Old Testament Guide
A HISTORICAL TIMELINE and
SELF-GUIDED READING TOUR of THE TORAH
(A quick version by one of my students using my notes. Not for publication.)
Synopsis: The country unites under Saul, then David. His son King Solomon's lavish spending on architecture and culture leads to a golden age, during which the old legends are written down for the first time. (J text.) His high taxes also lead, after his death, to the revolt of the northern half of the kingdom in 922 BC. (Their new E text justifies that.) Two rival Jewish kingdoms, "Israel" (or "Ephraim") and "Judah," exist for 200 years. Then the Assyrians overrun the breakaway northern kingdom, "Israel," in 722 BC. Refugees flood south into Judah, which managed to survive a long time-- until 586 BC. During a religious revival, about 721-709, the D text is written. At last, in 586, Babylon destroys Judah, carrying off many to exile in their city. The priests write the P text, embed J and E in it, and try to rally the whole community around this united version of their old religion.
See "The Pentateuch" in your Oxford Study Bible for more details. All dates are BC (or BCE, "Before Common Era").
- 10,000 to 7500 Human beings shift from hunter-gatherer to agriculturalists. Village at Jericho c. 7500 BC has a watchtower, oldest preserved human building.
- 7000 Earliest pots
- 3300-3100 Cuneiform writing in Sumer. First city, Ur, forms. Capital of the Sumerian empire. Writing invented, along with division of labor, government, taxes, and most civilized practices. (Hence, the "Ur-version" means the earlierst form of something.
- 3100 Egyptian hieroglyphics begin
- 3000 Egypt unifies under a pharaoh. The Old Kingdom begins. Pyramids.
- 2130 Middle Kingdom of Egypt
- 1550 New Kingdom
- 2000-1500 Legendary stories of the Patriarchs, like Abraham (said to be originally from Ur) wandering through the desert countryside north of Egypt, called Canaan.
- 1250-1150 Invasions of Egypt and the Near East by the Sea Peoples, barbarian tribes from the north.
- 1200 Hittite empire is destroyed, Cyprus falls, 1190s Burning of the Syrian cities
- 1130 Mycenaean palaces burned by Peleshet (in Greek, Philistines)
- 1250-1225 BC Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Historically, Late Bronze Age civilization was collapsing and a dark age was beginning all around the Mediterranean. Wandering underclasses conquered or moved into the fallen cities. Many areas are up for grabs, including Canaan, which is invaded simultaneously by Philistine groups from Crete (the Sea Peoples), "Hebrews," among others. The term "habiru," means something suspiciously close to "guest worker." (Something like the American term, "illegal aliens?" An employment term?)
- 1100s Era of the Judges-- Oral traditions-- songs, legends-- which later, written down, become the J text. After the various Israelite tribes (that would much later call themselves "Jewish"), finally started living in Canaan, side by side with other newcomer tribes like the Philistines, there was sort of a "Wild West" period during which the Israelites were governed by "Judges." As you read, think of strong-man sheriffs like Wyatt Earp and "Judge" Roy Bean, "the only law West of the Pecos." One of the Judges, however, was the rather terrifying prophetess, Deborah. Her song is some of the oldest original material in the Bible. **Deborah and Jael 4:1-5:32
- 1020 Samuel is persuaded to appoint a king, uniting the tribes: Saul. The First Book of Samuel ("1 Samuel") Samuel makes Saul the first king 10:1-10:4 **Saul's disobedience-- Samuel repudiates him, ultimately David will succeed to the throne.
- 1000 David rules, founds Jerusalem, the City of David. The six-pointed Star of David is his symbol.
- c. 960 Solomon succeeds his father, David. There are 12 tribes. The tribe of Judah, David's tribe, is as big as the others put together. Judah lives in the southern half of the country, which is called Israel. The South tends to call itself Judah, after the tribe. The North calls it itself Ephraim or, very confusingly, just "Israel." Solomon goes on a building and spending spree. It's a golden age.
- 900s: Writing down of the J text. Perhaps now, someone in Solomon's court (the "Yahwist") finally writes down the legends and the oral tradition of how the country came to be-- what we call the J Text. (It calls the deity by the name Yahweh, spelled with a J in the German books by the first scholars who discovered this. We still call it "J text" in their honor.) To pay for all the buildings and wives and the life of the court, Solomon sells off some of the Northern border cities, and taxes the Northern tribes.
- 922 When he dies, the Northern tribes, exasperated, ask for tax relief from his son, and when they don't get it, peacefully secede from the union. They become "Israel" or "Ephraim" and the South becomes "Judah." The First Book of Kings **The north secedes from the kingdom 11:40-13:11
- late 800s E text is composed. Shortly after the split, a new version of the old stories is written down to justify the breakaway, heap abuse on Judah's ancestors, and above all, say that the Deity will be satisfied even if you don't sacrifice in Jerusalem. Two northern cities are given legends to justify sacrifices there. E used the word "Elohim" to refer to the Deity. (By good luck, think "J" for Judah, and E for Ephraim, to keep them straight.)
- 722 Assyria conquers the Northern kingdom. (Assyria is headquartered at Nineveh, in the old land of Sumer, just north of Ur and Babylon.) The Second book of Kings **The fall of Israel, the northern kingdom 17:1-17:24 Refugees flood south and live with their distant cousins. A composite text, JE, is possibly formed.
- 621 D (Deuteronomy) written during the reign of King Josiah, a religious reformer. Very likely written by the Prophet Jeremiah.
- 586 Babylon conquers the Southern Kingdom, Judah, and carries away the educated classes into exile. **The fall of Judah, the southern kingdom 24:8-25:31 Creation of the P text (Priestly) In exile, the Jewish priests tried to unite the wretched, scattered survivors and keep something of home alive. They gathered together the various religious books and stories they had brought into exile, and compiled them into a single volume. Some of the stories were now 500 years old; even those which had been written down by scribes existed in different versions. The priests compared the versions and tried to come up with an official one. The greatest problem was that during the 200 years the North had been separate from the South, they'd produced new versions justifying their rebellion and some of their new religious practices. The Northern refugees had brought their stories back south with them, and clung to them. When the priests feared to choose between a Northern version and a Southern version, for fear of offending half the remaining Jews, they often printed both. During the assignment don't be surprised when you think you find yourself reading the same events twice, told a slightly different way. That's not your imagination. In fact, we now identify nearly four earlier "Bibles" that have been stitched together to create the "Bible" we now have. To oversimplify, but not falsify a complex situation: R, the Redactor (reteller) supervises a committee which cuts up J and E and imbeds them in the long P text, then prints D next to them, separate. These 5 books are the Torah. The entire Old Testament is called the Tanakh. Only the first five books are the Jewish bible, the Torah.
- After only 47 years, in 539 Cyrus of the new Persian Empire conquers Babylon. Assuming that any of Babylon's old enemies must be friendly to him, he allows the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and start over again: the 2nd Temple era. Two generations have passed and many prefer not to go back to this ruined place. Start of the Diaspora, the scattering of the Jews to all countries. Israel of the 2nd temple will last, off and on, as a puppet state of larger countries until the Romans completely destroy the rebellious Jewish state in 70 AD. Fullscale Diaspora follows.