Sardis Church Sunday School, Harry Ponder

THE B.C. ONION

The time frame is The Garden of Eden to the birth of Jesus. This is estimated to cover around 4,000 years from approximately 4,000 B.C. - birth of Jesus. We will cover 6 topics or layers of the onion and how they relate to this time frame. 

1.  AGES:  there are five ages. Each age covers a relatively large timeframe and is defined by a simple heading. Each age is initiated by a covenant between God and man. 

• The Garden of Eden covenant initiates the Age of Innocence. There is no defined time frame for this age. 
• The Adam covenant initiates the second age, which is the Age of Conscience/ Morality.  It extends from “the fall” for 1,650 years to Noah.
• The Noah covenant initiates the third age which is the Age of Human  Government. It extends for 350 years to Abraham. 
• The Abraham covenant initiates the fourth age which is the Age of the Family. It extends for 650 years to Moses. 
• The Moses covenant initiates the fifth age which is the Age of the Law. It extends 1300 years to the birth of Jesus.

2.  PERIODS:  these periods have varying time frames. We will cover eight periods. Each period is represented by the leadership of that period.

• The Primeval Period extends from the Garden of Eden to Abraham or from approximately         4,000 B.C. - 2,000 B.C. The leadership that represents this period is None. This period is chaotic/unorganized. 
• The Patriarch Period extends from 2000 B.C - 1800 B.C. The patriarchs are Abraham,

      Issac, and Jacob. 

• The Egyptian Period extends from 1800 (1700) B.C. - 1350 (1250) B.C.

     Toward the end of the Egyptian Period the Israelites were held in slavery. 

• The Wilderness Period extends for 40 years (1350 - 1300). God gave Moses the ten commandments during

      this period. 

• The Judges Period extends from1300 B.C. - 1100 B.C. Two of the most famous judges

      were Samson and Samuel.

• The Kings and Prophets Period extends from 1100 B.C. - 400 B.C. Examples of Kings were

     David and Solomon. Examples of Prophets were Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. 

• The Intertestamental Period extends from 400 B.C. - birth of Jesus. No scripture canonized

        from this period that is in most Protestant Bibles.

• The Roman Period extends from about 150 B.C. - birth of Jesus (and beyond). Julius Caesar

     and Augustus Caesar appeared during this time.

3.  SECULAR HISTORY:  This includes the most influential people and events as determined by a group at Harvard University. Only those considered most influential are listed here. Obviously some very important people and events have had to be left out.

• 3,300 B.C. = WRITING invented by Sumerians
• 3,100 B.C. = Menes united Egypt
• 3,000 B.C. = beginning of the BRONZE AGE
• 2,700 B.C. = Great pyramid built 
• 2,400 B.C. = Sargon of Akkad conquered Sumeria
• 1,800 B.C. = First alphabet (early Canaanites or Phoenicians)
• 1,800 B.C. = Code of Hammurabi 
• 1,400 B.C. = Ikhnaton
• 1,250 B.C. = MOSES
• 1,200 B.C. = Use of IRON becomes widespread 
• 1,025 B.C. = King David rules Jerusalem 
• 700 B.C. = Isaiah 
• 700 B.C. = Homer
• 600 B.C. = Iron Age begins in China
• 590 B.C. = Zoroaster 
• 587 B.C. = Babylonians conquer Judea, destroy temple of Solomon
• 550 B.C. = Mahavira
• 535 B.C. = Cyrus the great conquers Babylonia
• 525 B.C. = BUDDHA
• 500 B.C. = CONFUCIUS
• 500 - 400 B.C. = battle of Marathon, Sophocles, Pericles, Herodotus, Hippocrates, Democritus 
• 400 - 300 B.C. = Death of Socrates, Plato, Alexander the Great, Lao Tzu, Mencius, Euclid 
•  325 B.C. = ARISTOTLE
• 250 B.C. = Asoka, Archimedes, Aristarchus of Samos
• 225 B.C. = SHIH HUANG TI unites China
• 200 B.C. = Rome defeats Carthage in Second Punic War
• 150 B.C. = Rome conquers Greece
•   50B.C. = Julius Caesar
•   25B.C. = AUGUSTUS CEASAR 

4.  EMPIRES: Akkadian,Hittite, Babylonian, Assyrian, Medo-Persian, Greek, Roman.

5.  SOCIAL CYCLES: P. R. Sarkar divided history into four social classes/ cycles based on the characteristics of the leaders. One cycle follows the other in sequential order and the sequence keeps repeating itself throughout time. The cycles are A. Warrior,  B. Intellectual, C. Acquisitor, D. Laboring Class. 

6.  OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE FACTS:  time frame (Garden of Eden = 4000 BC to intertestamental period (400 B.C.), number of books (39), combination to unlock Old Testament (5-12-5-5-12), writers, written over a 1000 year period, privacy, separate Bible from other books.