The richly detailed lists of the kings of the United Kingdom and the Divided Kingdoms of Israel, Northern ( Israel) and Southern ( Judah).The equally explicit statement of the number of years between the Exodus of Israel and the groundbreaking on the Temple.The explicit statement of the number of years of the "sojourn in Egypt" of the Israelites.The biography of Joseph, including his sale into slavery in Egypt and his tenure as viceroy of that country.The detailed biographies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.The genealogy from Arphaxad through Abraham.The equally detailed reckoning of the Great Flood, and of the birth of Arphaxad two years later.The detailed genealogy from Adam to Noah.He chose the Masoretic after determining that it was as reliable as any ancient text could be, and was as close to an original as he could obtain.Īfter deciding on the text, he further relied on a number of internal clues in various parts of the Old Testament, including: He first had to decide which text of the Old Testament he would use-the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch, or the Masoretic Text. Most people remember Ussher for the chronology that bears his name-and with good reason, because Ussher determined to settle the chronology of the Bible before he attempted to unite other chronologies with it. No one since (perhaps) Flavius Josephus had attempted to join Biblical and extra-Biblical history as Ussher did.
To do this, he relied heavily on ancient historical sources, and even traveled to the Mediterranean region to examine as many primary sources as he could.
Ussher attempted to join the Bible to all other works of recorded history, and to present a unified treatment of the natural and political history of the world from Creation to 70 AD, the date of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by the future Roman Emperor Titus. The Annals of the World, his magnum opus, is the result of a lifetime of travel, study, and research.
James Ussher (4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656) must surely rank with Herodotus, Thucydides, Plutarch, Suetonius, Tacitus, Cassius Dio, and Pliny the Elder and Younger as an historian.
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