L/V 10+ Tip of the Day #238 Understanding a timeline date
Another tip of the day (TOTD) series for Logos/Verbum 10. They will be short and often drawn from forum posts. Feel free to ask questions and/or suggest forum posts you'd like to see included. Adding comments about the behavior on mobile and web apps would be appreciated by your fellow forumites. A search for "L/V 10+ Tip of the Day site:community.logos.com" on Google should bring the tips up as should this Reading List within the application.
This tip is inspired by the forum post: Help with dates (Factbook, Timeline, etc) - Logos Forums
The question:
Ralph Gibson III said:I'm getting stuck up on dates and just need a little direction/clarification. Thank you in advance for the help.
Subject: Book of Obadiah, Prophet Obadiah
Advanced Timeline tool shows "Book of Obadiah written circa 400 BC" (see Figure-1)
Bible Books Explorer shows composite dates for the book of Obadiah ranging from 900 BC - 840 BC (See Figure-2)
Can someone help me understand the discrepancy or is it as simple that the Bible Books Explorer is estimated the dates for the events of Obadiah?
The answers:
DMB said:I don't think you're going to get a satisfying answer:
- Obadiah doesn't self date easily, ranging as you show. The commentaries bounce across 4 centuries for various reasons.
- The author's life, and the verb tenses are also arguable. Contemporary, past, prophetic?
- Logos itself is largely a 'reporting' tool (it doesn't propose a single view or even consistent view). Though the least likely choice (400s bc) seems odd.
That ca400~ dating (I was curious) in AYB is explained as (and not saying correct):
"4. Date Obadiah ca. 450. Some scholars place at least the core of the book in the mid-fifth century near the time of Malachi and Nehemiah (e.g., Wellhausen 1963; Nowack 1897; Bewer 1911; Thompson 1956; Kodell 1982). They connect the book with the Nabatean settlement in Edom and understand the attack upon Edom depicted in vv 1–7 as descriptive of past events, namely, the Arab incursions"
MJ. Smith said:Click on the timeline event to see its source.
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