The Timeline of History

The Timeline of History:

The Timeline of History is an excel spreadsheet built from Genesis Chapters 5 and 11.  The chapters are the beginning of the lineage of Jesus Christ.  Many things can be learned from the timeline.  Check it out.  

A Link to the Timeline of History:

 A Timeline is valuable in terms of seeing certain things that we don’t see when just reading the text.  For example, we have a date for when the flood took place.  1656 Years after God created Adam the flood happened.  Who can tell me why God brought the flood.

Genesis 6:5-7 NKJV

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."

So, God wanted to destroy man because of man’s wickedness. Look at the timeline, though.  Was man destroyed completely from the face of the earth?  No, obviously people lived and were born after the flood.  How did that happen?

Genesis 6:13

And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Genesis 6:17-18

And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

This is something that most of us already knew.  We’ve all heard the story of Noah’s Ark. 

But let’s look at things that might be a little more obscure that we can see more clearly in the timeline:

1)       Noah is the tenth generation after creation!  He was born in year 1056.

2)      He was 600 years old at the time of the Flood.  1656

3)      Shem was born after Noah had begun building the ark.  1558

4)      Shem was 98 years old at the time of the flood.

5)      Noah’s Grandfather Methuselah died in the year of the flood.  His name literally means, “His death will bring!”

There are some other things that we can see.  The lifetimes of those born before the flood are much longer than those born afterward.  For example, Noah lived 950 years.  Adam lived 930 years.  Methuselah lived 969 years.  But look at the lengths of the lives of those born after the flood!  Arphaxad was born 2 years after the flood his father was 100 years old at the time.  But Shem lived another 500 after Arphaxad was born.  Peleg lived only 239 years.  Nahor lived only 148 years. 

Why do you think lives got shorter after the flood.  What changed?

Genesis 7:11-12 NKJV

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Where did the water come from? 

1) The fountains of the deep were broken up.  In other words water came from underground. 

2) The windows of heaven opened up. 

Genesis 1:6-7 NKJV

Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.

(Firmament is an old word meaning the atmosphere). When the gates of heaven opened up all that water fell to the earth.  Now there is no protection between us and the sun and ultraviolet rays.  Some scientists believe that being exposed to ultraviolet rays causes to age faster.  Do you think this is true? It seems like there is some Biblical evidence for that theory.

Now let's look at some other things that the timeline can show us.

1)       Shem lived through the flood and for 500 years afterward. 

a.      He lived longer than Peleg.  Look at what the Bible says:

Genesis 10:24-25 NKJV

Arphaxad begot Salah, and Salah begot Eber. To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.

How was the world divided in Peleg’s time?  The division was called the Tower of Babel.  So that means that Shem lived through Flood and the Tower of Babel

b.      Shem lived until Jacob was 50 years old.  Shem is his 9X great grandfather. 

2)      One other interesting thing about Shem is that he died only about 50 years before the oldest samples of Chinese Writing appeared. 

a.      I shared with Pastor Webb my personal theory that in the division of the world that Shem may have traveled east to China.  Purely speculation on my part. 

3)      Jacob was born when Abraham was 160 years old and his father Isaac was 60 years old. 

One last look at the timeline, from the beginning of time.  Seth was born 130 years after the creation.  Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden until they sinned by eating the fruit. 

Genesis 3:6 NKJV

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Then what happened?  They were thrown out of the Garden, but first some curses were placed on them:

Adams curse: 

Genesis 3:17 NKJV

Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.

Eve’s Curse:

Genesis 3:16 NKJV

To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you."

Then what happened?

Genesis 3:23-24 NKJV

therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

God cast them out of the Garden.  They had to leave.  God had met every need of mankind in the Garden:  Food; shelter; a task to give their lives purpose; companionship; and he even met their spiritual needs (a Relationship with Him.)

Genesis 3:8-9 NKJV

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"

He had a relationship with them He walked with them in the Garden.  But after the sin God had to send them away.  He also took the blessings that gave their lives purpose (Tending the Garden, and being the mother of all) and made those things a curse.

So let’s get back to the timeline.  After they left the garden Cain and Abel were born.  I would guess them to be in their 40s when Cain killed Abel, because they were established in their jobs.  40 seems to be a number used often for generations in the Bible. So if we assume that that is true and Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old, we may infer that Adam and eve lived in the garden 80 to 90 years.  This is all speculation because Cain and Abel are not mentioned in the lineage.

Finally, I want to look at one more interesting thing from the timeline.  Names have meaning in the Bible.  Here’s an example:

1 Chronicles 4:9 NKJV

Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain."

The name Jabez means sorrow or Trouble.  So the first ten names in the timeline have meanings also.  In fact, let’s look at them:

Mankind appointed mortal sorrow; the blessed God shall come down teaching.  His death will bring the despairing peace.  What is that referring to?  It’s a prophecy of Jesus.

For me this is a truth that makes me believe that the Bible is true.  It would be an impossibility to get all the names right to make this, because all of the had more sons and daughters.  They would have to give the right child the proper name and somehow know that they would e the child that is in the lineage of Jesus. 

When we read your bible things become much clearer if we study it out.  Try this exercise at home and see what you can find in the Timeline of History!