Biblical Hebrew Forum

["L.M.Barre" <lmbarre AT earthlink.net>]

My research into the chronology of the earliest period finds that things
best line up when we work with 40 year generations with a few adjustments
to the nature of our sources taken into consideration.  This extract
summarizes my thinking on the topic to date:

As Jacob was not originally a part of the Abrahamic line, we must remove
him from our relative chronology and date him independently.  One of the El
Amarna letters (286) states that Lab'aya had given up Shechem.  The ones
that received it may well be the Hivites=Horites=Hurrians to whom Hamor
belonged since the unusual name of Shechem that he named his son may
reflect his pride in becoming the ruler of this prestigious city.   With
regard to the fate of Shechem, the Lab'aya--Hamor--Jacob sequence allows us
to relatively date Jacob's migration from Aram to this generation as a
contemporary of Lab'aya (before he was killed by the people of Gina) and of
Hamor.  Therefore Jacob's migration from Aram and his presence in northern
Palestine may be syncretized with Hamor's seizure of Shechem from Lab'aya
in the Amarna era when Ahkenaton was ruling from El Amarna.  A destruction
level at Shechem coinciding with this time as well as the fact that Shechem
was in the possession of Israel prior to Joshua supports this thesis.

A dating of Abram that in fact confirms the dating of Jacob begins with the
observation that the Egyptians, who controlled Palestine during the reigns
of Amenhotep III and Ahkenaton do not figure into the conquest traditions
of Joshua.  As to when Egypt lost control of Palestine, we have good reason
to suspect that it was during the reign of Rameses II and as a result of
his famous battle of Kadesh with the Hittites in c. 1882 BCE.  That
Rameses' resources were taxed in demonstrated by the fact that there was no
victor in the battle.  Instead, a treaty was sign to end the hostilities. 
In fact, we may logically deduce that the political reorganization of
Canaan began that very year.

Now in Gen 15:12-16 we read:

Now as the sun was setting Abram fell into a deep sleep, and terror seized
him.  The Yahweh said to Abram, 'Know for certain, that your descendants
will be exiles in a land not their own, where they will be slaves and
oppressed for four hundred years.  But I will pass judgement also on the
nation that enslaves them and after that they will leave, with many
possessions.  For your part, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you
shall be buried at a ripe old age.  After the fourth generation they will
come back here, for the wicked of the Amorites is not yet ended.


Although often taken as historically sound, the predication of 400 years of
exile is clearly a symbolic number based upon a multiple 40 (40x10). 
Further, not only does it seem exaggerated but it also clashes with a
second chronology given in the text, that of four generations from the life
of Abram until the return to the land.  Indeed, since tradition almost
always exaggerates, one may on that basis suspect that the mention of the
four hundred years is a gloss and may be removed without disturbing the
sense of the passage.  That being so, we may calculate backwards four forty
year generations from Rameses' battle with the Hittites in c. 1280,  dating
Abram to c. 1440.   This then would date Isaac to 1400 and Jacob to 1360
which we had arrived at above on independent considerations.  So while  the
historical Jacob was not a member of Abram's family line, he is
nevertheless correctly dated and is in fact a contemporary of Joseph. 
Accordingly, the following chronology emerges:

Abram (c.1440)

Isaac (c. 1400)

Joseph and Jacob (c. 1360) 

Moses (c. 1320)

Rameses II begins his reign (c. 1301)

"Wanderings" (c. 1301-1280)

Joshua (c. 1280)




L.M. Barre, Ph.D.
Hebrew Bible
lmbarre AT earthlink.net
angelfire.com/ca2/AncientIsrael.