Timeline of events in the Old Testament

(3000-2000 BC) Egyptian civilization flourished along the rivers of the Nile with Memphis as its capital.

(22nd-21st Century) A period of depression and disorder, things looked brighter with the coming of the
Middle kingdom.

(2000-1800 BC) The time of the Patriarchs, trade and commerce was swift, and people moved quickly.
Abram in Egypt was commanded by God to journey into Canaan (Genesis 11, 31-12, 3)

(Late 18th Century) Turmoil in Egypt, 70 pharaohs, armed by new military technologies, the Asiatic bow
and new fortification strategies, Hyksos overran Egypt and became its new rulers.

(1650 BC) Severe famine struck Canaan, prompting Jacob to send his sons to Egypt for food.
“My father was a wandering Aramaean, who went down to Egypt with a small group of men, and stayed
there, until he there became a great, powerful and numerous nations.” (Deuteronomy 26, 5)

(1550 BC) Egyptian pharaoh Ahmose I, who established the New Kingdom in Thebes, the fate of Israel
took a downturn.

(1290-1224 BC) Persecution of Israel continued until the time of Ramses II.
When the nation was delivered by God through his servant Moses, to whom he had revealed himself as
God Yahweh (Exodus 3, 1-15)

(1240 BC) The Exodus and the covenant at Sinai were foundational for Israel as the people of God.
Yahweh showed himself to be truly shaddai, or almighty. When at last Israel entered the land of
promise, the nation understood that Yahweh could be trusted, that his word is everlasting. As they
battled the resident tribes of Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Canaan for control of the land, the Israelites
were given further proof of Yahweh’s supreme power.

(1020 BC) The tribes easily mobilized their troops, for they saw in their kings a visible figurehead. This
led Israel to aspire for more stability and to demand for itself a king.
Disregarding the concrete dangers of a monarchy, Israel was given its first king, Saul (1 Samuel 8, 22)
Samuel said, “This is what the king who is to reign over you will do. He will take your sons and direct
them to his chariots and cavalry, and they will run in front of his chariot. He will take your daughters as
perfumers, cooks, and bakers.” “No! We are determined to have a king.” (1 Samuel 8, 11.13.19)

(1006 BC) Israel’s experience of the monarchy was disastrous. Saul was rejected by Yahweh and was
succeeded by one who was not even of his own blood, David son of Jesse.

(968 BC) David had his own faults (adultery, murder, and pride, among others) and was followed to the
throne by Solomon, who although his own son, was nevertheless not his firstborn.

(928 BC) After the death of Solomon, the kingdom of Israel, always very unstable, was torn in two.
Rehoboam, son of Solomon, became king of Judah, while Jeroboam, an Ephraimite who led the revolt
against David’s house, won the allegiance of the northern tribes to become king of Israel.
(722 BC) Unwilling to heed the denunciations of prophets like Amos and Hosea, the northern kingdom of
Israel fell to the Assyrian onslaught led by Shalmaneser V and its inhabitants were led into exile in
Nineveh.

(701 BC) The southern kingdom of Judah was temporarily spared, but had to pay a high ransom to the
Assyrian King Sennacherib for its reprieve.

(640-609 BC) With the ascendancy of power in Babylon, Josiah, king of Judah, was put into a quandary
as who to support, Babylon or a resurgent Egypt.

(621 BC) Josiah had begun the Deuteronomic reform spurred on by the discovery in the Temple of
ancient texts which portrayed the ideal of Israel.
For his efforts for reform Josiah is singled out as one of the “good” kings, in the mold of David and
Hezekiah. (2 Kings 22-23)

(609 BC) His unexpected death in the battle of Megiddo against the armies of the Pharaoh Neco was a
national tragedy for Judah.

(587 BC) The leaders of Judah were unwilling to heed the prophets and submit to reform. Thus, the
nation finally succumbed to its evil deeds of idolatry and injustice, as the kingdom was defeated by
Babylon and brought into exile.

(538 BC) The period of exile proved to be a mixed blessing. It was both a punishment, as well as a time
for purification. The rise to the Deuteronomic history, as in the call of the prophet Ezekiel, came to a
climax with their liberation from exile through the ascension to power of Cyrus the Persian.

Later Jewish tradition actually attributes the final redaction of the Torah, the five books of the Law, to
the priest Ezra (Ezra 7, 11-26). The proclamation of prophets, like Haggai, Zecheriah, and Trito-Isaiah
continued; as did new literary forms like the Midrash and wisdom literature. During the entire Persian
period, Aramaic was the lingua franca for the empire.

(332 BC) Persian Period came to an end with the victory of Alexander the Great over Darius III, the
Ptolemies, who won supervision of Israel, continued to bestow on Israel the religious liberty it enjoyed.

(198 BC) Antiochus III extended Seleucid control down to the Egyptian border.

(175-163 BC) The temple cult was forcibly Hellenized during the reign of Antiochus IV Ephiphanes.

(167-164 BC) Judas Maccabeus led Israel into open rebellion, the Maccabean revolt. The Hasmoneans
were a mixture of Jewish high priests and kings. The rival factions of Aristobulus II and Hyrcanus II both
sought the intervention of Rome.

(63 BC) Pompey entered Jerusalem and began the Roman rule of Palestine.
HEAR THE WORD

Gen 15, 1-21 the covenant with Abraham

A covenant was a treaty, alliance, or agreement between people. Sometimes covenants were made
between equals. Sometimes covenants were established by political rulers with their people. God's
covenants with human beings are similar to this latter variety, in which the superior makes certain
commitments and asks for various responses from his or her subjects. A covenant isn't simply a contract.
It's more like a sacred mutual commitment that both parties are expected to honor. As Christians, we
participate in the new covenant with God. Through Jeremiah, God promised to make a new covenant
with his people, by whom Israel would know him and experience his forgiveness. In Christ, this new
covenant is offered to us so that we might have relationship with the Triune God.

GETS MO?

1. How does the biblical concept of memory differ from recollection? How is memory important
for the understanding of the biblical text?
Both an empirical and theoretical body of knowledge. Cultural memory is to focus the attention
of the biblical historian on the memory itself rather than the event it conjures.

2. Who were the Hyksos and how did they influence biblical history?
Egyptian texts became widely known in the second half of the nineteenth century, scholars
began searching for ancient Egyptian parallels to biblical texts. A significant Egyptian influence
can be detected in genres and literary motifs of the Old Testament.

3. What were the two most important events in the OT? Why is this so?
Creation (Genesis 1) and Noah’s ark (Genesis 6-9), a story that begins and ends with creation.
The God who creates is also the God who redeems. By God’s grace the story doesn’t end
there, for the Lord promised to triumph over the serpent through the offspring of the
woman. God made a covenant with Noah, promising that the human race wouldn’t be
annihilated again until the plan of redemption through the offspring of the woman was
fulfilled.

4. What influence did the Assyrians have in the life of Israel and the writing of the Bible?
The Assyrian army captured the Israelite capital at Samaria and carried away the citizens of the
northern Kingdom of Israel in to captivity.

5. What happened to the Jews during the Persian and Greek Empires?
Cyrus the Great was raised up by the Lord to Free the Jews, have been influenced by the religion
of his gods (Ezra 1:7), including the emerging Zoroastrianism, he was motivated by the Spirit of
the Lord to send the Jews back to their homeland.