TIMELINE OF MAJOR BIBLE INCIDENCES

          

“In the beginning”: Creation (Genesis 1)

     

Very early age : Adam and Eve (Genesis 2–3)

   

Still quite early age : Noah’s flood (Genesis 6–9)

  

Around 2000 b.c.e.: Abraham and Sarah leave for their Promised Land in Canaan (Genesis 12–25)

   

Around 1250 (or 1450) b.c.e.: Moses leads the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery (Exodus 1–15)

  

Around 1000 b.c.e.: David begins ruling as Israel’s King (2 Samuel)

Around 950 b.c.e.: King Solomon, David’s son, builds the Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6–8)

Around 925 b.c.e.: Israel splits into two kingdoms: Israel and Judah (1 Kings 12)

721 b.c.e.: The northern kingdom of Israel is conquered and exiled by the Assyrians, becoming the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel (2 Kings 17)

Around 622 b.c.e.: King Josiah enacts many religious reforms (2 Kings 22–23)

586 b.c.e.: The southern kingdom of Judah is conquered and exiled by the Babylonians, which begins the Exilic Period (2 Kings 25)

538 b.c.e.: King Cyrus of Persia allows the Jews to return to their homeland, which begins the Postexilic Period (2 Chronicles 36:22–23)

         

515 b.c.e.: The rebuilt Temple is dedicated under the leadership of the Judean governor, Zerubbabel, which begins the Second Temple Period (Ezra)

        

Around 425 b.c.e.: Nehemiah repairs the walls of Jerusalem, and Ezra and Nehemiah enact religious reforms (Nehemiah)

  

Around 165 b.c.e.: The Hasmoneans, under Judah Maccabee, rededicate the Temple, which is today celebrated as “Hanukkah” (1 Maccabees 4)

Around 6 b.c.e.: Jesus is born during the reign of Herod the Great, a Roman-appointed King of the Jews (Matthew 1 and Luke 2)

 Around 30 c.e.: Jesus is crucified during the rule of Pontius Pilate, the Roman-appointed governor of Syria-Palestine (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)

  

Around 46–64 (or 67) c.e.: The apostle Paul’s missionary journeys and letter writing (Acts 13–28 and Pauline Epistles)

  

70 c.e.: The destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans

Around 95 c.e.: Revelation, the final book of the New Testament, is completed