Calculations

1948: Birth of Abram (Genesis 11:26)

2023: Abram enters Canaan (Genesis 12:4)

A careful reading of Genesis 11, Genesis 12, and Acts 7 reveals that Abram did not leave for Canaan the year his father Terah died.

Genesis 12:1 says that the Lord “had said” to Abram to leave Ur for Canaan. Genesis 11:27-32 and Acts 7:2-4 show that Terah started that journey with Abram and Sarai and Lot, but they stopped along the way and settled in Haran, which they named after Abram’s brother Haran, Lot’s father, who died in Ur before the journey began.

Acts 7:4 seems to suggest that Abram continued the journey to Canaan after Terah’s death: as the NKJV translates it, “Then he [Abraham] came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.”

As open and shut as that seems, it is important to pay attention to the Greek, which literally says, “and from there, after the same father was dead, he moved the same to this land in which you now dwell.” The word “same” can be translated “his/him,” but in this case, it comes shortly after the name “Haran” and thus is referring back to it.

In other words, Stephen is literally saying, “and from there, after the same father [Haran] was dead, he [Abraham] moved the same [son, Lot] to this land in which you now dwell.” Or, expressed more intuitively (and taking into consideration that Haran died in Ur), it would be, “with that same father Haran being dead from before, Abraham moved Haran’s son Lot (who was like a son to him) with him when he left to go to the Land of Canaan.” Thus, Acts 7:4 does not refer to God moving Abraham, but rather Abraham moving Lot. Lot’s name is not explicitly mentioned because any Jew who knew Genesis 11 would know Haran was his father and would get the reference.

At any rate, Genesis 12:4 indicates that Abram decided to continue following God’s call and completed the journey to Canaan without his own father (possibly Terah remained because God told Abram to “get out of his father’s house” in Genesis 12:1). Terah continued to live in Haran many years before he finally died – in fact, he only died a few years before Sarah did. Therefore, to figure out the year Abram was born and the year he entered Canaan, we have to work forward from Terah’s birth, not backwards from his death.

This interpretation of Acts 7:4 is the only way to integrate Genesis 11:26 into the Bible timeline. It also sets up the significant numerological symbolism that we will explore later.

2033: Abram marries Hagar (Genesis 16:3)

2034: Birth of Ishmael (Genesis 16:16)

2047: Beginning of circumcision (Genesis 17:1; Genesis 17:24-25)

2047: Renaming of Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 17:1)

2048: Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

According to Genesis 17:21, Isaac would be born 12 months (“at this set time next year”) after circumcision was instituted.

When the angels visited Abraham before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, Sarah laughed when she heard the promise repeated in Genesis 18:10, implying that she was not yet pregnant. But in Genesis 18:14 the pre-incarnate Jesus (as indicated by Genesis 18:1) said, “At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” He makes no mention of “next year,” implying that it will be in the same calendar year they are currently speaking in. And He mentions “the time of life,” which presumably means the standard 9 months of human pregnancy.

Therefore, circumcision must have been instituted late in 2047, and the angels visited two to three months later in early 2048.

2048: Birth of Isaac (Genesis 21:2)

2085: Death of Sarah (Genesis 17:17; Genesis 23:1)

2123: Death of Abraham (Genesis 25:7)

2171: Death of Ishmael (Genesis 25:17)

2088: Isaac marries Rebekah (Genesis 25:20)

2108: Birth of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25:26)

2148: Esau marries Judith and Basemath (Genesis 26:34)

2228: Death of Isaac (Genesis 35:28)

Note: To calculate the dates of events between Jacob’s birth and the descent into Egypt, we have to work backwards.

2238: Descent of Jacob’s household into Egypt (Genesis 47:9)

2236: Famine begins (Genesis 45:6)

2229: Joseph becomes governor of Egypt (Genesis 41:29-30)

2227: Joseph interprets the dreams of the butler and the baker (Genesis 41:1)

2216: Joseph sold into slavery (Genesis 37:2)

2205: Jacob flees from Laban (Genesis 31:41)

2199: Birth of Joseph (Genesis 41:46)

2199: Jacob’s second 7 years of service for Rachel end (Genesis 30:25-26)

2192: Jacob’s initial 7 years of service for Rachel end (Genesis 29:30)

2192: Jacob marries Leah and Rachel (Genesis 29:20)

2185: Jacob flees from Esau to Laban (Genesis 29:20)

We can move forward again once we move past the descent into Egypt.

2243: Famine ends (Genesis 45:11)

2255: Death of Jacob (Genesis 47:28)

2309: Death of Joseph (Genesis 50:22)