Where God Dwells
Exod 25:8 (KJV)in the third month(Exod 19:1), the LORD says:
let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them(Exod 25:8)
called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and given him Aholiab (Exod 31:2, 6);
Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished(Exod 39:32)
there I will meet with thee1
Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood(Exod 37:1);
I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony(Exod 25:22)
in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up(Exod 40:17);
the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle(Exod 40:34)
the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground(Josh 3:17);
the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month(Josh 4:19)
the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there(Josh 18:1)
the ark of God was taken(1 Sam 4:11);
The glory is departed from Israel(1 Sam 4:22)
fetched up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill(1 Sam 7:1);
the time was long; for it was twenty years(1 Sam 7:2); when David says
let us bring again the ark of our God to us, he adds that Israel had not inquired at it in the days of Saul (1 Chr 13:3)
the house of God3
all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh(Judg 18:31); Eli the priest
sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord(1 Sam 1:9), where
the ark of God was(1 Sam 3:3)
to Nob to Ahimelech the priest, who says:
there is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread(1 Sam 21:1, 4);
there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the Lord(1 Sam 21:6)
brought up the ark of Godfrom the house of Obededom
into the city of David with gladness(2 Sam 6:12); they
set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it(2 Sam 6:17)
Shalt thou build me an house2
in an house of cedarwhile
the ark of God dwelleth within curtains(2 Sam 7:2); the LORD says he has
not dwelt in any housesince the Exodus,
but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle(2 Sam 7:6), and that David's seed
shall build an house for my name(2 Sam 7:13)
This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel(1 Chr 22:1); it was
mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite(2 Chr 3:1)
He shall build an house for my name(1 Chr 22:10); he gives him
the pattern of the porchand of the rest (1 Chr 28:11), and says:
the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern(1 Chr 28:19)
the tabernacle of the Lord in the high place that was at Gibeon(1 Chr 16:39); there was
the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wildernesswhen Solomon sacrificed (2 Chr 1:3)
in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord(1 Kgs 6:1)
in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof;
So was he seven years in building it(1 Kgs 6:38)
they brought up the ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle(1 Kgs 8:4); the priests
brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place(1 Kgs 8:6)
the cloud filled the house of the Lord(1 Kgs 8:10), and Solomon says:
I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever(1 Kgs 8:13); the feast lasts
seven days and seven days, even fourteen days(1 Kgs 8:65)
will God indeed dwell on the earth4
will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?(1 Kgs 8:27)
I have hallowed this house4
I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually(1 Kgs 9:3); if Israel forsakes him,
this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight(1 Kgs 9:7)
in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem: And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord(1 Kgs 14:25–26)
in the three and twentieth year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house(2 Kgs 12:6); Jehoiada
took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altarfor the money (2 Kgs 12:9)
an altar that was at Damascus(2 Kgs 16:10) and has Urijah the priest build one like it; he puts
the brasen altar, which was before the Lordon the north side of it (2 Kgs 16:14) and
shut up the doors of the house of the Lord(2 Chr 28:24)
He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord(2 Chr 29:3); the priests
sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end(2 Chr 29:17)
he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put my name(2 Kgs 21:4);
he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God(2 Chr 33:7)
Put the holy ark in the house910
Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build(2 Chr 35:3), in
the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah(2 Chr 35:19)
in the eighteenth year of king Josiahthe king sends Shaphan to the house of the LORD (2 Kgs 22:3); Hilkiah says:
I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord(2 Kgs 22:8)
like Shiloh14
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakimthe LORD sends Jeremiah to
the court of the Lord's house:
Then will I make this house like Shiloh(Jer 26:1–2, 6)
carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lordand
cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord(2 Kgs 24:13)
the visions of God(Ezek 8:3):
the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house(Ezek 10:18) and
went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city(Ezek 11:23)
he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem(2 Kgs 25:9); the Chaldees
break in piecesthe pillars and the brasen sea (2 Kgs 25:13)
In the five and twentieth year of our captivity(Ezek 40:1), in the vision of the new house,
the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east(Ezek 43:4)
the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah(Ezra 1:2)
builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God(Ezra 3:2)
in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month(Ezra 3:8),
the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid(Ezra 3:11), and the ancient men
wept with a loud voice(Ezra 3:12)
unto the second year of the reign of Darius(Ezra 4:24)
Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?(Hag 1:4)
the glory of this latter house21
The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts(Hag 2:9)
this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king(Ezra 6:15)
kept the dedication of this house of God with joy(Ezra 6:16); the day is not given, but it follows the finishing on 12 March. 14th of the 1st month (21 April 515): they
kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month(Ezra 6:19)
wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?(Luke 2:49)
make not my Father's house an house of merchandise(John 2:16);
Forty and six years was this temple in building(John 2:20); Jesus:
Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up, but
he spake of the temple of his body(John 2:19, 21)
My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves(Matt 21:13)
the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom(Matt 27:51); Hebrews calls the way into the holiest
through the veil, that is to say, his flesh(Heb 10:20)
continuing daily with one accord in the temple(Acts 2:46); Peter and John
went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour(Acts 3:1)
dwelleth not in temples33
this holy place(Acts 6:13):
Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands(Acts 7:48)
dwelleth not in temples34
that made the world and all things therein,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands(Acts 17:24)
ye are the temple of God35
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?(1 Cor 3:16);
your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost(1 Cor 6:19)
the temple of the living God35
ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them(2 Cor 6:16)
an habitation of God36
an holy temple in the Lord:
ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit(Eph 2:21–22)
a spiritual house37
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood(1 Pet 2:5)
more perfect tabernacle37
a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man(Heb 8:2); he came by
a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands(Heb 9:11)
There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down(Matt 24:2)
Dated lines on the chart
Temple begun4 — 967 BC (1 Kgs 6:1)
Temple burned5 — Aug 586 BC (2 Kgs 25:8–9)
Second Temple finished — 12 Mar 515 BC (Ezra 6:15)
Temple destroyed — AD 70 (Luke 21:5–6)
How the dates were worked out
Dates follow the series' System A: the Exodus in 1446 BC, the Temple begun in 967 BC (1 Kgs 6:1) and the crucifixion in AD 33. Scripture dates the Tabernacle by the Exodus (Exod 40:17; Num 1:1), the Temple by Solomon's reign and by the Exodus (1 Kgs 6:1), the later events by the years of the kings, and the second Temple by the years of the Persian kings (Ezra 6:15). Between Joshua and Saul the Bible gives lengths of time but no dates that tie them to the calendar: the capture of the ark is drawn as a range from the crossing of the Jordan to the start of Saul's reign, and the dates for Saul and David are those Rodger Young calls conjectural. The axis is drawn to different scales (each change is marked), the long centuries before David being squeezed. Dates with a month or a day come from the sources named in the notes. 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
1Scripture gives no BC year. 1446 BC comes from 1 Kgs 6:1; Ussher has 1491 BC, and many scholars put the Exodus c. 1260 BC. Scripture’s own counts do not change.
2Young’s Table 2 puts Saul at 1051–1009 BC and David at 1009–969 BC and calls both sets of dates conjectural. David took Jerusalem about 1001, after 7½ years at Hebron.
3No verse dates the ark’s capture. It came in Eli’s last days (1 Sam 4:17–18), before Saul (1 Sam 8–10), so the chart gives the range from the crossing of the Jordan (1406) to Saul’s start (about 1051).
4The Temple was begun in 967 BC (Zif), finished seven years later (Bul), and dedicated at the feast of Ethanim, in 960 or 959 BC; the LORD’s second appearance came when the two houses were finished, about twenty years after the start (c. 947).
5Jerusalem fell in summer 586 if Zedekiah's years run from autumn after an accession year (Thiele, Horn); Albright (spring years) and Young (no accession year) have 587.
6The tent was still in use at Gibeon in Solomon’s first years (2 Chr 1:3); 1 Kgs 8:4 says the tabernacle of the congregation
was brought up with the ark, usually read as that tent.
7No verse dates Shiloh. Caleb is fourscore and five years old
forty-five years after the word spoken at Kadesh in the second year, about 1400 BC (Josh 14:10); the assembly at Shiloh (Josh 18:1) comes later in the book.
8Joshua gives no year number. The crossing follows Moses’s death, after month 11 of year 40 (Deut 1:3), so the first month
(Josh 4:19) is the first month of year 41.
9Josiah’s 18th year (2 Kgs 22:3) runs from Tishri 623 to Tishri 622 in Young’s table, and the Passover of that year (2 Chr 35:19) fell in Nisan 622.
10After this verse the books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther name the ark no more; Jeremiah foretells that they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord
(Jer 3:16).
11Rehoboam’s fifth year is the year from Tishri 927 BC in Young’s table.
12Counted from Young’s official start in Tishri 836 (non-accession counting), Jehoash’s 23rd year begins in Tishri 814 (2 Kgs 12:6).
13Young’s Table 2 starts Hezekiah’s sole reign at 716t (715n by Nisan years), so the first month
of his first year
(2 Chr 29:3) is Nisan 715 or Nisan 714, depending on whether that year is counted from his accession or from the next Tishri (Young counts his 29 years with an accession year, which gives Nisan 714). The chart takes it as the first year of his sole reign, after Ahaz had shut up the doors of the house of the Lord
(2 Chr 28:24).
14Young’s table dates Jehoiakim’s reign from Tishri 609, so the beginning of the reign
(Jer 26:1) falls in 609 or 608.
15The Chronicle dates the capture to Nebuchadnezzar's 7th year; 2 Kgs 24:12 says his eighth year
— Judah counted his years from autumn 605 (Horn).
162 Kgs 25:8 gives the 7th day of the 5th month, Jer 52:12 the 10th day (14 and 17 Aug 586 in Horn's figures).
17Ezekiel counts years from king Jehoiachin's captivity
(597). His call fell in July 593 — 1 July in the 1942 tables, 31 July as Zimmerli cites them.
18Cyrus' first year
(Ezra 1:1, Cyrus king of Persia
) as king of Babylon began, by the Babylonian count, 1 Nisan = 24 March 538 BC (Julian); he had taken Babylon in October 539.
19Cyrus' first year began in spring 538 (by the Babylonian count). Ezra 3 dates the altar by month only (the seventh) and the foundation by the second year of their coming
(the second month), with no BC year, so they fall in 538 or 537 and in 537 or 536.
20Ezra 4:6–23 jumps ahead to an accusation under Ahasuerus (usually identified with Xerxes) and letters under Artaxerxes about the city walls; 4:24 returns to the temple under Darius.
21Julian-calendar dates are read from Parker & Dubberstein's Babylonian tables; a few may be a day out, and Jerusalem's month could begin a day before Babylon's.
223 Adar of Darius' 6th year = 12 March 515 (Parker & Dubberstein). His 6th year began in spring 516, but its 12th month fell in 515.
23First 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.
24The 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).
25Josephus 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.
26There is no year 0. Born 6, 5 or 4 BC, he was twelve in AD 7, 8 or 9 (from 5 BC to AD 8 is twelve years).
27John tells of a cleansing at the first Passover (John 2:13–22); the others at the last (Mark 11:15–17). Robertson counts two; many take them for one incident.
28Forty and six years
(John 2:20) from Herod's start, 20/19 BC, gives AD 27/28 (fits an AD 30 cross); from the shrine's completion, a year and six months later by Josephus (about 18/17 BC), AD 29/30.
29Josephus says that the whole Temple was finished only under the procurator Albinus, c. AD 62–64 (Ant. 20.9.7).
30Josephus: the war began in AD 66 (Nero's 12th year); the Temple was burned on the 10th of the month Lous (Ab), AD 70 — as Jesus foretold (Luke 21:6).
31Revelation, which this chart does not date, ends with no temple: I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it
(Rev 21:22), and the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them
(Rev 21:3).
32Acts 3–8 gives no years. These events fall between Pentecost (AD 33) and Saul's conversion (c. AD 34–35); their spacing on the chart is estimated.
33Acts does not date Stephen's death; it came before Saul's conversion (Acts 8:1; 22:20). The chart’s own estimate with System A is c. AD 34; with AD 30, c. AD 31–34.
34Acts does not number Paul's journeys or give their years. The years are worked out from the Gallio anchor and Acts' time words; charts differ by a year or two.
35Paul wrote to Corinth at least three times: an earlier letter (1 Cor 5:9), 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. Many scholars add a fourth, the letter written with many tears
(2 Cor 2:4).
36Written in bonds
(Eph 6:20; Col 4:3). Tradition and many scholars place these letters in Rome (c. AD 60–62); others in Caesarea (c. 57–59) or a possible imprisonment at Ephesus (c. 53–55).
37Hebrews and 1 Peter name no date. Hebrews speaks as if priests still offer (Heb 8:4; 10:1–2), which fits a date before AD 70; others date it AD 80–95. 1 Peter was sent from "Babylon", taken to mean Rome.
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.
Scripture quotations: King James Version (KJV)