Tuesday, April 13, 2021

David A. Falk on 1 Kings 6:1 and "400 years"

 

 

. . . numbers in biblical Hebrew can be written in either ascending or descending order. Let’s say we have the number 123, that number could be written as “three and twenty and one hundred” (ascending order) or as “one hundred and twenty three” (descending order). Now, some early date defenders say that, when numbers occur in ascending order (like the 480 in 1 Kgs 6:1), these numbers are always “intended to be a technically precise figure.” But this only applies with some numbers in ascending order. The meaning of culturally important fixed numbers and sacred figures depends upon context, and there is an established range of ways that numbers in the Bible can be understood. Numbers that should not necessarily be read literally are numbers with special significance, such as seven, twelve, forty, and their multiples, and thus would include the 480 of 1 Kgs 6:1.

 

Moreover, the text of 1 Kgs 6:1 is remarkably similar to other dedication formulas across the ancient Near East. Assyrian King Tukulti-Ninurta I (ca. 1228-1201 BC) said 720 years had elapsed between his own reconstruction of the temple of Ishtar and its foundation by King Ilu-shumma. The number 720 approximates the distant past using twelve multiplied by sixty, numbers which are highly significant in the sexagesimal system of Assyrian mathematics.

 

In Egypt, the Year 400 Stela of Seti I was a dedication stela given to the Temple of Seth at Avaris, heralding the 400th year, 4th month, and 4th day of a Hyksos King Nebti. Could this get any more numerological? The problem with the “400 years” is that the Hyskos had not yet reigned for 400 years. In fact they had only reigned about 360 years by the time the stela was erected. Again, the number was used in a non-literal way in order to approximate the distant past.

 

Yet another example is the Mesha Stela (erected by the Moabite King Mesha, a contemporary of King Joram [ca. 852-841 BC]) that ascribes a reign of forty years to King Omri (ca. 882-874) of the Northern kingdom of Israel. But how can this be, since the Bible claims Omri reigned twelve years (1 Kgs 16:23)? This should not come as a surprise since “40 years” was used to indicate an unspecified amount of time. Second Samuel 5:4 and 2 Sam 15:7 cannot be read as a literal forty years at the same time. The best explanation is that multiples of forty marked important milestones. For the Israelites, the 480 of 1 Kgs 6:1 is twelve multiplied by forty, sacred figures multiplied to mark a new epoch in Israelite history, the foundation of the Temple of the Lord.

 

We can see that the “480th year” of 1 Kgs 6:1 does not need to be read in a modern, literal sense. And by reading this according to its context, other historic portions of the text—such as chariot use in Gen 41:43 and 46:29, place names in Exod 1:11 and Num 33:3-5, and the events of Josh 11—are preserved without resorting to theories that change the biblical text. (David A. Falk, The Ark of the Covenant in its Egyptian Context: An Illustrated Journey [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Academic, 2020], 16-17)

 

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