I'm reading Matt Perman's book [What's Best Next](http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Best-Next-Gospel-Transforms-ebook/dp/B006FP4PVY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1394128758&sr=1-1&keywords=perman+what%27s+best+next) and found this interesting: >5. Knowing how to get things done enables us to fulfill God’s call to make plans for the good of others. This is one of the most exciting reasons to me. The biblical call on our lives is not to do good randomly and haphazardly. Rather, God calls us to be proactive in doing good — even to the point of making plans for the good of others. For example, Isaiah 32: 8 says that “he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.” We often think of doing good simply as something we are to do when it crosses our path. But Isaiah shows us that we are also to take initiative to conceive, plan, and then execute endeavors for the good of others and the world. (And this requires, of course, actually knowing how to plan and actually make our plans happen!) >Perman, Matthew Aaron (2014-03-04). What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done (p. 23). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. In reading through Isaiah 32, there seems to be a kingdom of righteousness being described that sounds really good - but then it is almost immediately followed by a warning of destruction. Not really knowing Isaiah as well as I should, I'm trying to understand the context from which Perman is making this leap. Is this inference from Perman (that we should be actively planning noble things) directly drawn from the prophetic nature of what Isaiah is preaching here, or is there an eisegesis that is required to make the point?

I was looking into the accounts of Jesus' birth both in Matthew and Luke and tried to make something of a chronology of the events on a piece of paper so that I can get it clear in my head. The thing that I came to notice is that there could be a large time gap in between Luke 2:38 and Luke 2:39... Now if we read the 2 accounts carefully we will understand that the wise men came to Jerusalem (The city of the King), expecting to find the newborn King there. However, Herod, consulting the scholars of the day sent them to Bethlehem (as it has been prophesied) (Mat. 2:1-6). Now, we are not actually told that they actually went to Bethlehem as the star appeared and guided them again. However, certainly that is the assumption of most people. Later we read (Mat. 2:16-18) that Herod went about killing all the male children aged 2 years or less, based on the information he had acquired from the wise men, concerning the time that the star appeared (Mat. 2:7). So it is safe to say that the wise men came to Jesus anytime before He was 2 years of age. However, what makes it more interesting is that it is written that after the wise men left, Joseph was told in a dream to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus. Knowing this, we look back into the account by Luke and see that they went into the Temple in Jerusalem, for the cleansing of Mary (Luke 2:22) as it is written in the Law (Lev. 12:3-8)... According to this passage for a male child this is done 33 days after (birth?). Which would mean that they visited the temple before the wise men came to them? And then returned to Bethlehem where the wise men came (even though Lk. 2:39 says they went back to Nazareth - assuming there is a gap and this speaks after their return from Egypt.) **OR** they went back to Nazareth straight after the cleansing in the temple (approx. a little over a month after the birth), meaning that even though the wise men were sent to Bethlehem by Herod, the star guided them to Nazareth..? **So, my question:** Now, more than one question arise from the comments above, however my main question is: According to my observations, is it safe to say that Jesus went to Jerusalem and into the Temple before the wise men got there? Are there other places in Scripture that confirm this or is there perhaps a flaw in my logic?

Relative to research I'm doing, I wanted to pick the brains of the community at large and see if anyone had an answer to a question. Josephus states that Pompey took Jerusalem in the third month (Sivan) of 63 BCE during the solemn fast. He then later states that Herod captured Jerusalem in the third month, on the same day, also on the solemn fast, in 37 BCE. >**Taken by Pompey:** [...] the city was taken on the third month, on the day of the fast, upon the hundred and seventy-ninth olympiad, when Caius Antonius and Marcus Tullius Cicero were consuls [...]. (Joseph. *AJ* 14.66) >**Taken by Herod:** This destruction befell the city of Jerusalem when Marcus Agrippa and Caninius Gallus were consuls at Rome, on the hundred and eighty-fifth olympiad, on the third month, on the solemnity of the fast, as if a periodical revolution of calamities had returned since that which befell the Jews under Pompey; for the Jews were taken by him on the same day [...]. (Joseph. *AJ* 14.487-88) To head certain responses off at the pass, Josephus did not say that it was the Day of Atonement (Joseph. *AJ* 14.66, 487) as some are wont to suggest. In a careful examination of both instances, that of Pompey and Herod, you will find, first, that Pompey started his war with the Jews in the spring (Joseph. *AJ* 14.38). It was a three-month siege that ended in the “third month,” on a day of fasting (Joseph. *AJ* 14.66; *BJ* 1.149). In the case of Herod, he started his siege toward the end of winter (Joseph. *BJ* 1.343; *AJ* 14.465). It was a five-month siege that ended in the “third month,” on a day of solemn fasting (Joseph. *BJ* 1.351; *AJ* 14.487-8). In the case of Pompey, a three-month siege beginning around the “beginning of the spring” would have had its conclusion in late spring, coincident with the third month of the Jewish ecclesiastical calendar. In the case of Herod, a five-month siege, which he began in winter, puts the fifth month likewise in the vicinity of late spring. So, to be clear on the subject, by context, neither instance can be even remotely construed to have occurred in autumn, which is where Tishri and the Day of Atonement fall. Concerning the third month, Sivan, I can find no record in any of the Jewish literature to pinpoint what fast this might have been. Nor can I definitively establish a day of the week. For the fast, the 23rd of Sivan is the closest example I could find, observed in modern times as the fast for omitting the offering of the first fruits in Jerusalem during the days of Jeroboam (*Shulchan Arukh*, Orach Chayim 580.2). However, it is suspect, since the circumstances surrounding the incident of Jeroboam interfering with the sacrifice of the people in Jerusalem looks to be coincident to Tabernacles rather than anything occurring in Sivan (1 Kgs. 12:25-33; Joseph. *AJ* 8.225-230). The earliest reference I could find to corroborate such a fast was the *Shulchan Arukh*, by Joseph Karo, 1563, as noted. Meanwhile, his most significant predecessor, Maimonides, made no mention of this fast in his *Misneh Torah*, c. 1168-1178. Nor are there any such references in the Talmud. I did find another reference to weekly fasts on Mondays and Thursdays (Tosef. to Ta'an. 2:4), but I couldn't determine their origin in terms of date, whether this was a regular practice in the first century BCE, or if it was something that came in vogue much later, as so many other observances did. For the day, there is an inference that Pompey took the city on the sabbath (Joseph. *AJ* 14.64), but regular, ritual fasting is prohibited on the sabbath (bErub. 41a, bTa’an 27b), so this inference is likely just a coincidence of wording. Dio Cassius also tells us that Jerusalem was taken on the Day of Saturn, or Saturday, in the instances of both Pompey and Herod (Dio Cass. 37.16.1-4, 49.22.2-5). However, I suspect, because of the prohibition against fasting on the sabbath (apart from occasional exceptions), that he merely inferred the Day of Saturn because of Pompey's tactics. Soooooo, I'm at a bit of an impasse. I can live with the conclusion that there was some unnamed fast in the month of Sivan if I can't find an answer. That Josephus says there was one is proof enough for me that a ritual fast in the third month existed in the first century BCE. The lack of a specific answer will neither make nor break the conclusions of my research. However, I've seen some intelligent people on here already. I'm hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction to discover the identify of this enigmatic fast. It would be nice icing on the cake. And I would be much obliged if responses were confined to the question. I know the temptation is great to expound upon the various death of Herod hypotheses. But I just want to know about the fast if anyone can provide me with some useful information. The relevance of this question concerns the birth and life of Christ. It is part of a greater study on the death of Herod, which has a direct impact on the nativity, and by extension the ministry of Jesus Christ.

I'm doing an in-depth study on the kings of Judah and Israel. I'm familiar with Thiele and Young, and I've read a great deal of literature on the subject up to present. Where I am at the moment is Hezekiah and Manasseh. Relative to the Assyrian chronicles for Shalmaneser V and Sennacherib, Hezekiah's reign is a mess. I don't accept Thiele's conclusion to move his reign in its entirety. But none of the known starting points for Hezekiah pan out. In order to date his reign, I'm trying to work backwards from Josiah. We know that Josiah died in 609. He was preceeded by Amon, who was preceeded by Manasseh. From Hezekiah to Josiah, there is a gap of five or six years that can't be accounted for. This gap cannot be overcome by a Tishri/Nisan counting difference, or by accession-year versus non-accession-year counting. It's just a gap with no explanation. My suspicion is that Manasseh's total reign is a cumulative total, not a sequential one. We know that Manasseh was taken captive, and that he suffered at the hands of the Assyrians/Babylonians badly enough that he came to a full state of humility and repentance. My suspicion is that his captivity lasted something to the extent of five or six years, which is what causes the sequential gap in the reigns from Hezekiah to Josiah. So, what I'm looking for are solid sources that might help pinpoint when Manasseh was taken captive, by which king, whether Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, or Ashurbanipal, and maybe even an event; a rebellion, or similar. Perhaps the event compared to the remaining years of the Assyrian king will help shine some light on his captivity.

Wikipedia says the following: > The patriarchs and matriarchs were either real individuals or believable composites of people who **lived in the "patriarchal age", the 2nd millennium BCE**. But, in the 1970s, new arguments concerning Israel's past and the biblical texts **challenged these views;** What is the most current favoured date?

After the death of Solomon the nation of Israel divided into two: the northern kingdom ruled by Jeroboam, which was called Israel, and the southern kingdom ruled by Rehoboam, which was called Judah. The reign lengths and regnal data in I and II Kings seemed and seem entirely confused. No Bible student could arrive at a credible explanation of the data until the 20th century. The first one was Valerius Coucke: in the 1920s he came up with a solution to the problems of what appeared conflicting data in the reign lengths of the kings. Unfortunately, because he published in French, his work went largely unnoticed in the English speaking world. In the 1950s Dr Edwin Thiele published the fruits of his doctorate, "Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings". Later, Rodger Young slightly modified Edwin Thiele's results, in consequence of which the work of Valerius Coucke and ET/RY are in agreement, and both now place the Exodus from Egypt in 1446 BC. It is this consensus chronology which is used in Andrew Steinmann's "From Abraham to Paul - a Biblical Chronology". Both systems rely on interpretting some of the data so that reign-lengths are measured using years starting in Tishri, while other reign-lengths are measured from Nisan. My question is, what is the evidence that the recorders of the reigns in I and II Kings are sometimes using years beginning in Tishri? Does this evidence exist, or can the data be interpretted without needing to use years starting in Tishri?

There is much in scripture concerning the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple and of the city walls, and carrying more Jews into captivity. (e.g. 2 Kings 25:1-19; 2 Chron 36:18-19; Jeremiah 39, 52:7-25; Ezekiel 24:1-2, 26:1-2, 30:20-21, 33:21, 40:1). A previous question was not interested in whether it was 586 or 587 but merely sought to compare either 586 or 587 BC with the Watchtower date of 607 BC for the destruction of the Temple. This question asks: Was Jerusalem captured and the Temple destroyed in 586 BC or in 587 BC?

Do we have a good idea as to which Pharaoh(s) were around during the time of Moses' life? What internal and external evidence exists to back up those claims? Do any Christian traditions attach any significance to correlating the events of Moses' life to the reign of a specific Pharaoh? The movie *The Prince of Egypt * mentions Ramses as the name of Moses' adoptive mother's son (and the future Pharaoh, both when Moses kills the Egyptian at 40 and when he returns to Egypt when he is 80), but I don't know what the basis is for this claim.

The accepted answer on https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/248/how-long-was-jesus-in-the-tomb/3107#3107 would only have been possible if the Last Supper was not the Passover meal, which I had always thought it was. Was the Last Supper in fact not the Passover meal?

The first chapter of Job describes a man who was favored by God (Job). > 1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East. For whatever reason, I'm assuming he was pre-flood period, but was wondering if there's an estimated time-period he was alive. Looking for potential years (6000BC or something) but also any correction to my assumption it was pre-flood.

How do Catholics understand Jesus to have died for three days and night and yet be killed on Friday and be raised Saturday, before daylight?

Ezra 6:15 gives the completion of the temple after the Babylonian exile as 3 Adar, and the sixth year of Darius. > And 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. Josephus, Antiquities 11.107 gives the completion of the temple after the Babylonian exile as 23 Adar in the *ninth* year of Darius. > Now the temple was built in seven years’ time. And in the ninth year > of the reign of Darius, on the twenty-third day of the twelfth month, > which is by us called Adar, but by the Macedonians Dystrus, the > priests, and Levites, and the other multitude of the Israelites, > offered sacrifices, as the renovation of their former prosperity after > their captivity, and because they had now the temple rebuilt [. . .] The general position, academically, appears to favor the year 516/515 BCE. This is clearly deduced according to Ezra rather than Josephus, since Darius I reigned from 522–486 BCE, his sixth year of reign necessarily beginning in 516 BCE. Given two points of logical understanding, that 1) Josephus claimed to be in possession of biblical materials taken from the temple after the siege in 70 CE, and was therefore potentially accessing older copies of the scriptures than anything we have today, and 2) that the numbers in our current text in other places don't always add up correctly, particularly concerning time periods following the exodus out of Egypt . . . would anyone have any insight into other sources on the rebuilding of the temple that might clarify the year? The relevance of the question is part of a larger study into the priestly courses. I've backdated them from the destruction of the temple in 70 CE per the Talmud, bTa'an 29a and the course of Jehoiarib on the 9th of Ab. But to "check my work" as they say, I'm trying to determine, as best as possible, the precise starting point when the courses were initially reinstituted in Ezra 6:18 immediately following the rededication of the temple. > And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their > courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is > written in the book of Moses. Determining the correct year will allow me to count forward to verify the rotation. Assuming it wasn't broken in the time of the Maccabees, if I can determine the correct year, whether it's the sixth or ninth of Darius, counting forward should result in a match for Jehoiarib on the 9th of Ab if everything is on the up and up. Any additional material anyone can suggest is always especially welcomed.

I would like to know when David, the king of Israel, was born.

In an answer to another question , user SLM references an interpretive framework of Revelation from Hal Linsey that derives an interpretation of the overall structure of the book from 1:19. > > Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; Rev 1:19 > > **What was, what is, what will be.** This is the instruction about which to write. > > **What was** is chapter one wherein John describes what he sees. > > **What is** are the letters to the seven churches; that is, letters to the church age in chapters two and three. > > **What will be** is after the church age, since what is, is the church age. > > After this [literally after these things] I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. Rev 4:1 > > This is the rapture. > > After these things, the church age, the what is, ends at the rapture, the door in heaven open, a voice of the trumpet, calls to come up to heaven, to show what will be hereafter. Revelation now turns to the what will be, which is basically tribulation period. Churches are not mentioned again until the end at Rev. 22:16. This connects to a *futurist* reading of Revelation 4-21, which sees the prophecies as things to be fulfilled in the future. I have also heard the same argument (based on Rev.1:19) made by two different dispensationalist pastors, which they used to argue that the prophecies of Rev. 4-21 refer to future events, or even more strongly to argue that they are arranged in chronological order. I'm wondering how Revelation 12:1-5 fits into this framework, as I've only ever heard it interpreted as referring to the first coming of Christ (which especially makes sense because of the reference to Psalm 2 in Rev.12:5.). Obviously, that's an event which happened prior to the composition of the book, so it doesn't fit with a strictly futuristic reading of Rev.4-21. It also would demonstrate that the visions are *not* all in chronological order. So I am wondering whether: 1. There is an alternative, futurist interpretation of Rev.12:1-5 or 2. Futurists do not actually take *all* of Rev. 4-21 as future and/or do not take all of it as chronological.

A booklet giving a helpful chart on the various kings post-Solomon, says **king Hezekiah started to reign over Judah in 715 B.C.** On the corresponding chart for the kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, it details its last king, Hoshea, as reigning from 733 to 722. Then, when starting to read 2 Kings chapter 18, I noted that it said: > “Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of > Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. > Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he > reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem.” 2 Kings 18:1-2 K.J.V. However, according to the chart in *A Concise Chronology of the Bible*, (John D. Brand, p.31, Edinburgh Bible College, 2014), **the third year of Hoshea’s reign would be 729/30, not 715**. So, which of those two dates is correct, or are they both correct if there were issues of co-regency involved? ***As an aside,*** the Hebrew scriptures speak of the 10-tribe kingdom of Israel, and the 2-tribe kingdom of Judah, Benjamin being that second one, as in 2 Chronicles 11:1. Yet the tribe of Benjamin never seems to be mentioned as that second tribe thereafter. Or have I missed a later verse about that?

According to Luke's genealogy Jesus is the 76th great grandchild of Adam . But in the holy bible how many years elapse between the creation of Adam and the birth of Jesus? I have googled the question, but I do not believe the answers given by google to be accurate. All the answers point to a time period of around 4000 years which would bring us back to only 4000BC. However according to Wikipedia Adam was 930 years old when he died, Seth was 912, Enos was 905, Kenan was 910, Mahalalel was 895. Therefore we still have around 71 generations left to go and we are already beyond the 4000BC period.

One way to find Job’s generation is to count the generations in the family tree for Job's contemporary Elihu (though he was young, and likely in the next generation), and compare them to the Patriarch records. These are the scriptures: Job 32:6: ”And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, ‘I am young, and you are very old.” Gen 11:26: “And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.” Gen. 22:20-23: “Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor; Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother… So Nahor-Buz-Barachel-Elihu = Abram- Isaac-Jacob-Judah . That would place the events of Job’s trials about the time of Jacob's sojourn in Canaan. It is curious that Job’s lifespan does not match with Jacob’s at 147, but with Terah (205), Abram (175) or Isaac's (180). However, Job seems to have had a blessing of a long life for his time. Others say Job lived later because of the use of term 'Rahab' (translated "proud") in 9:13 and 26:12; believing the use of this word is significant as it relates to later Egypt. Ps.87:4; Is.51:9.

What year did Scaliger date the Exodus? Is there a list of his Chronology in English anywhere. I'm trying to find cross comparisons of ancient writers and their dating systems.

The usual date given for the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in academic and Christian publications is either 587 BCE or 586 BCE. The Watchtower claims it was destroyed in 607 BCE. This date is critically important to them, because on it Charles Taze Russell calculated the year 1914 (2520 years (7 * 360) later). What do Jehovah's Witnesses think is the evidence for 607 BCE as the year of the destruction of Jerusalem? Please note, there are two kinds of evidence I consider acceptable: Biblical evidence and extra-Biblical evidence. It is really fine if only Biblical evidence is offered, but in such a case please indicate why you think the JW interpretation is correct. The case for a non Jehovah's Witness date of 586 BC or 587 BC is asked for here: https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/78711/evangelical-christians-claim-jerusalem-was-destroyed-in-either-587-or-586-bce-w

Whereas Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 BC, historians, many evangelical Christians, and most others who write on such things believe it was destroyed in either 587 or 586 BCE: this is the general consensus outside of the confines of the JW world. Is there any Biblical evidence to support either of the two dates 587/586? What other evidence supports either of these dates? Please give evidence, either Biblical or extra-Biblical, not just statements of belief. All except JWs are invited to answer - JWs have their own related question - https://christianity.stackexchange.com/q/78706/23657 - as long as you declare your doctrinal/denominational position. Even a reference to your stack exchange profile would be fine, as long as the profile describes your doctrinal/denominational position. A question asking for evidence in favour of 586 BC rather than 587 BC, or vice versa, is asked here: https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/96158/was-the-destruction-of-the-first-temple-in-586-bc-or-587-bc