Between the Testaments

How the dates were worked out

The Old Testament history stops with Nehemiah and the New Testament narrative begins only in the days of Herod (Luke 1:5; Matt 2:1), so the Bible tells almost nothing of these centuries (Daniel 11 speaks of some of them, and John 10:22 mentions the Feast of Dedication). The dates therefore come from ancient historians (Josephus, Arrian, Polybius, Livy, Diodorus, Strabo, Cassius Dio), from 1 and 2 Maccabees and from the Elephantine papyri, with the Persian kings’ reigns dated from Babylonian tablets and Ptolemy’s Canon (Parker & Dubberstein). 1 Maccabees counts years of the Seleucid Era, which began in autumn 312 BC (Macedonian reckoning) or in spring 311 BC (Babylonian reckoning); the two counts differ by one year for part of every year, so both are given where it matters. A Jewish month converted to a Julian date can be a month out, so days are shown only where a source states them and otherwise the month or the year. Josephus counts Herod’s years from 40 BC (named king by Rome) or from 37 BC (Jerusalem taken). Dates of books such as Malachi, Sirach and the Maccabees are scholars’ estimates. One chronology for the whole series: the Bible's own numbers with the main ancient records. "c." = about; a range (e.g. 6–4 BC) = some time in that range.

Notes

1First Maccabees (1:54) dates the abomination to 15 Chislev, SE 145: Dec 167 BC counting the era from spring 311, Dec 168 BC from autumn 312. Most scholars take 167.

2Traditional scholars date Daniel to the 6th century BC, critical scholars to c. 167–164 BC; on either view Dan 8 and 11 match Alexander, his successors and Antiochus IV.

3Josephus: Herod died after a lunar eclipse, before a Passover, in his 34th year from 37 BC or 37th from 40 BC (part-years count) — 4 BC (eclipse 13 March). Some say 1 BC.

4Josephus puts the Gerizim temple in Alexander's reign (c. 332 BC); Magen's excavations indicate a Persian-period sanctuary there already in the 5th century BC.

5Scholars debate whether the high priest praised in Sirach 50:1 is Simon I the Just (c. 300–270 BC) or Simon II (c. 219–196 BC), in office when Antiochus III took Judea.

6Heliodorus's attempt on the Temple treasury is known only from 2 Macc 3 (under Seleucus IV, 187–175 BC), which gives no year; the date is an estimate.

7The rededication was on 25 Chislev SE 148 (1 Macc 4:52): Dec 165 BC counting the era from autumn 312, Dec 164 BC from spring 311 (the usual date).

8Josephus puts Hyrcanus’s conquests (Medaba, Shechem, Gerizim) just after 129 BC; coins found on Mount Gerizim date the temple’s destruction to about 110 BC.

9Josephus dates the start of the Temple rebuilding to Herod's 18th year (Ant. 15.11.1: 20/19 BC) or his 15th (War 1.21.1); John 2:20 says it had been 46 years in building.

10Josephus recounts Alexander meeting the high priest Jaddua at Jerusalem (Ant. 11.8.4–5); Arrian and Curtius, who describe his march from Tyre to Gaza, record no visit.

11Ptolemy I seized Jerusalem on a Sabbath (Ant. 12.1.1); scholars debate whether in his first Syrian campaign (c. 320 BC), after Gaza (312 BC) or after Ipsus (301 BC).

12Josephus (Ant. 13.11.1) makes Aristobulus I the first Hasmonean king, Strabo (16.2.40) Alexander Jannaeus; Josephus's 481 years from the return are about 47 too many.

13Most modern historians date the battle of Panium to 200 BC (Polybius 16.18 names the battle but gives no year); some place the capitulation of Scopas at Sidon in 198 BC.

14The Treaty of Apamea (188 BC) made Antiochus III give up Asia Minor west of the Taurus, pay 12,000 talents in 12 years (15,000 in the first terms) and give 20 hostages.

151 Macc 6:16 puts Antiochus IV’s death in SE 149: Oct 164–Sep 163 BC by the autumn-312 count, 163/162 BC by the spring-311 count; the usual date is late 164 BC.

16Josephus (Ant. 14.4.3) and Strabo (16.2.40) say Pompey took Jerusalem on a day of fasting; Cassius Dio (37.16) says on the day of Saturn (a Sabbath).

17Scholars date Malachi between about 500 and 430 BC: some in the time of Nehemiah's second term (Neh 13), others earlier, soon after the Temple was rebuilt.

18The Letter of Aristeas puts the Torah's translation under Ptolemy II (285–246 BC); the other books were translated gradually over the next two centuries.

19Scholars date the oldest parts of 1 Enoch to the 3rd–2nd century BC (manuscripts c. 200–150 BC) and Jubilees to c. 170–140 BC; both are Jewish books outside the Bible.

20The Greek prologue says its translator came to Egypt in the 38th year of Euergetes (Ptolemy VIII, counting from 170 BC): 133/132 BC; the translation followed.

Key

dashed = reconstructed date (scholars differ). Certainty: A Stated in Scripture · B Worked out from Scripture · C Ancient record or astronomy · D Scholarly reconstruction · E Tradition / uncertain — scholars differ.