah as King of Judah | 2 Kings 24:17-18 |
2 Kings 24:18 also tells us Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king. So now we can go back in time 21 years.
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 618 BC | Mattaniah, or Zedekiah, is born. | 2 Kings 24:18 |
| 605 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II becomes King of Babylon | |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II takes Jerusalem | 2 Kings 24:12 |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II pillages the Temple. The Temple remains standing. | 2 Kings 24:13 |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II appoints Zedekiah as King of Judah | 2 Kings 24:17-18 |
Note, we added this entry at the top of the timeline to keep it in chronological order, with the oldest events at the top and the most recent events at the bottom.
Unfortunately for Zedekiah, and his family, Zedekiah rebels against Nebuchadnezzar II. 2 Kings 25:1 lays siege to Jerusalem. There are some time frames in this and surrounding verses. 2 Kings 25:1 says this happened on the 9th year and 10th day of the 10th month of Zedekiah’s reign. We can mentally keep track of the 10 months and 10 days, but for our simple math, we are going to move the clock forward 9 years.
This is trimming 10 months and 10 days from our timeline. As we did not specify the day and month for Nebuchadnezzar II's inaguration or for the destruction of the temple we are left with some unknown times. We will remember this 10 days and 10 months for future reference. For now, we will keep it simplified as our calendar starting in "January" which would then mean the 10th month would still be in the same year. This is an assumption we are using to use as a standardized simplification to establish times. Again, any modifications can be made to the Logical Timeline which will then require recalculations.
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 618 BC | Mattaniah, or Zedekiah, is born. | 2 Kings 24:18 |
| 605 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II becomes King of Babylon | |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II takes Jerusalem | 2 Kings 24:12 |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II pillages the Temple. The Temple remains standing. | 2 Kings 24:13 |
| 588 BC | Siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II | 2 Kings 25:1 |
2 Kings 25:1 mentions the 9th year of Zedekiah, which we determined places us at 588 BC. 2 Kings 25:2 says Jerusalem was under siege until the 11th year of Zedekiah, so, for approximately 2 years. This would place us at 586. Here, we are able to double check our math, because 2 Kings 25:8 mentions the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar II’s reign, which would be 605 BC - 19 which equals 586 as well.
2 Kings 25:9 says Nebuchadnezzar set fire to, or burned down, the Temple of the Lord and the palace (king's house) and all the houses of Jerusalem. It says, every important building was burned. This happened in 586 BC.
This is inline with the common belief held by both Christians and non-Christians that the Temple was destroyed in either 587 BC or 586 BC. Based on the math starting with Nebuchadnezzar II's inauguration year of 605 BC we can see the Temple is actually destroyed in 586 BC. (If we were to include the 10 months mentioned above, and if Nebuchadnezzar II was inaugurated more than two months into the year, then this could very well be 585 BC. However, we will continue with 586 BC until we can prove the months in which events took place.)
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 618 BC | Mattaniah, or Zedekiah, is born. | 2 Kings 24:18 |
| 605 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II becomes King of Babylon | |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II takes Jerusalem | 2 Kings 24:12 |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II pillages the Temple. The Temple remains standing. | 2 Kings 24:13 |
| 588 BC | Siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II | 2 Kings 25:1 |
| 586 BC | The first Temple is destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II | 2 Kings 25:8-10 |
It is generally accepted that the Temple built by Solomon stood for 410 years. The beauty of this system is how easy it is to make adjustments as more accurate information is received. If it was destroyed in 586 BC, then it would have been built in 996 BC.
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 996 BC | First Temple construction finished | 1 Kings 6:14, 1 Kings 6:37-38 |
| 618 BC | Mattaniah, or Zedekiah, is born. | 2 Kings 24:18 |
| 605 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II becomes King of Babylon | |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II takes Jerusalem | 2 Kings 24:12 |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II pillages the Temple. The Temple remains standing. | 2 Kings 24:13 |
| 588 BC | Siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II | 2 Kings 25:1 |
| 586 BC | The first Temple is destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II | 2 Kings 25:8-10 |
1 Kings tells us it took 11 years to build the temple, so we can determine when construction began, 1003 BC.
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 1003 BC | Solomon begins construction of the Temple | 1 Kings 5, 1 Kings 6 |
| 996 BC | First Temple construction finished | 1 Kings 6:14, 1 Kings 6:37-38 |
| 618 BC | Mattaniah, or Zedekiah, is born. | 2 Kings 24:18 |
| 605 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II becomes King of Babylon | |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II takes Jerusalem | 2 Kings 24:12 |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II pillages the Temple. The Temple remains standing. | 2 Kings 24:13 |
| 588 BC | Siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II | 2 Kings 25:1 |
Note, we are only showing the closest seven events. The complete Logical Timeline is available.
1 Kings also tells us Solomon began construction of the Temple in his fourth year as king. So now we can place a year to his inaguration.
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 1007 BC | Solomon becomes king | 1 Kings 1 |
| 1003 BC | Solomon begins construction of the Temple | 1 Kings 5, 1 Kings 6 |
| 996 BC | First Temple construction finished | 1 Kings 6:14, 1 Kings 6:37-38 |
| 618 BC | Mattaniah, or Zedekiah, is born. | 2 Kings 24:18 |
| 605 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II becomes King of Babylon | |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II takes Jerusalem | 2 Kings 24:12 |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar II pillages the Temple. The Temple remains standing. | 2 Kings 24:13 |
2 Samuel tells us that David was king for 40 years, and that he was 30 years old when he became king. Because Solomon took over for David, or when Solomon’s reign began, David’s ended, we can now place David’s inauguration as king, and his birth year.
We also know when King Saul and Jonathan died, as this is what freed the crown for David.
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 1077 BC | David is born | 2 Samuel 5:4 |
| 1047 BC | Jonathan dies | 1 Samuel 31, 2 Samuel 1 |
| 1047 BC | King Saul dies | 1 Samuel 31, 2 Samuel 1 |
| 1047 BC | David becomes King of Judah | 2 Samuel 5:4, 2 Samuel 2:7, 2 Samuel 2:9-12, 2 Samuel 3 |
| 1007 BC | Solomon becomes king | 1 Kings 1 |
| 1003 BC | Solomon begins construction of the Temple | 1 Kings 5, 1 Kings 6 |
| 996 BC | First Temple construction finished | 1 Kings 6:14, 1 Kings 6:37-38 |
Because we have a year for when Solomon begins construction of the Temple, we can determine when the Israelites left Egypt.
1 Kings 6 tells us in the 480th year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, he began to build the Temple of the Lord. So we can add 480 to 1003, and we will have 1483 BC.
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 1483 BC | Israelites leave Egypt (exodus) | 1 Kings 6 |
| 1077 BC | David is born | 2 Samuel 5:4 |
| 1047 BC | Jonathan dies | 1 Samuel 31, 2 Samuel 1 |
| 1047 BC | King Saul dies | 1 Samuel 31, 2 Samuel 1 |
| 1047 BC | David becomes King of Judah | 2 Samuel 5:4, 2 Samuel 2:7, 2 Samuel 2:9-12, 2 Samuel 3 |
| 1007 BC | Solomon becomes king | 1 Kings 1 |
| 1003 BC | Solomon begins construction of the Temple | 1 Kings 5, 1 Kings 6 |
This lines up with Josephus, the first-century AD Jewish author. Josephus believed the pharaoh around the time of the exedus was Thutmose. We can place two pharaoh's in this time frame, Hatshepsut and Thutmose III. I have read that Hatshepsut took over as pharaoh when Thutmose III was two years old.
Hatshepsut was the eldest daughter of Thutmose I and his consort Ahmose. Hatshepsut married her half brother Thutmose II, who was the son of the lady Mutnofret. When three of Mutnofret's older sons died prematurely Thutmose II inherited his father's throne around 1492 BC, with Hatshepsut being his consort. Hatshepsut had a daughter, Neferure, but no son. When Thutmose II died around 1479 BC, the throne passed to his son Thutmose III, born to Isis, a lesser harem queen. Since Thutmose III was an infant, approximately two years old when his father died, Hatshepsut acted as regent for the young pharaoh.
By the end of Thutmose III's seventh regnal year, Hatshepsut was crowned pharaoh and adopted the full royal protocol adopted by Egyptian sovereigns. Hatshepsut and Thutmose III had become corulers of Egypt, with Hatshepsut the dominant of the two. During this time, she is depicted as a queen, in female form with feminine garments. Eventually her portraits and records went into a mixed form, showing her with a male body, clothing, and even a false beard.
It was during this time period that Moses would have been meeting with pharaoh. The royal court in this time would have been extra interesting.
We know when the Israelite's left Egypt, now we can determine when they arrived. Exodus 12:40 has been discussed in depth by theologians and scholars for many years, but we are going to use the simple math method here and add 430 years, mentioned in Exodus 12, to 1483 to reach 1913 BC, the year the Israelites began to dwell in Egypt. For now, I like David Gadeloff's breakdown of those 430 years in his Jewish Bible Quarterly article, "How Long Was the Sojourn In Egypt: 210 or 430 Years?"
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 1913 BC | Israelites begin sojourn in Egypt. | Exodus 12:40 |
| 1483 BC | Israelites leave Egypt (exodus) | 1 Kings 6 |
| 1077 BC | David is born | 2 Samuel 5:4 |
| 1047 BC | Jonathan dies | 1 Samuel 31, 2 Samuel 1 |
| 1047 BC | King Saul dies | 1 Samuel 31, 2 Samuel 1 |
| 1047 BC | David becomes King of Judah | 2 Samuel 5:4, 2 Samuel 2:7, 2 Samuel 2:9-12, 2 Samuel 3 |
| 1007 BC | Solomon becomes king | 1 Kings 1 |
We are going to jump back now, and fork from previous events to build out the timeline in more directions.
We know when David became King of Judah, which was in 1047 BC. Since David's coronation followed the death of King Saul, we can now determine both when Saul became king based on our previous references and 1 Samuel 13:1, 1 Samuel 13-14, which say Saul was king for 42 years. We take the year David becomes king and we go back 42 years to Saul's coronation, in 1089 BC.
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 1089 BC | Saul becomes King of Israel | 1 Samuel 13:1, 1 Samuel 13-14 |
| 1077 BC | David is born | 2 Samuel 5:4 |
| 1047 BC | Jonathan dies | 1 Samuel 31, 2 Samuel 1 |
| 1047 BC | King Saul dies | 1 Samuel 31, 2 Samuel 1 |
| 1047 BC | David becomes King of Judah | 2 Samuel 5:4, 2 Samuel 2:7, 2 Samuel 2:9-12, 2 Samuel 3 |
| 1007 BC | Solomon becomes king | 1 Kings 1 |
| 1003 BC | Solomon begins construction of the Temple | 1 Kings 5, 1 Kings 6 |
In addition to knowing when Saul became king we can also place his birth year given that 1 Samuel 13:1, 1 Samuel 13-14 state Saul was 30 years old when he became king. We go back 30 years from 1089 BC, his coronation, and see Saul's birth in 1119 BC.
Knowing Saul's birth year and the year he died, we can determine Saul lived approximately 72 years.
We can also go back and determine Saul was 42 years old when David was born. This also means when David was born Saul had been King of Israel for 12 years.
| YEAR | EVENT | REFERENCES |
|---|---|---|
| 1119 BC | Saul is born | 1 Samuel 13:1, 1 Samuel 13-14 |
| 1089 BC | Saul becomes King of Israel | 1 Samuel 13:1, 1 Samuel 13-14 |
| 1077 BC | David is born | 2 Samuel 5:4 |
| 1047 BC | Jonathan dies | 1 Samuel 31, 2 Samuel 1 |
| 1047 BC | King Saul dies | 1 Samuel 31, 2 Samuel 1 |
| 1047 BC | David becomes King of Judah | 2 Samuel 5:4, 2 Samuel 2:7, 2 Samuel 2:9-12, 2 Samuel 3 |
| 1007 BC | Solomon becomes king | 1 Kings 1 |
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