Index
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SECOND PERIOD
The Period of the Hebrew's Wandering
Next we come to the second period of our Chronology, which is the period between the birth of Abraham to Terah, to the Passover night when the Jews came out of Egypt.
There are three questions that must be resolved in this period, and we have no definite dates by which to go. These questions must be answered using the Scriptural clues we have been given.
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- 1. How Old was Terah when Abraham
was Born?
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- The first perplexing question for this period is, "How old was Terah, when Abraham was born?" We are told:
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- Gen. 11:26-32 "And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran."
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- In the above verses, we are not told the specific age of Terah at the birth of Abraham. There is a possibility that Terah had Abraham at age 70, which is why Abraham is listed first. Others say Abraham was listed first because of his significance, not because of his age. Those who take that position point to Acts 7:2-4 and Gen.12:4-5 to argue that Abraham must have been 75 years old when Terah died, which means he was born when Terah was 130. This decision results in a 60 year difference in Chronology. Those verses say:
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- Gen. 12:4-5 "So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran . And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
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Acts 7:-42 "And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell."
As the purpose of this Chronology is to find the youngest period for the age of Creation, it is necessary that we choose Abraham's birth to be when Terah was 70 rather than 135.
The justification, or how we harmonize the above verses for this date is as follows. Abraham departed from Charran at age 75. (Gen. 12: 4-5) He came to the Holy Land, entered the land, received the promises, but did not stay, rather yielding to Lot
(Gen. 13:11-12) and settled south of the Land of Promise, on the plains of
Mamre near Hebron (Gen
13:18.) Eventually he moved further south East to Beer Sheba, in the land of
the Philistines (Gen. 21: 32-34). After Terah had died, when Abraham was 135, he then moved
back into the Holy Land to reside there, and was living in Hebron when Sarah
died.
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2. When
was the covenant Confirmed to Abraham?
3. And
When was the Start of the Seed of Abraham Wandering?
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- The second question for this period is when do we start the 430 years of Exodus 12:41, from the covenant to Abraham, which ended on the Passover night in Egypt?
- Exo. 12:40-41 "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt."
Gal. 3:7 "And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect."
- The third question is intimately related to the second question, so we must consider them together. That is, when do we start the 400 years of Abraham's seed wandering, of Acts 7:6 which states that Abraham's seed wandered as strangers for 400 years?
- Acts 7:5-7 "And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place."
There would appear to be a correlation between these later two questions. The 430 years from the covenant to Abraham ended on the night that the Israelites came out of Egypt. Abraham's seed wandered the wilderness for 40 years after the night they came out of Egypt. The 400 year period of Acts 7:6 must therefore end 40 years after the night of the Exodus. The starting point for the two periods, then, must be 70 years apart. This is determined because the 400 year period ends 40 years after the 430 year period--40 years difference-- and is obviously 30 years shorter--30 more years difference, or 70 years total. So the 430 of Exodus 12:40 must begin 70 years before the 400 years of Acts 7:6. The earliest possible date for the start of the 400 years of Abraham's seed wandering, would be when Abraham first had his seed (Isaac) when Abraham was 100 years old in 2048.
My date, then, for the promise first made to Abraham is made by reckoning backwards from that date, a period of 70 years. Reckoning back, this would make the promise made at AM 1978. If this is the case, then the call to Abraham was first made when he was living in Ur, before having moved to Haran, and when he was 30 years old.
- There are no Scriptural references to this time. That is admitted. There are however, other indications from the Scriptures that this is the correct date. This date would agree, for instance, with the fact that when God references this call to Abraham, He says He took him from the land of Ur to go to the land of Canaan (Neh. 9:7-8). And this also agrees with Moses account of the reason for leaving Ur in the first place (which is said to go from Ur to Canaan). (Gen. 11:31). If this is correct, then the call was made to Abraham while living in Ur, at the age of 30. Not when he was in Padan Aran, some 45 years later, or after having moved into the Holy Land at an even later date.
Neh 9:7-8 "Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:"
- Gen 11:31 "And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there."
The age of 30 is also Scripturally significant. This would be the same age as Jesus was when he was called to his work, the same age that Joseph was called to stand before Pharaoh, and the age of David when called to take the throne as King.
- Some chronologists argue that in Gal. 3:7, the account is that there were 430 years from the "confirmation" of the covenant to Abraham to the Passover night. There was another time when the covenant was said to be "confirmed" to Abraham, after he had married Hagar at age 85. These argue that the 430 years should be measured from this "confirmation" of the covenant." We would suggest that the confirmation Paul is discussing in Galatians 3:7 was the confirming of the promise that Christ had accomplished some 30 years "before" his Galatians epistle, in
Jesus' crucifixion, not the confirmation that God gave Abraham after he entered into Canaan.
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- Gal. 3:7 "And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect."
Gen 15:17-21 "And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
If the sojourning of the "seed of Abraham" cannot be reckoned before Abraham had "seed" can the "sojourning of the Children of Israel of 430 years" be started before Israel had children? I would answer, no! But the difference is this. Israel can mean the Power or Strength of God (The Mighty One). Abraham, while Grandfather of Israel, was also the son of Israel, being a son of God (Luke 3:38) and therefore included in the sojourning of the Children of Israel.
With the above in mind, this link will go to
The Chart of the Hebrew's Wandering which would be the Chronology for this second period.
For
Further Information Contact:
Jim Phillips
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