Review of "Chronological and Background Charts of the Old Testament"

Old Testament Chart Book Review

by Jennifer Lee Bartlett

December 5, 2004

Chronological and Background Charts of the Old Testament by John H. Walton. Zondervan, 1994, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This book of charts is very helpful as one studies the Old Testament. The book is divided into four units: Sections of the Canon, the Ancient Near East, Bible Study and Miscellaneous.

The first unit, Sections of the Canon, begins with a chart comparing the English arrangement and classification of the books of the Old Testament with the Hebrew canon. What follows is a series of charts relating the genealogies and attributes of Israel’s patriarchs, judges and kings; the events, religious occasions and laws established; and military victories and defeats. Also included are the classifications of the Psalms and prophetic oracles.

In the second unit, entitled “The Ancient Near East, we are given a timeline that begins with the Mesolithic period (which supposedly corresponds to 10,000 B.C.), including no historical details from this period (as this would pre-date creation), and continues throughout the history of Israel to the end of the era of Persian control in 332 B.C. What follows is a breakdown of this timeline into sections corresponding to their geographical locations. Included in these charts are lists of kings and the highlights of the major kingdoms featured in the Old Testament. These include: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Israel’s smaller enemy neighbors. Next is a series of charts which include a chronology of Intertestamental rulers; major inscriptions and tablets of Old Testament significance; archeological periods (overlapping the information provided in the previously mentioned timeline) and the weapons used throughout each age. Ancient literature containing creation and flood accounts, as well as other documents, are compared to the Old Testament; then a description of pagan deities is given, with a comparison to Israel’s theology. To conclude this unit, a chart presents the format of Hittite treaties, and it relates how biblical covenants are given using this format. This is followed by a list of known legal Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite texts.

The third unit, entitled “Bible Study,” begins with an overview for interpreting scripture in general. First, there is a chart presenting a tree of the Semitic language family. The unit continues with a chronology of manuscripts and various versions of the Old Testament, a list of errors thought to be cause for the criticism of biblical texts, and a chart explaining how the texts developed. Next, we see a chart containing the principles for word studies, and another chart listing the forms of critical analogies. Here, the focus shifts to the more specific issues of theories on creation and speculation regarding the identity of the “sons of God” mentioned in Genesis 6:1-2. As there are varying theories regarding the dating of the early events of the Old Testament as well, the next chart and two more later in this unit, contain models for dating the patriarchs, the migration to Egypt and the events which follow in the Old Testament. There is a chart relating evidence for and against a universal flood, one concerning the fate of Jephthah’s daughter, and several conveying the varying views of elements of the visions of Daniel and other prophets. There are also charts in which references are made in the Old Testament to: the Messiah, “the Angel of the Lord,” Satan, the Ark of the Covenant, and the “Spirit of the Lord,” (as God empowered men for leadership or prophecy). This unit concludes with a chart that shows with whom and how God made His covenants.

The final unit of this book, entitled “Miscellaneous,” contains charts which convey distances and measurements. The final chart in this section contains information on the rabbinical writings.


Overall, this collection of charts is very complementary to the study of the Old Testament. Seeing the information in chart format makes the comparison of points clearer than trying to extrapolate them from the text itself. It will continue to serve as a valuable resource throughout my lifelong study of the Old Testament.