Bible Prophecy Numbers
"Yes, it is I"
Ten Epoch Events{1}
Chapter Two 'A'
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(The dates used are common among modern scholarship, secular and religious alike. {2} They are found in most modern commentaries and study Bibles. Importantly, they are not those of my own making.)
1.) Abraham enters Canaan: (2091 BC)
Abraham enters Canaan (and Egypt).
(Genesis 12:1-20; cf. 12:10 with Isaiah 52:4, see Isaiah 29:22, "…Who redeemed Abraham"), 2091 BC.2.) Israel enters Egypt: (1876 BC)
Israel enters Egypt exactly "430 years," ( Exodus 12:41), spr. 1876 BC until spr. 1446 BC.
(See Isaiah 51:9-13 for reference to Egypt’s shattering).3) Israel leaves Egypt: (1446 BC)
(See above, 1446 BC)
4) Fall of Israel (725-721 BC {or 722})
Assyria conquers Samaria, the capital of Israel, (i.e., the Northern Kingdom). The siege (likely) lasted a little more than three years, 725 to early 721 BC.{3}
5) Near fall of Judah (701 BC)
When Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, it virtually wiped out the Southern Kingdom of Judah as well, (701 BC), but Jerusalem was spared––for a time (Isaiah 36-39).
6) Fall of Assyria: (614-612 BC)
Assyria’s ancient capital of Ashur, and Nimrud (the capital at the time of Samaria’s fall), and Nineveh (the capital after that), all fell to the Babylonians and the Persians between 614-612 BC, "effectively putting an end to the Assyrian empire."{4}
7.) Fall of Judah: (589-586 BC)
Babylonia conquers Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. The full siege lasts 945{5} days, 589/8–586 BC.{6}
8.) Fall of Babylon: (539-536 BC)
Persia conquers Babylon in Oct. 539 BC. From 538 to spr. 536, Jews leave Babylon and begin to re-build the temple.
Fall of Persia: {Persia falls to Greece in 334–330 BC. See note{7}}
9.) Birth of "Suffering Servant" (5 BC or 1 BC)
"He was numbered with the transgressors," (Isaiah 53:12b, cf. 52:13–53:12).
Jesus was born about 5 BC, (but Dec. 25th 1 BC according to tradition).10.) Death of "Suffering Servant" (AD 30)
His ministry lasted 3½ years, aut. AD 26 to spr. AD 30; (although according to tradition the spr. of AD 30 is ironically when Jesus began His ministry instead!){8}
To last part of chapter one:
"What do Bible Prophecy Numbers Reveal?"
{1} The initial exiles from Israel and Judah (before their complete destruction in 722 and 586 BC), are of secondary importance and will be treated as such. This holds true for Judah’s subsequent returns from exile as well, (after the main return of 538 BC).
Sennacherib’s catastrophic invasion of Judah in 701 BC is listed among our "epoch events" because it is the very focal narrative of the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 36–39), and therefore especially applicable to our text of Isaiah 52:4. (Note the importance granted it by the rest of Scripture as well, 2Kgs. 18–20; 2Chr. 32).
{2} Many secular scholars refuse to believe the exodus really occurred and therefore do not assign it any date.
Also, there are believing scholars who place the exodus around 1290 BC instead of the customary 1446 BC, but they must reject the natural meaning of "the 480th year" of 1Kgs. 6:1 to do so.
In any case, "1290 BC" is significant since 1290 is the number specifically mentioned in Daniel 12:11. Also, the 1290 exodus date amounts to the same as 3 x "430" years (of Ezekiel 4:4-6), which further combines with the previous "430 years" just spent in Egypt till this exodus (Exodus 12:40)! Moreover, 1290 BC is approximately the same as the Jewish traditional date for the exodus of 1313 BC––an important date that will be examined later.
The New International Version Study Bible, (in the Introduction to the "Exodus"), outlines the main argument for the 1290 BC date.
"The appearance of the name Rameses in Exodus 1:11 has led many to the conclusion that the 19th-dynasty pharaoh Seti I and his son Rameses II were the pharaohs of the oppression and the exodus respectively…(and) lead to a date for the exodus of c. 1290"
In spite of that, the NIVSB still strongly favors the traditional view of adhering to the "480th year" of 1Kgs. 6:1, pointing out that "Rameses" (Exodus 1:11) is very likely a late editorial-update, just as in Genesis 47:11.
However, since all Scripture is inspired of God, the insertion of "Rameses" into the text is meant to draw our attention (among other things) to the time of Rameses as being symbolically related to the exodus.
Symbolic (idealistic) dates LOGICALLY deduced are consistently significant in the numbers, usually more obvious in meaning then the actual literal dates themselves.
{3} From 2Kgs. 17:5 and 18:10, we learn that the siege of Samaria by Shalmaneser king of Assyria lasted "3 years." Then, Shalmaneser himself died Dec. of 722 BC. However, his son who succeeded him also lays claim to Samaria:
"In his annals Sargon II lays claim to the capture of Samaria at the beginning of his reign, but it was hardly more than a mopping-up operation." (Footnote to 2Kgs. 17:6 in the NIV Study Bible).
Hence we have a late 722 or early 721 BC date for the end of the northern kingdom of Israel.
{4} John Brinkman, "Nineveh," in Encarta 97 Encyclopedia, CD-ROM.
{5} To be exact, the siege of Jerusalem lasted 942 or 945 days since there is a three-day discrepancy between 2Kgs. 25:8 and Jeremiah 52:12. Both siege spans are used in our studies however, although the 945 of Jeremiah predominates since he was a prophet, and since he was contemporaneous with Ezekiel––the one who had himself "besieged" Jerusalem.
Ironically, Jewish tradition complicates matters still more by their attempt to correct this three-day discrepancy. They have 944 days (to Av 9) instead of 945 (to Av 10).
{See Calendar converter for 360-day year of Bible prophecy for help in calendar conversion and exact day counts even over thousands of years. But keep in mind that this site uses the modern Jewish system of reckoning (rather than the ancient practice of adjusting to the equinox, and to the first sighting of the crescent moon), so that any particular lunar day may be out a day or two, or behind one full month.
For example, there are 29.53059 days averaged in a lunar month. Since the siege lasted exactly 32 months, therefore 32 x 29.53059 = exactly 945 days––nevertheless, it is given as 943 days at that web site.}
{6} Some scholars (not the majority) put the dates of the three exiles of Judah back a full year instead, (i.e., 606, 598, and 587 BC). They reach these conclusions based upon another viable method of computing the years of a king’s reign.
The standard dates for the siege, however, are Dec. 11, 589 BC (or, Jan. 9, 588 BC), to the destruction of the temple in July 14 (or, Aug. 13), 586 BC, as based on Jeremiah 52:4-12.
Unless otherwise stated, dates will be set to the Gregorian calendar (i.e., the modern calendar that we all use today).
{7} Since the Persian kingdom is not one of the oppressive nations specified or clearly implied in Isaiah 52:4, but is only the instrument by which Babylonia falls, a summary of patterns to do with Persia’s demise will be presented as an excursus only.
{8} Generally speaking, the tradition that placed the birth of Jesus on Dec. 25, 1 BC, also fixed spr. of AD 30 as the start of His ministry––calculated as "30 years" from His conception.
To last part of chapter one:
"What do Bible Prophecy Numbers Reveal?"Also see, How past events are tied to the future in Bible Prophecy Numbers
Back to ch. 1a
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To ch. 1b