Timeline: History of the Earth: Age of Empires Year 2699 - Year 4079

History of Creation
Year	Event	Notes	Date in B.C.E (Before the Common Era)
2699	Spies including Caleb and Joshua are sent to Kadesh Barnea.  The Wandering begins.  The 4th Age begins; the Age of Empires.	Theory: Nephilim were considered to be giants.  They are mentioned in Genesis during the Age of Myths but also mentioned during the Exodus of Israel into the promised land.  Genesis even says that the Nephilim were in the land in those days and also after the Flood.  When the spies went into Israel, they saw a lot of Nephilim.  They felt like they were grasshoppers to these giants.  Therefore, if the Watchers, as the Book of Enoch says, were the fathers of the Nephilim, why were they also in the world after the Flood? Did more angels, or Watchers, come to Earth AFTER the flood and mate with human women to produce giants?  This makes no sense.  Instead, it makes more sense that giants were born to people both before and after the Flood because of sinful behaviors...likely sexual sin involving incest, witchcraft, orgies, etc.  This is not to say that if someone is born with Gigantism that they are born that way because someone sinned and did something evil.  Not much is known about Gigantism, but what is known is that Gigantism is some sort of rare birth defect.  Each and every person has within them recessive mutations.  These mutations can cause birth defects.  Incest causes recessive mutations to become more prominent.  For example, a brother and sister with the same recessive gene would have a 25% chance in passing this recessive gene on to their child, thus giving the child a recessive gene from each of them which would turn into a birth defect.  If two non-related people have a child, it is much less likely that both have the same recessive gene, so the risk goes down considerably.  Therefore, it is likely that Gigantism first started coming about because incest was much more popular in those days, and it was also prevalent in the land of Canaan, for God specifically had Moses write up a LOT of laws against incest.  Since God did this to set Israel apart from the Canaanites, we know that the Canaanites were doing some pretty nasty, sexual stuff.  Besides incest, I imagine other sexual sins added to the epidemic, and again, probably witchcraft as well, since witchcraft was also prevalent during both time periods.  Also, Genesis says that Nephilim were born because the Sons of God married the Daughters of Men, and it is clear that this occurred both before and after the Flood.  So what does this mean?  The Bible teaches us in Romans 8:14, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."  Likewise, the meaning in Genesis was probably similar.  Adam was considered the Son of God.  Therefore, all of Adam's line, those who continued to follow him and serve God, they were likely the Sons of God.  In Genesis 4, at the end of the chapter, we see that once Seth was born men began to call upon the name of the Lord.  So it is likely that these men who began to call on the name of the Lord did so because war was mounting.  Therefore, they began to follow the Lord and serve Him.  Thus, they were likely good and Godly individuals, following the Spirit of God and therefore being Sons of God.  But then you had those who rebelled, like Cain.  It is clear, based on Cain's lineage, that his line did some bad stuff.  Therefore, it makes sense that all who started creating their own religions and serving false gods, they were likely known as the Children of Men, or Daughters of Men, because they were rebelling, just as Adam, the first Man, rebelled at the Garden of Eden.  Since women were often viewed as the reason why men rebelled, it would make sense that these individuals were given the title Daughters of Men, to imply that their rebellion was as the rebellion of Eve rather than Adam.  But does this mean that whenever Godly men or women mate with ungodly men or women they have a greater chance for birth defects such as Gigantism?  That doesn't make sense.  Instead, the answer is most likely that the Bible was simply saying that an epidemic was occurring during this time, and also in the land of Canaan.  More and more God-fearing people were being seduced by ungodly people.  As a result more and more perversion, sexual sin and witchcraft were taking place.  As a result, some individuals were being born to the people of that time who were giants.  Because brothers were marrying sisters, fathers marrying daughters, mothers marrying sons, and so forth, recessive genes were becoming more prominent.  Therefore, birth defects were more common, and one of these birth defects is Gigantism.  Now, because men were wicked and warlike in nature, if someone was born a giant, what do you think they did with them?  They taught them how to be a soldier and threw them into battles just to intimidate their foes.  Therefore, it is only natural that, although these people weren't born any more or less sinful than anyone else, they were often pushed into doing sinful things simply because of their height and girth.  Also, again, just because someone is born with the defect, doesn't mean that sin occurred with the parents or grandparents.  It simply means that that recessive gene has somehow found another recessive gene and created the defect.  It was just more prevalent during those times because of sexual sin and witchcraft. Another potential is that the Nephilim were the children of longer living men and women, who called themselves gods, and individuals who were of lesser descent, with shorter life spans.  After all, it is clear that up until the time of Moses, mankind was living, still, for sometimes hundreds of years.  Therefore, it could be that Sons of God refers to those who considered themselves sons of gods.  After all, Elohim is grammatically a plural noun, referring to multiple gods.  In the Hebrew Bible it often refers to just God, but it would not be wrong if it was translated gods instead.  Therefore, it could be that in the text in Genesis, Sons of God actually is sons of gods, referring to those who lived a long time and claimed to be sons of some god or other.  Both explanations could also be true.	1386
2724	Othniel, son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother is born during the Wandering.  2717 would be the date only IF Othniel lived to be 120 years old.  It is likely that he was actually born around 2724 so that he was about 20 when he helped Caleb in his conquests of Canaan and married Achsah.		1361
2738	King Sihon is defeated.  Israel dwells in Heshbon.  Moses dies		1347
2739	Israel enters the Promised Land		1346
2744	Canaan is conquered, or rather, all of the major kings in the land of Canaan are defeated.  Caleb takes Hebron.  Othniel, son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother from another marriage (different fathers), marries Caleb's daughter Achsah.  Sometime between 2744 and 2789 Judges 17-21 occurs with Michah and his idolatry and the idolatry of the tribe of Dan.  This idolatry lasts all the time the house of God was in Shiloh, meaning until 3121.  Lots are cast during this time at Shiloh before the Ark to determine who receives what lands.  Also, Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron becomes high priest after his father's death, and the war against the Benjamites occurs.  Phinehas dwells in the Mountains of Ephraim, probably in Shiloh, starting the line of priests that would lead up to Eli.	After some intensive studying of timelines, historical events and looking closely at the book of Judges, it is clear that Judges is actually a chronological disaster.  In other words, the book of Judges bounces around in terms of the timing of all of the events within it.  As one looks more closely at the book, it becomes clear that many of the events in Judges overlap with events from the book of Joshua as well as from other sections of Judges.  Therefore, you will notice as you continue through the timeline that some judges were only the judges of certain regions of Israel.  I am not completely confident in the timeline of Judges, as it was quite challenging to try to work it all out, but I assure you that I have done my best to put it together in a cohesive manner.  Either way, regardless of the exact timing of events in Judges, other books that follow Judges are able to be placed in accurate chronological order because of time frames given within those books.  I will note when we are able to return to a more accurate timeline of events.	1341
2769	Joshua, son of Nun dies at 110 years old.	The Bible says that only after his generation dies out does Israel fall into sin.  However, the situations in Judges 17-21 indicate that they were already falling into sin by the time of Joshua's death.  Also, the end of Joshua indicates that Joshua saw the slide towards sin for at the end of his life he tells them "You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God.  He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins."  They insist that they will serve, but it seems pretty obvious that Joshua was doubtful they would.  After seeing that they did not take all of the Promised Land as commanded, after seeing the idolatry of Dan and all of the terrible bloodshed because of the sin of Benjamin and how the Israelites almost wiped out that tribe, Joshua would have his misgivings.  So it wouldn't have been long after Joshua's death before the Israelites turned away from God completely.  Joshua's death would release the people from a perceived barrier keeping them from doing what they wanted.  Like children just waiting for their parents to leave the house, Israel was just waiting for Joshua, Eleazer, Caleb and a few others to die.  Also note that the Bible does not say that there even were any more of Joshua's generation after him.  It just says after he and all his generation were dead that's when Israel sinned.  Therefore, Joshua may have been the very last of his generation, and once he died Israel immediately began to do bad things.  Remember, Joshua's generation was only a handful of people since everyone above the age of 20 was to die in the desert accept Joshua and Caleb.  So it would make sense in this regard that Joshua was the last of his generation.  Also, a generation, according to scripture, is 20 years.  So, it also makes sense that 20 years went by, a whole generation, after the death of Joshua, before Cushan-Rishathaim invaded.  This would have been a 20 year reprieve where God was giving Israel a chance to stop sinning before He unleashed another nation upon them.  Only after watching Israel's morality disintegrate to a point where he could no longer stand it would God then allow someone to invade and mistreat them.	1296
2790	Cushan-Rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, invades Israel.  God raises up Othniel, Caleb's younger brother, to begin to deliver Israel.  The war lasts the entire time that Cushan-Rishathaim is king, eight years.  Othniel is 66 years old at this time.	Finally, Cushan-Rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, would see Joshua's death as an excuse to invade.  After all, everyone knew Joshua was a man of God.  Fear of God spread throughout that entire region.  Therefore, it stands to reason that other kings would see his death as a barrier removed for them to conquer.  Thus, it seems safe to assume that Cushan-Rishathaim invaded after the twenty years.  Israel fell into terrible sin and idolatry immediately after Joshua's death on a very wide scale.  Thus, seeing their evils, Cushan-Rishathaim would find them disagreeable as neighbors and would desire to rule over the unruly bunch.  The name Cushan-Rishathaim means "twice evil Cushite".  Therefore, it was likely only a name given to him by the writer of Judges.  His true name is probably Artatama I, a Mitanni king from northern Mesopotamia.  During Artatama's reign, the Hittites from the north and Egyptians from the south were his greatest threats.  If Israel had been a significant threat during this time then Artatama would likely have not been afraid of Egypt nor would Egypt have been afraid of Mitanni.  Therefore, it makes sense that Artatama had already taken Israel and was ruling over it.  In this way, there was nothing between Egypt and Mitanni.  Thutmose IV, king of Egypt during Artatama's reign requested Artatama's daughter's hand in marriage, to unite the two kingdoms, but for whatever reason Artatama rejected the offer.  Thutmose made seven marriage proposals before Artatama finally accepted the arrangement.	1295
2798	Othniel, defeats Cushan-Rishathaim and becomes judge over Israel.  He ushers in a time of peace for 40 years.  There were probably other judges in existence throughout the judges time period, but only the major judges who brought deliverance are mentioned.  For example, Phinehas would be high priest during this time and was probably a judge in central Israel until his death.  So there were probably other judges as well, but only those who basically took Joshua's place as leader of the tribes and as Man of God and barrier for enemies are mentioned.	Amenhotep III began his reign in Egypt around this year.  He was Thutmose IV's son by a lesser wife, Mutemwiya.  Mutemwiya was the daughter of Artatama of Mitanni.  Around this same time, Shuttarna II took over as king of Mitanni, taking his father Artatama's place.  Could it be that both the king of Egypt and the king of Mitanni were slain in this year by Othniel?  That would explain why both kingdoms would have a change in kings around the same time.  However, regardless of this, Mitanni and Egypt maintained their alliance, and Shuttarna even gave his daughter, Kilu-Hepa, to Amenhotep III.  It was at about this time that the Mitanni kingdom reached the height of its prosperity.  Although it is believed that the Mitanni shared its border with Egypt in northern Syria, meaning Israel would have been considered now a land ruled by Egypt, it seems that the most likely scenario is that Othniel defeated Artatama and Thutmose IV, gaining freedom for Israel.  However, to keep peace, Othniel and the other judges likely made agreements with Egypt that if they did not invade or attempt to impose their rule over Israel, Israel would offer tributes to Egypt.  Therefore, Israel would have likely been considered a subject state of Egypt.  Being a subject state of Egypt, then, Mitanni would not have tried to retake it and rule over it.  Thus, Israel would have had peace on all sides for the duration of Othniel's life.	1287
2838	Othniel dies at 114 years old.  Based on time frames in the Bible it actually seems that Israel does not even go a year before they begin to sin against God.  Once Othniel dies, as when Joshua died, they seem to immediately turn to other gods, and thus God decides to deliver them into the hands of another king.  Eglon, king of Moab, invades eastern Israel while the Amalekites, who are Eglon's allies invade from the south.  All Israel serves Eglon for 18 years.	According to many historians, Israel hadn't even conquered Canaan until probably around 1250 B.C.E.  Therefore, Eglon likely lived around 1150 B.C.E., they would say.  However, I considered the Bible as the ultimate authority for a timeline, and all other documents as secondary.  Those that were most vague received the least weight.  There is really very little in the way of a timeline for the Moabites, therefore, the dates given by historians for when Eglon actually lived were all thrown out.  I established my timeline on the concept that the closer we get to 1 B.C.E. the more accurate the secular timelines become.  I then lined up the secular timelines with the Bible timelines.	1247
2856	Ehud kills King Eglon and becomes judge.  He ushers in a time of peace for 80 years in Israel.		1229
2936	Ehud dies.  Deborah is a judge in the north.  She was a judge and prophetess prior to Jabin's invasion, but she had not become a major judge yet.  Only after Jabin, king of Canaan, invades northern Israel does God raise her up.  Philistines also invade southern Israel.  It is the first major invasion of the Philistines.  Shamgar, Son of Anath delivers Israel in the south from 600 Philistines.  He kills them with an ax goad.  This occurs sometime between Year 2936 and 2949 when Midian invades.  It is possible that this war even occurs over the 13 years between the two times.	Note that the Bible never states, however, that Shamgar was a judge.  It just says he delivers Israel from the Philistines.  Therefore, it is likely that he never even judged Israel.  He was more likely a champion like Barak who delivered Israel from its enemies.  He may have died while delivering Israel.  Also note that the Bible says that Shamgar came after Ehud.  Thus, both Shamgar and Deborah would have risen up only after Ehud died and Israel fell back into sin.  Again it seems the time period between Ehud's death and the invasion of Canaan and Philistia is very short.  It probably occurred within a year of Ehud's death if not the very same year.  So both Deborah and Shamgar likely lived at the same time and Shamgar worked to deliver Israel in the south while Deborah and Barak fought Canaan in the north.  Also note that the Bible never says how long it took to deliver Israel at this time either.  It just tells how long the enemy king ruled and how long the land had rest.  It is likely that Deborah and Barak were raised up by God within about a year after the invasions and they likely fought against the enemy ruler for the course of the ruler's reign until at last they defeated him in 2955.  The Bible seems to imply, however, that similar to Samson, Shamgar probably defeated 600 Philistines in one battle.  This event turned them away from giving Israel any further problems while Shamgar lived.  So it is likely that within the 13 years between Ehud and Gideon the Philistines invaded, spent about a year or so tormenting Israel and then Shamgar came along and fought for a few years until the event where he killed 600 of them at once.  Then they decided it was not worth invading anymore for a time.  Whatever happens to Shamgar before the Midianites invades is not known, but he probably died before the next invasion in the south.  After all, the Midianites invaded all the way to Gaza, Philistine territory, so Shamgar would have dwelt in that area and if he was still alive he would have delivered them, not Gideon.  So something must have happened to Shamgar before the Midianite invasion in 2949.	1149
2949	Israel falls back into sin in the south after Shamgar's death.  Midian invades Israel in the east and south even while Deborah and Barak continue to fight in the north.	Again, this invasion was just in the south.  Likely, Shamgar had died the previous year, and because Israel started turning back to a sinful life, God allowed the Midianites to desire to conquer the land and rule over the Israelites.  While Deborah and Barak continue to battle in the north against the Canaanite ruler, the south was taken yet again.	1136
2956	Gideon defeats the Midianites and becomes judge in the east and south.  Deborah the Prophetess and Barak son of Abinoam finally deliver Israel from Jabin.  Israel has rest for 40 years.  It seems, based on events that occur after Gideon, that both Deborah and Gideon judged at the same time.  Each judged for 40 years bringing rest to the lands and then after Abimelech takes up a ruling as king in the central Israelite city of Shechem.  It would not make sense if Deborah was still judge for she would not have allowed such a thing to occur.  So it is more likely that both Gideon and Deborah gave peace to the lands at relatively the same time if not the exact same year.	Jabin means "discerner" or "the wise" in Hebrew, so again we find a king invading who has a name that is not likely his true name as found in history.  In 1263 B.C.E, it is believed that the Assyrian king Shalmaneser I put an end to the kingdom of Mitanni at last.  The last king of Mitanni, Shattuara, was the king of Hanilgalbat, which was what the Mitanni kingdom was called at that time.  He then turned the remains of the Mitanni kingdom into one of the Assyrian provinces.  He was one of the first Assyrian kings who deported his enemies to rather than simply wipe them all out.  Therefore, it makes sense that he would have set up a new king in the Hanilgalbat province to rule the land as a vassal king, just as future Assyrian Emperors would set up vassal kings in Israel to rule the land on their behalf.  Jabin was likely this king, and in an effort to make Shalmaneser I happy with him, Jabin invaded Israel to increase Shalmaneser's empire.  This means that Jabin was most likely Qibi-Ashur who was of the secondary line of the Assyrian royalty and was a grandson of King Adad-nirari I.  Supposedly, Qibi-Ashur Qibi- Ashur conquered and subjugated the Hiranu and Hasmu tribes, which would indicate that he was a warlike individual, not just content to manage the land but to increase its boundaries on behalf of Assyria.  Therefore, it would make sense that he was indeed the Canaanite king who invaded northern Israel and fought against Deborah and Barak.  His son, Ashur-iddin, seems to have been far less of a warlike person, for the only evidence we have of him is that he was an administrator of the province.  Since Ashur-iddin appears to have begun his reign around this time, it indicates that Deborah and Barak finally defeated Qibi-Ashur, killing him in 1228 B.C.E., and they pushed the Assyrian province out of northern Israel.  In order to recover from this, Ashur-iddin was forced to simply manage the lands in an attempt to rebuild what had been lost during their fight with Israel.	1129
2970	Eli, the future high priest and judge in Shiloh is born.		1115
2990	Gideon dies.  Abimelech his son kills 70 of his brothers from his father's side and becomes king in Shechem over his mother's kin.  Abimelech rules over Israel for 3 years.	It is important to note that Abimelech was not considered the first king of Israel.  However, the Bible does say that he ruled over Israel for 3 years.  Since Gideon and Deborah were dead at this time and no other judges are said to have been around during this time Abimelech would have technically ruled over all Israel.  However, it seems based on scripture that Abimelech's power was very limited to the region around Shechem.  So although he may have proclaimed himself king over Israel it was probably in name only.  People outside of central Israel would have barely known he was king.  He certainly didn't have a great deal of military power.  For the most part he just had the men of Shechem as his army.  So Abimelech technically was the first king of Israel, but God neither ordained it nor did Israel truly follow him.  Thus he was not considered the first king.	1095
2993	Abimelech is killed by a woman from Thebes dropping a millstone on his head.  Tola becomes judge over Israel.  We know that he was judge over all Israel as it says that after Abimelech Tola was judge.  The Bible does not say that Tola actually delivered Israel from anyone, so he may have just taken over the role as major leader or judge when Abimelech died.  Other judges probably existed, but Tola was the head of Israel.  He judges for 23 years.	It is interesting that Tola is hardly mentioned.  Many might think of him, therefore, as a lesser judge.  However, if you notice, he judged Israel for 23 years, and he was likely the ONLY judge of ALL of Israel during that time.  Therefore, since very little is mentioned about him, Tola was likely a very good judge.  The fact that no evil kings took over Israel during his time and there is no mention of evil deeds or actions means that Tola had probably ushered in a time of peace and prosperity, guiding the people to live righteous lives.  So Tola was probably one of the best judges in Israel's history.  Granted, if he had done something truly incredible, meaning he had done some sort of religious reform, or he had increased Israel's borders, or something of that nature, those things probably would have been mentioned.  This is why many would consider him not such a great judge.  They would say that he was neither good nor bad, but just sort of lukewarm.  However, I disagree.  I think that basically "no news is good news" in Tola's case.  The fact that it does not say Israel sinned during his time, nor did any foreign kings take over, it shows that Tola managed Israel well as a good steward of God's kingdom.  Notice that it even says in Judges 10 that God raised up Tola to save Israel.  Thus, it indicates that after Abimelech's evil rule, and because the people had started to sin again after Gideon had died, Tola rose up and turned the hearts of everyone to God, bringing salvation to Israel even before God might have brought another nation down on them to rule over them.  So Tola did good!  He was a saint who prevented disaster by turning the people's hearts toward God.	1092
3016	Tola dies and Jair becomes judge over all Israel.	Again, though Tola judged from Ephraim in south central Israel and Jair judged from the northeast and Gilead, we know they came one after the other for a couple of reasons.  First, the Bible says, "After him" referring to Tola.  So we know that Jair came only after Tola had died.  We also know that he came before Jephthah because both Jair and Jephthah were judges in Gilead.  So they wouldn't have existed together.  Therefore, Jair was judge over all Israel and only after he died did Jephthah's situation occur.  Jair was judge for 22 years.  I would say that, for the most part, Jair was probably a good judge like Tola.  In fact, it seems that Jair was a good father as well as a good judge and administrator of Israel.  After all, what is mentioned about him indicates that Jair had thirty sons who ruled over thirty towns in Gilead.  Since nothing bad is said about any of them, it is likely that Jair and his sons ruled as judges over all of Israel, making Havvoth Jair, those thirty towns, their power base.  One other thing to note, they are said to have rode on thirty donkeys.  This implies their humility.  After all, noble people who think highly of themselves would have ridden on horses, not donkeys.  Donkeys were a sign of humility.  That's why Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, to show he was coming as a lamb and not as a lion.  It was a sign of pacifism and not aggression.  Thus, it implies that they managed Israel with love and compassion and humility instead of violence, fear and hostility.  All in all, this means that between Tola and Jair, Israel went through a period of about 45 years of peace.  This would have been, then, the epitome of how God wanted Israel to be.  It would have been the Golden Years of Israel, where God was king and judges reigned as God's ministers of justice and peace.	1069
3028	Eli becomes judge in Shiloh.	Although he is a judge mentioned in the Bible in 1 Samuel, he is obviously not a major ruler of Israel as he is not mentioned in Judges.  Also, though Eli was high priest and judge he is not said to have delivered Israel from anyone.  Finally, Eli is not viewed in scripture as a very righteous judge.  During his time, it is said, the Word of the Lord was silent so that visions and prophecies were very rare.  So Eli certainly didn't provide the people with the same spiritual guidance they would receive at the hand of Samuel nor the same guidance they had been receiving under Jair.  This implies that Jair's, and his sons', influence was starting to wane by this time and that even they were becoming complacent.  Though they continued to lead Israel, guiding them to stay true to God's Law, it seems God didn't reveal His Divine Word or Presence to any of these men on a regular basis.  It can then be assumed that sin was starting to, once again, creep its way back into the hearts and minds of the leaders and their people.  This follows the pattern of all other times when Israel experienced peace and prosperity.  In fact, it is rather typical of all organizations throughout history.  As the righteous grow older, they tend to become more complacent.  Then sin increases more and more.  The righteous establish prosperity, and the sinners rise up to take the righteous leader's place and the righteous take a pacifistic approach, doing nothing to correct the new leaders' actions.  When this happens, the organization starts to decline.  Therefore, it seems that as Jair's time was reaching its peak and Israel was experiencing its greatest time of prosperity, Israel began to fall more and more into complacency and a spiritual dry spell.  And then, over the next ten years, they would fall further and further into sin leading up to the Ammonite/Philistine invasion.	1057
3032	Around this time Samuel is born.		1053
3038	Jair dies.  The Ammonites invade east of Jordan and into Benjamin and Judah and Ephraim.  At the same time, the Philistines invade, most likely taking over portions of Judah, Dan and Simeon in the south and west.  They may have also gone north into West Manasseh as well.  The Ammonites rule for 18 years while the Philistines rule for 40.  Jair's sons, the princes of Gilead, strike a deal with him.  If Jephthah will lead them to victory against the Ammonites then they will make him their leader.  Jephthah delivers his speech to the Ammonites about Israel possessing the lands of Heshbon for 300 years (see Year 2738).  He travels to Mizpah with Jair's sons and begins to war against the Ammonites.  Samson is likely born around this year.	It seems pretty clear that during the final days of Jair's life, sin had increased once more to a boiling point.  God had once more taken all He could.  The Philistines then seem to have forged an alliance with the Ammonites, each attacking Israel from different sides.  The Ammonites attack from the east and Philistines from the west.  Israel is no match, and Eli does nothing to stop it.  He just watches as the enemy pours into the land.  I think that it is likely that the Ammonites actually took over all of the lands east of the Jordan, meaning all of East Manasseh, Gad and Reuben.  Then they took most of Benjamin, right up to the city of Mizpah, a third of Ephraim, probably south and east of Shiloh, and most likely Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, En Gedi and all of the land of Judah north and east of these cities.  Meanwhile, the Philistines likely spread farther, during this time than ever before.  It looks to me like they likely had control of the rest of Judah, all of Simeon, a small portion of Benjamin (probably south of Mizpah, all of Dan and probably a large portion of Ephraim as well, all the land southwest of Aphek and Mizpah.  This means that the rest of the north and west, most of the lands of West Manasseh and north of that but west of the Jordan, were all likely still under Israel's control.  However, this control would have been a very loose one, for the Bible says that Israel had gathered and camped out at Mizpah.  This means that what was left of their army was gathered there, holding the line as best they could against the armies of the Philistines and the Ammonites.  Therefore, raids almost certainly took place all along the borders, tormenting, enslaving and killing Israelites on a regular basis.  So the entire land of Israel would have still suffered, even if the entire land wasn't completely controlled by the Ammonites and the Philistines.	1047
3045	Around this time Eli has set his sons up as judges over Israel, but God rejects them and Eli.  Samuel prophesies that God will destroy Eli's line and the Word of God is established in him.  Samuel becomes a judge and is known as a prophet of God.  His fame spreads from Shiloh over to the land of Dan and all the way south to Beersheba in Simeon.  Eli and his sons were almost certainly considered to be the only judges of Israel at this time, for Jephthah had yet to rise as a judge.  Therefore, Eli and his sons would have ruled from Shiloh and would have been judges over all of the lands north of Shiloh that the Ammonites and Philistines had not conquered.  Because Samuel was known from Dan to Beersheeba, this means that he was likely given authority over these lands for any who might come to him from there.  Meanwhile, Hophni and Phineas were likely given charge over all who came to them from north of Shiloh and any other lands where Israelites might come from for judgment.	The sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, are rejected by God because they defiled God's laws.  Eli is rejected because he allows it and does not stop them.  Around this time Samuel would have been sought for as a prophet of Israel, and thus he becomes a judge even at a young age.  Although he would only have been 13, it seems pretty clear that Samuel became a judge early on.  The Bible says in 1 Samuel 7:15 that he, "judged Israel all the days of his life."  In 1 Samuel 3:19 it says, "So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.  And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord."  Finally, Samuel himself states at Saul's coronation that he was a child when he became a judge in Israel.  So it makes sense that shortly after God's Word is established in him that he begins to judge.  Certainly, he didn't have a large territory to begin with, and he still lived with Eli for a time, but nevertheless, it was after this incident that people began to come to him instead of Eli and his sons, more and more throughout the years, to be judged by a prophet rather than the high priest and his sons.  Also, it should be noted that Jephthah and Samson never come to Samuel to inquire about God's Word.  Like Eli and his sons, it seems that both Jephthah and Samson take matters into their own hands, doing whatever they think is right.  The point of these last few chapters of Judges is that when you don't consult with God, seeking His Word and Will for your life, He might still use you to do great things, but there will always be dire consequences for not consulting God.	1040
3056	Jephthah defeats the Ammonites and becomes judge in the north and east for 6 years.  Jepthah sacrifices his own daughter because he made a deal with God.  He declares war on Ephraim and slaughters thousands within their own borders.  Israel is now divided into two.  The north and east are liberated and once more considered Israel, but the south and west is still ruled by the Philistines.  Israel is now split into two.  Jephthah would be the major judge, ruling from Mizpah and ruling all the lands that the Ammonites had once ruled.  Meanwhile, Eli, his sons, and Samuel would be considered the judges, ruling from Shiloh, over the rest of Israel.	Notice how in Judges 10:8 it says that from that year they oppressed Israel for 18 years, but then it goes on to clarify that it is the Ammonites the writer is talking about, oppressing the people on the other side of the Jordan in Gilead.  So it was not that the Ammonites first ruled for 18 years and then the Philistines ruled for 40.  The book of Judges tells the story of Israel's deliverance from the Ammonites first, at the hand of Jephthah, and then it tells of Israel's deliverance from the Philistines at the hands of Samson.  Notice Jepthah's character.  He was obviously a man of war, for Jair's sons, the princes of Gilead, would not have come to him to lead them against the Ammonites if they did not believe that he was a skilled fighter.  So we can see that he was not highlighted as a man of God.  In fact, we see that he was truly not a good follower of God.  He never consulted God, he sacrificed his own daughter, though God never said he had to, he bargained with Jair's sons to gain power, and after all was said and done and he'd sent the Ammonites back to their own lands, kicking them out of Israel's territory, he decided to declare war on the Ephraimites because they didn't help him fight his war.  He even went so far as to slaughter thousands upon thousands of Ephraimites, going through some complicated test every time they would meet someone, just to slaughter those who failed the test and proved they were likely Ephraimites.  That is not what God would have had him do.  Finally, the fact that he only ruled for 6 years as a judge proves that God wanted him out of there as fast as He could.  Like Eli, God rejected Jephthah pretty quickly.	1029
3057	In Dan, Samson finally rises up and kills a 1000 Philistines with a donkey jawbone and delivers Israel from the Philistines.  He becomes judge in the south for 20 years.  This does not mean that the entire land of Israel is liberated at this time.  Instead, it indicates that Samson destroyed the main Philistine army.  This occurred at a place called Lehi which was probably just at the southern borders between the land of Dan and the land of Judah, near to the Gaza Strip.  With the destruction of the main army, Samson then stirs up trouble wherever he goes in Philistine country, and over the course of the next 20 years he weakens the Philistines more and more.	This is suggested by the words in Judges 15 where it says he judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines, as though it was only after he destroyed 3000 of them at the end of his life that their reign finally ended.  At this time Israel is split into 3 major provinces when Samson rises up as judge.  Samson is the main judge in the south and west as he fights, single-handedly (for it is never said that he raises an army) to liberate the people of Dan, Benjamin south of Mizpah, Judah south and west of Hebron and En Gedi and all of Simeon.  So his territory would be all of the lands of the Philistines at that time.  It is likely that he judged wherever he travelled, and he killed Philistines who tried to stop him wherever he went.  Jephthah would then be judge, still, over all the lands he liberated from the Ammonites.  Meanwhile, Eli, his sons, and Samuel still maintain their roles as judges over all of the lands north of Shiloh and west of Jordan.	1028
3062	Jepthah dies.  Ibzan becomes judge in Bethlehem.	Note that Samuel, by this time, would have most certainly begun his small circuit from Ramah, where his mother lived, to Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah.  Eli and his sons likely still controlled, or judged, from Shiloh still up to the northern borders west of the Jordan while Ibzan continued to judge from Bethlehem up to Shiloh and east of the Jordan.  It is at this point that Samuel basically separates himself from the other judges, making his own home in Ramah to be with his family.	1023
3069	Ibzan dies.  In this year, Eli's sons are slain by the Philistines and the Ark is captured and taken into Philistine territory.  Eli also dies at 98 years old.  After seven months the Ark is returned to Beth Shemesh after God curses the Philistines.  There it remains until it is brought to Kirjath Jearim.  Elon, a Zebulunite, becomes judge in place of Ibzan.	Hophni and Phineas went to fight in the west, near Aphek where the main Philistine army was at this time.  This, again, implies that Dan was not liberated from the Philistines at all.  Therefore, although Samson was going around fighting them, he didn't do much in the way of liberating anyone.  When Hophni and Phineas went off to war with the Ark of the Covenant, they were undoubtedly looking to use God's Ark to gain more fame and favor in the eyes of Israel by leading the battle.  However, God forsook them because of their evil ways.  They died and the Ark was taken by the Philistines.  At this time, territory in Israel would have been redistributed since two major judges die in the same year.  Samson would have continued to judge in the south as before, while wandering through the land and killing Philistines.  The remaining territories of Israel seem to become much more difficult to define.  Elon, being a Zebulunite, would naturally take over as judge more in the north taking over a good deal of the northern territory that once belonged most likely to Eli and his sons.  His seat would be in the north in Zebulun.  Since Abdon later takes his place ruling from Pirathon in the land of Ephraim in the mountains of the Amalekites, it is probable that Elon had influence even as far south as central Israel as well, overlapping Samuel's territories.  Samuel, being a true prophet of God, would not have cared about borders, and he would have thus accepted any who came to him seeking God's will.  However, he still likely held influence mostly in the central Israelite lands of Benjamin, Ephraim, northeastern Judah as far as Hebron and En Gedi.	1016
3078	Samson falls into temptation and in his pride is defeated by Delilah and the Philistines.  He is blinded and forced to work as a slave.  Samson gains one final victory, destroying 3000 of the Philistines at their feast and he dies with them.  Samson's body is gathered by his family, and the Israelites, seeking new leadership against the Philistines, turn to Samuel.  They gather at Mizpah and Samuel anoints them, warning them that they need to stop sinning against God and turn their hearts to Him.  Then He will save them from the Philistines.  Hearing about this gathering, the Philistine lords decide to go up to attack the Israelites.  This is likely because they just lost 3,000 at the hands of Samson, and they knew that if the Israelites gathered now in strength they might take back all of their territories.  They needed to strike before the Israelites could fully rally themselves.  Samuel, however, delivers Israel from them and defeats the Philistines, taking back cities long lost to the Philistines.  Thus ends Samson's time as judge and it also ends the 40 years of servitude to the Philistines.  Samuel's territory is increased to everything south of Pirathon.  His seat is still Ramah.	Samson is often viewed as a big, dumb thug, and one of the most unwise people in the Bible.  However, if you truly study Samson's story what you will find is a very clever man who exudes influence and confidence.  He created a riddle no one could guess, convinced the Philistines to give him lots of things if they failed to answer the riddle, he tied foxes tails together and used them as weapons of war, and he judged over the people, giving them wisdom and guidance for their lives for 20 years.  He even toyed with Delilah, tricking her into doing silly things to try to steal his strength away.  However, what most people fail to realize is that Samson's greatest weakness was not women.  His greatest weakness was his pride.  He was too proud to actually seek God.  Therefore, he had no direction in his life.  He wandered aimlessly and for all his deeds he actually accomplished little; as is evident in the fact that Samuel was the one who finally pushed the Philistines back to their own lands.  Samson did whatever he wanted.  He disregarded a lot of God's laws and counsel.  He didn't raise an army or come up with battle plans.  And then, in the end, Samson became overconfident in himself.  You see, he told Delilah that the source of his strength was his hair not because he was stupid but because he no longer believed that God was his strength.  His hair wasn't really his strength.  God was.  He lost his strength because he disrespected his covenant with God.  It was the final insult.  After everything else Samson had done in his life, he was now forsaking the covenant that he had since birth!  Samson never dreamed he would actually lose his strength.  That's why he tried to break the bonds again, just as he had always done before.  Notice that only when he humbled himself to God, in the end, did God give him back his strength, one last time.  He didn't grow his hair back.  He was simply imbued with the super human strength he had had before, for at that point he had learned that God was his true source.  It was his lack of humility, therefore, that was his undoing, not a lack of intelligence nor his love of women.	1007
3079	Elon dies.  Abdon becomes judge in his place.  His seat is in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim in the mountains of the Amalekites.	Notice that Ibzan, Elon and Abdon are listed as judges of Israel, but they are like footnotes in the book of Judges.  Each of them has hardly anything said about them.  Although Tola and Jair had little said about them as well, they at least reigned for more than ten years.  Ibzan, Elon and Abdon's reigns were ten years or less.  This implies that they were doing nothing good for Israel.  Also, after Abdon passes, Samuel is the last and final judge of Israel.  When we see him having to deal with the people of Israel, it is obvious that he is dealing with a stubborn people who are only seeking God because of their fear and their need for a leader.  In fact, it isn't long before these people prove just how unfaithful they are to God when they demand a king.  Instead of turning to God, the people want a king to continue to deliver them from their enemies, thus rejecting God.  This shows that although Samuel was a great prophet and judge, the people were influenced more by the other judges, and those other judges did nothing to turn the hearts of the people to God.  One credit I will give to these men, however, is that they rose up to take the seat of judges.  After Abdon dies, no one rises up to take his place, leaving Samuel with the bulk of the responsibility, all by himself.	1006
3087	Abdon dies, and with his death Samuel becomes the only major judge of all Israel.  Thus, Samuel would have probably placed his sons Joel and Abijah in authority as judges to help him.	Without any other judges to help him, Samuel undoubtedly turned to his sons for help after Abdon finally passes.  As Moses had been overwhelmed during the Exodus, because he was the only judge of the people, so Samuel would have been overwhelmed.  Note that Samuel didn't do anything wrong by appointing his sons as judges.  He didn't know they were going to do evil to the people.  He just wanted some help in managing an entire nation now that Samson was gone and there were no other judges rising up to replace Abdon.	998
3092	Samuel's sons are evil judges.  The people reject God as king and demand a human king.  Saul becomes king.  He delivers Israel from Nahash the Ammonite, for the Ammonites had begun to rise in power again.  Thus Saul gains the respect of all Israel.	When Samuel's sons do evil, it is different from the situation with Eli and his sons.  Samuel is not punished, if you notice, as Eli was.  Therefore, it is obvious that once Samuel learned about what was happening he was either going to do something about it, by removing his sons, or he did already remove his sons.  However, this wasn't good enough for the Israelites.  They were no longer satisfied with having God as their king and judges as their physical representations of God.  This is because they didn't really view the judges as God's physical representations.  They viewed them as rulers.  However, because the judges did not exercise the authority of a king, the people viewed them as weak and without respect.  In other words, the people wanted a king so that all the other nations would know that Israel was a kingdom, just like they were.  They wanted to establish a throne so they could compete with the rest of the world.  God's system was much better.  Because Israel wasn't a kingdom, the other nations didn't view them as a threat.  Wise judges would make good relations with neighboring kingdoms, and Israel would live in peace.  The only reason other nations invaded was because the people stopped building good relations with them.  After the judges would die, no one would rise up to take their place, and the people became wicked, mean and greedy, doing things to their neighboring kingdoms that would incite those kingdoms to attack.  If the people had just done things God's way, Israel would never have been invaded.  All the nations would have viewed them as vassals and friends and allies rather than enemies.	993
3094	Saul attacks a Philistine garrison and taunts the Philistines.  They come up into Israel for revenge.  Saul offers an unholy sacrifice because he is impatient and doesn't wait for Samuel to come.  Samuel declares that Saul's kingdom will not be forever but will be given to a man after God's own heart.  All-out war begins anew between the Philistines and Israel after years of Philistine harassment.  Ishbosheth is born to Saul.	In 1 Samuel 13 we find Saul was not content to just push the Ammonites back.  It is interesting that the same two enemies of Israel that Jephthah and Samuel had liberated them from were now, once more, an issue.  It is proof, yet again, that the hearts of the people were not towards God.  Even Saul's was obviously not centered on God.  After all, Saul was righteous in attacking the Ammonites, for they had invaded again.  Therefore, Saul won the hearts of the people by leading them to defeat this old foe.  But in chapter 13 we now find that Saul actually provokes the Philistines to war again.  God doesn't tell Saul to do this.  Saul just sends Jonathan to attack the Philistine garrison.  This action, therefore, leads to no end of trouble for Israel.  Years of war follow, the incident with Goliath and his brothers occurs, David and his brothers go to war, etc.  In other words, Saul picks a fight, and all Israel suffers for it after that.  Again, this only shows that Saul's heart was on winning the favor of his people and not on winning favor with God.  He was more concerned with gaining honor in the eyes of Israel by defeating their other, mortal enemies, once and for all.  Therefore, if you notice, not only does he fail in ever completely defeating them, but this sin ultimately leads to his and his sons deaths.	991
3104	David, son of Jesse, is born		981
3121	The men of Beth Shemesh are struck with a plague for looking into the Ark.  The Ark comes to Kirjath Jearim and remains there for 20 years.		964
3129	Mephibosheth is born, also known as Merib-Baal in 1 Chronicles.		956
3132	Samuel dies around this time at roughly 100 years old, just a few short years before King Saul's death and David is crowned king.  Just after this time David flees to Philistine country to escape Saul.  David becomes Lord of Ziklag, which King Achish gives to him.  He rules in Ziklag 1 year and 4 months.		953
3134	Saul dies while battling the Philistines.  David, son of Jesse, becomes king in Hebron.  He reigns over Judah in Hebron for seven years and six months.  Ishbosheth becomes king in Gilead.  Ishbosheth reigns for 2 years over the rest of Israel.	One quick note about Saul, David and Solomon.  David was said to be a man after God's own heart.  Why?  Notice Saul's heart compared to David's.  When Saul sinned by disobeying God, it was just like Samson's sin.  However, Samson repented in the end for his sin, and God rewarded him with a final victory.  This is the same heart that David displays.  This is the reason why David was a man after God's own heart.  David wasn't a perfect man, by far, but when he sinned he owned up to it and he accepted God's judgment and punishment, no matter how painful it was.  He did it in a way that he praised God and honored him for punishing David for his sins.  I wonder if maybe Samuel wrote the book of Judges in an effort to try to teach Saul this very lesson, and in particular maybe he told the story of Samson so that Saul could see that Samson had repented and was restored.  After all, Saul was probably alive towards the end of Samson's life, so he probably remembered hearing the stories of Samson's feats.  I also wonder if it was in an effort to try to get Saul to repent so that maybe God would forgive him and reestablish his kingdom or at least to simply bring Saul back from the brink of his insanity.  Samuel, after all, shows that he truly did love Saul.  However, no matter what anyone tries to do, Saul continues to prove over and over again that he is not a man after God's own heart.  He refuses to put down his pride, no matter how deep into depravity he sinks.  No matter what pain he endures, he does not admit he has done wrong.	951
3136	Ishbosheth is murdered.  David becomes king over all Israel.  He reigns in Hebron for five more years before conquering Jerusalem and taking it as his new capital over all Israel.		949
3141	David conquers Jerusalem.  He brings the Ark to Jerusalem from Kirjath Jearim.		944
3174	Solomon becomes king.  David dies at 70 years old.		911
3178	Solomon begins building God's temple.	According to 1 Kings 6:1, there was 480 years between the time that Israel left Egypt until the temple work began.  Therefore, all that happens between 3698 and 3178 is open for some debate as to when they transpired.  However, if you notice, I have outlined during this time why I believe the events occurred on the dates they occurred, give or take a few years here or there.  So the timeline should still be relatively accurate even during this time.	907
3190	Rehoboam is born.		895
3214	Solomon dies.  Rehoboam becomes king in Judah.  Israel is split in two.  In the North, Jeroboam rules as king over most of the northern tribes of Israel, keeping the name Israel.  Meanwhile, Rehoboam only retains Judah and Simeon and portions of a few other tribes.  Mizpah remains part of Judah as a city on its northern border while Israel's southern borders are at Jericho and Gezer.	All this transpires at the beginning of this year.  In this way, the entire year of 3214 is counted in Jeroboam's reign.	871
3218	Shishak, king of Egypt, attacks Judah.	Once more, God was sending a neighboring nation in to invade because the heart of the ruler and his people were not towards God.  As with other kings, Shishak is obviously not his real name.  Some believe that it was actually Shoshenk I and that he invaded around 925 B.C.E.  Since we know our timeline is off within about 100 years of the standard Egyptian timeline, it seems likely that this assumption is correct and that Shoshenk I is Shishak.	867
3231	Rehoboam dies.  Abijah is king.		854
3233	Abijah dies.  Asa is king.	There is great rest throughout the land for 10 years and no war for 35 years.  Asa becomes king at the end of the year, therefore, the first year of his reign begins late this year.  So Jeroboam dies sometime in 3235 before Asa has hit the third year of his reign.	852
3235	Jeroboam dies.  Nadab his son, becomes king of Israel.	All this transpires at the end of this year.  In this way, the entire year is counted in the number of years Jeroboam reigned.  Also, in this way, Nadab dies in the third year of Asa, which is all of 3234, all of 3235 and most of 3236.  In this way, also, Nadab reigns for only part of 3235 and most of 3236, thus only reigning 2 years.	850
3236	Nadab is killed by Baasha who becomes king of Israel, sparking the 2nd Dynasty of Israel.		849
3248	Asa's mother is removed from her position as queen mother because of her wickedness.  Other reforms are made, finally bringing Israel into a time of prosperity and righteousness.		837
3239	Jehoshaphat is born.		846
3259	Baasha dies.  Elah, his son, reigns from Tirzah over Israel.		826
3260	Elah is killed by Zimri who becomes king of Israel for only 7 days.  Zimri burns the palace with himself in it to avoid torture, and civil war breaks out between Omri and Tibni.  Omri begins his rule from Tirzah.		825
3264	Omri kills Tibni and seizes the throne of Israel, starting the 3rd Dynasty of Israel.		821
3265	Omri makes Samaria the capital of Israel.		820
3267	Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, is born.		818
3269	Omri, king of Israel, attacks Asa, sparking another war between Judah and Israel.	In Chronicles, it is said that Baasha is the one who attacks Asa and sparks another war.  However, Baasha, in Kings, clearly dies by 3259.  Also, in Kings, it is said that there is war between Baasha and Asa all the days of their lives.  However, Chronicles points out that Asa had peace in his kingdom until his 36th year when war breaks out between Baasha and him.  Therefore, it only makes sense if Baasha's name became like Pharaoh, representing the kings of Israel.  If this is the case, then it makes sense that Asa, king of Judah, was never at peace completely with the kings of Israel all of the days of his reign.  Although they did not have open warfare until 3269, they never really got along.  Then, in 3269, Omri decides to try to expand his kingdom, which he is known for, and he makes war with Asa in an attempt to reclaim Judah for Israel.  Thus open warfare begins for the remaining years of Asa's life.  It is interesting to note that Omri is actually considered a good king in the eyes of many Jews throughout history.  He did a lot of good things from a secular standpoint for Israel, building up Israel's defenses and building foreign relations with other nations.  However, the reason he is said to be so evil is because of his moral character.  He was very worldly wise and a military tactician, but he cared little for God and for his subjects.	816
3270	Omri is no longer able to rule.  Ahab becomes the unofficial king of Israel, serving as a co-regent for a year until his father dies.	Although there is nothing saying that Ahab began to unofficially rule over Israel on this date, I arrived at this conclusion because 1 Kings 16:29 states that Ahab reigned 22 years in Samaria.  He began his reign in the 38th year of Asa.  This means that he began to rule in 3270 so that he would die in 3291, the 17th year of Jehoshaphat, which is what 1 Kings 22:51 states.  The only way that works out is if Ahab was ruling over Israel for 1 year while his father was still the official king.  And so, the author of 1 Kings included this year as a co-regent because he technically began to rule one year prior.	815
3271	Omri dies.  Ahab, his son, becomes the official king.	When 1 Kings 16:23 states that Omri reigned over Israel for 12 years it is referring to the beginning of his rule in Tirzah.  This means that he began his rule in 3260, according to 1 Kings 16:23, and he died in 3271.  This fits with other accounts that state that Ahab began his reign in the 38th year of Asa, which is 3271.	814
3274	Asa dies.  Jehoshaphat is king.		811
3285	Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, king of Judah, is born.	Jehoshaphat and Ahab had, at one point, become allies and family.  Jehoshaphat married off his son Jehoram to one of Ahab's daughters, Athaliah, one of the most wicked people in Israel's history.  Athaliah gave birth to Ahaziah, Jehoram's heir, but when Ahaziah dies Athaliah tries to kill off all of the heirs of the throne.  Only Joash is saved.  Although Joash is technically of the line of Ahab, since Athaliah is the daughter of Ahab, the prophecy that Ahab would have no sons left is still true, for women did not carry on the line.  Only men did.	800
3289	Ben-Hadad invades Samaria with 32 kings.  War begins between Israel and Syria for 3 years.		796
3290	Jehoram becomes co-regent with his father Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.	The dates of the reigns of the two Jehorams is tricky at best.  The only way they make sense is that the authors of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles were referring to times when the Jehorams were serving in various capacities.  Therefore, when 2 Kings 1:17 says that Joram of Israel became king in Year 2 of Jehoram's reign, it must mean that Jehoram of Judah was co-regent with his father prior to Joram becoming the official king of Israel.  Therefore, since we know that Joram becomes king in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat's reign, we know that Joram becomes official king in 3292.  So Jehoram of Judah must have begun his co-regency at the end of Year 3290 so that we include 3291 and 3292 as the two years of Jehoram of Judah's reign.	795
3291	Ahab dies.  Ahaziah, his son, becomes king.  Moab rebels against Israel for the first time since the reign of Omri.  Joram, also known as Jehoram, son of Ahab, becomes co-regent with his brother and leads Israel to battle against Moab.  He invites Jehoshaphat to join him and together they destroy Moab's armies.	We know that Ahab ruled for 22 years.  This would mean that they must, again, be counting a time when Ahab was co-regent with his father Omri.  This would lead us to the Year 3270 as a date when Ahab was co-regent with his father.  We know that Ahab dies in the 17th year of Jehoshaphat, so this is the only way it makes sense.  Therefore, Ahaziah must become co-regent with his brother Joram in this year, ruling together over Israel.  This would, again, explain how Joram is said to become king in the 2nd year of Jehoram of Judah.	794
3292	Ahaziah dies by falling through a lattice in his upper chamber.  He never recovers and dies per the Word of the Lord delivered by Elijah.  Joram, son of Ahab, takes Ahaziah's place and begins to rule over Israel as the official king.	This begins the official reign of Joram, which make sense with 2 Kings 3:1 which states that Joram becomes king in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat.	793
3296	Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, begins to reign as unofficial king of Judah.	2 Kings 8:16 states that Jehoram of Judah becomes king in the 5th year of Joram of Israel.  However, we know that he already became co-regent back in 3290.  So what could this mean if he doesn't officially become king until Jehoshaphat dies in 3299 after ruling for 25 years?  The only thing it could mean is that Jehoram becomes the unofficial king of Judah at this time.  No doubt, Jehoshaphat was nearing the end of his days.  So Jehoram of Judah was likely gaining more and more power.  He was undoubtedly king in all but name at this point.	789
3299	Jehoshaphat dies.  Jehoram is official king of Judah.	Jehoshaphat finally dies and Jehoram is now officially king of Judah.	786
3303	Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, dies.  Ahaziah is the king of Judah.  Joash, son of Ahaziah, is born.  Jehu ambushes Joram, son of Ahab, and kills him.  Athaliah is queen.  Athaliah orders the execution of all of Ahaziah's children.  Joash is saved by Jehoshabeath, daughter of Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, and also wife of Jehoiada the priest.  Jehu purges Israel of all the evil works of the Omri Dynasty, killing Jezebel and the Baalites and all of the line of Ahab.  Jehu becomes king of Israel beginning the 4th Dynasty of Israel.	Since we know that Joram only ruled for 12 years, the only thing that makes sense with 2 Kings 8:25 and 2 Kings 3:1 is that we start the 12 years of reign when Joram officially takes the throne in 3292.  We must then begin the 8 years of the reign of Jehoram of Judah when he became unofficial king of Judah, in 3296, at the beginning of the year so that we include all of 3296 in the 8 years of his reign.  So Jehoram of Judah dies in the beginning of 3303 and Ahaziah becomes the official king of Judah.  At the end of the year, Joram of Israel invites Ahaziah of Judah to visit, and that's when Jehu attacks.  Jehu kills Joram of Israel and chases Ahaziah across the country.  Ahaziah then also dies this same year, leaving the entire line of Ahab wiped out except of Athaliah and Ahaziah's children.  But then, Athaliah orders the slaughter of all of the children of Ahaziah.  Only because of Jehoshabeath, daughter of Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, is even a single child spared.  So the Word of God given by Elijah is fulfilled that all of the sons of Ahab are wiped out.  Joash, being a descendant from Ahab's daughter, is not considered a son of Ahab, for the lineage was only considered to be passed down by the fathers.  Therefore, Joash was considered of the line of David because he was the son of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat.	782
3310	Athaliah dies.  Joash is king at 7 years of age.  Jehoiada, the priest, assists Joash in ruling Judah.	This takes place at the beginning of the year.  According to 2 Kings 13, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, becomes king in the 23rd year of Joash.  So if you count 3310 as one whole year of Joash's reign, 23 years is 3332.  Therefore, Jehu likely dies at the end of Year 3331 and it takes a few months for Jehoahaz to officially be crowned king.  Therefore, Jehu reigns 28 years, not including 3303 but starting roughly 3304 and ending 3331.  Then Jehoahaz takes over as king at the beginning of 3332, the 23rd year of Joash.	775
3324	Amaziah, son of Joash, is born.		761
3331	Jehu dies.		754
3332	Jehoahaz becomes king of Israel.	See notes for 3310 for more details.	753
3333	Joash, also known as Jehoash of Judah, orders Jehoiada and the other priests to begin repairing the temple.		752
3346	Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, becomes unofficial king of Israel, reigning as co-regent with his father Jehoahaz.	2 Kings 13:10 tells us that Jehoash of Israel begins to reign in the 37th year of Joash of Judah.  Therefore, if Joash began to reign in 3310, at the beginning of the year, thus including all of the year 3310 in the count, then the 37th year of his reign is 3346.  Since Jehoahaz, in verse 1, reigns for 17 years, then we know that his reign officially ends at the end of 3348.  Therefore, the only way it makes sense is if Jehoash of Israel is co-regent from 3346 through 3348.	739
3348	Jehoahaz dies.  Jehoash, his son, becomes the official king of Israel.	Since his reign begins early in 3332 then we count all of 3332 in the 17 years of his reign.  Therefore, he dies and Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz becomes the official king of Israel.	737
3349	Joash is killed by Jozachar, the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer, who conspired against him.  They are his servants, and they murder him in the house of the Millo.  Amaziah, his son, becomes king of Judah.	This occurs at the end of the year.  In that way, Joash rules for a full 40 years.  It is not clear when Obadiah, the prophet, delivers his prophecy against the Edomites, but because 2 Kings 14 and 2 Chronicles 25 say that they were causing issues at this time and Amaziah essentially fulfills the prophecy of Obadiah, it is likely that this is when Obadiah was prophet.  This is the last time Edom is a threat to Israel and Judah, so it is likely that when Amaziah slaughters them that he lays waste to their land making it so that they can no longer rise again, as Obadiah indicates.  The only time Edomites are mentioned after this point is in 2 Kings 16 when they move into Elath after the men of Judah are kicked out of that city by Rezin king of Syria.  It is clear that at this time the Edomites are not a very powerful people.  It almost seems as if they are refugees seeking out a new home.  As with Obadiah, Malachi also seems to have taken place at this time, for he mentions in his prophecy that Edom has been "impoverished", but they say, "we will return and build the desolate places."  Therefore, it is likely that first Obadiah prophesies against them, then Amaziah slaughters them and lays waste to their lands, then Malachi prophesies.	736
3351	Jeroboam II becomes co-regent in Israel with his father Jehoash.  Azariah (Uzziah), son of Amaziah, is born.	2 Kings 15:1 tells us that in the 27th year of Jeroboam's reign, Azariah becomes king of Judah.  Since Amaziah reigns for 29 years, starting in the 2nd year of the reign of Jehoash of Israel, Amaziah must pass away in 3378.  This means that the author of kings must be counting the years Jeroboam II was co-regent so that the 27th year of Jeroboam and the year Azariah takes the throne in Judah coincide with one another.	734
3364	Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, dies.  Jeroboam II, son of Jehoash, becomes official king of Israel.	According to 2 Kings 14:21, this occurs in the 15th year of Amaziah's reign.  This must be the official date that Jeroboam II becomes king after his father, Jehoash, dies.	721
3367	Amaziah makes Azariah co-regent of Judah at the age of 16.  Isaiah, Amos and Hosea become prophets around this time.  Isaiah and Hosea are prophets until the end of Hezekiah's reign.  Amos is only a prophet through the reign of Jeroboam II and Azariah.  Amos and Hosea also prophesy to Israel as well during the reign of Jeroboam II.	According to 2 Kings 15:8, it was the 38th year of Azariah when Zechariah became king of Israel after his father Jeroboam.  Since Jeroboam II reigns for 41 years, according to 2 Kings 14:23, it means that Azariah must have been made co-regent at this time.  Since Jeroboam II's official reign begins in 3364 and Azariah becomes king in 3378, if we count 41 years from 3364 we reach 3405, but if we count 38 years from 3378 we get 3416.  Therefore, these dates don't match up, and the only way to reconcile is if the authors were once again counting the king's time as a co-regent.  Therefore, the only thing that makes everything fit together is that Azariah was 16 years old when he became co-regent with Amaziah and the 52 years of his reign begins in 3367.  Then he becomes official king in 3378 when his father dies.  Then, the 38th year of his reign, from the time he was co-regent, is 3405, when Jeroboam II dies.	718
3378	Amaziah, king of Judah, dies.  Azariah, his son, becomes king.	See notes in Year 3351, 3364 and 3367.	707
3394	Jotham, son of Azariah, is born.		691
3405	Jeroboam II dies.  Zechariah, his son, becomes king of Israel.  He is only king for 6 months before Shallum, son of Jabesh, conspires against him and kills him in front of the people.	This occurs towards the end of the year and it takes another couple of months before Shallum firmly establishes his throne over Israel.  Then he only reigns 1 month which carries him into 3406.	680
3406	Shallum becomes king of Israel.  He only reigns a month before Menahem, the son of Gadi kills him.  Menahem becomes king and begins the 5th Dynasty of Israel.	Menahem kills Shallum at the beginning of 3406.  However, since Pekaniah, his son, doesn't become king until 3417, which is the 50th year of Azariah's rule, it is clear that several months transpire before Menahem's rule is firmly established.  Therefore, it isn't until almost 3407 that Menahem finally becomes king of Israel.  In this way, 10 full years pass from the time Menahem is king and Menahem dies in 3416.	679
3415	Ahaz, son of Jotham, is born.		670
3416	Menahem dies.		669
3417	Pekaniah, Menahem's son, becomes king of Israel.	As with Menahem's reign, Pekaniah obviously takes a bit of time to take over as king.  His father dies at the end of the previous year, and his reign doesn't begin until Azariah's 50th year, which is 3417.	668
3418	Pekaniah is killed by Pekah one of his chief officers.  Pekah becomes king late in the year just after the 52nd year of Azariah begins.  This ends the 5th Dynasty.		667
3419	Azariah dies.  Jotham is king of Judah.  Micah becomes prophet around this time.		666
3426	Ahaz becomes co-regent of Judah with his father Jotham.	2 Kings 17:1 states that Pekah Hoshea becomes king of Israel in the 12th year of Ahaz.  This is only possible if Ahaz was co-regent in 3426.	659
3435	Ahaz becomes king of Judah.  Jotham, however, does not die at this time.  It is unclear when, exactly Jotham dies.	Based on 2 Kings 15, Jotham reigns for 16 years.  However, in verse 30, we find that Elah II becomes king in the 20th year of Jotham.  This makes it clear that although Ahaz is actually king, Jotham is still alive even though he had only reigned 16 years.  It is likely that the reason Jotham gives up his throne to his son Ahaz is because he is too old to deal with the issue of Rezin, king of Aram and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, who marched up to fight against Jerusalem.  Becoming the champion and leader for his people during this crisis, it would make sense that Ahaz's reign would begin here even though his father was still alive.	650
3438	Pekah dies.  Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He attacked and assassinated him, and then succeeded him as king.	Hoshea must have become king on this date because Pekah ruled for 20 years, well past the time Jotham was said to rule.  Therefore, we know that Jotham wasn't a co-regent who ruled for more than 16 years.  He ruled 16 years up until 3435 but lived at least until 3438, his 20th year.  Thus, Pekah and Jotham are kings for pretty much the same amount of time, except that Jotham was a king in name only from 3435 until his death.	647
3440	Hezekiah becomes co-regent of Judah with his father Ahaz.	This is based off of 2 Kings 18:1.	645
3444	Shalmaneser of Assyria invades Israel and begins to conquer it.	Shalmaneser V began his reign in 722 B.C.E. according to standard timelines.  However, as with the Egyptian timelines, the accuracy is in question.  There is a difference of about 80 years between the standard timeline and mine.  Therefore, it doesn't seem far off to me to assume that the standard timeline is off by 80-ish years.	641
3446	Shalmaneser of Assyria seizes Samaria and deports Israelites.  Thus ends the reign of Hoshea and the kings of Israel as Israel becomes subject to Assyria and all future empires that inhabit the lands.  Large portions of Israel become settled by Assyrians who intermingle with the remnant of Israelites becoming the Samaritan people.  Jonah is most likely prophet at this time.	I have placed Jonah's story at this time because Nineveh was a prosperous Assyrian city during this time.  Also, Jonah follows other prophets in the Bible layout who all prophesied at this time.  Also, Jonah clearly hates the Assyrians, particularly those of Nineveh.  Therefore, it makes sense to me that Jonah only hated them because they first invaded Israel and killed their last king and began to even migrate into large portions of Israel, intermingling with the Israelites.  So a lot of prejudices would likely have been stirring up throughout Israel at this time.  It makes sense, then, that Jonah would hate them and try to escape from God's command to try to save this city of his most hated enemies.  I'm sure, as a prophet, his thought was likely that he wanted to speak against Nineveh, even as other prophets were speaking against the people of their enemy's nations at this time.  The last thing he wanted to do was preach salvation.	639
3451	Ahaz dies.  Hezekiah is king.		634
3454	Sennacherib invades Judah.  Nahum is likely a prophet at this time.	This is based off of 2 Kings 18 using 3440 as the beginning of Hezekiah's reign.  Since this entire chapter is written as if all one story it makes sense that they are referring to this date as opposed to the date that he officially becomes king in 3451.  Jonah had given his warning to Nineveh to repent, and they did so.  However, it is clear that Sennacherib invades Judah not long after.  This time, Nineveh has come against Judah, and this has angered God all the more.  It makes sense, then, that Nineveh would receive this new, more vicious prophecy stating that soon Ninevah would be destroyed.  In history, it is said that Sennacherib made Nineveh a truly magnificent city.  However, it was very short-lived.  After the death of Ashurbanipal Nineveh began to fall apart as bitter civil wars between rival claimants to the throne tore the city apart.  This seems to fit very well with the prophecy given by Nahum.  So, as it would seem, Nineveh attacked Israel and took them captive.  In that same year, Jonah prophesies to them and gets them to repent for fear that God will destroy them.  However, only 8 years later, Sennacherib rises to power in Nineveh and he leads them once again to invade God's people and hurt them.  In response, God says through Nahum, "Behold, I am against you."  Basically, for returning to your sins after I gave you a second chance, you're so going down now!  You won't get a third chance.  Just a few years after this, Nineveh becomes exactly what Nahum prophesied it would become.	631
3457	Manasseh is born.	If Manasseh was only 12 when he began to reign over Judah then he must not have been a co-regent at any point.  This means that Hezekiah dies prematurely and Manasseh is forced to become king early in life.  Therefore, we know that in the year Hezekiah dies, Manasseh becomes king and he reigns for 55 years from that date.	628
3469	Hezekiah dies.  Manasseh is king.	See Year 3457 notes.	616
3502	Amon, king of Judah, is born.		583
3518	Josiah is born.		567
3524	Manasseh dies.  Amon is king.	Since Amon only rules for 2 years, we can assume Amon only took over as king after his father died.	561
3526	Amon dies.  Josiah is king.	Since Amon only ruled for 2 years, and because Josiah was only 8, Josiah wouldn't have really had a chance to co-rule with him.  Therefore, we can assume Josiah's reign begins as well when Amon dies.	559
3544	Josiah sends his secretary, Shaphan, to the temple to speak with Hilkiah, the high priest.  The Book of the Law is found and brought forth and read in the presence of Israel.  Josiah begins his religious reforms.		541
3533	Eliakim (Jehoaikim) is born.		552
3534	Jehoahaz is born.		551
3538	Jeremiah begins his ministry as a prophet of God.  It is likely that Habakkuk also begins his ministry.  Zephaniah also is a prophet at this time, though it is unclear when, exactly, Zephaniah and Habakkuk begin their ministries.	This is derived from Jeremiah 25.  He began his career in the 13th year of Josiah.  Habakkuk mentions that God is raising up the Chaldeans to exact his justice.  They will march" through the breadth of the earth."  Therefore, it seems he delivered his prophecy before Nebuchadnezzar invades with enough time so that the nations could repent.	547
3544	Josiah sends his secretary, Shaphan, Maaseiah the ruler of the city, with Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the temple of the Lord his God.  Passover is observed again.		541
3547	Zedekiah is born.		538
3550	Jehoaichin is born.		535
3557	Josiah dies.  He went up to face Necho, king of Egypt, and was slain.  Jehoahaz is king.  He reigns for 3 months.  Necho conquers Judah and takes Jehoahaz captive to Egypt.  Nebuchadnezzar becomes king of Babylon.	Necho means "carrying out the wishes of the heart."  In this case, the Bible provides Necho his proper name as given in history.  It is most likely that this Necho is Necho II.  Since Jehoahaz does evil in the eyes of the Lord and only reigns for three months, it is pretty clear he didn't serve as a co-regent at any point.	528
3558	Eliakim (Jehoaikim), Jehoahaz's brother, is made king of Judah by Necho, and his name is changed to Jehoiakim.	It takes a few months, almost a year, moving the date into 3558, for Jehoiakim to become established as king.  This is the only way that Daniel 1:1 fits with other dates, for it states that in the 3rd year of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar invades and besieges Jerusalem.  So if Jehoiakim became king at the beginning of 3558 then you would count 3558, 3559 and 3560 as the 3rd year of Jehoiakim.	527
3560	Jeremiah writes Jeremiah 25.  Nebuchadnezzar conquers Jerusalem and becomes king over Judah.  Jehoiakim serves him.  1st Exile of Jerusalem to Babylon occurs.  Joel most likely becomes prophet in these days.	Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are taken into captivity.  They are renamed Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego respectively.  They go through three years of training.  This is the 3rd year of Jehoiakim, according to Daniel 1:1.  It is also the 23rd year since Jeremiah began his ministry as a prophet of Judah.  Nebuchadnezzar becomes king over Judah at the end of the year, thus this year is not included in the number of the years of his reign found in most passages of scripture.  As for Joel, based on the book of Joel, it is written as if Jerusalem and the Temple still exist but Judah and Jerusalem and the Temple have all been robbed.  Also, the coming and impending doom of the entire nation is yet to come.  Therefore, it seems that Joel is prophesying of the final destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 3579.	525
3563	Jehoiakim rebels against Nebuchadnezzar.  Raiding bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon come against Jehoiakim to destroy its defenses.  1st Exile according to Jeremiah 52 occurs.	This is the 7th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar since the time he began his reign in Babylon.  This is the 1st captivity recorded in Jeremiah 52.  See notes in Year 3579.	522
3568	Jehoiakim is taken captive to Babylon.  Jehoiachin is king.  He reigns for 3 months and 10 days.  He is taken into exile.  Zedekiah is king.  2nd Exile of Jerusalem to Babylon occurs.  Darius the Great is born in this year according to Daniel 5:31.	This is the 11th year of the reign of Jehoiakim if you count all of 3558 in the count.  This would also be the 8th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar since the time he began his reign in Judah.  Notice how in the passage found in 2 Kings 24:13-16 we find 10 thousand people in total were taken prisoner, 7 thousand were valiant men, and 1 thousand were craftsmen and smiths.  Finally, though it doesn't exactly say this, it leaves 2 thousand who were strong and fit for war.  In Jeremiah 52, however, we don't find nearly this many people being exiled.  Plus the dates in Jeremiah 52 don't match up with the dates for the 3 Exiles of Jerusalem.  Therefore, the conclusion must be that there is a distinction between those who were taken captive in Jeremiah 52 and those taken captive from the rest of the exiles found in Kings and Chronicles.  See notes for Year 3579.	517
3572	Ezekiel becomes a prophet of Judah.	Ezekiel 1:1 states that it is the 5th year of the captivity of Jehoiachin.	513
3574	2nd Exile according to Jeremiah 52 occurs.	This is the 18th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar since the time he began his reign in Babylon.  This is the 2nd captivity recorded in Jeremiah 52.  See notes for Year 3579.	511
3577	Jerusalem besieged by Nebuchadnezzar.	This would be the 9th year of Zedekiah, king of Judah.  This is the 23rd year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar since the time he began his reign in Babylon.	508
3579	Zedekiah's reign ends after 2 years of being besieged by Nebuchadnezzar.  In the fifth month of the year, he is taken into captivity in Babylon and his sons are all killed.  Jerusalem's walls and great houses are burned to the ground and destroyed by Nebuzaradan, the captain of Nebuchadnezzar's army.  Gedaliah is put in charge as governor of Judah.  He is assassinated in the seventh month.  3rd Exile of Jerusalem to Babylon occurs.	This is the 11th year of Zedekiah's reign when Jerusalem is finally destroyed.  The final Exile of Jeremiah 52 occurs in this year.  Since it states that it is the 23rd year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and Nebuzaradan is mentioned in this final deportation, I believe that the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar in verse 30 refers to Nebuchadnezzar's reign in Babylon, not just Judah.  Therefore, Nebuchadnezzar began to reign in 3557 in Babylon and 23 years later he took Jerusalem.  However, it was only 19 years over Judah, which is why in verse 12 it says it was his 19th year.	506
3604	End of Nebuchadnezzar's reign.  Amel-Marduk, his son, becomes king in Babylon.  Jehoiachin is released from captivity and is given a place at Evil-Merodach's table.	Evil-Merodach was not the real name of this king.  As with other kings, the Jews gave him a name that they felt was appropriate.  The name actually means "fool of Merodach" or fool's destruction.  Merodach was another name for Marduk.  He was a primary god in Babylon.  His real name, therefore, is Amel-Marduk, "man of Marduk".  He was the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar II.	481
3606	Amel-Marduk is murdered by Nergal-shar-usur, also known as Nergal-sharezer/Neriglissar.  He becomes king of the Babylonian Empire.	This date is not taken from the Bible but is calculated from other historical references.  I took the number of the years that he supposedly reigned.	479
3610	Nergal-sharezer dies.  Labashi-Marduk, his son, becomes king.  He is murdered this same year and Nabu-na'id, also known as Nabonidus, becomes king of the Babylonian Empire.	Nabu-na'id was the last of the Babylonian kings.  He originated in Harran.  He was not Chaldean.  His son was Belshazzar, and he often left his son to rule as co-regent.  This date is not taken from the Bible but is calculated from other historical references.  I took the number of the years that he supposedly reigned.	475
3630	King Belshazzar throws his feast in Daniel 5 and the "Writing on the Wall" incident occurs.  That same night, the Babylonian Empire falls.  Cyrus the Great rises to power throughout all of the region and conquers Israel and Babylon and orders the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.  Darius the Great becomes king of Babylon ruling under Cyrus the Great.  Sheshbazzar leads the first wave of Israelites returning to Jerusalem.  Zerubbabel is the leader of the second wave.  Many Jews also return to Samaria to find the Samaritans, an intermingled race of people who the Jews no longer considered Jews.  A schism forms between the Jews and the Samaritans.  Daniel is then given the End Times Prophecy found in Daniel 11.	The Samaritans were Israelites who had not been taken away into captivity.  Therefore, many of them began to take spouses from among the people who had conquered them, the Chaldeans/Babylonians.  Since most Israelites despised their rulers, when they returned and found that those who were in Samaria had intermingled with them, and were friendly to them, a fierce prejudice flared up between the Jews and the Samaritans that lasted well beyond Jesus' day.  I arrived at this date because 70 years pass, according to Jeremiah, between the time of the 1st Exile and the time Cyrus gives the order to rebuild Jerusalem.  Also, Daniel lived beyond Jeremiah's prophecy, so he would have known whether 70 years truly had occurred between these two times.  He confirms at one point that he came to understand the meaning of Jeremiah's 70 years, so he must have seen that the prophecy had come to pass, just as Jeremiah had stated.  Also, per Daniel 5:30, Darius the Great, son-in-law of Cyrus, becomes king, taking it away from Belshazzar.  Therefore, it makes sense that although Cyrus was the Emperor, Darius the Great was made king of Babylon.  History, however, does not state that this is the case.  Instead, Herodotus, known as the Father of History, who lived during this time and who put together many historical documents, states that Darius was only a soldier in Cyrus' armies and he served in Egypt for a time.  He does not even mention that Darius started to rule in Babylon at the same time as Cyrus nor does he mention that Darius the Great was 62 when he began to reign in Babylon.  However, though so many give Herodotus a lot of credibility, at the same time historians have found many errors in his records.  Therefore, I personally do not give him a lot of credibility as he has been known to be wrong on a number of occasions.  Therefore, based on the Biblical record, Darius took the throne from Belshazzar the very night that Daniel interpreted the "Writing on the Wall" during Belshazzar's feast.  Therefore, since Belshazzar was the last of the Babylonian kings, and Cyrus became king after this, it only makes sense that Darius was a leading figure in Cyrus' army, being his son-in-law, and he led the attack on Babylon.  After doing so, Cyrus then gave him the throne of Babylon so that he would rule over that region of the Empire.  This also goes along with Daniel 6:28 which states, "So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian" as if both happened at the same time.  There are other times in the Bible that Darius is mentioned.  If you notice, Darius the Great is usually called Darius the Mede.  However, there is a second Darius that the Bible refers to.  This is Darius the Persian or Darius the son of Artaxerxes (Ahasuerus).  Thus, this is the 1st year of the reign of Darius the Great (the Mede).  If Daniel was in his teens, say 13 or 14 when Nebuchadnezzar took him into exile, as the Bible indicates, this would mean he'd be about 83 or 84 at the time of Cyrus and Darius coming to power.  All this, again, just proves that the historians have messed up their timelines throughout history.  If we, as Christians, truly believe that the Bible is 100% accurate, then we should trust the timelines of the Bible and all others are obviously at fault.  This should not be too hard to accept, in truth, since historians are always changing their stories when they find new evidence that leads them to believe something contrary to what they've thought previously.  That is the problem with ancient history.  It is like a puzzle.  One little date or year wrong and the whole thing is changed.  Suddenly you have to piece new things together to make sense.  What you thought was right was completely wrong all because you were missing one piece of the puzzle.  Therefore, I trust the Bible completely, and all other timelines need to fit into the Bible's very accurate and very strictly maintained timeline.	455
3631	Restoration of the Temple begins.	The 2nd year of the reign of Cyrus.  This is likely when Daniel 6 occurs with the incident with Daniel and the lion's den.  According to historians, Darius had some difficulties early on in his reign with individuals threatening his rule.  They did not think that Darius had a right to rule in Babylon.  Therefore, it makes sense that Darius would agree to force all individuals to worship him or be put to death to show a heavy hand against all who might rebel against him.  Because he was afraid of revolt, he wasn't thinking about how his new friend Daniel might be affected by this.  It also makes sense that Darius wasn't the ultimate power, for he was unable to reverse the decree.  Once it went out he could not reverse it or some time go to Cyrus and protest that Darius was not a good king.  He was caught in a trap.  If he reverse the order to have Daniel put in the lion's den then Cyrus might put someone else in his place and Daniel might die anyone because the new ruler of Babylon might not favor Daniel.  So the only thing he could do was ask God to save Daniel.	454
3632	Daniel has his vision of the angelic messenger after fasting for three weeks in prayer.	This is Daniel 10.	453
3638	Cyrus dies.  His son, Cambyses II, also dies.  Bardiya, Cambyses II's brother becomes king for 7 months.  Accounts vary.  Either way, Bardiya dies as well and Darius, son-in-law of Cyrus the Great, becomes king of the entire Medo-Persian Empire.	This date is not taken from the Bible but is calculated from other historical references.  I took the number of the years that he supposedly reigned.  Cambyses II supposedly began his reign after his father's death and reigned 8 years.  However, some sources indicate that his reign began at the same time as his father, thus making him co-regent.  Since Artaxerxes must have begun his reign in 3648 (see notes for Year 3647), having Cambyses II die in the same years as Cyrus fits with the Biblical account.	447
3648	Artaxerxes begins his reign as king in Susa.  Reconstruction of the Temple is put on hold.	This is the Artaxerxes that had Nehemiah start work to rebuild the wall.  See notes for Year 3679.  Reconstruction of the Temple is put on hold at the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus, so it is assumed in this year.  This is found in Ezra 4.  It is not clear when Darius the Great's reign ends.  It is always possible that, since Darius was 62 when he started his reign at the same time as Cyrus, that Darius dies in this year and his son Artaxerxes just takes over all of Medo-Persia.  After all, Darius would now be 80.  Although it is still possible for Darius to be ruling, for Daniel is still alive at this time, some events in Artaxerxes' story imply that he was the Emperor and not just the king of Babylon.  Esther 1:1 states that "this was the Ahasuerus who reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia".  This implies that he didn't just rule Babylon but all of the Empire at that time.  At the very least, even if Darius was still alive, Artaxerxes was obviously ruling most of his land.	437
3650	Queen Vashti is put to death by Artaxerxes.	This occurs in the 3rd year of Artaxerxes (Ahasuerus) according to Esther.	435
3653	Darius, son of Artaxerxes, also called Darius of Persia or Darius the Persian, becomes king of Babylon under his father Artaxerxes, who still remains Emperor of all Medo-Persia at this time.  Daniel is given the prophecy of the 70 weeks.	This occurs in the 1st year of Darius the Persian.  This prophecy is found in Daniel 9.  As Esther points out, Artaxerxes rules from Shushan, which is Susa.  Therefore, it makes sense that Darius of Persia rules from Babylon under Artaxerxes his father.  If you notice in Ezra 7, Artaxerxes writes a letter to Ezra and gives him permission to return again to Jerusalem to complete the rebuilding of the Temple.  Therefore, since Ezra 4:24 states that the rebuilding of the Temple is resumed in the 2nd year of Darius of Persia, it makes sense that Artaxerxes gives Ezra power to return to Jerusalem in the 2nd year of Darius' reign in Babylon.  Since we know that the 7th year of the reign of Artaxerxes is when Esther becomes queen, it also makes sense that Artaxerxes might be a bit keener to help the people of his new wife, giving them permission again to return.	432
3654	Esther becomes queen of the Empire at Susa.  At this time, some of the children of Israel, the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the Nethinim come up to Jerusalem.  They deliver Artaxerxes' letter stating that whatever Ezra commands that it should be done diligently.  Haggai, the prophet, prophesies to the people about completing the reconstruction of the Temple.  This stirs the people up.  Reconstruction of the Temple begins again.	This occurs in the 7th year of Artaxerxes according to Esther and Ezra 7:7.  This occurs in the 2nd year of the reign of Darius the Persian according to Ezra 4:24.  The books of Haggai and Zechariah also occur at this time.	431
3656	Zechariah 7 occurs	This happens in the 4th year of Darius of Persia.	429
3658	The reconstruction of the Temple of Jerusalem is completed.	In the 6th year of the reign of Darius of Persia, son of Artaxerxes.  This also makes sense with the story of Esther.  Haman would have known that Artaxerxes had considered the Jews a pain in the past, thus stopping the rebuilding of the Temple.  Then, with the Temple now completed, Haman could remind Artaxerxes that the Jews were an issue.  He could then easily convince Artaxerxes to allow him to put an end to the troublesome Jews once and for all.  After all, they had better do something about them before they rebuild Jerusalem altogether and have an official power base to strike from.	427
3659	Haman convinces Artaxerxes to allow him to put to death all of the Jews on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month.  Esther approaches Artaxerxes and asks him to spare her and her people.  Artaxerxes has Haman put to death and spares the Jews.	This is a mass genocide.  Haman wanted Artaxerxes to kill all of the Jews everywhere in the kingdom, claiming they were rebellious.  Notice in the story of Esther how Artaxerxes reverses his order and puts Haman to death.  Darius the Great, however, was not able to do this with Daniel.  This, again, implies that Darius was not the ultimate authority at this time.  Cyrus was.  Therefore, Darius could not take back his decree.  Artaxerxes, however, being Emperor, had no such limitation.  Esther approaches him, and he spares the Jews because of her.	426
3667	Nehemiah begins rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.	See the notes for 3679.  If we count 12 years prior to 3679 that is 3667.	418
3679	Nehemiah completes the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.	Nehemiah started work to rebuild the wall in the 20th year of Artaxerxes.  Nehemiah 5:14 states that 12 years passed between the time he began and the time the wall was completed and he became governor of Judah.  Daniel's prophecy in chapter 9 indicates that there would be 7 weeks between the time that Cyrus issues the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the time when Jerusalem is reconstructed.  If each week represents 7 years then that would be 49 years.	406
3680-4079	There are 8 more kings of Medo-Persia after Artaxerxes.  They are all minor kings and are not considered in Biblical prophecies.  Then Alexander the Great conquers the known world, ushering in the time of the Greeks, the Hellenists.  He dies and his generals split the empire between them. Rome then conquers the known world and ushers in the Roman Empire.  This brings an end to the Age of Empires, for Rome is the last of the Empires forged during this time.		407-6