In general, this table seems to date biblical books as soon as possible after the latest events that they reference or suppose. In many cases, this allows for dates that are possible, but not consistently probable. Let us look at some particular instances.
The table dates the Pentateuch between 1445 and 1400 BCE. It's very clear what is happening here. As I discussed in a previous post, scholars who affirm that there was a historical exodus typically date the event to the reign of Ramesses II (c. 1279–1213 BCE). There is however a minority position which holds that the exodus told place in 1446 BCE. This is based upon 1 Kings 6:1, which says that Solomon began work on the table 480 years after the exodus. Since the foundation of Solomon's temple is typically dated to 966 and 966+480=1446, this minority position generally holds that the exodus occurred in 1446 BCE. The above table clearly supposes this date, and then has Moses writing the Pentateuch during the forty years of desert wandering (it is interesting though that the table places Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy at 1400 BCE, when on the sort of ultra-literalism clearly supposed here Moses should have died in 1406. This is probably the result of not consistently thinking through their own chronological hermeneutic, however. Then again, the table also assumes that Samuel wrote Judges in 1050 BCE and then one-hundred-fifty years later wrote 1&2 Samuel in 900 BCE, so one rather suspects that the people who drafted this chart did not have a firm grasp on matters related to lifespan). As I noted in my previous post, a date for the exodus c. 1446 is called into question by Ruth 4:18–22, which suggests that David is the sixth generation from the exodus and thus Solomon the seventh—and we should normally suppose that 480 years covers greater than six or generations. As such, even on the most ultra-literal reading of the biblical account, it's far from certain that 1446 is the proper date for the exodus and the subsequent forty years the proper time for the Pentateuch's composition.
I already noted in passing the weirdness of thinking that Samuel wrote 1&2 Samuel one-hundred-fifty years after he wrote Judges. This is exacerbated by the fact that Samuel dies in 1 Samuel 25. In fairness, Saul does bring him back as a spirit in 1 Samuel 28, which I suppose could explain how he managed to write these books post-mortem.
I don't know when Job was written, but I do know that it wasn't in 1900 BCE. That's just...whacky. As a general rule, we should be wary of dating a piece of literature (in this case Job) the better part of a thousand years before the language in which it is written (in this case, Hebrew) is first clearly attested. Perhaps not strictly speaking impossible, but exceedingly unlikely.
Most scholars would date Daniel to the second-century BCE, not the sixth. But even if we grant that it dates to the sixth century it already certainly dates later than 530 BCE. Throughout the book there are references to a "Darius the Mede," ruling over Babylon. It's not clear exactly whom this Darius is meant to be, but it seems unlikely that these references predate the beginning of Darius the Great's reign in 522 BCE.
Regarding the New Testament, if Joseph Barber Lightfoot and Adolf von Harnack had a love child, it would probably look much like the chronology presented here. It's pretty close to late Harnackian re: the gospels and Acts, but close to Lightfootian re: the epistles. Interestingly enough, it prefers a date for Revelation in the 90s, when in fact that would have been seen as fairly radical in the nineteenth century (even F.C. Baur wouldn't date Revelation that late).
The truth is that it's very difficult to summarize the dates of the biblical texts like this. I know; I've tried; I've perhaps even succeeded to a certain extent. I'm inclined to think that, much like cloning dinosaurs and turning them into tourist attractions, just because one can do a thing doesn't mean that one should.
Comments
Post a Comment