The Dung Beetle

I first heard about this from Brother Beau Hicks, pastor of Jones Prairie Independent Baptist Church, Jones Prairie, Texas.

Even the lowly dung beetle (Scarabaeoidea) is wonderfully made by the voice of God. 

“In a study published in the scientific journal Current Biology, researchers say dung beetles take ‘snapshots’ of the stars and store the images in their brains.

After conducting an experiment in which some beetles wore cardboard hats that blocked their views of the stars, researchers determined that “dung beetles can roll their balls of dung in straight lines by using the Milky Way as a compass queue.” Warrant added that the tiny waste harvester wearing the cardboard hats just “rolled around and around and around in circles. They couldn’t keep a straight path.”

This happens during the “dance,” a behavior in which the beetle climbs on top of its ball and rotates about its vertical axis.

“In order to protect their food from competitors, ball-rolling dung beetles detach a piece of dung from a pile, shape it into a ball, and roll it away along a straight path. They appear to rely exclusively on celestial compass cues to maintain their bearing.”

“In the most elaborate carry-out scenario, the dung beetles must first stake claim to their piece of poop at the main dung pile, then shape it into a sphere for easy transport, fend off other dung beetles trying to steal it, and then — using the stars to navigate — determine the fastest way to roll their prize away to a safe spot for consumption.”

From Dung Beetles Navigate Poop-Pile Getaways Using Celestial ‘Snapshots’ and “A Snapshot-Based Mechanism for Celestial Orientation,” Current Biology, Volume 26, Issue 11, June 2016.

God made all things, and all things by him are gloriously made. See Colossians 1:16 and Revelation 4:11.

Was A. T. Robertson a conservative Baptist?

The name of A. T. Robertson is probably almost immediately recognized by older Baptist preachers, and probably most seminary Greek students and scholars. He was a great Greek scholar, but I do not see his theology as thorough-going conservatism (or even thorough-going Baptist). Robertson taught for nearly 40 years at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Concerning creation and evolution, he said the following to his students.

“Give Haeckel a primordial germ and let it be charged with potency to make the universe and he will do the rest. Give them a God to start with, only don’t call it God. Evolution, I am willing to believe in it, I rather think I do, but not in atheistic evolution. I take not a primordial germ, but God and start with Romans I, that the things around me are enough to prove God. They can not prove God was not before matter. I can not prove that he was. Lincoln at Hampton Roads Conference said: ‘Write ‘Union’ at the top, and I don’t care what you write under it.’ I say write God at the top, and what if he did use evolution? I can stand it if the monkeys can. They thing that differentiates you from a monkey is that you have a soul. If he did do it that way, he still did it.” (pp. 76-77)

…

“The Bible opened with the picture of a Garden. However man got in it, – evolution, I don’t know – they had fellowship with God.” (p. 175)

Changing the biblical statement that God put or placed man in the Garden to a weak and watery “however he got in” is not conservative (nor even Baptist in my understanding of the orthodox beliefs of true Baptists). A man who does not know how man got in the Garden may be qualified to teach Greek, but he is not qualified to teach the Bible. 

• And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul...And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Genesis 2:7, 15
• And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy 2:2

New Testament Interpretation (Matthew – Revelation) Notes on Lectures of Dr. A. T. Robertson, 1931

If the foundations be destroyed

Psalm 11:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

God speaks through his world.

He spoke the world into existence. Genesis 1:1ff.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth…And God said…

He speaks through the existing world. Psalm 19.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Cf also. Hebrews 11:3. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

God speaks through his word. 

He spoke the word into existence. 2 Timothy 3:16. 

All scripture is given by inspiration of God... 

He speaks through the existing word. Matthew 24:35.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Cf. also Isaiah 49:8 Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee...

I do not have all the answers

“At present, we may not have sufficient light to explain fully why there is variation in the manuscript evidence…” Brent C. Evans, Why I Preach from the Received Text, p. 97

I do not have all the answers...

...neither for the evolutionists, nor for the text critics.

Nevertheless, I still believe in creation, as well as the inspiration and preservation of the Scriptures. Why? Because the Bible teaches God created the world; the Bible teaches God inspired his word; the Bible teaches God preserves his word.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God...

Isaiah 30:8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever...

The slogan “Love your neighbor and get the shot”

“Love your neighbor, get the shot!”[i] Not a few times did we hear some form of the “love your neighbor” argument in reference to getting the Covid-19 vaccine? There is a reason.

Some of us living on the fringes are not very aware of the inner workings, smoke-filled rooms, and back room deals of faith and politics. At least not until someone in the media worth his or her salt makes the effort to expose the corruption. Most of this “love your neighbor” mantra can be traced back to Dr. Francis Sellers Collins, at the same time founder and Senior Fellow of BioLogos as well as the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). (He retired from NIH at the end of 2021.)[ii] He played the “Christian card” and succeeded selling his potion to evangelical Christian leaders, who in turn sold it to pastors, who in turn sold it to churches and Christian individuals. This can be seen in perusing the Biologos website, and well as listening to Ed Stetzer’s podcast interview with Collins.[iii]

…the feds leveraged the high status the Evangelical scientist Francis Collins has with Evangelical influencers to sell the government’s Covid line to Evangelical churches. Basham begins by citing Wheaton College’s Ed Stetzer, a dean and executive director of its Billy Graham Center, giving a friendly interview to Collins early in the pandemic… (Rod Dreher)

Evangelical leaders are on Collins’ team, and “Collins’ team” rejects the Genesis account of creation, as well as intelligent design – favoring instead theistic evolution.

Ed Stetzer: “I’m on your team. But I’m having to answer these questions to people in my churches...But again, remember, I’m on Francis Collins’ team.”[iv]

Francis Collins: “Perhaps today’s conflict, which seems particularly intense, is so difficult to understand because, after all, evolution has been very much on the scene for 150 years, and the science that supports Darwin’s theory has gotten stronger and stronger over those decades. That evidence is particularly strong today given the ability to study DNA and to see the way in which it undergirds Darwin’s theory in a marvelously digital fashion...I would like to believe that in a few more decades, this battle will be seen as just as unnecessary and just as readily resolved in favor of saying that evolution is true and God is true.”[v]

Francis Collins is good at his craft and his craft favors the use of aborted fetal tissue.

Tim Keller: “As good as @NIHDirector is at his craft, he’s a better friend.”[vi]

Francis Collins: “...scientifically, highly justified. There is strong evidence that scientific benefits come from fetal tissue research, which can be done with an ethical framework.”[vii]

“In our current society, people are in a circumstance of being able to take advantage of those technologies [i.e., abortions]. And we have decided as a society that that choice needs to be defended.”[viii]

“One month earlier, Collins’s NIH had approved a research grant requested by University of Pittsburgh scientists who desired to graft the scalps of aborted fetuses onto rats and mice. Their research findings were published by Nature in September 2020 and include photos showing patches of soft, wispy baby hair growing amid coarse rodent fur. This, too, is the kind of man Francis Collins is.”[ix]

Francis Collins is a national treasure, and Collins treasures his alliance to advocate for LGBTQ issues.

David French: “Francis Collins is a national treasure.”[x]

Francis Collins: “Each June, the National Institutes of Health joins the rest of the country in celebrating Pride Month and recognizing the struggles, stories, and victories of those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and others under the sexual and gender minority (SGM) umbrella. I applaud the courage and resilience it takes for individuals to live openly and authentically, particularly considering the systemic challenges, discrimination, and even violence that those and other underrepresented groups face all too often...I am committed to listening, respecting, and supporting those individuals as an ally and advocate.”[xi]

Francis Collins is full of wisdom, expertise, and grace – and used his expertise to help cover up whether the Covid-19 virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Russell Moore: “I admire greatly the wisdom, expertise, and, most of all, the Christian humility and grace of Francis Collins.”[xii]

Francis Collins: “Wondering if there is something NIH can do to help put down this very destructive [Wuhan lab-leak] conspiracy.” (E-mail to Anthony Fauci)

[E-mails indicate that Francis Collins, Anthony Fauci, and others engaged to cover up the fact that the Covid-19 virus could have leaked from the Wuhan Lab (in which both were heavily invested).[xiii]]

Time would fail me to tell of Francis Collins and Purpose-Driven Rick Warren, Tim Dalrymple & Ted Olsen (Christianity Today), N. T. Wright (University of Oxford), and others.[xiv] I believe the record of American history – if the USA survives as a nation to tell this history – will show that Francis Collins and his team were on “the wrong side of history.” The wrong side of condemning Christians as conspiracy theorists and murderers who would not follow Jesus’s directive to “love your neighbor,” when they were not convinced about everything they were told concerning Covid-19. The wrong side of morality. The wrong side of Biblical belief and unbelief. His psychopants sycophants, being on his side, are on the wrong side as well. Unfortunately, such high-profile Christian leaders are like the proverbial Trojan Horse, or perhaps more likely, the enemy within. Is it any wonder American Christianity is in the shape it is in?

For there are certain men crept in unawares...

---

[i] Love Your Neighbor, Get the Shot! A Christian Statement on Science for Pandemic Times
[ii] His service spanned 12 years and three presidencies.
[iii] The Biologos statement, the signatories, and the Stetzer podcast.
[iv] Edward John Stetzer is, among other things, the Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College and the Executive Director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College.
[v] The ‘Evidence for Belief’: An Interview with Francis Collins.
[vi] Timothy Keller is a Christian theologian, author, and the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.
[vii] NIH chief defends use of human fetal tissue as opponents decry it before Congress.
[viii] The Tragedy of Francis Collins’s Model for Science-Faith Integration.
[ix] The Cautionary Tale of Francis Collins.
[x] David Austin French is a conservative Christian political commentator, former attorney, and senior editor of The Dispatch.
[xi] From the NIH Director: NIH 2021 Pride Month.
[xii] Russell D. Moore is a Christian theologian and preacher. He is the director of the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today, and former president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
[xiii] NIH letter appears to conflict with Fauci, Collins claims about Wuhan lab.
[xiv] Not coincidentally, the New York Times columnist David Brooks, who wrote the evangelintellgentsia promo “The Dissenters Trying To Save Evangelicalism From Itself,” is a member of Francis Collins’s book club.

Young and old earth creationism

Awhile back I read a proposal that young earth versus old earth creationim should be an issue over which we should separate (in the senses of both church membership and interchurch fellowship). I can agree, with caveats. Foremost in my mind is the question of what constitutes a young-earth view and an old-earth view of the creation. Obviously, evolution and theistic evolution are old old earth! However, by young earth do we mean one must hold creation very close in the vicinity of just over 6000 years ago? For example, below I notice two persons (one living and one dead) who propose a view of the earth created some 13,000 to 15,000 years ago. They seem to build the case on an interpretation of the Bible, without reference to scientific explanations of the age of the earth. Those calculations are over twice the age of standard young earth interpretation. On the other hand, this view is still a very young earth in comparison to the billions of years proposed by the theories of evolution and theistic evolution.

Baptist missionary to China T. P. Crawford wrote a curious book titled The Patriarchal Dynasties from Adam to Abraham, shown to cover 10,500 years, and the highest human life only 187 (Richmond, VA: Josiah Ryland & Co., 1877). In it he proposed the idea that the long years of time recorded of various antediluvians were the length of their patriarchal dynasties rather than the years of their physical life. Below from page 7, showing in 1876 he thought the age of the earth was 14,376 years old.

From Adam to the flood,                                             7,737 years.

" the flood to the birth of Abraham,                            2,763    "

            10,500

" the birth of Abraham to Christ,                                            2,000

            12,500  

" Christ to the present time,                                                    1,876

Making a sum total of                                                             14,376

I found this intriguing especially because I had run across such an idea probably 15 or 20 years ago on the Mountain Retreat website, an article by Tony Warren titled “The Biblical Timeline of Creation.” 

“The key to understanding the truth which is locked in the genealogies of scripture is in comprehending the differences in how God, rather than man, recorded the passing of time…they are meant to be understood as ‘Patriarchal References’ in God’s system of documenting time. In other words, God is using certain genealogical names as Patriarchs to date the world in those early years. Each Patriarch or father reference, is a family name representing a chunk or epoch of time.” 

Warren’s assessment is a little “younger” than Crawford’s – by 1488 years – as Warren dates 13,008 years from creation to the time of his writing in 1996. It is beyond my purpose to figure out where these diverge. Unless I missed it, Warren does not credit anyone else with the idea. I would doubt he knew about Crawford’s book. Nevertheless, by T. P. Crawford shows the idea preceded Warren by at least 120 years.

An approach to resolve the young-earth old-earth “gap” is the Gap Theory (aka Gap Creationism and Ruin-Reconstruction Theory), popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible. This theory holds that Genesis 1:1 refers to the original creation, but the fall of Satan formed a cataclysmic event that ruined it. Thus, the 24-hour days of creation recorded in the rest of the chapter are days of “re-creation” or “restoration,” rather than the beginning of a creation. In effect, this allows one to hold to “creation” in six literal 24-hour days while at the same time embracing an old earth of billions of years. Scofield’s original notes make this clear, but some of that clarity has been revised out of later editions.

“…three creative acts of God are recorded in this chapter…The first creative act [v. 1] refers to the dateless past, and gives scope for the geologic ages…Neither here [v. 3] nor in verses 14-18 is an original creative act implied…Relegate fossils to the primitive creation, and no conflict of science with the Genesis cosmogony remains.” (C. I. Scofield, Scofield Reference Bible, 1917, pp. 3-4.)

The Gap Theory entered into the mainstream of conservative biblical theology in response to the attacks of science, falsely so-called. The timeline of the appearance of this theory, as well as its use, define it as a scientific view looking for scripture to support it. It becomes a dumping ground for whatever “science” the theory holder cannot fit into his or her understanding of the Bible. When I was young, I knew a lot of the older generation Christians who had picked up the gap theory from their Scofield Bibles. Most of the regular church folks had not thought too much about it, had not teased out it, and accepted it as reasonable (because Scofield had included it in his Bible notes, and maybe also because they felt it answered some questions they did not know how to answer). However, once it is teased out, it creates more biblical and scientific problems than it solves. It is unsound, biblically. For example, advanced versions add pre-Adamic man before Adam (who the Bible says is the first man), and death before the fall (which the Bible says is the cause of death).

The Gap Theory is an old earth creation view that holds a “young earth” view from Genesis 1:3 forward. It distorts a normal reading of Genesis chapter 1. There are those who hold the Gap Theory unadvisedly (without due scrutiny), and those who hold it adamantly (as an integral part of their view of the Bible and creation).

The Patriarchal Dynasties Theory is still a young earth creation view though seeing the earth as slightly older than the predominant young earth view. It does not try to subsume the billions of years of evolutionary theory into its system. It does, however, adapt an unusual reading of the ages of the antediluvian patriarchs as not being particular father/son relationships. It does not, in my opinion, actually address the six 24-hour days of creation differently. It differs chronologically in interpreting the early years of the history of man.

All that said, I come back to the issue of separating, both in church membership and church-to-church fellowship. Views in the evolutionary realm are unquestionably unacceptable. In other cases, approach this carefully and individually. Take each case on its merits. What does the individual hold and what is he promoting? What does the church teach about the Bible, the creation, and what are they trying to promote? What will be results of fellowshipping or disfellowshipping?

Creation, Conscience, and Instruction in the Word

Human beings may know about God through the external witness of creation and through the internal witness of consciousness.

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Romans 2:15 which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

Beyond this, people should be instructed by believers in the way of truth (Cf. Acts 8:31; Matthew 28:18-20). External instruction in the word is accompanied by the internal instruction of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:13).

Proverbs 22:20-21 Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?  “The scholar is to be instructed not for his own profit alone, but in order that he may be able to teach others also. (Charles John Ellicott)

1 Peter 3:15  but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

2 Timothy 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

One Race

The Bible’s teaching on “race” is simple. Someone has said three fundamental truths about it are that we are (1) one in creation; (2) one in the church; and (3) one in eternity. Notice the following biblical texts.

One in creation

• Genesis 1:26-27. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
• Genesis 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
• Acts 17:26-28. and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
• Malachi 2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?

One in the church

• John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
• Galatians 3:28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
• Ephesians 2:19-22 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
• Colossians 3:11. where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

One in eternity

• Galatians 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
• Revelation 7:9. After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
• Revelation 21:22-26 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

One day at a time

One (24 hour) day at a time: random excerpts on the early history of Genesis

Below you will find excerpts and observations on the first seven days of creation, which may pique your interest in studying the topic further.

The days of Creation: A semantic approach

“The meaning of words is important for clear communication. It is by their use and contrast that we can accurately arrive at correct biblical interpretation.”

How could Adam have named all the animals in a single day?

“Note that Scripture explicitly states that Adam named all the ‘livestock’ (Heb. behemah), the ‘birds of the air’ (Heb. oph hassamayim) and all the ‘beasts of the field’ (Heb. chayyah hassadeh). There is no indication that Adam named the fish in the sea, or any other marine organisms, nor any of the insects, beetles or arachnids.”

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

“The time when this [Genesis 1:28] took place must have been the sixth day, on which, according to Genesis 1:27, the man and woman were created: and there is no difficulty in this, since it would not have required much time to bring the animals to Adam to see what he would call them, as the animals of paradise are all we have to think of; and the deep sleep into which God caused the man to fall, till he had formed the woman from his rib, need not have continued long.”

How could so much take place on the 6th day?

There’s no reason to doubt these events could have taken place as part of a literal 24-hour day, but even if there was reason to doubt that happening the question shouldn’t be, “What do we think could or couldn’t have happened?” The question should be, “What does Scripture say happened?”

C.D. Ginsburg, cited by P. J. Wiseman, Clues To Creation In Genesis, London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1977, pp. 122-123

“The institution of the Sabbath on the seventh day, which if understood as an indefinite period would have no meaning for man, and the constant usage of this expression in Scripture to denote an ordinary day, with the few exceptions of poetical or oratorical diction, and the literal meaning which all commentators and Bible readers have assigned to it till within the last century, are additional proofs that the primitive record purports to intimate the expression ‘yom’ as a natural day.”

My own comment on two verses used to “disprove” 24-hour days in Genesis 1.

“‘Yom’ is elsewhere used of long periods of time, as in Psalm 90:4, which is cited in 2 Peter 3:8.” The references to God and time in Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 refer to normal years and normal days. If not, the instruction would make no sense. Day and year in these verses mean ordinary ones, which allows them to contrast and make the point. The Bible is not saying “a 1000 years is as a long period of time and a long period of time is as a 1000 years,” but that 1000 X 360 days and 24 hours are of no real consequence to God, since he is outside of time.

The Meaning of “Day” in Genesis

“Some writers have observed the absence of the article from the mention of each of the first five days. They have concluded that Moses must have meant to convey to his readers that at least those days were long periods of time. They have noted that the normal use of the article is to make the noun definite. Gleason Archer makes the following statement: ‘In Hebrew prose of this genre, the definite article was generally used where the noun was intended to be definite.’ There are many examples where the number and noun occur without the article, yet the meaning is definite. Thirteen occurrences, similar to Genesis 1, use the noun without the article but with a number (Numbers 11:19; I Samuel 1:1; 1 Chronicles 12:39; II Chronicles 20:25; Ezra 8:15, 32; Nehemiah 2:11; Daniel 1:12, 14-15; 12:12-13, and Jonah 3:4). In each of these other occurrences, the English translation uses the definite article. The absence of the article in Genesis 1 does not mean that the days are long periods of time.”

Lost the source of this comment, and cannot now find it

“The Old Testament has at least 26 times when evening and morning are used in the same verse. Each time they occur, the meaning is that of a normal day. Here are a couple of examples to illustrate the point: Exodus 16:8 says, ‘And Moses said, this shall be when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full.’ Also Exodus 18:13, ‘and the people stood by Moses from the morning until the evening.’”

Does Genesis chapter 1 mean literal 24-hour days?

“It is used to refer to a 24-hour period in Genesis 7:11. It is used to refer to the period of daylight between dawn and dusk in Genesis 1:16. And it is used to refer to an unspecified period of time in Genesis 2:4.”

The Hebrew Yom: Taking One Day at a Time

“...the former position—that the days are literal 24-hour days—is the historic position that the church has adopted since New Testament times... For a detailed account of what the early church fathers believed about the literal 24-hour interpretation of the Hebrew yom, see chapter 3 of Sarfati, J. (2004), Refuting Compromise, (Green Forest, AR: Master Books), pp 107–139.”

The Moody Bible Commentary

“The argument that this naming of the animals would have taken more than a single day is not valid. The primary purpose of bringing the animals before Adam was not to give them names, but rather to highlight his need for a woman, which a relatively small number of animals would suffice to establish. Indeed the Hebrew word names (shemot) is perfectly consistent with the understanding that Adam simply gave general designations to each general category or class of animal (e.g. ‘equine,’ ‘serpentine,’ ‘canine,’ etc.) rather than precise labels such as ‘Equus ferus caballus,’ ‘Crotalus horridus,’ ‘Canis lupus familiaris,’ let alone ‘Spot’ or ‘Rex.’”

Biblical timeline from creation

The following is my approach to the biblical timeline of history and roughly estimating the age of the earth – adding and comparing the ages of the patriarchs, reigns of the kings and other dates mentioned in the Old Testament. It begins from biblical creation and does not correlate it to historical BCE dating. There are some variations from my previous A Biblical timeline from creation and maybe from Biblical timeline from Creation to Christ. I decided to repost it since I discussed the seven days of creation.

TOWARD A BIBLICAL TIMELINE FROM CREATION
ASC = after sixth-day of creation
Event	Day/Year	Biblical Reference/s
Creation	Day 1	Genesis 1:1
Creation of Adam	Day 6	Genesis 1:26-31
Death of Adam	930 ASC	Genesis 5:5
Translation of Enoch	987 ASC	Genesis 5:23-24
Death of Seth	1042 ASC	Genesis 5:8
Birth of Noah	1056 ASC	Genesis 5:28-29
Death of Enos	1140 ASC	Genesis 5:11
Death of Cainan	1235 ASC	Genesis 5:14
Death of Mahalalel	1290 ASC	Genesis 5:17
Death of Jared	1422 ASC	Genesis 5:20
Birth of Shem	1558 ASC	Genesis 11:10
Death of Lamech	1651 ASC	Genesis 5:31
Death of Methuselah	1656 ASC	Genesis 5:27
Flood	1656 ASC	Genesis 7:11
Birth of Arphaxad	1658 ASC	Genesis 11:10
Tower of Babel	1757-1996	Gen 10:25; I Chron 1:19
Death of Peleg	1996 ASC	Genesis 11:18-19
Death of Nahor	1997 ASC	Genesis 11:24-25
Death of Noah	2006 ASC	Genesis 9:29
Birth of Abram	2008 ASC	Gen 11:32, 12:1-4; Acts 7:2-4
Death of Reu	2026 ASC	Genesis 11:20-21
Death of Serug	2049 ASC	Genesis 11:22-23
Death of Terah	2083 ASC	Genesis 11:32
Calling of Abram	2083 ASC	Genesis 12:1; Acts 7:4
Birth of Ishmael	2094 ASC	Genesis 16:16
Death of Arphaxad	2096 ASC	Genesis 11:12-13
Birth of Isaac	2108 ASC	Genesis 21:5
Death of Salah	2126 ASC	Genesis 11:14-15
Death of Sarah	2145 ASC	Genesis 23:1-2
Marriage of Isaac	2148 ASC	Genesis 25:20
Death of Shem	2158 ASC	Genesis 11:11
Death of Abraham	2183 ASC	Genesis 25:7
Death of Eber	2187 ASC	Genesis 11:16-17
Birth of Jacob & Esau	2168 ASC	Genesis 25:26
Marriage of Esau	2208 ASC	Genesis 26:24
Death of Ishmael	2231 ASC	Genesis 25:17
Marriage of Jacob	2252 ASC	Genesis 29:20-28
Birth of Reuben	2252 ASC	Genesis 29:32
Birth of Joseph	2259 ASC	Genesis 30:22-24
Jacob leaves Laban	2265 ASC	Genesis 31:41
Joseph sold to slavery	2276 ASC	Gen 37:2,28
Death of Isaac	2288 ASC	Genesis 35:28
Death of Jacob	2315 ASC	Genesis 47:9,28; 49:33
Death of Joseph	2369 ASC	Genesis 50:22,26
Birth of Moses	ca 2433	80 years before the Exodus
Moses flees Egypt	ca 2473	40 years before the Exodus
The Exodus from Egypt	2513 ASC	Gal 3:17; 430 from calling of Abram
The Wandering	2513-2553	40 years in the Wilderness
Death of Moses	2553 ASC	Deuteronomy 34:5-7
Entrance into Canaan	2553 ASC	Joshua 1:1-2
Time of the Judges	ca 450 yrs	Acts 13:20; circa 450 years
Saul made King	2949 ASC	I Samuel 10:20-24
David made King	2989 ASC	II Sam 2:4; 5:4; I Kings 2:11
Solomon made King	3029 ASC	I Kings 2:12
Temple began	3033 ASC	I Kings 6:1; 480 after the Exodus
Temple finished	3040 ASC	I Kings 6:37-38
End of Solomon's reign	3069 ASC	I Kings 11:42
Kingdom divided	3070 ASC	1st year of Rehoboam
Calling of Isaiah	3290 ASC	Last year of Uzziah
Captivity of Israel	3317 ASC	II Kings 18:10-12
Captivity of Judah	3449 ASC	II Kings 25:1-21 (70 years)
Decree of Cyrus	3519 ASC	2 Chron 36:21-23; Isaiah 45
Ezra 1-6	3519 ASC	Ezra 1:1-3
Haggai and Zechariah	3539 ASC	Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 1:1
Esther	3575 ASC	Esther 1:1-3
Ezra 7-10	3601 ASC	Ezra 7:1
Nehemiah	3614 ASC	Nehemiah 1:1
Coming of Jesus	4002 ASC	Dan 9:24-27; 483 from Cyrus decree