Today, we begin 1 Kings Chapter 6.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click HERE.
For the King James Version, click HERE.
Now, if there’s one thing students of the Bible get all bent out of shape over is Biblical chronology and calendar dates.
They shouldn’t.
Why?
Because things aren’t as clear-cut as we’d like them to be.
Here’s the thing, homie.
Kings were often used as the primary way of marking time in the ancient world.
As a result, both Biblical chronology and many modern chronological systems depend heavily on knowing exactly when certain kings ruled.
The challenge is that different cultures didn’t always calculate a king’s reign the same way.
The method varied from one nation to another…
And it could even change over time within the same culture.
On top of that, the Bible records not only the reigns of Israelite kings but also those of foreign rulers.
And here’s another Walter Cronkite soundbite ya need to get hip to.
While Scripture provides a great deal of chronological information, there are times when historians gotta look to ancient records outside the Bible to fill in the gaps.
That’s right, man.
I said outside the Bible.
Ya feel me?
This brings up a key question.
When those foreign cultures recorded the length of a king’s reign, what system were they using?
Before we can compare their dates with the Bible’s timeline, we first gotta understand how they counted a king’s years in the first place.
I hope you’re feeling me here, man.
Another area where there’s intense disagreement is the part where it says the Temple project kicked off during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign.
Sounds straightforward enough, right?
Well, not quite, homies.
The problem is nobody has any idea what event marked the official start of construction.
Was it when Solomon arranged for Hiram to supply the materials?
Was it when the first stones arrived at the site?
Or was it when the foundation itself was finished?
The text doesn’t tell us.
And since it doesn’t, I ain’t interested in adding one more theory to the mountain load of existing speculation.
To make matters worse, the phrase “fourth year of Shlomo’s reign” ain’t as precise as it sounds to our modern ears.
As I just said, ancient cultures didn’t all count a king’s regnal years the same way.
So before we can start pinning down dates, we first gotta understand how the people of that era measured time in the first place.
Ya feel me?
Well, the good news is I’m gonna put these disagreements to rest in my next post.
You’re gonna get some information that’ll end the confusion for all time and forever…GUARANTEED!
So see ya all next time.
The problem with human beings is that we have to know EVERYTHING!
And then when we figure something out, we brag about how smart we are, even though all we did was figure out what something is, and do not consider the fact that we could never have created it.
The Bible is full of things that aren’t easily explainable, or even verifiable, and so much of it has caused dissension withinn the body of the Believers.
Calendar crazies insist that they have the “correct” calendar, and imply that by going along with the standard Jewish calendar (created by Hillel II around 358-9 CE) is wrong, and we are celebrating God’s Holy Days on the wrong date.
You want the right calendar? I’ll tell you who has it- someone who left Egypt with Moses and has been keeping track of every day and new moon since then.
And since the new moon was generally within 2-3 days every month, depending on the weather (you can’t get three people to verify it is a new moon on a cloudy night) there really isn’t any exact calendar and can never be one.
But, I digress…
I admit I also would like to know as much about the Bible and God and Yeshua as I can, but I always ask myself this question when we start to argue about minutia- “How does this affect my salvation?”
If the topic is not a salvation issue, the it is nothing more than nice-to-know stuff and doesn’t rate getting into an argument about.
Thanks for your comment, Steven. “Calendar crazies.” That term you used made me laugh. Totally agree. There are some things worth arguing about (those things worthy of salvation), and those things that are not. Tragically, too many folks waste so much time focusing on minutiae. Be blessed.