Major Massoretic-Based Chronology from Adam to Cyrus the Great
From
Δ Years
To
Pre Genesis
1:2
?????
Beginning of
Halocene
Age
4375
Present
Halocene
Age
Beginning
Genesis 1:2
Adam
5861
130
105
90
70
65
162
65
Adam
Seth
Enos
Cainan
Mahalaleel
Jared
Enoch
Methusaleh
Lamech
Noah
(Flood)
Shem
Arphaxad
Salah
Eber
Peleg
Reu
187
182
502
(600)
100
35
30
34
30
32
Total
Years
Halocene
0
Interlocking
Event
Event/Reference &/or
Note #
10,000
Gen. 1:2
4375
5625
Adam’s Creation Per
Septuagint
Archeological Era:
Pre-Caveman & Cavemen
Adam
5861
4139
Seth
Enos
Cainan
Mahalaleel
Jared
Enoch
Methusaleh
5991
6096
6186
6256
6321
6483
6548
4009
3904
3814
3744
3679
3517
3452
Adam’s Creation Per
Massoretic Text
Archeological Era:
Stone (5000-4000 BC)
Gen. 2:17 & 4:25
Gen. 5:3 & 5:6
Gen. 5:9
Gen. 5:12
Gen 5:15
Gen 5:18
Gen. 5:21
Lamech
Noah
Shem
6785
6917
7419
7517
Arphaxad
Salah
Eber
Peleg
Reu
Serug
7519
7554
7584
7618
7648
7680
Tohu & Vohu
Phaeton/Marduk
Cataclysm
Ogyges Flood
Years BC
Sir Chas Woolley’s
Ur Flood dated
2700 BC & psbl
Ducaleon &
Gilgamesh Flood
3265
3083
2581
2483
2481
2446
2416
2382
2352
2320
The biblical Tubal-cain
was an articifer in brass
and iron. If we parallel the
generations of the Seth
Line and the Cain Line,
the bronze age and iron
age might be placed at
about 3400 to 3300 B.C.
whereas archaeologists
place the copper age at
3000 to 2000 BC; the
bronze age at 2000 to
1000 BC; and the iron age
at 1000 BC.
Gen. 5:25
Gen. 5:28-19
Gen. 5:32
Gen. 7:11
Flood in Noah’s 600th
Gen. 11:10
Gen. 11:12
Gen. 11:14
Gen. 11:16
Gen. 11:18
Gen. 11:20
Serug
Nahor
Terah
30
29
130
Abram
Isaac
Jacob
Levi
Kohath
Amram
100
60
Est. 80
Est. 48
Est. 68
Est. 69
Nahor
Terah
Abram
Abram’s Call
Isaac
Jacob
Levi
Kohath
Amram
Moses
7710
7739
7869
(7945)
7969
8029
8109
8157
8225
8294
Hammurabi
( 2067 – 2025)
1730 BC Semitic
Hyksos Invasion
Egyptian Servitude from
1841 to 1625 BC
215 years in Egypt
Acts 7:30 – Moses 40
when deliverance of
Hebrews began.
Acts 13:18; 40 years in
Wilderness
Deut. 34:7 – Moses 120
when he died.
80
Exodus
8374
Exodus
Joshua
Othniel
Samuel
Saul
David
Solomon
40
27
450
12
40
40
4
8414
8441
8891
8903
8943
8983
8987
1586
1559
1109
1097
1057
1017
1013
Deut. 34:7
Clinton Estimate
Acts 13:20
Clinton Estimate
Acts 13:21; Saul’s Reign
I Kings 2:11
I Kings 6:1
8994
1006
I Kings 6:38
9395
606
9464
Nebuchadnezzar reduced
Jerusalem in 606 BC.
From Temple Finish in
1006 to Babylonian
Captivity in 606 = 400
This is an established year
in classical history.
4139 – 536 = 3603
Temple
Finish
400
Babylonian
Exile
Cross-Check
70
Return
Temple Start
7
3603
1st of Cyrus
9464
-5861
= 3603
1626
Gen. 11:22
Gen. 11:24
See Note 5.
Gen. 12:4
Gen. 21:5
Gen. 25:26
See Notes on Chart titled
“Abraham to Exodus”.
Moses
Joshua
Othniel
Samuel
Saul
David
Solomon
Temple
Start
Temple
Finish
Exile
Thera Eruption
Santorini
Dardanus Flood
Destruction of
Minoan (Crete)
Civilization &
Emigrations of
Philistines to
Canaan.
2290
2261
2131
2055
2031
1971
Est. 1891
Est. 1843
Est. 1775
1706
536
NOTES
NOTES:
1. The present geological age is called the Halocene Age. The name comes from the Greek words
ὅλος (holos) meaning whole or entire, and καινός (kainos) meaning new, and thus "entirely
recent". It is set apart from the preceding Pleistocene Age by violent changes to the crust of the
earth that occurred at a time variously estimated as being from 9500 BC to 11,700 BC with
10,000 BC being the date given by the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Various dating systems have been used throughout history including Egyptian, Babylonian,
Greek, Roman, European, and a recent silly anti-Christian innovation being from BC and AD to
BCE and CE where CE stands for 'common era'. Re-active innovations are never positive.
A dating system that makes sense would be to use 10,000 BC as a base and date historical
events by subtracting BCE dates from 10,000 and/or adding 10,000 to CE dates. Thus the year
2015 would be a simple 12015 HE where HE stands for 'Halocene Era’. Firstly, such a system
aligns with geological, archaeological, and biblical concepts. Secondly, sucj a system would put
the activities of man within a comprehensible time-span and peg it to a starting point which can
be related to geologically. Thirdly, this system would secondly make the biblically-oriented
aware that Adamic man has appeared at the mid-point of the geological era in which we are
living. Fourthly, this system should keep us conscious that another catastrophic change is not
too far distant seeing such events appear to occur every 10,000 to 15,000 years. Lastly, such a
system eliminates confusion in going from BC to AD years and simplifies calculations. This dating
system is shown on the chart as well as the usual system of BC and AD.
The concept of age following age was well known to the ancient classical world until the rise of
the Greek philosophers about 600 BCE who decided to draw a line under the past and discard all
traditional legends, myths and memory including their own. Regardless, this concept was well
known to the teachers of the primitive church who spoke of ages past, this present evil age, and
ages to come.
The Biblical book of Genesis is part of Hebrew sacred literature and contains in its first eleven
chapters some of the most ancient memories of mankind. Genesis 1:1 says that 'by beginnings'
God made the heavens and the earth. The Hebrew word for create which is transliterated as
'bara' means to create as a finished product as would a craftsman. Genesis 1:2 says 'and the
earth was without form and void and darkness on the face of the deep. The Hebrew words for
'without form and void' are transliterated as 'tohu and vohu'. Hebrew scholars call this a Hapex
Legomenon which means 'something said once'. An abrupt and catastrophic change is implied
by these two verses. Modern bible scholars such as E.W. Bullinger and C.I. Scofield call this
event a major divide of the ages. C.I. Scofield said, “The first creative act (Gen. 1:1) refers to the
dateless past and gives scope for all the geologic ages. Jeremiah 4:25-26, Isaiah 24:1 and
45:18clearly indicate the earth had undergone a cataclysmic change as the result of divine
judgment. The face of the earth bears everywhere the marks of such a catastrophe. There are
not weanting intimations that connect it with a previous testing and fall of angels.”
The events of the six days of Genesis that follow are exactly those that would be expected for an
earth recovering from a major catastrophic flood. British Geological Scientists Allan and DeLair
have suggested this was caused by the explosion of the Vela Supernova and the passage through
the Solar System of a cosmic visitor known to the Greeks as Phaeton and to the Babylonians as
Marduk.
2. In the author’s opinion, there is no way to precisely determine these critical dates. Nothing
emphasizes this fact more than Paul’s statement in Acts 13:20 that “…he gave unto them judges
about the space of 450 years until Samuel the prophet.” The word “about” is the functional
word in this matter.
3. The author of the chart used Clinton’s chronology and later added Ussher’s chronology to the
original hand drawn manuscript by way of comparison.
Henry Fynes Clinton (1781-1752) was a British classical scholar and chronologist and author of
Fasti Hellenici and Fasti Romani which set classical chronology on a scientific basis. Clinton was
educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. According to the Encyclopaedia
Britannica the value of his Fasti can scarcely be overestimated.
James Usher (Ussher) (1581-1656) was Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of
all Ireland between 1625 and 1656. His is known for his work ‘The Annals of the World’ and his
biblical chronology which is now discredited but became sacrosanct when added by a printer to
a bible publication.
Sir Robert Anderson, KCB (1841-1918) was the second Assistant Commissioner (Crime) of the
London Metropolitan Police Force from 1881 to 1901 and an intelligence officer, theologian and
writer. He studied at Boulogne-sur-Mer and Paris and received a Bachelor of Laws degree from
Trinity College (Dublin) in 1875. Anderson was a bible scholar and student of biblical prophecy.
4. This chronological table has been produced by determining the interval in years between
individuals and/or events from internal scriptural evidence. It has not slavishly followed any of
the well-known authorities such as Ussher, Clinton, Browne, Anderson, Bullinger but it has
consulted them and their opinions and insights.
The approach taken for this table is to start with the biblical Adam and work forward until an
event is identified which corresponds to some fixed point in history which for this table is the
first year of Cyrus the Persian. From that point the process is to work backwards to the
beginning with Adam.
Once dates are fixed for significant events such as the Exodus and the Flood, the procedure is to
see if these dates correlate with some secular historical event such as:




The eruption of Thera (Santorini) that destroyed Cretan and Minoan civilization
The Hyksos invasion of Egypt
The start of the Bronze and Iron Ages
The classical Floods of Ogyges, Deucalion, Gilgamesh, and Dardanus.
This table has not used the approach of using some secular historical event to fix biblical events
– in other words scripture is primary. Nor has this table blindly used the opinion of ancient
historical writers such as Ussher appears to have relied on to an extent.
5. The first critical scriptural interval is between Terah and Abram. Terah lived 70 years had three
sons – Abram, Nahor and Haran (Gen. 11:7). Haran died before his father in Ur of the Chaldees.
Lot was Haran’s son and Abram’s nephew. Terah took Abram and Lot and left Ur of the
Chaldees to go to Canaan but stopped at the city of Haran and stayed there and died there at
205 years of age (Gen. 11:31-32). Abram left Haran and went to Canaan at age 75 (Gen. 12:4).
After a brief side-trip to Egypt to escape famine, Abram returned to Canaan (Gen. 12: 10-4). At
this point Abram and Lot parted company (Gen 13:7-18) with Lot going toward the cities of the
plain and Abram dwelling in Canaan. At this point conflict occurred between Amraphel of Shinar
and the kings of the plain (Gen. 14:1-24) during which Lot was taken captive and delivered by
Abram with the ultimate result being the slaughter of the kings. When Abram was 99, God
promised him a son (Isaac) who was born when he was 100 (Gen. 17:1&17). Abram died at 175
years of age (Gen. 14:7).
In Acts 7:4, Stephen said Abram left Haran (Charran) after the death of his father. But Abram
was only 75 when he entered Canaan whereas if he was born when Terah was 70 he must have
been 130 (205 – 75 = 130) when he was called since Terah died at 205. What becomes obvious
is that Abram was not the eldest but the youngest and born when Terah was 130.
6. I Kings 6:1 states that Solomon began to build the Temple “in the 480th year after the children
were come out of the land of Egypt.” Fixing this as a chronological period as Ussher used it
produces conflicts with other scripture as Anderson noted.
Ussher assumed it represented a strictly chronological period and reckoned back from the 3rd
year of Solomon to fix the date of the Exodus as 1491 BC which drives his whole system for
better or worse.
Sir Robert Anderson makes a brilliant observation on this entire matter as follows:
“If we follow the history of Israel as detailed in the Book of Judges, we shall find that for five
several periods their national existence as Jehovah’s people was in abeyance. In punishment for
their idolatry God gave them up again and again and ‘sold them into the hands of their enemies’.
They became slaves to the king of Mesopotamia for eight years, to the king of Moab for eighteen
years, to the king of Canaan for twenty years, to the Midianites for seven years, and finally to the
Philistines for forty years. But the sum of 8 + 18 + 20 + 7 + 40 = 93 years. ..St. Paul epitomizes
thus this period of the history of his nation: 40 years in the wilderness; 450 years under the
Judges, and 40 years of the reign of Saul; making a total of 530 years. To which must be added
the 40 years of David’s reign and the first 3 years of Solomon’s reign making 573 years for the
very period which is described in Kings as 480 years…If the 93 years above be deducted from the
573 years the result is 480 years. It is obvious therefore that the 480 years of the book of kings
from the Exodus to the Temple is a mystic era formed by eliminating every period during which
the people were cast off by God.”
In Acts 13:18-21, Paul, in treating the period from the Exodus to the end of Saul’s reign,
mentions three periods; namely, 40 years, about 450 years and 40 years. Concerning the first
period Paul said, “And about the time of 40 years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.”
Concerning the second period Paul says, “And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land
of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot. And after that he gave unto them judges about
the space of 450 years until Samuel the prophet. ” Concerning the third period Paul says, And
afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of
Benjamin by the space of forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them
David to be their king…”
In considering Paul’s three periods it is clear they are approximate numbers. The second period
clearly omits the time of Joshua’s leadership and the third period omits the time that Samuel
was judicial and administrative head of the nation. Clinton noted the two omissions and
assigned them durations of 27 and 12 years respectively. What becomes obvious is that just as
Anderson observes negative periods were omitted from the Kings 480 years so, in a parallel
manner, positive periods were omitted from Paul’s negative account. Clinton appears s
therefore to be correct in attempting to account for these periods in his chronology.
The method used by Clinton to determine the two periods relative to Joshua and Samuel has not
been examined but his values have been included as not unreasonable and substantiated overall
by Josephus.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
Paul’s three periods = 40 + 450 + 40 = 530 years
From the accession of David to the 3rd of Solomon & Temple = 43 years
Death of Moses to first servitude = 27 years
Samuel the Prophet to the election of Saul = 12 years
Total = 530 + 43 + 27 + 12 = 612 years
Compare this with Josephus Antiquities xx. where he specifies 612 years between the
Exodus and the Temple
In Acts &:6 Stephen quotes Gen 15:13 and says “And God spoke on this wise that his seed
(Abram’s) should sojourn in a strange land; and they should bring them into bondage and
entreat them evil for four hundred years.”
The scripture in Gen 15:13 that Stephen quoted says “And he said to Abram, Know of a surety
that thy seed shall be a stranger in the land that is not their’s, and shall serve them; and they
shall afflict them four hundred years… but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again:
for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”
Paul explains in Gal. 3:17 that these 430 years are to be computed from the call of Abraham,
and not from the going down of Israel into Egypt.
The statement in Gen 15:13 is explained and qualified by the words which follow in verse 16.
The entire period of wanderings was to be four centuries, but when the passage speaks
definitively of their sojourn in Egypt it says: “In the fourth generation they shall come again” – a
word which was fulfilled in that Moses was the fourth in descent from Jacob (Exodus 2:1);
therefore from the Exodus to the call of Abram was 430 years which was 2055 – 430 = 1626/5.
7. Once the times of the patriarchs from Adam to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have been established
and the date of the Exodus established, the remaining task is to determine the times of
intervening persons and events. The results of such a determination are shown on the following
tables and the logical basis is attached and the principal dates have been incorporated in the
Chart entitled “Major Massoertic Chronology from Adam to Cyrus the Great”.
Person
Life
Span
Δ
Years
Son
or
Event
Years in
Egypt
Years
BC
Terah
Abram
Isaac
Jacob
Levi
(205)
(175)
(180)
(147)
(137)
130
100
60
Est. 80
Est. 48
Abram
Isaac
Jacob
Levi
Kohath
0
0
17
87
131
(137-2)
2131
2031
1971
1891
1843
Abram’s Birth
Gen.21:5
Gen. 25:26
Levi’s Birth
Exod. 6:16-20
1841
Jacob’s Entry to
Egypt
(1971 – 130 = 1841)
Amram spent all his
life in Egypt
(1626 + 80 = 1706)
Acts 7:24 – Moses 40
Acts 7:30 – Moses 80
Clinton
Exodus + 40 years
Kohath
(133)
Arbit. 68
Amram
133
1775
Amram
(137)
Arbit. 69
Moses
80
1706
Moses
Moses
Death &
Joshua
(120)
80
40
N/A
N/A
1626
1586
7.01
7.02
7.03
7.04
7.05
7.06
Exodus
Exit
Wilderness
into Canaan
Event/Reference
The Exodus from Egypt took place in 1626 BC.
Moses was 80 years of age (Acts 7:30) when he led the Israelites out of Egypt and
therefore the birth of Moses can be determined as 1626 + 80 = 1706 BC.
If Moses died at 120 (Deut. 34:7), his death is determined as 1626 – 40 = 1586 BC
If Jacob was born in 1971 BC and entered Egypt at 130 years of age, his entry into Egypt
is determined as 1841 BC and his death as 1824 BC.
If Jacob entered Egypt in 1841 and the Exodus took place in 1626, the time of the
Hebrews in Egypt was 215 years.
Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob and Esau were born (Gen.25:26).
7.07
7.08
7.09
7.10
7.11
7.12
Genesis 26:34 & 35 tell of Esau’s marriage at age 40 to two Hittite women (1971- 40 =
1931 BC) which caused grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah when Isaac was 100 years of
age.
Genesis 27 tells the story of Jacob’s ‘stealing’ the birthright and blessing of Esau. The
natural tendency is to assume no interruption in the Bible narrative, even though one is
indicated by the bridging-words ‘and it came to pass when Isaac was old’, and also to
assume that this took place when they were both 40 years of age. But the event took
place when Isaac was ‘old and dim-eyed’. When Esau and Jacob were forty, Isaac was
100. Isaac died at 180 years of age (Gen. 35:28) when Jacob was 120 years of age.
Jacob did not go into Egypt until after Isaac died. Even though it might seem reasonable
for a man of 100 to be old and dim-eyed, it does not seem reasonable for that to occur
when only fifty five per cent of his life is spent. Either this stealing of the birthright and
blessing took place much later or Isaac was not entirely innocent in the matter and
obviously Jacob’s actions were in the planning stage for a long time.
The Scofield Bible includes Ussher’s dates in the margin and gives the date for Esau’s
40th birthday as about 1804 BC and the date for the stealing of the birthright and
blessing as 1760 BC thus separating the incidents by 44 years when they would both be
84 years of age and Isaac would be 144 years of age. As noted before, Ussher’s
chronology is now recognized not being correct.
If Jacob was born in 1971 BC and went into Egypt when he was 130 years of age, he
entered Egypt in 1971 – 130 = 1841 BC.
Joseph was about 17 when sold into slavery (Gen. 37:2) which was after Jacob had
returned to Canaan with his family from serving his uncle Laban. Joseph was 30 (Gen.
41:46) when he stood before Pharaoh to interpret his dream and tell him of the coming
7 ‘years of fat’ followed by ‘7 years of lean’. When the 7 years of famine came, it
affected Jacob and his family in Canaan and caused the first delegation of Jacob’s sons
to go to Egypt for grain (Gen. 41:54 & Gen. 42:1). Simeon was retained in Egypt as a
hostage while his brothers returned from the first trip to bring Benjamin back to Egypt
as proof that their story was true and they were not spies (Gen. 42:19). Jacob’s sons did
not immediately return to Egypt because Jacob refused to let Benjamin go (Gen. 42:3638); however, when their corn was exhausted they were compelled to return to Egypt
with Benjamin while Jacob remained in Canaan (Gen. 43:1-2 & 11-14). It was during this
second venture into Egypt that Joseph revealed himself to his brethren (Gen. 45:1).
Joseph told them that 2 years of the famine were over and 5 remained (Gen. 45:6) and
to go and tell Jacob that Joseph was a ruler in Egypt and ask him to come back with
them and dwell in Goshen and do so immediately because of the remaining 5 years of
famine. Joseph told his brethren to take wagons for their little ones and not worry about
their ‘stuff’ (Gen. 45:20 -21) because the good of Egypt was at their disposal. Initially
Jacob did not believe the report but when he saw the wagons he revived and committed
to go to Egypt (Gen. 45:27-28).
God appeared to Jacob on the trail at Beersheba which is on the borders of Israel
toward Egypt and told him to go to Egypt which he did with his children and
grandchildren being sixty six persons including Levi and Levi’s sons Gershon, Kohath and
7.13
7.14
7.15
7.16
7.17
7.18
7.19
7.20
7.21
Merari (Gen. 46:11). At the time of his entry into Egypt, Jacob was 130 (Gen. 47:9) and
lived in Egypt for 17 additional years (Gen. 47:28). As Jacob is dying he tells Joseph how
Rachel died in the way as he came from Padan (Gen. 48).
Joseph and Benjamin were the youngest sons of Joseph and sufficiently younger to not
be part of the older set of ten brothers. Joseph and Benjamin were the ‘youngsters’.
Benjamin was born during the return of the family from Padan to Canaan.
From these facts we can deduce that when Jacob was coming into Egypt and was 130
years of age, Joseph was about 40 years of age; namely, 30 when he stood before
Pharaoh + 7 years of plenty + about 2 years of lean plus 1 year for transition. If Joseph
was 40 when Jacob was 130, then there were 90 years difference in their ages and
Joseph was born about 1971 - 90 = 1881 and close to the time that Jacob’s 20 years of
service to Laban ended (Gen.30:25). Twenty years prior to that time Jacob was 70 at the
beginning of his service in 1901 BC (1881 + 20 = 1901). Since Levi was born about 10
years into Laban’s service (7 years for Leah plus 3 to the third son of Jacob) then Levi
was born about 1901 - 10 = 1891 BC when Jacob was 80 years of age and Joseph was 10
years of age.
Since Jacob’s sons and grandson went with him into Egypt and Levi and Kohath are
included in the list (Gen. 46:11), it is safe to assume Kohath was very young but at least
one year older than Merari. So if we assume Merari was 1 and Kohath was 2 we can
place Kohath’s birthdate as 1841 + 2 = 1843 and a 48 year space (1891 – 1843) from Levi
to Kohath.
According to Exodus 6:16 - 20, Levi lived to 137 years of age. The sons of Levi were
Gershon, Kohath and Merari. The sons of Kohath, who lived to 133, were Amran, Izhar,
Hebron and Uzziel. Amram lived to 137 and married Jochebed his father’s sister and
she bore him Aaron and Moses. So the line is Levi to Kohath to Amram to Moses which
is 4 generations. Thus Amram is a man of the house of Levi and his wife Jochebed is
Kohath’s sister and therefore a daughter of Levi thus verifying Ex. 2:1.
If Levi had a daughter when he was 130, Jochebed would have been born in 1782 BC
and been 61 years her brother Kohath’s junior and 9 years Amram’s senior and 76 when
Moses was born which is far beyond natural child-bearing age.
Numbers 26:59 says that Jochebed was the daughter of Levi born in Egypt and the wife
of Amram and the mother of Aaron, Moses and Miriam. However, according to the LXX
of Exodus 6:20, Jochebed was the daughter of Kohath’s brother and therefore was
Amram’s cousin which makes the account wholly acceptable and is another argument in
favor of the LXX.
The remaining date to settle is the birth of Amram. From Kohath to Moses is 1843 –
1706 = 137 years with 68 years being the rough mid-point. Therefore we can arbitrarily
assign 68 years and 69 years space between Kohath, Amram and Moses.
It is also apparent that Jacob’s wives Leah and Rachel were likely in their mid-twenties
when they married since Joseph was born about 20 years later when Rachel was about
45 and near the end of child-bearing years.
To obtain the birthright and the blessing from Esau, Jacob must have had the motive,
the means and the opportunity as well as accomplice(s). The motive is obvious; the
7.22
opportunity presented itself when Esau was famished to the point of exhaustion and
bad decision-making. The means to carry off the deception of Isaac was provided by
Jacob’s mother Rebekah as the scripture makes fully apparent. Rebekah was the
primary accomplice in the deceit. If Esau married Hittite women at 40 and Jacob fled to
Laban at 70, it is obvious Jacob had been plotting and planning for a long time. Isaac
appears to have been a somewhat reluctant accomplice – he was grieved by Esau’s
choice of wives and knew Esau was not the man to carry forward the line with God. It is
also obvious that Isaac was not totally deceived by Jacob’s subterfuge. Isaac was also
aware of the events of the birth of the twins and the meaning of Jacob’s name. The only
thing it all lacked was Isaac’s willing or unwilling compliance.
It should be noted that the dates for the events of Jacob’s personal life and the date for
the birth of Levi have been locked on from two directions – namely rom Isaac forward in
time and from Joseph backward in time by using internal biblical evidence. Only two
dates have been arbitrarily assigned – namely the dates for the birth of Kohath and
Amram. All dates and periods are compatible with the spatial realities of normal human
life.
________________________________________