Abram and Yahweh - an emerging idea

 A special feature of this month's book "The Reforming Power of the Scriptures: A Biography of the English Bible" by Mary Metzner Trammell and William G. Dawley is the Bible Time Line that comes with it. It is a fascinating study.

The time line shows notes the following -  

• The story of Noah around 2100 B.C.
• Abraham and the Patriarchs 1850 - 1600 B.C.  (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob)
• Settlement and Captivity in Egypt 1600 - 1280 B.C. 
• Exodus from Egypt 1280 - 1250 B.C. (Moses)
• Conquest of Canaan 1250 - 1200 B.C. (Joshua)
• The Judges Rule in Israel 1200 - 1020 B.C. (Ruth, Samuel) 
• United Kingdom of Israel under Monarchy 1020 - 922 B.C. (Saul, David, Solomon)
• Israel Divided into Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel and Judah 922 - 721 B.C. (Amos, Hosea, I Isaiah, Micah)  
• Judah Stands Alone 721 - 587 B.C. (Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Daniel story, Ezekiel, Destruction of Jerusalem)
• Exile in Babylonia 587 - 538 B.C. (Lamentations, II Isaiah)
• Persian Rule 538 - 333 B.C. (Edict of Cyrus, III Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Proverbs compiled, Malachi, Obadiah, Esther story, Ezra, Psalms, Nehemiah, Joel)
• Greek, Ptolemaic, and Seleucid Rule in Palestine 333 - 165 B.C. (Ecclesiastes)
• Independence in Israel 165 - 63 B.C. (Dead Sea sect of Jews - Essenes)
• Roman Rule in Palestine 63 B.C. - 615 A.D. 
• The Master's Life c. 6 B.C. - 33 A.D. (Jesus, John the Baptist)
• Early Apostolic Period c. 33 - 62 A.D. (Apostles)
• Late Apostolic Period c. 62 - 100 A.D. (Jerusalem destroyed, John exiled on Patmos)
• Post-Apostolic Period 100 forward

It's interesting to add in some other dates. 

• Greek author Homer wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey - eighth century B.C. (see p. 4)
• Age of Pericles - fifth century B.C.: democracy launched in Athens (see p. 5)
• Greek philosopher Socrates put to death - 399 B.C. Plato and Aristotle continue his philosophical endeavours. See p. 5.
• Alexander the Great 356 - 323 B.C. 
• Rome spreads its influence as Republic (509 B.C.) then Empire (27 A.D.) 
• Constantine was the first Christian Roman Emperor. He ruled from 303 - 337 A.D. 
• Constantinople was founded in 330 on the site of the Greek city of Byzantium. 
• Council of Nicea - first meeting 325 A.D. 

But we are interested here in "a tribe of ...desert wanderers" (p. 5) from that area of the "Fertile Crescent" (ibid) around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and a man called Abram. Instead of praying to a "personal deity" (ibid), Abram gets the idea of one God, who he calls Yahweh. This was revolutionary, and would lead him at age 75 to a whole new land.

Julie Swannell

Map from Colombia University showing the Fertile Crescent