TIP OF THE DAY 130: Units of the day conversion; historical eras

MJ. Smith

I am adding these posts to the previous tip list L/V 10 Tip of the Day (when it doesn't time out)

POST ISSUE: Time units – watches to regas – and contextual time

This is a mixed post. It finishes the discussion of the previous post by calculating the Hebrew units of time to contemporary measures with the minimum and maximums calculated by the variation of the length of day in Jerusalem. It then introduces contextual time, a major factor in Bible study. It compares the historical eras as defined by six different books available in Logos/Verbum.

QUESTION: How do Biblical units of time compare to contemporary units?

ANSWER: drawn from Perplexity and a calculator

In Jerusalem	Day/night	OT watches3 per night	NT watches4 per night	Hours12 per day/night	Heleq 1080 per hour	Rega 76 per heleq
Longest	14:13	4:44:27	3:33:20	1:11:5	3.944 sec.	0.052 sec
Shortest	9:47	3:15:33	2:26:40	0:48:55	3.261 sec.	0.043 sec

QUESTION: List of types of contextual time.

ANSWER: This list was built as the subsequent posts were created.

Historical eras

• Bryson, Harold T.
• Cavins, Jeff, Tim Gray, and Sarah Christmyer
• Fields, Wilbur.
• Smith, James E.
• Sri, Edward
• Thompson, Frank Charles, and John Stephen Jauchen

Eras defined by Church Fathers

• Irenaeus: Four Covenants
• Clement of Alexandria: Six periods
• Eusebius: 3 methods of periodization; approximately 6 epochs for Old Testament
• Cyrian: Seven Dispensations
• Hippolytus: Six millennia (corresponding to days of creation)
• Lactantius: Six ages/millennia (corresponding to days of creation)
• Augustine of Hippo: Six eras (corresponding to days of creation)

By dispensations and covenants

• Eras of law (Patriarchal, Mosaic, Christian)
• Covenants
• Dispensations
• Alternative covenants <expand>
• Alternative covenants <expand>
• ACELO covenants <expand>

Eras of civilization

Eras of Jewish worship

QUESTION: What units are used to define large units of time – historical eras?

SOFTWARE: A series of smart book searches generated this Bibliography:

Bryson, Harold T. Expository Preaching: The Art of Preaching through a Book of the Bible. B&H; WORDsearch, 2015.

Cavins, Jeff, Tim Gray, and Sarah Christmyer. The Bible Timeline: The Story of Salvation. The Great Adventure Bible Timeline. Ascension Press, 2011.

Fields, Wilbur. Old Testament History: An Overview of Sacred History & Truth. Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company, 1996.

Smith, James E. Bible History Made Simple. The Bible Made Simple. Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company, 2009.

Sri, Edward. The Bible Compass: A Catholic’s Guide to Navigating the Scriptures. West Chester, PA: Ascension Press, 2009.

Thompson, Frank Charles, and John Stephen Jauchen, eds. Thompson Chain Outline Study Series. Updated and Expanded. The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible. Indianapolis, IN: B.B. Kirkbride Bible Co., Inc., 1997.

ANSWER: This provides this table of classification of time by Biblical historical eras.

		Biblical Event Navigator	The Bible Timeline: Great Adventure (Cavins, Gray	Thompson Chain Outline Study Series	Wilbur Fields: Old Testament History (no dates)	James E. Smith: Bible History Made Simple (start date only)	Harold T. Bryson: Expository preaching (no dates)
9999	2100 BC			Period of beginnings
						Beginnings	Beginnings
9999 creation	2000 BC		Early world		Antediluvian period
						Scattering
7000 BC	3000 BC	Pre-patriarchal period			Postdiluvian period
2200 BC	1600 BC	Patriarchal Period			Period of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
2092 BC	1877 BC		Patriarchal period			Pilgrim
2000 BC	1700BC		Patriarch				Patriarchs
					Period of bondage in Egypt		Sojourn, exodus, and wilderness wanderings
1877 BC	1382 BC			Egyptian to Canaan conquest period		Egyptian
1700 BC	1280 BC		Egypt and exodus
1600 BC	1405 BC	The Exodus from Egypt			Period of wandering
1447 BC						Wilderness
1407 BC						Conquest	Conquest of Canaan
1405 BC	1375 BC	Israelite conquest of Canaan			Period of conquest
1376 BC	1035 BC			Judges period	Period of judges		Judges
1375 BC	1051 BC	Judges govern Israel
1367 BC						Judges
1280 BC	1240 BC		Desert Wanderings
1240 BC	1050 BC		Conquest and judges
1051 BC	931BC	United kingdom		United kingdom period	United kingdom		United kingdom
1050 BC	930 BC		Royal kingdom
1043 BC						Single kingdom
931 BC	715 BC	Divided kingdom			Divided kingdom	Sister kingdoms	Two kingdoms
931 BC	587/6 BC			Divided kingdom period
930 BC	722 BC		Divided kingdom
723 BC						Assyrian
722 BC	605 BC	Assyrian exile
722 BC	538 BC		Exile				Exile and restoration
605 BC	539 BC	Babylonian captivity			Period of captivity in Babylonian	Babylonian
587/6 BC	331 BC			Post-exilic and Persian period	Period of return and restoration
539 BC	432 BC	Return from exile				Persians
539 BC	331 BC	Persian rule
538 BC	167 BC		Return
					Intertestamental interval		Intertestamental period
400 BC						Silent
331 BC	166 BC			Greek and Egyptian period
167 BC	0		Maccabean revolt
166 BC	63 BC			Maccabean period
333BC	63 BC	Hellenistic period
63 BC	323 AD	Roman period in Palestine
63 BC	70 AD			Roman period
6 BC	33 AD	Life of Jesus			Life of Christ	Incarnation	The period of Jesus’ life and ministry
0	33 AD		Messianic fulfillment
30 AD	100 AD	The early church			Church age	Pouring
33 AD	9999		The church				The period of the early church
39 AD						Pauline
63 AD						Persecution