Chronology of the Judges of Israel

BEGINNING of the KINGDOM

The history of the Judges bridges the time from the Exodus to the

Kingdom of Israel, however, when we sum up the rule of the Judges, a problem

arises. Add them all up, plus the times of oppression such as the Midianite

period of seven years, then tack on the forty years in the desert plus the reigns of

Saul and David, and what do we get? 640 years! On face value, that’s about 160

years longer than the figure claimed in the book of Kings – a big difference!

(See 1 Kings 6:1)

There is a reason. The oppressions were regional in nature with the rule

of some Judges taking place in tribal areas not affected by the invasions; they

were ruling elsewhere during the same period. This matter is clarified in the

charts following, and more information may also be found in my published

books.

CHART INDEX

1 INTRODUCTORY NOTES

2 JOURNEY to CANAAN 1450 BC to 1400 BC

3 FROM JOSHUA to OTHNIEL 1400 BC to 1340 BC

4 THE MOABITE OPPRESSION 1340 BC to 1270 BC

5 THE EIGHTY YEAR PEACE 1270 BC to 1210 BC

6 BRONZE AGE COLLAPSE 1210 BC to 1170 BC

7 FATHER of JESSE 1170 BC to 1120 BC

8 THE LATER JUDGES 1120 BC to 1070 BC

9 BEGINNING of the KINGDOM 1070 BC to 1020 BC

AUTHORS PURPOSE

The following charts are a diagrammatic overview of the Judges of Israel.

I have allocated a single A4 size page to timelines spanning about 60 years per

page. At the top of each page is room for one detail diagram plus a limited

amount of text. The timelines show each year, concurrent regional governances,

Sabbaths and major events, together with biblical references. They will be

useful to anyone who wants a very accurate, but visually simple, succession of

timeframes covering Israel’s early historical time periods.

It is not my intent to provide extrabiblical sources or citations here, but

my research information is available. (See references) And, although the text

boxes are brief, a careful examination of the charts themselves will solve the

longstanding difficulties of the Judges chronology. It is my hope that these be

downloaded, printed, and made use of by Bible teachers.

Copyright © 2014 E. C. Gedge (Revised 2018)

EXPLANATION of METHOD

I have built my Judges chronology on three given lengths of time: 480

years to the start of construction on Solomon’s temple, 1 the 300 years quoted by

Jephthah, 2 and the 80year peace between the first eastern invasion by Moab

and the second eastern invasion by Midian. 3

The first step is to establish Solomon’s 4th year as an ‘absolute date.’ I

have a separate paper and a video dealing with this. 4

The next step is to track back to the Exodus per 1 Kings 6:1, then

forward to the settlement of eastJordan in 1405 BC. This date marks the

terminusaquo of Jephthah’s letter to the king of Ammon. When we count

forward 300 years from here, we are able to pinpoint the first year of Jephthah’s

rule to 1105 BC.

When filling the gaps, it becomes obvious that the 80year peace refers to

the eastern and southern tribes and should not be applied to an excessively long

rule of Ehud. Several events are happening in the northern region concurrently,

and when this is taken into account, the 80year peace meshes with Jephthah’s

300 years and other data perfectly. Similarly, the rule of later Judges (except

Samuel) are regional and concurrent as shown in the charts.

Finally, there is the continuous count of Sabbatical years a useful tool

when crosschecking dates that indicate they might be special years. Moses

instructed the Israelites to start counting after entering the land and after

cultivation had begun. 5 The Seder Olam says that this meant when all of the

tribes had received their allotments. 6 I agree with that assessment, because even

the tribes who received their inheritance early, waited until the end before settling

down and working the land. 7 My calculation of Sabbatical years reflects this view.

REFERENCES

1 1 Kings 6:1

2 Judges 11:26

3 Judges 3:30

4 https://www.academia.edu/27691574/Exodus_Date_Refinement

Christian Gedge

5 Leviticus 25:14

6 Seder Olam Section Joshua

7 Joshua 22

https://www.academia.edu/27691574/Exodus_Date_Refinement

Vertical bars represent one year. Red dots indicate Sabbath year. Overlapping bars show dual rule.

CHRONOLOGY of the KINGDOM

Copyright © E. C. GEDGE

"In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came

out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over

Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build

the house of the Lord." (1 Kings 6:1)

It would be fair to say that the key biblical link to ancient times is found

in the above statement. Based on Solomon's 4th year being 964 BC, I locate the

Exodus date on 3rd April 1444 BC. My claim is an adjustment to the usually

quoted date of 1446 BC, and an examination of this refinement may be made

later in these charts during the reigns of Solomon, Rehoboam, Jeroboam and Omni.

When the date is corrected as shown, and the Sabbatical and Jubilee years

are factored in, an extraordinary pattern of 'sevens' come into focus. These

proceed in lockstep throughout the Judges era and, although not always

observed, they confirm key dates in the Judges and Kings chronology.

Since the Sabbaths relate to land, it should not be surprising that the count

began straight after the distribution of the Promised Land to the tribes of Israel.

This is also the opinion of the ancient Jewish Seder Olam, so I have placed the

first Sabbath year Abib 1389 to Abib 1388 BC, based on Caleb (and Judah's)

inheritance being given in the 47th year after the Exodus. (See diagram)

Journey to Canaan




The sabbatical years provide Bible history with an

unexpected bonus at the beginning of the Promised Land.

The length of Joshua's rule, and his date of death is not given

in the Bible, and this has made it difficult to construct a

chronology of the Judges since he was the first judge.

What is known is his final age of 110 and a brief

comment concerning his 'youth' when he began serving

Moses. (Numbers 11:28) Also, he spied out the land with

contemporaries, all of whom died before the land was divided,

except Caleb, who was 85 by then. So, Joshua was probably

the youngest spy, but by how many years is not said.

However, when we study the background of Joshua's final year, it becomes

apparent that he died on a Sabbatical. Moses had left instructions to assemble the

people every 7th year (Deut. 31:1012), and just prior to Joshua's parting we see

such an assembly taking place at Shechem. (Josh. 24) This was his last public

exhortation to all Israel to keep God's law, so the event is clearly defined.

Joshua's age of 110 suggests the general decade (or ‘heptad’) so a precise

year of his death can be deduced by finding the Sabbath year that fits. That year is

1368 BC, and again, it is confirmed by the Seder Olam which states that Joshua

judged for 28 years. This timeline, from the division to 1368 BC agrees.

From Joshua to Othniel



Copyright © E. C. GEDGE The Moabite Oppression

An important distinctive of the Jubilee is how it always began with the sound of the trumpet on the seventh month of the 49th year. (Lev. 25:810) All other years began on the 1st of Abib. (Exodus 12:2) In other words, the 50th year was superimposed over the last half of the 49th year and the first halfyear of the next jubilee cycle.

Are there any examples of such an occasion in the history of the Judges? Yes! When the rule of judges, the times of oppression, and the continuous count of seven is laid down together, a Jubilee year is produced in 1298 BC in the year that Israel was set free from the Moabite oppression.

Please examine the timeline below together with the table of Sabbath 'indicators' and notice these things:

1. Ehud's daring act happened late summer, because Israel's 'tribute' would have come from the harvest. (Jdg. 3:1520)

2. Ehud blew the shofar the Jubilee trumpet at which the Israelites rallied and defeated their foes.

3. The trumpet was blown from “the hill country of Ephraim” to where the people gathered. This location was where special assemblies took place during the early Judges era. (Joshua 8: 3034)

4. The eastern tribes enjoyed a long peace of 80 years indicating repentance and the Lord's favour.Together with the sabbatical count, these factors confirm a 49/50 year and provides 1298 BC as another benchmark to our Judges chronology.

A Sabbath year is indicated when one of the follow ing things happen. The probability is stronger if EXAMPLE SAB. YEAR REFERENCEseveral indicators are present at the same time:

if all Israel is gathered together that year to one place. Joshua 1368 BC Joshua 24:1,25 Deut. 31:1012

if a blowing of the shofar was heard from that location. Ehud 1298 BC Judges 3:27 Lev. 25:89

if the season is late summer when Israel is assembled. Samuel 1074 BC 1 Samuel 7:56

if it is the 7th month of Tishri when Israel is assembled. Solomon 955 BC 1 Kings 8:12

if a public reading of the law is made to all the people. Jeho'phat 871 BC 2 Chron 17:79

if the season did not have the usual summer harvest. Hezekiah 710 BC 2 Kings 19:29

if the ‘day of fasting’ is at the time Israel is assembled. Jehoiakim 605 BC Jeremiah 36:6 Lev. 16:29

if the release of debts/slaves takes place in that year. Zedekiah 591 BC Jer. 34:15 Deut. 15:12

if a notable religious revival followed the public reading. Nehemiah 444 BC Nehemiah 810

if the year is linked to other Sabbaths by multiples of 7. Nehemiah 430 BC Nehemiah 13:1



Copyright © E. C. GEDGE The Eighty Year Peace

The '80year peace' came next, but it is a chronological detail that has been misunderstood. It refers to the period enjoyed by those tribes who were set free from the eastern invader Moab, until the next eastern invasion by Midian. A common mistake is to allocate the entire eighty to Ehud, but when it is spanned to Gideon, the 'jigsaw pieces' slot neatly into place.

Yes, Jabin of Hazor oppressed Naphtali and Zebulun during this 'peace', but it isn't a contradiction. The description, '80year peace', was meant to be understood in its regional context. Then, when Barak and Deborah defeated Jabin, the era of peace was extended to the entire country.

It is worth noting how in Deborah’s victory song she made mention of her predecessor Shamgar being a contemporary of Jael, (Judges 5:6) This confirms our timeline below which overlaps Shamgar with the state of affairs in the north where Jael was living.

It also describes a new situation on the coast. About this time the Sea People were beginning to raid the Mediterranean between Egypt and Israel, disrupting major trade routes. These people were a loose confederation of marauders from Greek island locations who Bible writers simply group together as, ‘Philistines’. An early group, which the Egyptians called, ‘Sherden’, had at least one skirmish with Shamgar, but failed to gain a foothold. The next wave of Sea People would be a branch known as ‘Peleset’ from which the name ‘Philistine’ is derived.



Copyright © E. C. GEDGE Bronze Age Collapse

It might be helpful to view the middle judges against a wider background of the Mediterranean world in throes of collapse. Between 1250 BC and 1150 BC, the great Hittite Empire collapsed; Mycenaean culture (early Greek) vanished, and vast peoplemigrations took place, driven by recurring droughts. Historians call this dark period the 'Bronze Age Collapse.'

Israel's history accords with this scenario, fending off marauding sea peoples from the west and desert peoples from the east. It should not come as a surprise, therefore, that an Egyptian Pharaoh mentions Israel by name on his famous Merneptah stele. It reads:

"Seized is Canaan with every evil, Ashkelon is conquered, Gezer seized, Yenoam is brought to nought, Israel is wasted their crops are not."Merneptah's boast regarding the cities is not recorded in the Bible,

because the places mentioned were Canaanite cities not occupied by Israel, but existing within her tribal boundaries. However, his description concerning Israel's 'crops' is recorded with remarkable detail. An invasion by hordes of scavenging eastern people is vividly described in Judges 6:36.

So, Merneptah was not saying that Egypt did the damage; he was simply observing (with satisfaction) how Israel 's food supply was 'wasted.' With this in mind, please notice, his stele was engraved at the same time that the Bible said Israel's food source had been ruined!




Boaz and Ruth were the parents of Obed who, in turn, was the father of

Jesse. (Ruth 4:1317) Obed was born ten or eleven years after a terrible drought,

during which his grandparents had fled to Moab in search of food. (Ruth 1:14)

Jesse was the father of David, and David was born in the middle of the

11th century BC. Therefore, assuming average lifespans over several

generations, the great drought would have been in the 12th century.

Now, if a famine was bad enough to drive people from their ancestral

land, it might be worth exploring extrabiblical sources to see if such conditions

were prevailing during this period. Indeed they were! By studying fossilized

pollen samples beneath the Sea of Galilee, scientists at Tel Aviv University

noticed a succession of severe droughts from the time when the Bronze Age

began collapsing. Oaks, pines, carobs and olives began to be replaced by desert

vegetation species, indicating that horticulture was suffering serious climate

change. These changes set off population migrations as explained previously.

The research found the worst years to be in the middle of the 12th

century BC and that is where the Bible places the drought recorded in the book

of Ruth. Biblical accounts such as these fit comfortably with known history and

this is another example of the accuracy of the Judges era.

Father of Jesse



Copyright © E. C. GEDGE The Later Judges

Perhaps the best examples of overlapping leaders and timelines come from the

record of the later Judges. In 1122 BC the Ammonites invaded Gilead (the eastern

tribes) and in the same year the Philistines began to push from the west. (Jdg. 10:68)

The Ammonites ruled for eighteen years, and by 1113 BC the Philistines had taken

control of large swathes of Dan and Judah. They ruled for forty years. (Judges. 13:1)

This left a thin strip of hill country where Eli operated tenuously as a judge at

Shiloh. Then Jephthah was bought from Tob to deliver the people of Gilead. His

letter of defence is a vital key to the chronology of the Judges. In writing his

argument to the invading king, Jephthah said:

"For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding

settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn’t you retake them during

that time?" (Judges 11:26)

Sure enough, the deliverance from Ammon in 1105 BC was 300 years after

Israel had settled the eastern territories in 1405 BC. Moreover, it confirms the

overarching span of 480 years given in 1 Kings 6:1, as well as fitting with the details

inbetween.

After Jephthah's death, Ibzan judged from Bethlehem, and Samson from

occupied Zorah. These men were contemporaries, as were Elon, Abnon and Samuel

whose time to lead came as shown.



Copyright © E. C. GEDGE Beginning of the Kingdom

The start of Samuel's judgeship at the battle of Mizpah is fixed at 1074 BC as explained in the previous

chart. Likewise, the coronation of David in 1008 BC is fixed by a systematic count of Kings going back from the

fall of Jerusalem. (These are shown in the following charts.) However, Samuel's length of rule is not mentioned

anywhere, and Saul's details are obscure in the Torah. We have to go to the New Testament to find his 40 years

(Acts 13:21) then we allocate the difference to Samuel.

It is my view that the comment in Acts refers to the royal span of Saul's 'house' including the 71/2 years of

allegiance to his family up to when all the tribes accepted David as their king. Thus, Saul's personal reign would

have been 321/2 years but his dynastic 'house' was forty.

Our bigger problem comes from the awkward language of 1 Samuel 13:1 which literally says, “Saul

reigned as a son one year, and reigned two years in Israel.” Two years? Translators usually propose that a

preceding number was 'lost' through copyist errors and they insert their best guess. ([thirty] two, or [forty] two)

However, such assumptions are unnecessary.

What it more likely means is that he reigned one year as an untested 'son' under tutelage to Samuel, and

then he earned his full respect when he liberated the city of Jabesh. At that stage his kingdom was confirmed (1

Sam. 11:14) and he reigned another two years as King in his own right. However, at the end of three years Saul

failed the test, and Samuel said:

"But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the

Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people.” (1 Sam. 13:14)

In that very same year, 1038 BC, David was born! Therefore, the "3 years" of Saul were those years he was

recognised as God's king, and the earthly tenure beyond his rejection was no longer recorded in Samuel's book.

Thank you for using my Bible timelines of the Judges of Israel.

Samuel was the last judge, but his date of death is unknown.

Also, the chronology of King Saul's reign has been obscured by

some translations. However, an unexpected surprise awaits

those who find a timelink between the Judges and the Kings of

Israel.

Please read my book, 'The Atonement Clock.'

Sincerely,

Christian Gedge

Get 'The Atonement Clock'

Astonishing new research!

Precision dating

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Chronology of the Judges of Israel

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