The King's Calendar' is a computer generated mathematical synchronous chronological presentation of the history of Ancient Israel, as principally recorded in the Biblical books of Kings and Chronicles, and sets forth Apologetics for and the results of R.P.BenDedek's discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Books of the Bible, Josephus,the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.-Israel Timeline charts: Citations and References for students from over 100 Academic publications:
Seder Olam Rabbah (No.3): The Sojourn in Egypt to The Judgeship of Joshua
This Article is Divided into the Following Sections.
1. Introduction
2. The Patriarch Abraham
3. 400 or 430 year Sojourn?
4. The Pharaoh who knew not Joseph.
5. Wandering in the Wilderness:
6. The 850 Jubilee Year
7. Joshua
8. Summary
9. Footnotes
10. Related Reading & Bibliography
1. Introduction
This article retraces a little of the last article, then discusses issues related to the Sojourn in Egypt, the Exodus, the Wilderness Wandering and the Length of Joshua's Judgeship.
In the last article the various Patriarchs were discussed in relation to Creation and the Flood, and space was given to the calculation of a 430 year Covenantal period from Abraham's 70th / 75th year until the Exodus.
This article recommences with the Patriarchs, providing perspectives on their ages and when they were born; moves on to an indepth discussion of the 430 year Sojourn;discusses issues related to the Wilderness Wandering; introduces Joshua and the Judges, and devotes some effort to understanding a reference to 850 Years related to the time differential between Entry into Canaan and the Prophet Ezekiel.
2. The Patriarch Abraham
Chronologically speaking, the life of Abraham is very important in the calculations offered by the Seder Olam Rabbah. Since it appears that the Seder Olam Rabbah relies closely upon the Biblical chronological data, this section is included in order to demonstrate how the Biblical chronological data is applied by the King's Calendar. [The King's Calendar is an artificial process assigning 336 days for every Solar year mentioned in Scripture. SEE Footnote: Solar Year Calculations]
The King's Calendar The Process for Calculating Abraham's Birth Year:
Solomon's 4th year is 970 BCE - the 480th year after entrance into Canaan
Add 479 years to 970 BCE (less the 1 duplicated year)
Add 40 years to the actual Exodus
Add 215 years for the Sojourn (Josephus Antiq. Bk.2 Ch.15:2]
Add 129 years (less the 1 duplicated year) for Jacob's age upon entering Canaan (Gen 47:28 )
Add 60 years for Isaac's age at Jacob's birth (Gen 25:26)
Add 100 years for Abraham's age at Isaac's birth.
Arrive at December 1915 BCE. for the year of Abraham's birth.
Note However that the Dead Sea Scrolls offer differing chronological information.
According to the dead sea scrolls (Eisenman/Wise (1992 pp.92/93) the ages of the Patriarchs are:list]
Jacob was 65 years old when he Fathered Levi
Levi was 35 years old when he fathered Kohath
Kohath was 29 years old when he fathered Amram
Amram was 110 years old when he fathered Aaron.
Therefore
As Jacob was 130 years old at the commencement of the Sojourn (Gen 47:28 ),
Levi was 65 years old.
Kohath was 30 years of age
Amram was only one year old.
Aaron was born 109 years later
Aaron was 3 years older than Moses
Moses was 80 years old when the Exodus occurred (Ex 7:7)This figure results in a 192 years Sojourn, 23 years shorter the Josephus', Seder Olam Rabbah and King's Calendar 215 year sojourn.
It was said to our forefather Abraham at the Covenant Between the Pieces (Gen. 15:13): "You shall certainly know that your seed will be strangers in a foreign land for 400 years." Who is the seed? That is Isaac, of whom it is said (Gen. 21:12): "Because Isaac will be called seed for you." About Isaac it says (Gen. 25:26): "Isaac was 60 years of age when they were born." Our forefather Jacob said to Pharaoh (Gen. 47:9): "The days of the years of my wandering are 130 years." This makes together 190 years, this leaves 210 years, a sign for the lifetime of Job who was born at that time as it is said (Job 42:16): "Job lived thereafter 140 years" and it is said (Job 42:10): "The Eternal added double to all that Job had." It turns out that Job was born when Israel descended into Egypt and he died when they left.
Or maybe that Israel was in Egypt the full 400 years. But Kohath was among those who entered Egypt (Gen. 46:11) and it is written (Ex. 6:18 ): "the years of the life of Kohath were 133 years," (Ex. 6:20) "the years of the life of Amram 137 years." Together with 80 years of Moses this makes 350 years. What does Scripture teach us in the verse (Gen. 15:13) "they will enslave them and mistreat them for 400 years" that all the time they spent in a land that was not theirs adds up to 400 years; "they will enslave them" (these are the years of slavery) "and mistreat them" (these are the years of deprivation) and all of them together add up to 400 years.
This appears to be just a 'spiritualising' of an inconvenient reference to 400 years.
When one checks these 400 years against the King's Calendar, they start in Isaac's 5th year, 30 years after the covenant. Or alternatively, they end 30 years earlier than the Exodus, falling in the 50th year of Moses. We probably have this figure today, because of a transcription error.
430 year Sojourn
Seder Olam Rabbah "It was at the end of 430 years to the day that the hosts of the Eternal left the Land of Egypt"
Although the Seder Olam Rabbah reckons that the first parameter commences in Abraham's 70th year, according to the King's Calendar, these 430 years commence at Abraham's 75th year 1846 BCE / L.1365 - And extend to the Exodus - 1449 BCE / L.935
Line 935 [Exodus] + 430 = Line 1365 [Abraham's 75th year].
In appendix 17 we see that Line 1015 is the year Moses was born [year commencing 14 May 1523], and is also the 351st of the Abrahamic 430 year sojourn and the 136th Year of the [Josephic] 215 year Sojourn commencing with Jacob entering Egypt.
Both the 430 year Sojourn of Scripture and the 215 year Sojourn mentioned by Josephus are correct.
4. The Pharaoh who knew not Joseph.
Seder Olam Rabbah All the time that Levi was alive, Israel was enslaved in Egypt as it says (Ex. 1:6): "And Joseph and all brothers died, all that generation." (Ex. 1:8 ): "There arose new king in Egypt who knew nothing of Joseph." After that Levi died, the Egyptians started to enslave them. From there they said (Sabbat 105b): "If one of brothers dies, all brothers should worry. If one of a company dies, all members of the company should worry." (Ex. 1:7): "The children of Israel were fruitful like vermin etc." (Ex. 1:8 ): "There arose a new king Egypt etc." It turns out that from the death of Levi to the Exodus were 116 years. The slavery extended not more than that time and not less that 86 years, the age of Miriam at Exodus, since she was named for the bitterness.
a.Chronological Data:
From the Birth of Moses 80 years.
From the Enslavement of the Israelites to Exodus 86 years.
From the Expulsion of the Hyksos to the Exodus 113 years. Footnote: The Hyksos
From the Death of Levi to the Exodus 116 years.
From this is seen that Levi died just three [read 2] years before Amosis founded the 18th Dynasty after the Expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt.See Newsletter No.5 Ancient Egypt
b.The King's Calendar determination for these events are:
Line 895 1412 BCE 1st year in Canaan
Line 935 1449 BCE 1st year of Exodus [81st of Moses]
Line 1015 1523 BCE 1st year of Moses- 80 years before Exodus
Line 1021 1529 BCE 86 years before Exodus - Slavery Commenced.
Line 1048 1554 BCE 113 years to Exodus / 103rd year of 215 year Sojourn in Egypt
Line 1051 1556 BCE 116 years to Exodus ?Death of Levi
5. Wandering in the Wilderness:
a.Seder Olam Rabbah "They traveled from Elim and the entire congregation of the Children of Israel arrived at the Wilderness of Sin" (that is Alush) "on the 15th day of the second month after the Exodus," which was on a Sabbath. Hence the First of Iyar fell on a Sabbath, and addition we infer that Israel ate from the cakes that they had taken out of Egypt 30 whole days; on that day it was finished, in the evening they ate quail, and early next morning they collected Mannah. In Alush they were given the Sabbath there Israel kept the first Sabbath as it is said (Ex. 16:30): "The people observed the Sabbath on the Seventh Day." On Sunday the 23rd of Iyar, they traveled from Alush and can to Rephidim. There the Well was given to them, they fought with Amalek and observed there the second Sabbath. They traveled from Rephidim and came to the wilderness of Sinai and found its top in clouds of glory. For the next five days Moses ascended the mountain, descended, told the people the words of the Omnipresent, and returned their answer to the Omnipresent. In the third month, on the Sixth of the month the Ten Commandments were given to them on a Sabbath day .
b.First Year - Mt. Sinai:
Exodus Chapter 19:1 In the third month after the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. :3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying: 'Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:
c.Numbering Israel:
Seder Olam Rabbah 2nd Year: (Num. 1:1): "The Eternal spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tabernacle, on the first of the second month in the second year: (Num. 1:2) count the heads on the entire congregation of the children of Israel, (Num. 1:3) those twenty years old and older, every man of military age in Israel.
d.The Priesthood of Aaron:
Exodus Chapter 40:17 And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up.
Seder Olam Rabbah "It was on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel," after the Seven Days of Dedication. It was the first day of the week, the first day of Nissan. On that day, Aaron and his sons entered their priesthood............On that day, Elisheba the daughter of Aminadab was offering from the rest of Jewish women by four joys and one mourning: Her brother-in-law was king, her husband high priest, her brother prince, and her sons vice high priests. Her mourning for her two sons Nadab and Abihu. Some people say, also her grandson anointed priest for war, that is Phineas. On the second of Nisan, Eleazar burned the red cow, Israel had its ashes sprinkled and repeated. On the 14th they slaughtered the Passover sacrifice; that was a Sabbath.[King = Prince : Origins of "Nachshen"
e.Kadesh Barnea
Seder Olam Rabbah38 years "The time that we went from until we crossed Wadi Zered was 38 years." 19 years they were wandering to and fro and 19 years they dwelt in Kadesh Barnea as it is said (Deut. 1:46):
f.The Death of Moses
Seder Olam Rabbah (Deut. 1:3-5) "It was in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, that Moses spoke to the Children of Israel, following all that the Eternal had commanded him about them. Moses was exactly 120 years old at his death, his eye had not dimmed and his sap had not dried up." (Jos. 1:1-2)
Seder Olam Rabbah "[Caleb] I was 40 years old when Moses, the Eternal's servant, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land" (v.10) "and now I am 85 years old." This teaches us that for seven years they were conquering. From where do we know that for seven years they were dividing up the land before they started to count years for tithes, sabbatical years, and jubilee years?
Comment: Since Caleb was 40 years old in the 2nd year in the wilderness, at 85 years old, he had been in Canaan 7 years.
6. The 850 Jubilee Year
Introduction
All chronological details, even in extra Biblical texts, require investigation. When Extra Biblical references are unique, they need especial investigation given their promise of providing additional historical information. The discussion here revolves around the assertion that there was a Jubilee Year in connection with the life of Ezekiel that demonstrates connection with the ancient History of Israel.
Seder Olam Rabbah Now Israel stayed 850 years from the time they entered until they left, these are complete Jubilee periods. And so it says (Ez. 40:1): "In 25th year of our exile, on the day of the New Year, on the tenth of the month, 14 years after the destruction of the of Jerusalem - When did he Ezekiel have this vision? At the beginning of a Jubilee period. If they staid for 17 entire jubilee periods, how can there be an excess of 17 years? One has to say that 14 years Israel spent at Gilgal, seven when they were conquering and seven when they we distributing.
a). Note that despite referring to the years in the Land, the 850 appears to be equated with the 14th year of Ezekiel's Exile - or - 572 BCE. [Although the Kingscalendar will say this is the year 573 BCE] The most obvious difficulty is that if Jerusalem had already been destroyed 14 years, then one can hardly equate that year with ' they entered until they left '.
It relates to:
17 Jubilee years
A 17 year flaw in the chronology.
A Precise Measurement of Time ?850 years
The Israelites entering Canaan
Ezekiel's 25th year of Captivity c.573/572BCE ?or -
Ezekiel's Original Captivity ?596 BCE.
b.Basic Solar Year Calculations. [Ref: Footnotes: Solar Year Calculations]
Adding the 850 years to important events in Ezekiel's life, results in the following.
572 BCE + 850 = 1422 BCE Israel Enters Canaan ?Close *** 586 BCE + 850 = 1436 BCE Israel Enters Canaan ?Not Close 596 BCE + 850 = 1446 BCE Israel Enters Canaan ?Close the Exodus [1449 BCE KingsCalendar]
*** Close because the King's Calendar calculates the year the year of Entry into Canaan at 1412 BCE. The problem for anyone trying to calculate this date is that it must be 440 or 480 years earlier than the 4th year of Solomon, and currently no one can provide that date. The King's Calendar puts Solomon's 4th year at 970 BCE [Line 416] and counts 480 artificial years to Line 895 or 1412 BCE and another 40 artificial years to Line 935 for the Exodus at 1449 BCE.
c. Understanding the 850 years.
Measuring 850 years in both Solar and Artificial Years.
Seder Olam Rabbah 572 BCE + 850 solar years = 1422 BCE Entrance to Canaan [Maybe] Seder Olam Rabbah 572 BCE + 850 artificial years = 1356 BCE No Match KingsCalendar Entry to Canaan 1412 BCE ?850 solar years = 562 BCE No Match KingsCalendar Entry to Canaan 1412 BCE ?850 artificial years = 628 BCE [L895 ?45].
There appears to be no real relationship to anything.
I have spent many hours trying to work out this chronological problem. I also spent many hundreds of hours working on Josephus before I was able to 'deconstruct' his errors.[King's Calendar Chapter 20].
I know from experience that when a figure is incorrect, there is a reason for it; carelessness. However the important thing is that the carelessness usually comes from duplicating or omitting a certain chronological reference.
d. There are 2 points to note in deconstructing this 850 year figure.
iSeder Olam Rabbah introduces these 850 years in conjunction with: Caleb said to Joshua (Jos. 14:7): "I was 40 years old when Moses, the Eternal's servant, sent me from Kadesh Barnea........and so the figure appears to be calculated from the 2nd year of Entry into Canaan.
ii.Seder Olam Rabbah appears to relate it to Ezekiel's "25th year of our exile, on the day of the New Year, on the tenth of the month, 14 years after the destruction of the of Jerusalem."
Therefore, the component parts ought to consist of the following:
**Explanatory note: There are 480 years [Masorete] between the 'Coming out of Egypt' and Solomon's 4th year. The Septuagint records 440 years. Most academics delete the 40 years of wilderness wandering from the 480 years. [This is not the King's Calendar position. The 480 years are artificial and refer to Entrance into Canaan. SEE:The Septuagint, The Masorete and the Exodus.
e. Deconstructing the Error
In my attempts to deconstruct the 850 year figure, several methods produced reasonable but problematic results. There was one however, that produced a good result. However like the others, and in similar fashion to the deconstructions of Josephus' figures, it assumes that 'carelessness' played a large part in the original construction.
The 'best fit' deconstruction:
Discarding the larger figure in the 'component parts' list above, and changing the end parameter from Ezekiel's 25th year to his 1st year, the figures become:
New Total 896.5 years which is 46.5 years excessive
In trying to find where 46.5 excessive years could have come from, I created the following table of errors:
1. The calculation has as it's first parameter the second year of the Wilderness Wanderings.
2. The calculation was made however from the second year of entry into Canaan : + 438 years
3. The calculation had as one component part, the 4th year of Solomon.(Temple Commenced)
4. The calculation used as one component part, the 11th year of Solomon. (Temple Completed)
5. The calculation includes the remaining 29 years of Solomon's reign : + 29
6. The calculation uses the Biblical years assigned to the reigns up to 596 BCE : 382.5
Total: 849.5 years.
Summary: The 850 year figure does not synchronise with the balance of the Biblical Data and therefore is quite logically erroneous. The processes involved in 'deconstructing and reconstructing' the error can be quite complex, but ultimately the simplest explanation of an error is the most likely.
It would seem that this 850 year calculation is a miscalculation.Refer Footnotes: 850 Years Additional Note.
7. Joshua.
Seder Olam Rabbah: Joshua provided for Israel for 28 years and died at the age of 110 years.
The first thing to note in this period is that Joshua is given a 28 year judgeship. We have no clear chronological data in the Biblical Historical Narratives for either Joshua nor Samuel. The King's Calendar however does provide some calculations which demonstrate that the following figures are approximately correct.
These figures come from Chapter Seventeen: The Period of the Judges:Juggling the Data [and Appendix 8] This file is Not freely available on the Internet. However there is information available at: The Period of the Judges
A Twenty-Five year leadership for Joshua as per Josephus
An Eighteen Year Peace of Ehud (Most believe 80 to be a transcription error)
A Thirty-Two year Judgeship for Samuel.
A 282 year time lapse between Joshua and Jephthah rather than the Biblical 300 years.
A commencement for Jephthah in 1152 BCE
8. SUMMARY
The data presented to date from Seder Olam Rabbah, (apart from the 850 years of Jubilee) seem consistent with the Biblical Material, which the King's Calendar treats as an artificial Chronological record.
In the Next installment, we shall look at the Period of the Judges.
The King's Calendar is a very simple approach to Biblical Chronology. It substitutes a value of 336 days for every year listed in Scripture. As far as the Divided Kingdom is concerned, when you use this 336 day year value, the synchronisms actually work. To see how effective this method is, SEE:Appendix 5: Diagrammatic Reconstruction of Israelite History from 936 to 586 BCE
Because it is a mathematical system, the King's Calendar must abide by certain mathematical rules, the most important of which, is that if you change any date for any day, month, or year every other day, month, or year is effected and must also change. It's like a 'domino effect'. Chronological references cannot be 'forced' to fit, and nor can they simply be ignored or 'compressed' as is the usual case with historians and archaeologists.
If any King's Calendar chronological determination disagrees with anything in the history books, it must argue the case as to why the history books are wrong, or why the evidence for an assertion is untrustworthy. If the King's Calendar successfully defends its' position, then the history books cannot be treated as definitive, and if the King's Calendar is 'proven' wrong, then every other chronological reference it provides is also wrong.
Because of this, the King's Calendar Chronological Reconstruction of Israel's history is unique, in that its' methodology can be scientifically (mathematically) tested and demonstrated to be either true or false. Its' chronological predictions are able to be 'proved' or 'disproved'.
Copyright 2013 is held by the nominated authors on this article page.
The Download book does not contain a section on Seder Olam
About the KingsCalendar Publisher
R.P.BenDedek is the owner and Editor of KingsCalendar.com which was originally set up to publicize his research results into the Chronology of Ancient Israel. Those results were published under the title: 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran'.
Whilst there have been many attempts to solve the chronological riddle of the Bible's synchronisms of reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah and their synchronism with other Ancient Near Eastern Nations, no other research is based on a simple mathematical formula which could, if it is incorrect, be disproved easily. To date, no one has been able to dismiss the mathematical results of this research.
Free to air Academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
Check the Chapter Precis Page to see details of each chapter and to gain access to the Four Free to Air Chapters
R.P. BenDedek also writes social commentaries and photographic 'Stories from China' both at KingsCalendar, and as a contributing columnist at Magic City Morning Star News in Maine USA.
He currently (2013) teaches Conversational English in SuZhou City Jiangsu Province in China.
Dates for Nabopolassar & Nebuchadrezzar Kings of Babylon - and - Josiah and Jehoiakim Kings of Judah as per (Wiseman.D.J. (1961) Chronicles of the Chaldaean Kings (626-556 BC) in the British Museum. Trustees of the British Museum. London) Using Babylonian Chronicles B.M. 22047 (p.65) and BM 21946 (p.67) But with a one (1) year adjustment for the Reigns of Nabopolassar and Nebuchadrezzar.
607 bce - Sep - Nabopolassar engaged at Bit-Hanunia / Urartu - 18th year - B.M. 22047 Line 1-4
607 bce - Dec - Josiah's 31st year commences
607 bce - Dec/Jan - Nabopolassar returns to Babylon - B.M. 22047 Line 1-4
606 bce - May/Jun - Campaigning to the north - 19th year - B.M. 22047 Lines 5-7
606 bce - Jun/Jul - Nabopolassar returns to Babylon - B.M. 22047 Line 8
606 bce - Jul/Aug - Necho heads North for Carchemish
606 bce - Aug/Sep - Nebuchadrezzar returns to Babylon - B.M. 22047 Line 12
606 bce - Aug/Sep - Josiah of Judah slain
606 bce - Aug/Sep - Jehoahaz becomes king of Judah
606 bce - Sep/Oct - Nabopolassar Heads to Kimuhu - B.M. 22047 Line 12
606 bce - Nov - Nabopolassar captures Kimuhu - B.M. 22047 Line 14
606 bce - Nov - Jehoahaz deposed by Pharaoh Necho - taken to Riblah
606 bce - Nov - Jehoiakim commences - 1st Artificial year commences.
