1 Kings 6:1

THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE IN SEVEN YEARS

"And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Jehovah."

This is by far the most important verse in this whole chapter, the remainder of it being devoted to the dimensions and other details of the Temple, which should be of little or no interest at all for Christians. The interest that focuses on this first verse, however, is acute and sustained because of its bearing upon the date of the Exodus. The Encyclopaedia Britannica gives the date of Solomon's enthronement as 974 B. C.;[1] and thus the fourth year of his reign would have been in the year 970 B.C. Adding 480 years prior to that would therefore place the Exodus in the year 1450 B.C., a date which corresponds almost exactly with the date of 1446 B.C. (which this writer confidently assigned to the Exodus in his commentary on the Pentateuch, Vol. 2, p. :

The date of the Exodus arbitrarily assigned by many critics (1250-1225 B.C.) is some two centuries later than the true date; and it is impossible to substantiate it. Their theories are effectively contradicted by this verse. Of course, when critics find themselves contradicted by the sacred text, their knee-jerk response is to scream INTERPOLATION! However, there is no evidence whatever that 1 Kings 6:1 is an interpolation. This writer will never consent to allow evil critics whose purpose is almost totally destructive to re-write the Word of God to suit their false allegations!

Yes, it is true that in the O.T. there are found certain numbers concerning which questions may be raised as to their dependability. For example, due to the Hebrew system of writing numbers, four may be confused with forty, or two may be confused with twenty; but no such questions are raised with reference to this verse.

John T. Gates writing in Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary noted that, "The earlier date of the Exodus (1440) is in substantial agreement with Genesis 15:13; Exodus 12:40,41; and Judges 11:26, where Jephthah indicates that Israel had been in Canaan 300 years."[2] Also, fully in harmony with those Scriptures is the apostle Paul's designation of a period of 450 years between the Conquest and the monarchy (Acts 13:20). Although it is a fact that the exact period of time in these Scriptures is not always clearly distinguished, this verse in 1 Kings 6:1 is definitely applied to the exact period between the crossing of the Red Sea and the fourth year of the reign of Solomon.

Dr. Elton Stubblefield, M.D., a noted research scientist with the M.D. Anderson Foundation for many years, and one of the most brilliant Bible scholars this writer has ever consulted, commented on the accuracy of this verse. "It has definite beginning and end points; and, considering its importance, linking the Exodus with the Temple, every scribe who ever copied this statement must surely have taken the greatest care to get it right. Anyone who would claim that 1 Kings 6:1 is a mistake has no confidence in the inspiration of Scripture."[3]

Dr. Stubblefield is also a remarkably well-informed scholar in the field of Egyptology; and he has pointed out overwhelmingly convincing evidence from Egyptian history which fully corroborates the 1446 B.C. (approximately) date of the Exodus. For the first time, it is now evident that the Pharaoh who was drowned in the Red Sea was Amenhotep II of the 18th Dynasty; and the Pharaoh who succeeded him was Tuthmosis IV, who was not the first-born son (who had perished on the night of the Passover), The claim of Tuthmosis IV to the throne of his father was founded, not on the premise of his being the first-born (which he was not) but upon a dream which he claimed to have had while resting between the paws of the Sphinx! Yes, Margaret Bunson gives the date of Amenhotep II's death and the accession of Tuthmosis IV as 1401 B.C.;[4] but that discrepancy is so slight as to be of no significance. All scholars admit that all Egyptian dates should be viewed as plus or minus 50 years.

Further proof of the early Exodus in 1446 B.C. is found in the Tel el-Amarna letters, in which there is a letter written from Palestine to Amenhotep III, complaining that the Hebrews were taking over the land; and that is calculated to have been in the year 1391 B.C., the date when Amenhotep III succeeded Tuthmosis IV as Pharaoh![5] If the critics are correct in dating the Exodus two hundred years after it actually happened, how were the Hebrews in Palestine in 1391 B.C.?

This is by no means all of the rapidly expanding evidence of the accuracy of the early date for the Exodus, but we consider this far more than enough to establish it as certain.

We shall now include the rest of this chapter with its details of that marvelous Temple.