Beyond Thiele: the historical implications of a revised chronology of Israel

Abstract

This thesis is broadly focused on all aspects of biblical chronology related to the period of the Divided Kingdom, and by extension, to Israel’s entrance into Canaan. It integrates evidence from multifarious disciplines to support authoritative timelines for Israel and Egypt from the early New Kingdom to Dynasty 22. In addition, the study demonstrates the harmony of Egyptian and biblical astrocalendrical data with at least four non-Assyrian timelines, all pointing to dates for the Exodus and entry into Canaan that are around 44 years higher than any chronological models currently under consideration. Thiele’s methodological and historical shortcomings have not been generally understood but are well-documented here. The synchronistic and regnal length data of 1-2 Kings are reevaluated here in terms of arithmetic harmony and external evidence. The use of the Bible’s higher timeline instead of the one assumed for Assyrian canons allows comparison of historical (im)probabilities in four key windows of time: (a) the fifteenth century BC, wherein evidence from archaeology suggests an invasion of Canaan by a highly motivated, aniconic, seminomadic entity at a time when there is nearly universal evidence of a systematic program of ḥērem throughout Canaan, (b) the latter half of the eleventh century BC, when evidence for state formation at Khirbet Qeiyafa, the Arabah Valley, and throughout the Negev is coeval with the floruit of the kingship of David indicated by biblical regnal data, (c) the late ninth century BC and first quarter of the eighth, when the floruit of Jeroboam II’s empire appears to coincide with periods of recession experienced by both Syria and Assyria, and (d) the 730s, where the sequence of events suggests that the biblical timeline may be correct in placing Israel’s demise at the hands of Tiglath-pileser III earlier than 733/732 BC. Since the 44-year higher timeline for Israel produces synchrony between the biblical text, archaeological evidence, and the histories of surrounding nations, it is proposed as new working model.