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  • From: lmbarre AT earthlink.net
  • To: "B-Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: Chronology of Early Israel
  • Date: 14 Jul 2000 01:37:25 -0800


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 synchronized 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, Hamor, Jacob and Ahkenaton (c. 1360)

Moses (c. 1320)

Rameses II begins his reign (c. 1301)

"Wanderings" (c. 1301-1280)

Joshua (c. 1280)



L.M. Barrre, Ph.D.
Hebrew Bible
Angelfire.com/ca2/AncientIsrael




  • Chronology of Early Israel, lmbarre, 07/14/2000

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