Volume 12, Number 1, July-August 2008
Books Worth a Look
by Bill Buckman
The Chronology of the Old Testament
By Floyd Nolen Jones, Th.D., Ph.D., Master
Books © 1993-2004 by the author, 15th edition
This reviewer realizes that Bible chronology may not
be everyone’s favorite subject. This book was not chosen because of its
particular chronology, but because of the author’s approach to the subject. The
chronology may or may not be precisely accurate, however this reviewer believes
it is very close, at least down to the Babylonian captivity.
Dr. Jones considers virtually every issue of Bible chronology from creation to the crucifixion. He points out the inaccuracies of Septuagint chronology, which has Methuselah surviving the flood by 14 years! (p. 11). (The chronology in most Bible translations accurately shows that Methuselah died in the year of the flood.)
In recent decades a number of Old Testament
histories and chronologies have been written. Many of them rely to a great
extent upon the work of one man, Edwin R. Thiele. Thiele’s book, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings,
(in several editions) has been the standard for Old Testament chronologies for
many years for many writers, including many Bible believers. The problem is
that in some cases Thiele totally rejects the Scriptural account! In particular
he rejects the Scriptural statement in 2 Kings 18:9-10 that Hezekiah was ruling
Dr. Floyd Jones takes issue with Thiele and
those who follow him, whom he refers to as the “
Jones deals quite extensively with the Assyrian
Eponym List in which the king’s or some prominent official’s name was given to
each year. This is used as the basis for several hundred years of Assyrian
chronology. Jones points out that “Eleven or so such lists are extant, though
only four are usually referred to in the literature. None is complete, each is
broken in places, and all but one of the four is very short. From these
fragments a composite has been constructed.” This Eponym List is supposedly
anchored to the BC time scale by the mention of a solar eclipse in the eponymy
of a certain Bur-Sagale. This has been dated to 763 BC, on the Julian-Gregorian
calendar. Jones reminds us that “the famous eclipse of Thales mentioned by
Herodotus has been awarded five different dates ranging from 607 to 585
BC by different astronomers.” (p. 113) “Moreover, the
Jones goes on to show many specific examples of
inconsistencies and incompleteness in the Eponym List as well as in other
Assyrian records. The author personally examined hundreds of these ancient
secular texts and found “the vast majority of the relevant data” to be in an
“overall marred condition”, while in translations there was an “extensive
amount of unsubstantiated filling in of words, names, phrases, clauses, etc…”
“The undeniable reality is that the history of
In chastising both Catholic and Protestant scholars, the author makes a most interesting comment. “It is an incontestable natural consequence that whenever and wherever the authority of Scripture is diminished in the minds of a people, the power of a priesthood of men is proportionally increased.” Dr. Jones clear position is that “it is the continuous uninterrupted flowing Hebrew history that should be utilized in amending and interpreting the often fragmented discontinuous records of the kingdoms contiguous to those people—not the reverse, as is the custom in this day.”
Those of you who may be into Bible chronology will likely find this work to be fascinating, as this reviewer has. It is very thorough and well documented. It contains a lot of information not easily accessible elsewhere, including the complete Assyrian Eponym List. There are numerous charts and timelines, 14 appendices, bibliography and index. At the back of the book is the author’s chronology chart from 981 to 320 BC. Included is a CD of all the chronology charts. Information on ordering printed sets of these charts is on page 325.
Again this book was chosen for review because the author uses the Bible as his “knowledge filter”, and because it deals with an important present day scholarship issue. &