1. Pre-Israelite History

The first eleven chapters of Genesis hint at the earliest ages of human life and civilization (see Chapter 1). While these chapters do not convey history in a scientific sense, they do show awareness of the momentous moves to civilization attested in anthropology and archaeology: the first construction of cities, the domestication of animals for human use, the conflict between agriculture and shepherding, the development of bronze and iron tools, and the invention of musical instruments and the fine arts.

 Figure 2 History of Events and Traditions. This time line aligns the major eras of biblical history with the biblical books where those events are narrated.