Chronology of the End of the Monarchy, Exilic, Post-Exilic, and Intertestamental Periods

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

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Events Affecting Israel	Approx. Dates	World Rulers	Bible Books
		Tiglath Pileser III (745-727 BC), King of Assyria	2 Kg, 2 Chron, Isaiah Hosea
Fall of Samaria, end of Northern kingdom)	722 BC	Shalmanezer V (727-722)	2 Kg, 2 Chron, Isaiah, Micah
Hezekiah (716/715-687 BC)		Sargon II (722-705)
Sennacherib invades Palestine, threatens Jerusalem	701 BC	Sennacherib (705-681 BC)
Hezekiah's sickness	ca. 700 BC	Sennacherib (705-681 BC)
Manasseh (687-642 BC), wicked king		Esarhaddon (681-669 BC)	2 Kg, 2 Chron, Nahum
Amon (642-640 BC), assisinated by his servants		Ashurbanipal (669-ca. 627 BC), last great king of Assyria)	2 Kg, 2 Chron, Nahum
Josiah (640-609 BC), "the boy king," a good king, brought many religious reforms, finally killed by Pharoah Neco II		Nabopolassar (626-605 BC), first great king of Babylonia	2 Kg, 2 Chron, Ezekiel, Jeremiah Zephaniah, Habakkuk
Fall of Nineveh, end of Assyrian dominance, beginning of Babylonian dominance	612 BC		2 Kg, 2 Chron, Ezekiel, Jeremiah Zephaniah, Habakkuk
Jehoiakim (609-598 BC), installed by Pharoah Neco II)			2 Kg, 2 Chron, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel
Battle of Carchemish, Babylonians defeat Egyptian army, end of Egyptian dominance. Daniel and others carried captive to Babylon.	605 BC	Nebuchadrezzar II (605-562 BC, referred to in the Bible as Nebuchadnezzar), king of Babylonia
Jehoiakin (598-597)
Jerusalem sacked, Jehoiakin deposed, first deportation	597 BC
Zedekiah (597-587 BC)
Jerusalm destroyed, second deportation, end of Southern kingdom.	587 BC
Third and final deportation (Jeremiah 52:28-30)	582 BC
Jehoiachin freed from prison		Evil-Merodach (562-560 BC)	Daniel
		Nabonidus (556-539 BC), as the last of the Neo-Babylonian kings
		His son Belshazzar served as co-regent with him (c. 553-539 BC)
Fall of Babylon	339 BC	Cyrus, King of Persia (539-530 BC)
Daniel's Prayer of Confession	539 BC
Cyrus' Edict	538 BC		Ezra
First return under Sheshbazzar (Ezra 1:1), about 50,000 returned	ca. 538 BC.
Construction of the Second Temple begun (Ezra 3:8)	ca. 536/37 BC
		Cambyses (530-522 BC)
Temple construction resumed (Ezra 4:24)	520 BC	Darius I Hystaspes (521-486 BC)	Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah
Temple completed (Ezra 6:15)	516 BC		Ezra
Esther is Queen of Persia at Susa	ca. 470 BC	Xerxes (Ahasuerus) (486-465/4 BC)	Esther
Ezra and the second group of returnees go to Jerusalem	458 BC	Artaxerxes I, Longimanus (464-423 BC)	Ezra
Fortification of Jerusalem stopped (Ezra 4:7-23)	before 445 BC		Ezra
Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem and restores the walls	445 BC		Nehemiah
Malachi prophesies	420 BC	Darius II, Nothus (423-404 BC) and later Persian kings	Malachi
		Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great, rise of Macedonians and Greeks (359-323 BC)
		Ptolemy and Seleucid rule by Greeks (320-142 BC)
Antiochus forced hellenization, builds altar to Olympian Zeus on the temple mount		Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Syrian king) (175-168 BC)	1 Maccabees
Maccabean revolt under Judas, Jonathan, and Simon Maccabeus frees Israel and establishes monarchy	168-135 BC		1-2 Maccabees
John Hyrcanus as high priest and virtual king	134-104 BC
Antipater, Herod the Great, etc.	63 BC and later	Roman domination begins under Pompey. See Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities and Jewish War for more information on these periods.

Based on chronologies in John N. Oswalt, "Chronology of the Old Testament," ISBE 1:673-685 and Roy A. Stewart and Robert J. Wyatt, "Intertestamental Period," ISBE 2:874-878.

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