When the Covenant was given

 

Starting with Genesis 5:4, the Bible gives us a chronology commonly called the Begats. Take out a pencil and paper and add these up. The math is simple addition, and you must do it yourself to truly understand it. Don't rely on other people's words. Go read it and add it up for yourself.

When you go down this road you'll find some interesting little gems. For instance, Methuselah outlived his son Lamech. He also died in the same year as Noah's Flood. 

 

Another little gem along this road, Noah was the only Ante-deluvian patriarch who did not live at the same time as Adam. Most people remember learning directly from their grandparents. Some people remember getting lessons directly from their great-grandparents. None of us heard the voice or learned directly from our great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather as Lamech possibly did. Adam learned directly from God Himself. If Adam directly taught Methuselah, who in turn directly taught Noah, then the Word of God could not have been diluted nearly as much as it seems to be today. 

 

With Genesis 11:10, we can continue the progression of the post-deluvian Patriarchs to the birth of Abram, 1948 years after the Fall of Adam (an interesting date there). This was only 292 years after the Flood. Noah lived 350 more years after he stepped off the Ark. Noah and Abram were alive at the same time. There is the possiblity that Noah learned directly from him and his son Shem. If one wanted to speculate, they might suppose this could be why he did not follow in his father's footsteps and bow down to pagan idols, eschewing them instead for the true God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Still doing the math, you'll discover that after the flood, the average lifespan of man was cut in half. Before that generation died, the average lifespan of man was cut in half again. People weren't living 200 plus years or more by the time of Abram. This is important to note when studying how long the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. 

 

Moving on through Abram's life, we know he did not receive the Covenant until after he left Haran. He was 75 at this time (Genesis 12:4). This was 2023 years after the Fall of Adam (we'll call this AM or Anno Mundi, the Year of the World, from here on for the sake of simplicity). He received the Covenant before he went in to Hagar and conceived Ishmael. This first son was born when Abram was 86 in the year 2034AM (Genesis 16:16), so the conception would have taken place the year before, when he was 85 in the year 2033AM. 

 

This gives a 10 year window when Abram received the Covenant and the 400 year prophecy concerning his seed, from 2023-2033AM when he was between the ages of 75-85. This can be pinpointed further (and is on this website) when research is done to figure out the year Joshua led the Children of Israel across the Jordan to take the Land, when the Exodus took place, and when the 400 year prophecy began originally counting down.

 

To sum things up on this page, the Covenant and Prophecy were given to Abram in the middle of that ten year window, in 2028AM. Don't believe this just because it's written here. Research it further. Don't use just the information given on this website. Don't believe anything a human being tells you about it. Go open your Bible. Read it. Add up the numbers for yourself. Believe that.