Old Testament Timeline Narrative
Candace Baker
BIBL 105-B02 LUO
The whole of the Old Testament consists of 39 books that can be broken down into 8
different sections. These sections that will be included within this timeline are as follows.
Creation/primeval history, The Patriarchal Period, Egyptian Bondage and Exodus, The Conquest
and Period of the Judges, United Monarchy, The Divided Kingdom through the Pre-Exilic
Period, Exile and ending with The Post Exilic Period.
Creation/Primeval History
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). The Old Testament
begins here within the creation of all things. Within the first 6 days God “created” and saw that it
was good. He made man “In Our Image, according to our likeness” (Gen. 1:26) and gave him the
name Adam. He was placed within the Garden of Eden and God charged him to “fill the earth
and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28). In Genesis 2, the Lord first commands Adam to not eat of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil (2:16-17) and gives to him a help mate, her name would be Eve.
Then came the deception in Genesis 3 that would change everything. They both ate of the
“forbidden tree” and so sin came into the world. This sin set a chain of events that we are still
experiencing the aftermath of to this day. To the serpent, the Lord placed a curse “ And I will put
enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, He shall bruise your
head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (3:15) To Eve, the Lord explained, “I will greatly multiply
your sorrow and conception; In pain, you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your
husband, and he shall rule over you.” (Gen 3:16) and then to Adam “Cursed is the ground for
your sake, in toil you shall eat of it” (Gen. 3:17), “For dust you are, and to dust, you shall
return.” (Gen. 3:19)
Because the evil grew with such momentum and covered all the earth as spoke of in
Genesis 6:5 “Then the Lord saw that wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”, God had to intervene. He found but
one just man (Gen. 6:9) and his name was Noah. Then came the flood “Now the flood was on the
earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth”
(Gen. 7:17). It brought destruction upon the whole earth, but Noah and his family were saved.
Through Noah, God made a covenant that “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake
(Gen. 8:21). After the flood, nations arose from the offspring of Noah’s sons. These people were
separated “according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.” (Genesis
10:5) Then one the bible calls a “Mighty Man” rose up with the name of Nimrod in the land of
Shinar. By the leadership of Nimrod, those that dwelt in the land came together saying “Come.
Let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the Heavens.” (Genesis 11:4) The Lord
knew that a people that are “one” could accomplish all that they set out to do and so he
intervened. The Lord said, “Come, let us go down and confuse their language, that they may not
understand one another’s speech,” (Gen 11:7) and he did so by scattering them abroad over all
the nations of the earth.
The Patriarchal Period
The Patriarchal period begins in Genesis 12 with the word of the Lord coming to a man
named Abram. This period begins in chapter 12 and continues through 50. The Ancient Near
History shows that Abram and the Middle Bronze Ages occurred around 2000 B.C (Hindson &
Yates, 2012). Abram was sent out from Ur of the Chaldeans into the land of Canaan were he was
given a promise from the Lord “Get out from your country, To a land, I will show you. I will
make you a great nation; I will bless you. And in you all the families of the earth will be
blessed.” (Gen 12:1-3).
Abram and his wife Sarai longed to conceive and were old in age. They finally conceived
the one in which they had prayed for and his name was Isaac. Isaac lived in the time of 2006-
1886 B.C. Isaac was the “son of promise” even as this was so, Abraham was willing to give his
son’s life to the Lord (Gen. 22:1-19). Isaac had 2 sons Esau and Jacob. When the time came to
pass down the blessing to Esau, Jacob stepped in “Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your
firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul
may bless me” (Gen.27:19). This led to Esau wanting to kill Jacob and so he fled. He was sent to
Padan Aram and would eventually wed 2 of Laban’s daughters Leah and Rachel.
The rivalry between his two wives only grew as time went on until Genesis 30:22-24
“Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. She conceived
and bore a son. So she called his name Joseph” Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son and had given
him a tunic of many colors (Gen. 37:3). Jacob lived from 2006-1859 B.C (Hindson & Yates,
2012). Joseph had 11 brothers and they were jealous of the relationship between him and their
father. Joseph was given dreams from God at a young age, which he shared with his brothers that
lead them to envy him and sell him into slavery (Gen. 12-36). While in slavery God’s favor was
upon Joseph “The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man” (Gen. 39:2). Joseph not
only had dreams, but God also gave him the ability to interpret them as well. God was with him
through every trial and finally united him to his father and brought restoration of his relationship
with his brothers (Gen.50:15-21).
Egyptian Bondage and Exodus
Within the Late Bronze age comes the Egyptian Bondage and Exodus which dates to
1500-1200 BC. (Hindson &Yates, 2012) This Old Testament timeline centers around Moses and
his conquest with God to free the Israelite people.
The beginning of Exodus starts of with the new king of Egypt looking on the children of
Israel as a threat, so he took them into bondage to afflict them. (Ex 1:11) Pharaoh the king then
in verse 22 commands “Every son who is born shall be cast into the river,” but for Moses, he was
found by the Pharaoh’s daughter and taken by her to raise. Here Moses was received as a prince,
but something I am sure never seemed right to him, and he saw the Israelites and the abuse they
endured till one day he intervened. On this day “He looked to this way and that way, and so no
one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” (Ex 2:12) When Moses was confronted with
this act and Pharaoh sought to kill him, and so he fled to Midian and sought a wife and married
her and they had a son.
Moses life had drastically changed and was about to change even more. In Genesis 3,
Moses was out tending flock when he came upon “Horeb, the mountain of God,”(3:1) and it is
here that the Lord commissioned him as He came before him as a burning bush. “Come now,
therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel,
out of Egypt.”(Ex 3:11) Moses was more than reluctant and feared Pharaoh, but God assured him
that He would be with him every step of the way as we see here “Now, therefore, go, and I will
be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” (Ex.4:12) He also sent Moses with a rod,
that when he cast to the ground it became a serpent, and as it was picked up it again became a
rod (Ex 4:2-5) that they may believe it was the Lord God who had sent him.
Moses set out for Egypt, along the way the Lord called Aaron to go aside Moses and to
speak all the words which the Lord had shared with Moses to the elders of the children of Israel
(Gen 4:27-31). As Moses went, God worked through him to bring about 10 plagues on the
Egyptians because of Pharaoh’s negligence in obeying the command of God. The last plague that
finally persuaded Pharaoh was the death of his firstborn son, after this loss he called for Moses
and Aaron and said to them “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of
Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said.” (Gen 12:31) Although he allowed them to
leave, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and set out after Moses and the people in chapter 14. In vs.
16 God directs Moses “Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it” and
before their eyes, the Red Sea parted. Here the Lord brought liberation and deliverance to his
people from the Egyptian army as they followed them and the waters closed and killed them all.
In the 40-year wilderness journey towards the promise, God provided for them with miraculous
provisions. In Exodus 20, Moses was given the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai to give to the
people for direction in how to live out their lives. Then the directions were given for the
Tabernacle and exactly how it was to be built (Ex 26-27). This Tabernacle would provide a place
where God could dwell among his people.
The Conquest and Period of Judges
The conquest would begin with a spiritual preparation. This would consist of “meditating
on God’s word and reciting his principles (Josh 1:7-9); challenging the people to total obedience
(1:16-18); sending out two spies to identify options (2:1-24); crossing Jordan on dry ground (3:1-
17); setting up memorial stones as testimony to future generations (4:1-24); establishing battle
camp at Gilgal (4:20); circumcision of uncircumcised in the wilderness (5:2-9); celebrating
Passover (5:1-12)” (Hindson & Yates). Joshua had been given instruction by the “commander of
the Lord’s army” to lead the people into the Promise Land. Joshua and the people accomplished
conquering 31 cities which included Jericho, with the help of Rahab (Josh 2). A record of all that
was taken by Joshua is found in chapter 11 “Thus Joshua took all this land: the mountain country,
all the South, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, and the Jordan plain-the mountains of Israel
and its lowland, from Mount Halak and the ascent to Seir, even as far as Baal Gad in the Valley
of Lebanon below Mount Hermon.”(16-17) The book of Joshua ends with a farwell address to
the people reminding them of all God’s miraculous works and His faithfulness to them and
asking for their obedience to Him in remembrance of their covenant.
The book of Judges the continuing conquest of Canaan and Israel’s disobedience.
According to Ancient Near East, this was one of the most turbulent and transitional times
(Hindson & Yates). God arose six judges in these times Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon,
Jephthah and Samson (Hindson & Yates), but although the Lord intervened many times the book
of Judges sadly closes with” In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was
right in his own eyes.” (21:25).
United Monarchy
The Israelite kingdom of Israel and Judah under the reigns of Saul, David and Samuel
was given the name United Monarchy. Ancient near history times this around 1050 BC and 930
BC. After the time of Judges came Samuel, whom the Lord sent to appoint Saul a king after the
people had cried out for one (1 Sam.10). Saul became wicked in the sight of God and was
rejected as a king (1 Sam 15:11). Then David was appointed king, and was called “ a man after
His own heart”. David the appointed Solomon to be king. Solomon was the wisest man that ever
lived until he fell away from the Lord, and because of this falling away, the Lord raised up
adversaries against him. In 1 Kings 12, we see the division of the kingdom begin after Solomon’s
passing.
The Divided Kingdom through the Pre-Exilic Period
The northern part was the Kingdom of Israel where ten tribes resided, these were the
Israelites and Jeroboam was their king. The southern area was the Kingdom of Judah where two
tribes settled, they were the Jews and Rehoboam was their king. Within both kingdom’s idol
worship arose, and soon Ahab took Rehoboam place as king. Ahab’s wife was Jezebel, she was
consumed with evil works and intents. Jezebel and Ahab killed many of God’s prophets until one
came by the name of Elijah, would finally see their death. Elijah then gave his mantle to Elisha
and he did many miraculous works.
Exile
Here the people of the Kingdom of Judah were taken into 70 years of Babylonian
captivity after the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC. The people were held under the king of
Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel came into captivity in Babylon in 605 BC and used him in a
major way to bring the fall of Babylon. God gave Daniel the ability to interpret dreams and he
gave Nebuchadnezzar an explanation of his dream. The Lord also gave Daniel many dreams and
prophecies of end times of which we are watching coming about right now.
The Post-Exilic Period
After the fall of Babylon by Persians and King Cyrus, the people were set free. Cyrus
then issued a decreed that allowed the captive Jews to return to the land from which they came.
King Cyrus had been used by God to bring freedom to his people once again. First Zerubbabel
led the people in the rebuilding of the temple and returned the vessels taken by Nebuchadnezzar.
Then came Ezra, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and
to teach statues and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). He led the people to reconcile themselves
to God. Lastly Nehemiah, whom challenged the people to show their faith by their works. He
also partnered with Ezra in leading the people spiritually and drew them back to living by the
law.
References
Hindson, Ed, and Yates, Gary. The Essence of the Old Testament: A Survey. Nashville: B&H
Publishing, 2012.
Hayford J. (2002). New Spirit Filled Life Bible. Thomas Nelson Publishing
