Stop 7. Where the story locks to the record

Find 931 BC. The kingdom divides there. Israel goes north (the short line that ends in 722) and Judah goes on.

From here on, the Bible's kings line up with Assyrian and Babylonian records, often within a year. Follow the blue dots in the anchor lane:

• An eclipse on June 15, 763 BC fixes the Assyrian year lists.
• King Ahab fights at Qarqar in 853 BC, on the Kurkh Monolith.
• King Jehu bows on the Black Obelisk in 841 BC.
• Sennacherib besieges Jerusalem in 701 BC.
• The Babylonian Chronicle records Jerusalem taken on March 16, 597 BC.
• Cyrus takes Babylon in 539 BC.

Then the black line goes dashed for the exile. Jerusalem falls in 587 or 586 BC. The return comes in 538 BC, and the Second Temple is finished in 516 or 515 BC.

So from 931 BC to the time of Christ, the Bible's dates and the record's dates run together. Before 931, the main question is the exodus.

Picture: Chart 2, the kingdoms. Layer: base.