God's War Plan: The BEGINNING

Adam and Eve, by ignorance, let sin enter the world and completely change God’s initial perfect plan. From this moment onwards, mankind would be at war against evil. (Genesis 1-3)

Having been made in His image, Adam and Eve were meant to be God’s representatives on Earth, His priests. After sin, the only way for them to re-enter God’s grace and be in communion with Him again would be by retaining holiness. This, which once was easy, would now require sacrifice – work. Later this would be symbolized by actual animal sacrifices.

[Satan] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

The remaining actions of humanity can be summarized in those following or believing Satan’s lies and those believing God and following Him.

Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel in jealousy, establishing a pattern of violence upon the Earth (c 3000 BC).

Bible Timeline and Ancient History

When you follow the chronologies and lifespans mentioned in Genesis it is possible to date the creation of the world at about 4004 BC [2]

Old Stone Age before 10,000 BC

Middle Stone Age 10,000-8000 BC

New Stone Age 8000-4000 BC

Copper-Stone Age 4000-3000 BC

Early Bronze Age 3000-2000 BC

[1] Carbon 14 is not reliable testing beyond 3000 BC. There is no reliable way to prove that anything is older than that. Dr. Libby.

[2] As per research conducted between 1650 and 1654 by the Archbishop James Usher.

Bible History - NOAH'S ARK

Generations later, mankind had for the most part degenerated into depravity. Noah was found to be a God fearing man. God gave him the mandate to build an ark for Noah, his family and all the animals to escape the wrath that would cover the world in the form of a giant flood.

After the flood God blessed Noah’s sons Shem and Japheth but let Ham go on his own way as he had chosen. From Noah’s sons came all the other nations of the world (Genesis 11).

God promised Noah that never again would He destroy the world by water. One begs the question, would it be destroyed by fire?

The Bible states that on the the seventeenth day of the seventh month Noah's Ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat (Genesis 4) [3]

Two thousand years later, the Hebrew nation would escape from Egypt on the seventh month, at which time God told them to establish a new calendar. The seventh month, Nissan, then became the first month. This works out so that it was on the 17^th day of Nissan that Noah’s Ark landed. This marked a new beginning for mankind.

POINT A CROSS
Jesus was crucified on the 14^th day of Nissan, resurrected on the 17^th. Also a new beginning for mankind. Why would the rabbis put this story in the Old Testament? As far as we know the Jewish religion has not stumbled across this fact. It is evidence that God put it there, to make a clear indication to the Messiah. This happens numerous times in the Bible.

[3] Josephus states that in AD 100 there were still remnants of it there.

World History Timeline - The BIRTH of the NATIONS

The Tower of Babel

The Tower ofBabel was a ziggurat built, probably a few hundred years after the flood, when the world was again more populated and, again, back into depravity. The people build a tower not to reach the heavens (as it is widely misunderstood) but to worship the heavens.

The location is thought to be Babylon or, according to David Rohl, Eridu, which was the first city in history, much older than Babylon. The timeline may have been at the time of King Enmerkar around 2841 BC. [4]

Babel was in fact the pinnacle of human advancement with a diverse range of skills. God confused the people working in the tower by giving them different languages. The work was interrupted and they dispersed. The great outcome was that these workers were all highly skilled and when they arrived in the new lands they were able to replace any inferior skills in their new homes with their superior cultures. This is why many of the organized civilizations around the world seemed to have appeared overnight.

[4] Points especially to Etemenanki, the ziggurat of the Marduk temple in Babylon with a base of 295 feet square with seven platforms over 108 feet high.

First civilizations

Whereas in north in Mesopotamia we have a continuous history of farming for thousands of years, in the Nile Valley that history only begins between 5500 and 4000 BC. However, when we address more state-like developed civilizations, Egypt’s appears at almost exactly the same time as Mesopotamia, after 3000 BC.

There is evidence that Mesopotamians migrated there by sea, from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea. This is another example of the quick dispersion of nations after the Tower of Babel.

The ancient civilizations that well advanced have no record of how they got there. There is no gradual slow evolution to their status of developed culture, government, infrastructure and power. One day they were not there, the next day hey were there. The implication is that only sudden migration from Babel can explain this.

In fact there has been a loss of technology in humanity over the years. This is why a modern Egyptian does not know how the how the pyramids were built.

The 3d Millennium BC was a period which saw the structuring of populations into cultural societies evident in:

Migration and trade

The great flood plains of Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus Valley were the three great centres of natural sustenance and thus civilizations. In Egypt the Lower and upper kingdoms wer united in the first monarchy (28^th Century BC). Mesopotamian civilization grew under Hammurabi (c 1565 BC). It is natural that over the millennia, the history of the Middle East has been resumed in a oscillation between these two zones. Whether migratory or military, we observe vast movement of populations an armies from one of these zones towards the other, from the time of Hyskos (14^th Century BC) to Alexander the Great ( 323 BC).

By the 2^nd Millennium BC there was ongoing relations between the kingdoms in form of:

(a) Trade of goods

(b) Spreading of different belief systems

(d) Establishment of powerful city states

Near East trade routes

In between those regions lay Canaan. This land was rich and fertile as it was the only land within that subcontinent (other than Mesopotamia or Egypt) to have enough rainfall to sustain a large thriving population. To sustain a nation.

The Hebrews are Semitic people descending most likely from the Amorites or Arameans who entered Palestine with the migration of Abraham from Ur (c. 1855 BC).

Noah-Abraham family tree

Gen. 9:1. Trevor M Chase

WORLD HISTORY TIMELINE

Events in History

Below is a history of the World timeline pertaining to the Ancient Middle East joined with the history of the Bible.

History Timeline Explained

Ancient calendars dates prior to 664 BC are based on Rohl's history of the world timeline. For a detailed explanation on the coherence of the Bible history timeline with other ancient history events please refer to our chapter “Chronological Discrepancies” for clarification.

The BEGINNING

Bible History - CREATION - ADAM and EVE