This examination of various chronological difficulties presented in the Old Testament Scriptures covered the period from Abraham to Solomon. For any Scripture student the timeline across this period was difficult to determine. These time puzzles were resolved by using a much different approach than others have employed. The application of neglected and under appreciated text filled in more than 135 people, their life spans, and event years to bridge from Abraham to Solomon. Rethinking Chronology from Abraham to Solomon presented numerous small details and applied some unique Biblical tools that verified the years stated in 1 Kings 6:1.
The time placement for the book of Job and of its primary characters were detailed, their lineages were shown, and the author of the book of Job was presented. Six methods established the length of time that the twelve tribes of Israel dwelt in Egypt. Joshua's year of death was shown to fit within a four year window. The time period of the elders who outlived Joshua was detailed. So were the time placements for twelve judges named in the book of Judges plus two named in 1 Samuel. David's great-great-grandmother was presented and the very narrow period for the book of Ruth was shown along with its two special purposes.
The birth year of Samuel, Eli and king Saul was established and many more contemporary individuals were set in time. And Jephthah's careful use of three hundreds of years was explained. This book of 270 pages has over 1,260 Scripture citations, nine tables, and twenty-one footnotes to make the material very understandable. Five indexes including Names With Birth, Death and/or Event Year and a Brief Event Timeline make it very suitable for the curious, the layman, and the scholar. Printable supplemental material is provided online.
The solutions to the various riddles of time spanning from Abraham in the book of Genesis through 1 Samuel were carefully demonstrated with explanations for:
1) when Joseph and his siblings were born,
2) the age of Judah's grand-children Hezron and Hamul at entry to Egypt,
3) the time duration of the twelve tribes of Israel in Egypt by seven methods,
4) when the book of Job occurred,
5) when Job died,
6) the year that pharaoh arrived who oppressed Israel,
7) the year of the exodus from Egypt,
8) the meaning and use of 1 Kings 6:1 in connection to the original Passover event,
9) the age of Joshua at mount Sinai,
10) the year of Joshua's death,
11) the time duration of "all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua,"
12) that Salmon did not marry Rahab of Jericho and conceive Boaz,
13) how the book of Ruth helped explain the full lineage of David,
14) when the book of Ruth occurred,
15) the birth and death years of the older and younger Eli,
16) the meaning of "Samuel was old" and when Samuel anointed Saul,
17) the year David brought the ark to the prepared tent at Zion,
18) the time placement of the death of Eli as Scripture stated,
19) the use of the textual minimum age to go to war to Samson plus his twenty years as judge to reach forty years,
20) the age range of Jonathan and Saul,
21) the concurrence of when Israel did evil again and served the Philistines for forty years with Eli's period as judge and with Samson's lifetime,
22) the underlying cause for the ark carried into battle and when it occurred,
23) the context of the event for which Israel repented and Samuel prayed that brought a miracle and a significant routing of the Philistines which followed right after Samson's death,
24) the proper time placement of all named judges, including Jephthah and Samson,
25) the specific or approximate birth, death or event years of more than 135 individuals,
26) and even more.
