December 6, 2025

Dating the Exodus – the Two Major Contenders

Let’s start with a time marker from the Bible. 1 Kings 6:1 reads, “And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel … that he began to build the house of the LORD.”

Virtually all biblical and secular historians agree that King Solomon ascended to the throne of Israel in 970 B.C., thus he began to build the temple in 966, and with a little simple math we arrive at the biblical date for the exodus—966 + 480 = 1446 B.C.

The very first time that I read 1 Kings 6:1, I naturally assumed that the author intended the number 480 to be taken literally, and perhaps you did too. It seems reasonable to assume as much, but there are many who argue that the number 480 should be taken figuratively or loosely. Their argument goes something like this, and I promise to represent it as fairly as possible.

“The author of 1 Kings wants to emphasize that a very long time has transpired since the exodus, particularly that 12 generations (likely representative of the twelve tribes of Israel) have passed between the time of the exodus under Moses and the beginning of temple construction under Solomon. Now given that the ideal length of one generation equals 40 years in biblical usage, the author of 1 Kings presents 480 years as an idealized passage of time, for obviously 12 X 40 = 480.

However, in reality a generation spans only 25 years on average or even less, therefore it is preferable to take the time marker in 1 Kings 6:1 as a reference to 12 generations of 25 years. This then gives us 12 X 25 or 300 years, and thus we arrive at a preferable date for the exodus in the thirteenth century, for 966 + 300 brings us to 1266 B.C. But since 25 itself is only a generalization, we are justified in choosing any date from approximately 1270-1250. Of course, we also can’t rule out the possibility that the author of 1 Kings is speaking in hyperbole or that he may even be mistaken.”

Why is it necessary for proponents of this argument to do what you and I might characterize as mathematical or logical gymnastics? Here’s why! Because 1446 B.C. does not fit with other factors that in their view outweigh the straightforward chronology of the Bible. Next time we’ll look at what secular historians consider to be one of their three strongest arguments for a thirteenth-century exodus and why they so readily dismiss 1 Kings 6:1 that at face value clearly points to a fifteenth-century exodus.

Daniel McCabe

Trivia

What famous ancient street once connected the Temple Mount to the Pool of Siloam and was used by those ascending to the temple in the time of Jesus?

On Location: Western Wall Elevator

If you’ve ever been to Jerusalem, then you probably visited the Western Wall, and from there, if your group decided to grab a bite to eat in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, you made your way to the southwest corner of the Western Wall plaza to ascend the massive, 142-step staircase that rises approximately eight stories up and into the quarter.

As you climbed, you likely encountered a beggar or two, a resourceful mom descending with her baby buggy and a small group of tourists who stopped at one of the turns in the staircase to take a photo, using the Temple Mount as a picturesque backdrop. Finally, with your heart pounding, you made it to the top after having stopped more than once on the way up to catch your breath. Trust me, after a long day of touring, that staircase can be a bear!

Well, help is on the way! Construction has begun on a new set of elevators off Misgav Ladach Street, not far from this staircase, to make the Western Wall more accessible to the elderly and disabled. But there’s more, for city planners are adding public restrooms at the base of the elevators as well as an underground tunnel at a 2% grade that exits to a security checkpoint on the plaza. But since this is Jerusalem, one of the richest archaeological sites in the world, you won’t be surprised to learn that the lobby will display various finds uncovered during the construction of the elevator.

I’ve attached a photo, marking the proposed elevator location with a blue arrow and the staircase with a red arrow. Looking at that staircase in the photo, I can immediately feel my pulse beginning to pound, and those of you who have ascended that staircase with me on one of our trips, well, you know exactly what I mean. Next year in Jerusalem!

Daniel McCabe

Scripture Study: Theology Proper – God’s Nature

Isn’t God’s essence the same thing as His nature? Well, not quite. Think about essence as who God is and nature as what God is like. God is immutable and does not change as to His essence, nature or attributes, which we’ll talk about shortly. He doesn’t change. He is the same forever. We see this in 1 Samuel 15:29, Malachi 3:6 and James 1:17.

He changes what He does from time to time, but He never changes who He is although He may change His relationship to the created order, i.e., how He interacts with it (see Romans 5 and Philippians 2) and how He sometimes changes the course of His own actions. We see this in a few places in Scripture where He will relent from something that He is doing. He might even express Himself as changing His mind, but what Scripture means there is that He decides a different course of action. It doesn’t mean to imply that His first course was wrong, but rather that He wants to change what He’s doing at a given time. He’s God, and He can do that. So He doesn’t change as to who He is or His being, but He might change what He does, and He has His own good reasons for everything because He has complete divine freedom. He’s the Creator. He can do whatever He wants. We see this in Psalm 115:3 and Ephesians 1:5, 9, 11.

He is the ultimate master of all the created order. He is in all ways true, and there’s no deceit in Him. He fulfills all of His promises. God is a personal being with emotion and passions. His emotion and passions are always right, and He responds to the prayers of His people. I am floored and awed that God is personal, that He created us and that He desires a relationship with us, but His interaction with us is rooted in the fact that He’s a personal being. I’m so grateful to Him for that. He’s not just a disinterested, uncaring force. He’s God, and to those who have a personal relationship with Him through salvation in Jesus Christ, He is our Father!

Adam Keim

From the Archives:

Scripture Study – The Tribulation Temple

I’ve always loved these reassuring words of Jesus, spoken to his disciples on the night before the cross, “Let not your heart be troubled…. I go to prepare a place for you … [and] I will come again and receive you to Myself that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3). In his letter to the Thessalonians the Apostle Paul later explained the Lord’s coming in this way, “We … shall be caught up together … in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thes. 4:17).

This promised return of Jesus is commonly called the Rapture of the church, and following the Rapture there will be an awful seven-year period of worldwide tribulation, highlighted by the rise of a wicked ruler named the Antichrist. Initially he will make a peace treaty with the nation of Israel that in part will provide cover for their construction of a temple in Jerusalem and the resumption of sacrificial worship (Daniel 9:27). However, 3½ years into the treaty, he will suddenly halt the sacrifices, brazenly enter the new temple, and desecrate it by sitting “as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thes. 2:4; cf. Matt. 24:15).

For the Antichrist to sit in that temple there must first be a temple, of course, and right now there isn’t one. The Romans destroyed the last temple in 70 A.D., and it hasn’t been rebuilt. Today on the spot where the temple once stood you will find a golden-domed, Islamic shrine called the Dome of the Rock. According to Islam, Mohammad ascended into heaven from there, and thus it’s revered as their third holiest site.

Even so, the Bible says that a temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, and many religious Jews will not be satisfied until it stands where the Dome of the Rock now stands. How can this be without causing major political and religious upheaval? How could this possibly take place without the threat of violence from Islamic world rulers? Yet it is certain that the day will come—perhaps very soon—when a Jewish temple will once again dominate the skyline in Jerusalem.

Answer to the Trivia

D. The Pilgrim Road

Who We Are

Shalom Y’all Ministries is a 501(c)(3) organization, and all gifts to our ministry are tax-deductible. SYM was formed in 2021 to teach the Bible and lead tours to Israel. Our teaching and presentations feature the acronym S-H-A-L-O-M, which means “peace” in Hebrew.

Our Mission

To teach and encourage those who love the Bible, the land of the Bible and the people of the land and to lead educational tours to Israel that forever change the way you read your Bible and worship the Lord

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