Ancient History Timeline

Event

Abimelech Rules at Shechem (3 years)

After Gideon's death his son Abimelech kills his seventy brothers, is made king at Shechem and reigns three years until he is killed at Thebez (Judg 9).

Sort year1218/1215 BC
Tier 3 · Ussher–Jones (Floyd Nolen Jones)

Tier 3: Ussher-Jones (F. N. Jones): 1218 BC (no higher-tier year available). Jordan (secondary display) never sets the sort.

Description

Judges-period record added from James B. Jordan's chronology (secondary display) with Ussher, Jones and, where available, CFAH-1 Table 1 dates for sorting. Jordan treats the judgeships as partly overlapping regional sequences (North / Centre / South) fitted to the 480 years of 1 Kgs 6:1 and the 300 years of Judg 11:26.

Scripture

Chronologies

Dates for Abimelech Rules at Shechem (3 years), CFAH first
ChronologyDate as statedYear (BC / AM)Citation & note
CFAH Not yet established — —
pending CFAH reference
Ussher-Jones ABIMELECH "3 YRS", 1218 BC to 1215 BC
Precision: year
 1218/1215 BC Jones, Chart No. 4 "Judges to the First 3 Kings" (© 1993 Floyd Jones; chart text revised "As of 2007"), timeline band
Sets sort year
Ussher 2769d AM, 1235 BC (Abimelech made king with the Shechemites' help)
Precision: year
 1235 BC
AM 2769		 Ussher, Annals of the World, Fourth Age §358 (paragraph numbering of the modern transcription)
§357 (2768d AM, 1236 BC): Gideon dies; Abimelech kills his brothers. §359 (2771d AM, 1233 BC): after three years Gaal's conspiracy and Abimelech's death.
Differs from sort year by 17 yrs
Jordan secondary "2813 - Beginning of Abimelech's 3-year oppressive reign (Jud. 9:22)."
Precision: year
 AM 2813–2816 Jordan, From Creation to Solomon (Studies in Biblical Chronology No. 2, Biblical Horizons, Oct. 2001), ch. 11 "The Era of the Judges and the Reign of Saul", p. 52
2001 revision. Jordan's 1991 list (BC 3:8) has an earlier year; see the second Jordan entry.
Jordan secondary "2787 - Death of Gideon, beginning of Abimelech's 3-year oppressive reign (Jud. 9:22)."
Precision: year
 AM 2787–2790 Jordan, "Chronology and Kings (II)," Biblical Chronology 3:8 (August 1991), section "The Judges", summary list
1991 scheme, superseded by Jordan himself in 2001 (Studies in Biblical Chronology No. 2 dates the whole judges sequence 26 years later because he there ends the 300 years of Judg 11:26 when Ammon took the villages, AM 2860, not at Jephthah's victory). BC 5:2: "Gideon died in 2787, and his evil son Abimelech became Israel's first king. His death ... came in 2790, a sabbath year."
Jordan (compilation) secondary 3 yr. opp. of Abimelech (9:22) 2813 AM
Precision: year
 AM 2813 Anno Mundi Chronology Studies (unnamed compiler; a compilation of James B. Jordan's system), p. 8, chart "Year of the World: From the Judges to King Saul (Chronology from James Jordan)"
Agrees with Jordan's own published AM 2813.
Biblical statements (direct Scripture data) 3 years
Precision: unknown
 — Judg 9:22

Disagreements & open questions

  • Chronologies disagree BC years differ: 1235 BC (Ussher); 1218 BC (Ussher-Jones).
  • Chronologies disagree Anno Mundi figures differ: AM 2769 (Ussher); AM 2787 (Jordan); AM 2813 (Jordan, Jordan (compilation)).

Flags are generated from the figures stored in the data. The master timeline still sorts by the CFAH-weighted sort year.

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Copyrighted works (CFAH papers, F. N. Jones) are linked, not reproduced.