An Outline of Biblical History

We can begin at Genesis 12, where the narrative shifts into personal focus on the person of Abraham, from whose grandson Jacob the nation of Israel is descended.  The event to which the Old Testament constantly refers back to is God's covenant (agreement) with Abraham:  God undertakes to make from him, a nation.  Around 1920 BC, Abraham moves from Chaldea to Canaan, that is, from near the Persian gulf (modern Iraq), to near the Mediterranean Sea (modern Israel / Palestine).

Abraham's grandson Jacob (later called Israel) has twelve sons.  In Genesis 38, around 1730 BC, his son Joseph rises to a position of authority in Egypt.  This later enables him to provide for his family, and they settle with him in Egypt.  Within several hundred years, however, their descendants have collectively been subsumed into Egypt’s slave labour class.

The book of Exodus relates Israel’s emergence from Egypt as an independent nation.  The date of this event is generally placed in the vicinity of either 1450 BC or 1270 BC (We'll follow what appears to be the biblical chronology for now, but note that many historians are committed to the later date; look this up if it interests you).  The Exodus is led by Moses, and attended by large-scale acts of deliverance on God's part, culminating with the establishment of another covenant, this time between God and the new nation of Israel.  This covenant is defined in the four books from Exodus to Deuteronomy.  The summary passage is Deuteronomy 28-30, in which the terms of the covenant are spelled out:  If Israel will honor them, they get to keep the land.  If not, they don't.  This is the framework every later writer, and the prophets in particular, assume.

The book of Joshua details the occupation of Canaan, and Judges fills the period down to near the institution of the monarchy in Israel.  The establishment of the monarchy begins with the birth of Samuel, the last of the Judges:  see I & II Samuel, starting around 1170 BC.  All up there are only three kings — Saul, David and Solomon — at least, while Israel remains a single nation.  The early period of Solomon’s reign represents the high water mark in the history of ancient Israel in terms of military security and national prosperity and prestige.  It's nearly all downhill from here.

Solomon builds a Temple in Jerusalem, which becomes the focal point of religious life in Israel.  After Solomon's death around 925 BC his sons Jeroboam and Rehoboam each claim the throne, and the nation splits into two, now called Israel (the northern kingdom) and Judah (the southern).  The period of the united and divided kingdoms is detailed in I & II Kings and I & II Chronicles.

At this point the prophets begin to appear, with Elijah (8th/9th C.) as their archetype.  The later prophet’s writings are collected into 16 books of prophecy, from Isaiah to Malachi, covering the period down to 400 BC. Prophecy is not understood to mean predicting the future here, except as part of the prophet’s primary role as a messenger from God, and usually an unpopular one:  add the terms of Israel’s covenant to the fact that, following their kings, they weren't keeping it (this is the prophets’ constant theme), and you get the basic idea.

The period from 900 BC down to 70 AD is one of increasing subjection to foreign powers.  Their borders are forced back until in 730 the northern kingdom (Israel) is conquered by Assyria.  The southern kingdom of Judah, including the capital of Jerusalem remains until 590, when it is conquered by the Medes and Persians, from their capital of Bablyon.  The city and temple are looted, the city walls broken down, and most of the people taken into captivity — "By the rivers of Babylon… we wept, when we remembered Zion" (Psalm 139). From this time onward, there exist substantial populations of expatriate Jews in other parts of the world.  The books of Daniel and Esther are set away from Israel, during the period of the Babylonian captivity.  But the books of Ezra and Nehemiah detail the return to Israel of many of the Jewish people.  The key figure is the king of the new Persian Empire, Cyrus, who around 535 issues instructions that Jerusalem be resettled.  A new temple is built, and eventually under Nehemiah, the city walls restored, but the nation is a now a shadow of its former self, and will remain so.

Moving beyond the end of the Old Testament period, we come to the one development that more than any other sets the scene for the New Testament world:  Alexander the Great conquers everywhere from Greece to northern India between 334 and 323 BC:  After his death his empire splits in four, between his Generals.  Israel is ruled by the Ptolemies (in Egypt), until in 198 BC the Seleucids (from Persia) displace them, only to straightaway in 190 suffer a terrible defeat by the growing Roman Empire.  While the Seleucids are weakened by internal division, John Maccabeus and sons are able to liberate Israel from their control, and from 142 to 63 BC the nation enjoys its last period of relative independence.

In 63 BC the Roman general Pompey captures Israel, and in 37 BC a period of relative stability under the Herods begins, in which time the Temple is vastly upgraded.  But independence movements persist and grow, until in 66-73 AD, in a rebellion against the Roman empire, the nation of Israel is almost entirely destroyed by the Roman General Titus (the very end came in 135), and this chapter of biblical history comes to a close.  By this time, however, the events of the New Testament have happened and, out of the apparent failure of God’s covenant with Israel, something new has appeared.

The New Testament, though it covers a much shorter period of time than the Old Testament, has two major phases of its own.  The first of these describes the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The second highlights the growth of the early Christian movement in one of the several directions that it expanded:  From Jerusalem to Antioch in Syria, to Asia Minor (Modern Turkey) and to Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, within a generation of Jesus’ death.

The four gospels cover Jesus’ life, running from 4 BC to 33 AD (the outer range of possible dates for Jesus’ life).  They are set in Israel, and focus on the southern capital of Jerusalem, and the northern region of Galilee, where Jesus grows up.

In each of the gospels, the overall dramatic theme is the rising tide of anger towards him by the religious leaders of Israel at that time over his teaching and activities.  The gospel accounts culminate in his joint execution by the Jewish and Roman authorities, and resurrection from the dead.  Jesus’ significance is outlined elsewhere on the site, so I’ll just add some links here, and carry on with the historical outline.

• Jesus: God Incarnate

For understanding the shape of the New Testament, the crucial book is Acts, the sequel to the Gospel of Luke, which covers the thirty years from Jesus’ death to Paul’s imprisonment in Rome.  Luke is a travelling companion of the Apostle Paul, who is a leader in the growth of the early Christian movement amongst non-Jewish people.  The later two-thirds of Acts traces his travels through the Hellenistic (culturally Greek) cities of the regions we now know as Turkey, the Balkans and Greece.  Paul and his companions establish churches in many of these cities, and Paul's later letters to them constitute a quarter of the New Testament, from Romans to Titus.

The turning point of the New Testament is Acts 15 (49 AD), the ‘Council of Jerusalem’ where the leaders of the early church discuss the question of whether Gentiles must become Jews first, with all that the Old Testament requires, before they can become Christians.  The answer they agree opon is ‘No’.  By the time of the Neronian persecution of Christians in Rome (~64 AD), and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (70 AD), it is likely that the majority of Christians are non-Jews living mostly in the massive trading cities of the Mediterranean world.