Bible Numbers

How Crucial to the Numbers in the Bible
is Pin-Pointing the Exodus Date? 

Not as crucial as you might think!

The date of the Exodus is hotly contested among students of chronology, for once this date is secured then all dates reaching back to the Creation can be ascertained. In my own study of bible numbers, I use the date that is recognized by the majority of modern bible-believing scholars (i.e., 1446 BC). But I hasten to add that for some of the patterns (using the numbers in the bible) this question is irrelevant because many of the patterns exist irregardless of their exact date in history. Many patterns are internally present within the text itself, as such they are not contingent upon establishing their exact dates in pre-Israelite history. 

For instance, (as the following chart shows), the bible divides Noah's life (until the Flood) into a 480 + 120 (= 600)-year pattern (Gen. 6:3; 7:6). Using the max 405-chronology, this means that from then Flood till Abraham's birth are again 480 years, and then 720 more till the Exodus, and then 480 more till Solomon's temple (1Kgs. 6:1). This creates a 480 + 120 + 480 + 720 + 480 pattern. Not only are all these numbers divisible by 120---an important number at the Flood, Exodus, and United-Monarchy---but they also create a 600 and 1,200-year-pattern two times, and a 1,080 (3 x 360) + 720 (2 x 360) pattern, etc. (See "A Prophetic Year is 360 Days.") Furthermore, the total time from Noah's birth until when Solomon finished building are 2300 years, (cf., Dan. 8:14). 

About the following chart:

• The only purpose of this chart is to provide examples of bible-number patterns that remain unaffected whether or not they are set to specific dates in time. See "the 405-Year Gap in Chronology" for other examples.
• This chart contains the basic framework of the bible numbers for the period from Noah to Solomon. There are hundreds of lesser patterns that also exist within this framework; they result from both the other (less significant) events as recorded in the bible during this period, and also from the New Testament induced "405-Year Gap". (See "Overview of  Bible Chronology" for more.)
• Though important, the following chart leaves out the minor detail of the 2-year gap of Gen. 11:10. 
   (See "Chronology" and "the 405-Year Gap in Bible Chronology" for more.) 
• The theological implications of the following patterns are omitted. 

To repeat: These patterns (and hundreds more like them) are unaffected by whether or not an exact date can be assigned them---they stand alone since they are based internally upon the bible's own chronology; they are true no matter where one assigns them in actual linear time. Surely, what these patterns mean are more important than the mere plotting of them down on some time-line! Nonetheless, I am personally confident that the majority view of the scholars is correct, that is, that the Exodus was in c. 1446 BC. And if indeed this date is correct, then we have an astounding fact before us---the patterns of the above chart happen to work flawlessly with this same date (of 1446 BC). The patterns not only continue uninterrupted, but indeed they blossom and converge at the birth of Christ. A remarkable coincidence indeed---if it is a coincidence!

For example, since the temple was begun in 966 BC, 480 years after the Exodus (1Kgs. 6:1), thus there remains another 480 x 2-years more until the conception/birth of Christ in 6 BC. This means, therefore, that the 120, 360, and 480-patterns all continue unabated and indeed converge at Christ's birth! 

{Furthermore, even the 360 x 2 and 360 x 3 patterns converge at 6/5 BC, as well as arguable the 600 + 1,200 = 1,800 pattern. (I.e., the first exile from Judah was in 605 BC, and Joseph (son of Jacob) died in 1805 BC; compare the time frames of Gen. 50:25, Ex. 13:19, Jos. 24:32 with Ezk. 37. Matt. 1:16 names Jesus' father and grandfather as Joseph and Jacob---a clue? [Note also Matt. 1:11, 17] For the tremendous significance of the 480-year cycles see, "How the Leap Months are Regulated in the Prophetic Calendar.")}

It is reasonable to inquire as to whether or not the popular date of 1446 BC for the Exodus was simply a concoction by scholars to fit the bible numbers. However, the 1446 BC date was not chosen arbitrarily but was the consequence of first establishing the date for Solomon's temple as c. 966 BC, and then simply adding to it the 480 years of 1Kgs. 6:1---and this 966 BC date was not chosen arbitrarily, but because of empirical evidence only. 

Moreover, most scholars reject out-of-hand the day-equals-a-year principle , thus they would not have been influenced by the bible numbers in ascertaining the Exodus date since they do not as much as believe in them (as I have here displayed them)! Interestingly, the day-for-year principle was the norm for centuries before us. However, bible students that lived during those centuries lacked the correct dates and thus they did not discover anything substantial in their exhausting studies. Ironically, while our generation possesses the correct dates indeed, yet they have generally forsaken the day-for-year principle and so have overlooked the patterns in the bible numbers! (By this, God "sealed up" the understanding of the numbers until our day.)

In conclusion then, even though the establishing of specific dates is of tremendous value in the study of the numbers, yet it is by no means a prerequisite for reaping its benefits. Many patterns exist internally within the bible itself unaffected by date setting, and are of great value in aiding biblical interpretation. Nevertheless, there are far-reaching benefits reaped by the establishing of exact dates. The patterns that result from them not only aid biblical interpretation, but also prove the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ to an unbelieving generation. For they prove beyond doubt that the Author of the Bible is ultimately God---for whereas men can devise a false genealogy that produces numeric patterns, but only God can etch complex numeric patterns into actual history. 

The following patterns were ascertained using the 1446 BC Exodus date and represent but one bible-number pattern. Here, then, is a summary of the 360 "prophetic-year" cycles that appear when calibrated to the 1446 BC date. The patterns produced not only vindicate bible chronology in general, but testify to the accuracy of the 1446 date specifically. 

• From Noah's birth until Christ's birth are 9 x 360; from Abraham's birth are 6 x 360; from the Exodus (birth of the nation) are 4 x 360; from when Israel went back into captivity (i.e., the death of the nation, 725-722 BC) are 2 x 360; and from the rebirth of the nation of Judah up from Babylonian exile (539-536 BC) are 1.5 x 360 years. 
• The slight inexactness of the last two dates of 725-722 BC and 539-536 BC are in reality the more precise. They are meant to be cast into the mirror, that is, as if one or the other were in AD. (I.e., 725-722 BC + 1260 years = AD 536-539.) Therefore figuratively speaking, there are 1260 years (3.5 x 360, Rev. 11:3) between the demise of Israel and recovery of Judah.---But the mirror is another subject! 
• (See also the 1290 days [i.e., 3.5 years too] of Dan. 12:11, and the literal 1290 years from when Israel entered Egypt [1876 BC] until when it entered there again [and Babylon] at the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC! 
• (See "The Writing on the Wall," for more.)

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