On Setting Down Firm Biblical Dates



Hello Damien,

If you could spare a moment or two free, could you confirm or otherwise correct my dates for Subjects?

I have 951 as start for Asa's reign, battle would be in 936 which would be a far cry from Thiele's 896/895 BCE.

"Zerah the Ethiopian" is Sera I (Tomai) 949-923 of Dynasty of Menelik.

Amenhotep II of Egypt (ranging from 963 - 918 BCE according to Manetho's transcribers) would have an unsuccessful campaign in his 8th year - does this make sense to you?

Any light you can shine on this would be appreciated!

Best regards,

Dick Gagel

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Hello Dick

To be perfectly honest, I do not concern myself with hard dates for people and biblical events. I just use circa (e.g. c. 1000 BC) to give an approximation.

The reason for this is that I do not believe that the lower dates, pertaining to Daniel and his prophecies, and their relation to Chaldeo-Persian history, have been anywhere near worked out properly yet, and so it is too early to be firm and dogmatic about any BC dates.

Having said that, my favourite date reference (as an approximation) is P. Mauro's "The Wonders of Bible Chronology". It used to be on-line.

I think you may be able to download it at: http://en.netlog.com/winnifredponce/blog/blogid=26923339

But I suspect that some of this may need to be refined in light of a sound revision.

Are you saying that Amenhotep II is "Zerah the Ethiopian" is Sera I (and who is this latter?)

Regards

Damien [Mackey]