This essay is
the third in an ongoing summary
of Annals of the World (1658) by James Ussher. I wrote and
share it with you so that we might both benefit from a careful reading of the
historical and chronological data given to us in the Bible. It will help us to
better understand the biblical point of view and to witness with greater
clarity to Jesus in our day.
Ussher’s Third
Age: The Call of Abraham to the Exodus (1921-1491 BC)
1921 BC: Yhwh calls Abram to leave his
old way of living and promises that he will bless Abram and the nations through
Abram (Gen. 12:1-2, Acts 7:4). From the day that Abram, Sarai, and Lot leave Haran,
Abram and his descendants spend a total of 430 years as strangers and pilgrims
in foreign lands (Ex. 12:40-41, Gal. 3:7). They leave on 15 Abib (which, in
1921BC, was Wednesday, May 4). His descendants would leave Egypt on that same
day 430 years later.
Abram is 75
years old when he leaves Haran. He stops first at Shechem at the Oak of Morah
(Gen. 12:4-6; cf. Gen. 35:4, Jos. 24:25-26, Jud 9:6). He moves on to Luz (later
known as Bethel) (Gen. 28:19) and then continues southward toward Egypt (Gen. 12:7-9) (Paragraph
[P]72).
A famine
briefly forces Abram and Sarai to sojourn in Egypt (Gen. 12:10-20) (P73).
Back in
Canaan, Lot separates from Abram and moves to Sodom (P74). Abram lives near
Hebron in the Plain of Mamre (Gen. 13:4) (P74).
1913 BC: Bera, king of Sodom, and other
rulers allied with him rebel against the king of Elam (Gen. 14:4) (P75).
1912 BC: Chedorlaomer, king of Elam,
and his allies attack the rebellious kings, defeat them, plunder Sodom and
Gomorrah, and take many prisoners including Lot. When Abram hears of this, he
leads 318 of his own servants, allies with others, and attacks Chedorlaomer’s combined
forces at Dan. He defeats those forces, rescues all the prisoners including
Lot, and recovers all the stolen goods. On his return, Abram is blessed by
Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God (Gen. 14:1-24)
(P76).
Abram grieves
because he has no son and heir. Yhwh promises him as many as the stars in the
sky. Yhwh also warns him that his descendants will suffer persecution for 400
years until he brings them into the Promised Land (Gen. 15:1-21) (P77).
1910 BC: Abram has a son by Hagar, his
wife’s Egyptian servant, when he is 86 years old (Gen. 16:15-17, 17:24-25)
(P78).
1897 BC: When Abram is 99 years old,
Yhwh makes a covenant with him to grant him a son by Sarai the following year.
Abram, his son Ishmael (now 13), and all the other males in Abram’s household circumcise
themselves as commanded by Yhwh (Gen. 17:21-26) (P81).
Sodom, Gomorrah, and surrounding cities
are destroyed by Yhwh (Gen. 19:1-29; cf. 2 Pet.
2:6-7; Rev. 19:20, 20:10, 21:8) (P82).
Abraham and
Sarah sojourn with the Philistines under Abimelech at Gerar (Gen. 20:1-18)
(P84).
1896
BC: Isaac is born to Abraham (100 years) and Sarah (90 years) (Gen. 17:7). At
the same time, Ammon and Moab are born to Lot (Gen. 19:30-38) (P85).
1891 BC: Isaac is weaned. Ishmael jests
with, mocks (same word in Gen. 39:14) or persecutes (Gal. 4:29) his little
half-brother Isaac. Ishmael and and his mother Hagar are sent away (Gen. 21:8,
12; Rom. 9:7-8; Gal. 4:29, Heb. 11:17-18).
We are told
that 430 years elapsed between the time Abraham left Haran and the Exodus (Ex.
12:35, 36, 41; Gal. 4:29). We also know that Abraham and his descendants will
experience 400 years of persecution. That persecution starts now, when Abraham
has been in Canaan for 30 years and Isaac is now 5 years old (Gen. 15:13-14,
Acts 7:6, Gal. 4:29). Ishmael is 18 years old when he and his mother Hagar
leave Abraham for the second and final time (P86).
1871 BC: The sacrifice of Isaac (Gen.
22; cf. Heb. 11:17, 19) (P90).
1859 BC: Sarah dies in Hebron at the
age of 127. Abraham buys the cave in the field of Machpelah to bury Sarah in.
It is his first possession in the land (Gen. 23: 1, 2, 19, 20). Abraham is father
of the faithful (Rom. 4:11-12); Sarah, their mother (1 Pet. 3:6). Sarah: the
only woman in the Bible whose age at death is told (P92).
1856 BC: Aged 40, Isaac marries Rebekah
(Gen. 24:67, 25:20) (P93).
1846 BC: Death of Shem, the son of
Noah, 500 years after the birth of Arphaxad (Gen. 11:11) (P96).
1837 BC: After 19 years of being
barren, Rebekah conceives twins (Gen. 25:21).
1836 BC: Isaac is 60 years old when
Rebekah gives birth to Esau and Jacob (Gen. 25:22, Hos. 12:3) (P98).
1821 BC: Death of Abraham, aged 175,
100 years after he left Haran. Jacob is 15 years old (Gen. 25:7, 10; cf. Heb.
11:9) (P101).
Copyright © 2017
by Steven Farsaci. All rights reserved.
