My Bias of Biblical Accuracy

My Bias of Biblical Accuracy

I am reading for one of my courses this Fall about the history of Israel. I must confess, I have a bias for biblical accuracy. It is so clear to me that 1 Kings 6:1 says:

Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.

So, if we believe that Solomon came to be king in 970 B.C. (which isn’t disputed among conservative scholars). Therefore, the 4th year of Solomon’s reign would be 966 B.C. If you had 480 to 966 B.C. you come to a date of 1446 B.C. It is a very clear, simple, straight-forward verse which wasn’t intended to be speculative and certainly the author of Kings wasn’t “wrong” in his clear statement here. It is as Rasmussen says ("Conquest, Infiltration, Revolt, or Resettlement," in Giving the Sense, ed. by David M. Howard, Jr., and Michael A. Grisanti [Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2003], 152):

"Within the biblical text, the basis of the Early-Date Exodus/Conquest Model is 1 Kings 6:1, which implies a date of about 1446 B.C. for the Exodus and a date of 1406 B.C. for the beginning of the Conquest of Canaan under Joshua. This means that the period of the Judges stretched from roughly 1375 B.C. to about 1050 B.C.—the beginning of Saul’s rule.”

It really is straight-forward. But, I unashamedly confess my bias of biblical accuracy in this regard of Israel’s history.