In the documents proposed here, you will find a chronology of the Bible and a continuation into a chronology of the Jewish people beyond the Bible and until modern days. The name Seder Olam, which means chronology of the world, was given by the author of this original study, Rabbi Yossi Halafta, around 160 CE. This present study follows the same pattern of chronology for the Bible but brings new timeline calculations that allow the chronology to fit with historical data. This study also goes beyond the timeline of Seder Olam, which stopped at the time of the Roman rule some 2000 years ago and also covers the chronology of the Jewish history until today. Therefore, I have titled it "Seder Olam Revisited".
To do so, I have divided the 6000 years that are supposed to be the duration of our present world into “generations” of 120 years each, from Adam to nowadays. Why 120 years? Because the Biblical text indicates that, at the time of the Flood, God had set that the lifetime of a man would no longer exceeds 120 years (Genesis 6:3). So, I have assumed 120 years as human lifetime to divide the 6000 years into 50 equal "generations" in total (50 * 120 = 6000). This division of the chronology fits perfectly with the biblical concept of Jubilee which happened every 50th year. So, here, when we reach 6000 years, meaning at the end of the 50th generation of 120 years, we would have completed a Jubilee cycle. The last 50th generation will be the Jubilee of the World. That Jubilee will start in Hebrew year 5880 (which is 6000-120) and, as of now when I write this, we are in year 5785. In other words, we are today less than 100 years before the start of the 50th Jubilee of the World.
For those who are not familiar with the concept of Jubilee, it refers to a repetition of 7 times 7 years. The source of this number 7 is when God had established the Shabbat, the day of “rest”, in the 7th day of Creation. So, when He established His laws with the Hebrews, He asked to respect the 7th day, the Shabbat, and also set a 7th year as a year of rest for the land: this 7th year is called a Shmita (or Shemita) year during which it is forbidden to work the land of Israel: men have to give it a rest too. We can already notice from this that the number 7 is of particular importance in the Biblical and Jewish chronologies, as well as the numbers 50 and 120. The number 7 is tied to a week cycle and has no other source than the Bible. Indeed, a year can be derived from natural observation of the planets and from the return of springtime. The day is naturally observed from the cycle of day and night. But the week has no astronomical nor natural source and cannot be observed: it is entirely sourced from the Bible. For more information about Jewish symbolism of the numbers, please click here for my article in this blog.
For easy access to any given generation of 120 years period, I have indicated below direct link to each of them with corresponding years (Biblical and secular years). The generations are also divided by groups of 7, because we shall explain that there is a parallel between these 50 (=7*7+1) generations and the cycles of 7 times a Shemita (7th year) and a final Jubilee (50th year).
generation 00: this text is out of the scope of the chronology but covers the Creation
generation 01: from Adam to Cain, Hebrew years 1-120 (3760-3640 BCE)
generation 02: Cain and Sumer, Hebrew years 120-240 (3640-3520 BCE)
generation 03: first cities, Hebrew years 240-360 (3520-3400 BCE)
generation 04: Nile valley, Hebrew years 360-480 (3400-3280 BCE)
generation 05: first dynasties, Hebrew years 480-600 (3280-3160 BCE)
generation 06: Hanoch, Hebrew years 600-720 (3160-3040 BCE)
generation 07: Lamech, Hebrew years 720-840 (3040-2920 BCE)
generation 08: Lemech, Hebrew years 840-960 (2920-2800 BCE)
generation 09: Corruption, Hebrew years 960-1080 (2800-2680 BCE)
generation 10: Enosh, Hebrew years 1080-1200 (2680-2560 BCE)
generation 11: Kenan, Hebrew years 1200-1320 (2560-2440 BCE)
generation 12: Jared, Hebrew years 1320-1440 (2440-2320 BCE)
generation 13: Akkad, Hebrew years 1440-1560 (2320-2200 BCE)
generation 14: the Flood, Hebrew years 1560-1680 (2200-2080 BCE)
generation 15: After the Flood, Hebrew years 1680-1800 (2080-1960 BCE)
generation 16: Peoples of the Earth, Hebrew years 1800-1920 (1960-1840 BCE)
generation 17: the Tower of Babel, Hebrew years 1920-2040 (1840-1720 BCE)
generation 18: Isaac, Hebrew years 2040-2160 (1720-1600 BCE)
generation 19: Jacob, Hebrew years 2160-2280 (1600-1480 BCE)
generation 20: Joseph, Hebrew years 2280-2400 (1480-1360 BCE)
generation 21: Exodus, Hebrew years 2400-2520 (1360-1240 BCE)
The rest is UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Please come back and visit this page.
So, I hope you will enjoy discovering this chronology of the world, since Creation, through the division of 50 generations of 120 years each. I would of course welcome any comment, and you can use my Contact Form for this purpose.
Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
March 2025
