Learn Basic Bible Timeline
Old Testament History Summary

Simplified Bible Timeline

This series of time line lessons has now brought us up to the end of the Old Testament period. We have considered the relative position in time of four of the most significant Old Testament characters, placing each of them on our basic time line around a general date for their life span. Thus we could see that, from one to the next, there was a time span of approximately 500 years.

Abraham   2000 BC
Moses    1500 BC
David    1000 BC
Daniel    500 BC

In the next lesson, we will move forward 500 more years, into the New Testament period, and will note on our time-line the most significant point in all of historic time, the lifetime of Jesus Christ.

In this lesson we will briefly review the events and people which may be "clustered" around the men mentioned above. This is the specific reason for developing this time lineso that you may commit to memory the approximate, relative point in time for these activities and individuals.

Before Abraham

Particularly memorable Bible stories leading up to the lifetime of Abraham include:

• The Creation account
• The story of Cain murdering Abel
• The Flood
• The building of the Tower of Babel

Thus you can commit to memory that all of these events would have occurred prior to 2000 BC. Some significant Bible characters whose lifetime would have occurred during this period would include:

• Adam and Eve
• Cain and Abel
• Methuselah (the oldest man recorded in the Bible)
• Noah (and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth)
• Nimrod, the founder of ancient Babylon

Abraham

Significant Biblical stories around the lifetime of Abraham, and leading up to the time of Moses (2000 - 1500 BC) would include:

• Abraham's calling by God to leave his home and go to Palestine
• The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

Significant Bible characters of this time period include:

• Abraham and Sarah
• Isaac and Rebekah
• Jacob and Esau
• Jacobs wives, Rachel and Leah
• The sons of Jacob, from whom the tribes of Israel were named: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, Benjamin
• The sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh

Moses

Significant Biblical stories around the lifetime of Moses, and leading up to the time of David (1500 - 1000 BC) would include:

• The Exodus
• The crossing of the Red Sea
• The giving of the Ten Commandments
• The wandering of Israel in the Wilderness
• The conquest of the Promised Land by Israel
• The Battle of Jericho
• The stories of the "Judges"

Significant Bible characters of this time period include:

• Moses, Aaron and Miriam
• Joshua and Caleb
• Samson and Delilah
• Deborah
• Ruth

David

Significant Biblical stories around the lifetime of David, and leading up to the time of Daniel (1000 - 500 BC) would include:

• David and Goliath
• David and Bathsheba
• ALL stories of Kings of Israel or Judah

Significant Bible characters of this time period include:

• The little boy--and later prophet--Samuel
• King Saul and his son Jonathan
• The Prophets Elijah and Elisha
• The Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah

Daniel

Significant Biblical stories around the lifetime of Daniel, and leading up to the time of Jesus (500BC - 1 A.D.) would include:

• Daniel in the Lions Den
• The fiery furnace
• The handwriting on the wall
• The story of the Book of Esther

Significant Bible characters of this time period include:

• Daniel's companions, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Hebrew names, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah)
• Nebuchadnezzar
• Belshazzar
• King Cyrus

If you are able to commit even these few names and events to memory, in their relative time periods, you will find that you have quite a good start on really understanding Old Testament history!