This article was first published in the Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin (vol. 69 [2024], pp. 41–64).
1 Kings 6:1 is a crucial biblical text lying at the heart of the debate over the date of the Exodus. Fifteenth century BC Exodus proponents have predominantly adopted the reading from the Masoretic Text (MT), “in the 480th year.” The majority of Greek Septuagint manuscripts contain “in the 440th year,” while several others match the MT. This forty-year difference obviously impacts how relevant Levantine and Egyptian archaeological and historical evidence correlates with the biblical text. In the discussion that follows, I review and analyze evidence for the preservation of these two ordinal numbers. This includes (1) Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, (2) translations derived from both textual traditions, and (3) external witnesses which document the readings. I will also sketch out the highly complex translational and transmissional history of the Greek text of 1 Kings and how those complexities might impact text critical decision making. The concluding section surveys archaeological and historical evidence from the late divided kingdom era directly related to the number and how that evidence aids in adjudicating this chronologically precise textual variant....CONTINUE READING
Henry Smith’s video presentation corresponding to this article can be viewed below:
