I’ve compiled the table below from dates given in two books written by Dr. Gleason Archer: A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, 2nd edition, and Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. I want to add a few caveats: I realize that even among conservative scholars there are differences regarding dates. Within Dr. Archer’s books he discusses some of the rationales and he, himself, sometimes gives parameters or a different year for an event. Nevertheless, I wanted to do this because as you read through the Bible it helps with sorting through the sequence of events and tracking the lives of the people you are reading about.
| Major Milestones in the History of Ancient Israel | |
| Event | Date |
| Birth of Abraham | 2166 B.C. |
| Jacob Migrates to Egypt |
1870 B.C. |
| The Exodus from Egypt | 1445 B.C. |
| United Israelite Kingdom |
1050 B.C. |
| Divided Kingdom (North: Israel, South: Judah) |
931 B.C. |
| Final Destruction of Northern Kingdom (by the Assyrians) |
722 B.C. |
| Southern Kingdom Captives Exiled in Babylon (Daniel among the exiles) |
605 B.C. |
| Southern Kingdom Captives Exiled in Babylon (Ezekiel among the exiles) |
597 B.C. |
| Final Destruction of Southern Kingdom & Exile (by the Babylonians) |
586 B.C. |
| Return from Exile in Babylon Cyrus: Rebuild Temple (2 Chronicles 36:22–23) Artaxerxes I: Rebuild Jerusalem (Ezra 7:6ff) Artaxerxes I: Rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:5–8) |
Decrees: 538 B.C. 457 B.C. 445 B.C. |
| Temple Rebuilt | 516 B.C. 70 years from 586 B.C. |
| Close of Prophetic Age in Israel (Malachi) |
435 B.C. |
I also hope to put one together that will be more detailed about the individual prophets as we get into the numerous prophetic books at the end of the Old Testament.
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Isaiah 42 Photograph: ChristianPhotos.net – Free High Resolution Photos for Christian Publications
Original content: Copyright ©2011 Iwana Carpenter
Kindling for Candles 
Thanks for the Chronology. These things are always somewhat suspect. I completed a heavily referenced book this year dealing in part with ancient history and the origins of the Hebrew nation. In studying chronologies I found that the central dates of the major ancient nations generally do not line up. A reformation movement began a few years ago and much more light has come forth. I ended up writing my own chronology which generally lines up with your dates above, except in the case of Abraham and Joseph. My date for the Exodus is BC 1446, but the birth of Abraham was much later, in BC 1946. This makes the birth of Joseph in BC 1695. Gleason Archer is simply incorrect with reference to these dates.
The big problem is Egyptian Chronology. Anyone who studies it in-depth and is not bound by convention knows this. I was able to sort through it all in part to discover the Pharaohs much more likely to be associated with Abraham and Joseph, which is a fascinating study in itself. Incredible doors of discovery and alignment take place once the chronologies come into proper focus. As usual, the Word of God is proven perfectly correct.