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Biblical chronology dispute: Difference between revisions
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Corrected mischaracterization of Thiele's scholarship.
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=== The Ussher Tradition === | === The Ussher Tradition === | ||
This camp takes its name from [[James Ussher]] and includes Biblical scholars who support Ussher's original chronology, including [[Floyd Nolen Jones]] and [[Larry Pierce]]. Followers of Ussher's tradition insist that the chronological data found in the Scriptures are impeccable and unimpeachable, and that conflicting data from non-Biblical sources ''must'' give way to it.<ref name=Ussher>[[James Ussher]], ''[[The Annals of the World]]'', [[Larry Pierce]], ed., Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2003 (ISBN 0890513600)</ref><ref name=Pierce>[[Larry Pierce]], "[http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v15/i1/chronology.asp Evidentialism–the Bible and Assyrian chronology]," ''TJ'' 15(1):62–68 April 2001. Retrieved April 30, 2007</ref> Several of the major creation ministries, such as [[Answers in Genesis]], and The Creation Research Institute<!-- probably [[Institute for Creation Research]], possibly [[Christian Research Institute]] -->, follow the Ussher Tradition. | This camp takes its name from [[James Ussher]] and includes Biblical scholars who support Ussher's original chronology, including [[Floyd Nolen Jones]] and [[Larry Pierce]]. Followers of Ussher's tradition insist that the chronological data found in the Scriptures are impeccable and unimpeachable, and that conflicting data from non-Biblical sources ''must'' give way to it.<ref name=Ussher>[[James Ussher]], ''[[The Annals of the World]]'', [[Larry Pierce]], ed., Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2003 (ISBN 0890513600)</ref><ref name=Pierce>[[Larry Pierce]], "[http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v15/i1/chronology.asp Evidentialism–the Bible and Assyrian chronology]," ''TJ'' 15(1):62–68 April 2001. Retrieved April 30, 2007</ref> Several of the major creation ministries, such as [[Answers in Genesis]], and The Creation Research Institute<!-- probably [[Institute for Creation Research]], possibly [[Christian Research Institute]] -->, follow the Ussher Tradition. | ||
However, Ussher’s chronology of the kingdom period suffers from several internal inconsistencies of a small nature and two major contradictions of the Bible. The first of the major contradictions is regarding 2 Kings 15:8, where the Bible says that “In the 38th year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months.” Ussher says he did not really become king then, but instead an interregnum started in which there was no king in Samaria. The Hebrew verb in this verse, ''malak'', “reigned” or “began to reign,” cannot honestly be interpreted in any other way than specifying that “Zechariah . . . did reign” in the 38th year of Azariah. A second contradiction of the Bible is found in Ussher’s treatment of 2 Kings 15:30, which says that Hoshea, Israel’s last king, slew Pekah “and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.” Ussher says that instead of Hoshea reigning at that time, “the kingdom was in civil disorder and anarchy for nine years,” again contradicting any honest translation of this verse. These two interregna, which cannot be supported by, but are contradicted by, the Biblical texts cited are part of the reason that Ussher’s chronology is, by the time of Solomon, 45 years earlier than the chronology determined by modern Bible-based scholarship. | |||
The major chronological works of the Ussher tradition are: | The major chronological works of the Ussher tradition are: | ||
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=== The Thiele Tradition === | === The Thiele Tradition === | ||
This camp takes its name from [[Edwin | This camp takes its name from [[Edwin Thiele]], historian and Biblical scholar who attempted to determine the methods of the Hebrew court recorders who gave us the chronological data for the Hebrew kingdom period, as found in the historical and prophetic books of the Bible. After he had established such a pattern, he attempted to match it to an accepted date in secular history in order to give BC dates to his pattern. (All chronologists must do this at some point; Ussher chose the death of Nebuchadnezzar II in order to give BC dates at the end of the kingdom period.) When Thiele matched his Biblical pattern to accepted Assyrian dates for the Battle of Qarqar in the sixth year of Shalmaneser III and the tribute of Jehu in Shalmaneser’s 18th, year, he found inconsistencies with his Biblically-derived dates. Further investigation revealed it was the dates assigned by Assyriologists to these events that needed modifications, not Thiele’s Bible-based chronology. Thiele’s resultant revision of the Assyrian Eponym Canon—the very backbone of Assyrian chronology—on the basis of the Bible’s data has won the universal respect of Assyriologists. It must be emphasized that Thiele’s chronology therefore started with the Biblical data and corrected Assyrian dates based on the Bible because many false statements have been made saying just the opposite; that Thiele started with the Assyrian data and forced texts of the Bible to conform to the Assyrian data. Any such statement is in plain contradiction of the facts, and can only be taken as an extreme, and unwarranted, measure by writers who cannot support their argument by legitimate scholarship. | ||
Thiele's defining work on chronology was: | Thiele's defining work on chronology was: | ||
*Edwin R. Theile - ''The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings,'' Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1965 | *Edwin R. Theile - ''The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings,'' Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1965. The following quote from that work shows the falseness of statements from Thiele’s detractors to the effect that he started with Assyrian dates and then “force-fit” the Biblical data to those dates: | ||
<blockquote>[N]o dates were used in the early pattern that I produced. In this way I eliminated the inclination, as certain fairly well established dates in Hebrew history were being approached, to endeavor to modify the pattern one way or another to cause it to conform to preconceived ideas of what it ought to be at those points. . . . The aim was to produce a system, if possible, in which the reigns of the kings were arranged in harmony with the data on both the synchronisms and the lengths of reign. Then, on the completion of such a pattern, I meant to test the results by a comparison with the established dates of contemporary history.<ref>Edwin R. Thiele, ''The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings'', rev. edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983), pp. 16, 17.</ref></blockquote> | |||
Today, most evangelical scholars have joined the Thiele camp;<ref name=Wood>See, for example, Leon J. Wood, ''A Survey of Israel's History'', rev. ed. David O'Brien, Grand Rapids, MI: Academie Books, 1986 (ISBN 031034770X)</ref>. Showing the respect that Thiele’s Bible-based chronology has earned from the Assyrian academy, the noted Assyriologist D. J. Wiseman wrote “The chronology most widely accepted today is one based on the meticulous study by Thiele.”<ref>Donald J. Wiseman, ''1 and 2 Kings'' in ''Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries'' (Intervarsity, 1993), p. 27.</ref> Biblical chronologist Leslie McFall, who corrected Thiele’s error for the reign of Hezekiah, asserted, “Thiele’s chronology is fast becoming the consensus view among Old Testament scholars, if it has not already reached that point.”<ref>Leslie McFall, “The Chronology of Saul and David,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 53 (2010) 215, n. 101.</ref> Among the many scholars who have accepted Thiele’s date of 931 BC for the beginning of the divided monarchies are T. C. Mitchell in the Cambridge Ancient History series,<ref>“Israel and Judah until the Revolt of Jehu (931–841 B.C.),” ''Cambridge Ancient History'' (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982) III, Part 1, 445–46;</ref> Walvoord and Zuck in ''The Bible Knowledge Commentary'',<ref>John H. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, editors, ''The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament'' (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor, 1983), p. 632.</ref> Leslie McFall,<ref>Leslie McFall, “A Translation Guide to the Chronological Data in Kings and Chronicles,” ''Bibliotheca Sacra'' 148 (1991), p. 12.</ref> Gershon Galil,<ref>Gershon Galil, ''The Chronology of the Kings of Israel and Judah'' (Leiden: Brill, 1996), p. 14. </ref> Jack Finegan in his influential handbook on ancient chronological systems and the Bible,<ref>Jack Finegan, ''Handbook of Biblical Chronology'', rev. ed. (Peabody MA: Hendrickson, 1998)pp. 246, 249;</ref> and Andrew E. Steinmann.<ref>Andrew Steinmann, ''From Abraham to Paul: A Biblical Chronology'' (St. Louis: Concordia, 2011), pp. 39,40.</ref> | |||
=== Long Chronology or Variant Manuscript Tradition === | === Long Chronology or Variant Manuscript Tradition === | ||
