02.05. FROM THE DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM TO THE RISE OF JEHU.

CHAPTER 5. FROM THE DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM TO THE RISE OF JEHU. The conflicting reigns of the kings of Judah and Israel have been termed the “Gordian knot” of chronology, “the intricacies of which,” says Dr.

Hales, “no one has been able to unravel.” In estimating the length of the reigns of several kings, by a comparison of the Scriptures where their time is spoke of, it will be seen that sometimes the first and last years of their reigns are reckoned as full years, when by our usage we should reckon but one; and that sometimes only one is reckoned. In adjusting the reigns of several kings, Dr. Hales assumes that those of the kings of Judah are correct, they being verified by the concurrence of the books of Kings and Chronicles (the latter relating especially to the kings of Judah), and of Josephus, Abulfaragi, and Eutychius. The incorrectness, therefore, complained of, must be confined to the “length of the reigns of the kings of Israel,” and “must be remedied by reducing them to” those of Judah. REHOBOAM and Jeroboam. “Rehoboam went to Schechem; for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king.” And when they “saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse; to your tents, O Israel; now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents. But as for the children of Israel, which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.... and it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made him king over all Israel; there was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.” Kings 12:1-20. — B.C. 990 . In the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord,” “and took away the treasure of the house of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 12:2; 2 Chronicles 12:9. B.C. 986. “Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem.” And “ABIJAM his son reigned in his stead.” 1 Kings 14:21; 1 Kings 14:31. “In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam, the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah.” 1 Kings 15:1. — B.C. 973 . “Three years reigned he in Jerusalem.” “And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David; and\parASA his son reigned in his stead. And in [the end of] the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah.” 1 Kings 15:2, 1 Kings 15:8-9. — B.C. 970 . “The days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years; and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.” 1 Kings 14:20. — B.C. 968 . Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned over Israel two [current — one complete] years.” 1 Kings 15:25. As the years of the kings of Israel, from the commencement of the reigns of Jeroboam and Rehoboam to the close of the reigns of Ahaziah of Judah and Joram of Israel, exceed those of the kings of Judah during the same period by three years, to harmonize them, one year each must be deducted from the current years of three of the intervening kings of Israel. These are deducted from the length of the reigns of Nadab, Baasha, and Elah. Baasha. “In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, did Baasha [son of Abijah, of the house of Issachar] slay him [Nadab], and reigned in his stead,” “over all Israel twenty and four [current — twenty-three full] years.” 1 Kings 15:28; 1 Kings 15:33. — B.C. 967 . “In his [Asa’s] days the land was quiet ten years” (2 Chronicles 14:1); after which the Ethiopians attacked Judah, and were destroyed with a great slaughter. 2 Chronicles 14:12. — B.C. 960 . “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa,” all Judah and Benjamin “entered into covenant to seek the Lord of their fathers;” and “they fell to him out of all Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.” “And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.” 2 Chronicles 15:9-10; 2 Chronicles 15:19. “In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha, king of Israel, came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah.” 2 Chronicles 16:1. And “there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.” 1 Kings 15:16. As Baasha began to reign in the third year of Asa, and was succeeded by Elah in the twenty-sixth, it is the opinion of Dr. Clark, Usher, and others, that these dates have respect, not to the actual reign of Asa, but to the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth from the division of the kingdom, which would synchronize with the fifteenth and sixteenth of Asa. This is very probable; for in the fifteenth of Asa, the men of Israel were turning to him; and Ramah, built to prevent such a result, would naturally be founded the next year. — B.C. 955 . Elah. “Baasha slept with is fathers,... and Elah his son reigned in his stead.” “In the twenty and sixth year of Asa, king of Judah, began Elah, the son of Baasha, to reign over Israel in Tirzah two [current — one full] years.” 1 Kings 16:6, 1 Kings 16:8. — B.C. 944 . “Zimri went in and smote him [Elah], and killed him.” “In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah.” Kings 16:0, 15. B.C. 943. “Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king’s house, and burnt the king’s house over him [self] with fire, and died. . .. Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts; half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; and half followed Omri. But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath; so Tibni died, and Omri reigned. In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, twelve years; six years reigned he in Tirzah.” 1 Kings 16:17-23. The six years only are, doubtless, to be reckoned from the thirty-first of Asa, the twelve years being reckoned from the twenty-seventh, when Zimri, after reigning “seven days,” was slain, and succeeded by Omri. B.C. 943. Ahab. “Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria; and Ahab his son reigned in his stead. And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel.” 1 Kings 16:28-29. — B.C. 932 . “Asa, in the thirty and ninth year of his reign, was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great.... And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.” 2 Chronicles 16:12-13. “Forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem.” 1 Kings 15:10. “JEHOSHAPHAT the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.” 1 Kings 22:41. — B.C. 929 . “In the third year of his reign he sent to his princes,” chosen men, “to teach in the cities of Judah.” 2 Chronicles 17:7. — B.C. 927 . ELIJAH. In the sixth year of Ahab, which would be the third of Jehoshaphat, Dr. Hales supposes was the time when “Elijah prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months; and he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” James 5:17-18. Said Elijah to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these three years, but according to my word.” 1 Kings 17:1. “And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.” 1 Kings 18:1. In this year Elijah slew the prophets of Baal at the brook Kishon. “Jehoshaphat... joined affinity with Ahab” (2 Chronicles 18:1), by giving his son “the daughter of Ahab to wife” (2 Chronicles 21:6), supposed by Dr. Hales to have been in the thirteenth year of his reign.

Benhadad king of Syria came up against Ahab king of Israel, and was defeated. 1 Kings 20:1; 1 Kings 20:21. “At the return of the year” he again came up, and was again defeated. 1 Kings 20:22, 1 Kings 20:30. “And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel. And it came to pass in the third year [‘after certain years’ — from the marriage of his son with Ahab’s daughter — 2 Chronicles 18:2] that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel,” to fight against the king of Syria. “And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness,” “so the king died” (1 Kings 22:1-2; 1 Kings 22:34; 1 Kings 22:37), having “reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years.” 1 Kings 16:29. “And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 19:1. Ahaziah. “So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.” “Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel.” 1 Kings 22:40; 1 Kings 22:51. As Jehoshaphat began to reign in the fourth of Ahab, and his first would synchronize with Ahab’s fourth and fifth, Ahab’s twenty-second must synchronize with Jehoshaphat’s nineteenth and twentieth; and Ahaziah’s first with his twentieth and twenty-first. — B.C. 910 . Jehoram, of Israel. Ahaziah “died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram [his brother] reigned in his stead, in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he [Ahaziah] had no son.” 2 Kings 1:17. “Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. 2 Kings 3:1. — B.C. 908 .

How Jehoram of Israel could commence his reign in the second year of Jehoram of Judah, and in the eighteenth of Jehoshaphat, is a mystery.

Calmet, and others, supposed that Jehoshaphat made his son, Jehoram, viceroy of the kingdom in the seventeenth year of his reign; and that Jehoram of Israel began to reign in the second year of the viceroyalty of Jehoram of Judah, which would be in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, and that he afterwards communicated the royalty to him in the fifth year of the reign of Jehoram of Israel, when he had been viceroy six years. But as Jehoshaphat succeeded to the throne in the fourth year of Ahab, and as Ahab’s twenty-second and last year must have extended to Jehoshaphat’s nineteenth, the eighteenth of Jehoshaphat would be a year or more antecedent to the death of Ahab. And as Ahab died before his son Ahaziah reigned in his stead, and Ahaziah reigned two years, and died before the accession of Jehoram, the son of Ahab, to the throne, it follows, if these texts are correct, that the reign of Jehoram of Israel could not succeed till the third year from the death of Ahab, which would synchronize with the twenty-second year of Jehoshaphat. And thus Dr. Hales, a profound scholar, and a man of unsurpassed reverence for the Scriptures, decides that in those texts, instead of the second of Jehoram of Judah, and the eighteenth of Jehoshaphat, it should read the twenty-second of Jehoshaphat. Thus corrected, the twenty-fifth and last year of Jehoshaphat would synchronize with the fourth year of Jehoram, the son of Ahab. ELISHA. About the commencement of the reign of Jehoram of Israel, Elijah and Elisha were parted asunder; “and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into Heaven” (2 Kings 2:11), and Elisha succeed Elijah as prophet. JEHORAM of Judah. Jehoshaphat “was thirty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 20:31. “Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers,... and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.” “Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 21:1; 2 Chronicles 21:5. “And in the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. 2 Kings 8:16. From its being said, in 2 Kings 3:1, that Jehoram of Israel began to reign in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, Archbishop Usher and others have concluded that the fifth year of Jehoram, or Joram, as the name is indiscriminately called, would synchronize with the twenty-second of Jehoshaphat; and that consequently Jehoram of Judah reigned, from the twenty-second to the death of Jehoshaphat, or three of his eight years in connection with his father, and but five alone. And, therefore, dating from the death of Jehoshaphat, they have allowed but five full years for the reign of Jehoram his son.

It has, however, already been shown that, the reign of Jehoshaphat commencing in the fourth of Ahab, the twenty-two years of Ahab’s reign would extend to the nineteenth of Jehoshaphat’s and the two years of Ahaziah’s of Israel to the twenty-first; and that therefore the first of Jehoram of Israel could not begin before the twenty-second of Jehoshaphat, which would make his fourth synchronize with the twentyfifth, and last, of Jehoshaphat. Consequently, the fifth year of Jehoram of Israel would synchronize with the first of Jehoram of Judah, dating his reign from the death of Jehoshaphat. — B.C. 904 . An objection to this is found in the phrase in the text, “Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah.” But this, Dr. Hales affirms, “is an anachronism, and an interpolation in the Massorite text.” That Jehoshaphat died before the accession of Jehoram his son to the throne, and that the eight years are to be reckoned subsequent to his death, is also indicated by the texts in 2 Chronicles 21:1, 2 Chronicles 21:5 quoted above. This is further proved by another consideration: As Jehoshaphat began to reign in the fourth year of Ahab, and Ahab reigned subsequently eighteen years, these, with the two years of Ahaziah, and twelve of Jehoram of Israel, his successors, would equal thirty-four years from the commencement of the reign of Jehoshaphat to the death of Ahaziah of Judah, by Jehu. To equal this period on the part of the kings of Israel would require the twenty-five full years of Jehoshaphat, the entire year of Ahaziah of Judah, and the eight years of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat reckoned from the death of his father. And, consequently, if Jehoram of Judah reigned three of the eight years of his reign during the last three of his father’s twenty-five, it follows that the reigns of two of the kings of Israel must have also synchronized three years with each other. Such a supposition is unreasonable, and is not only not warranted by, but is contradictory to, Scripture. And, consequently, we reckon, with Dr. Hales and others, the eight years of Jehoram of Judah, from the death of his father, to — B.C. 896 . AHAZIAH. “Joram [of Judah] slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign. Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Athaliah.” 2 Kings 8:24-26. “Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 22:2. — B.C. 896 . In this last text there is evidently an error; for, as Dr. Clarke remarks, as Jehoram of Judah began to reign when he was thirty-two, and reigned but eight years, being forty years old when he died, it would make Ahaziah two years older than his own father! Dr. Clarke therefore adds: “I am satisfied the reading in 2 Chronicles 22:2 is a mistake, and that we should read there, as here [in 2 Kings 8:26], twenty-two instead of forty-two years.”

Says Calmet on this point: “Which is most dangerous, to acknowledge that transcribers have made some mistakes in copying the sacred books, or to acknowledge that there are contradictions in them, and then to have recourse to solutions that can yield no satisfaction to any unprejudiced mind?” “And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.” 2 Kings 9:29.

We read, in 2 Chronicles 21:18-19, that “the Lord smote him [Jehoram of Judah] in his bowels with an incurable disease. And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases.” Being sick two years, Dr. Clarke supposes that Ahaziah began to reign, according to 2 Kings 9:29, as viceroy with his father in the eleventh of Jehoram of Israel, and in the twelfth year, according to 2 Kings 8:25, his father died, and he reigned alone. It is a reasonable supposition. “And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.” 2 Kings 8:29. “Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram.” And “Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.” “And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.” “And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot.” “When Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there.” 2 Kings 9:14; 2 Kings 9:16; 2 Kings 9:21; 2 Kings 9:24; 2 Kings 9:27. “And the Lord said unto Jehu,... thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” 2 Kings 10:30. — B.C. 895 .

Thus was the king of Israel and the king of Judah both slain on the same day. As the reigns of Rehoboam of Judah and Jeroboam of Israel commenced in the same year, and those of Ahaziah of Judah and Jehoram of Israel both terminated at the same time, it follows that the sums of the reigns of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah, from the division of the kingdom at the death of Solomon, to the death of Jehoram and Ahaziah, must be of equal length. That such is the result, and, consequently, that the time allotted for the reign of each respective king is correctly given, may be seen by adding the reigns of each, as in the following table, which also exhibits the years of each which synchronize with those of the other: — CHAPTER 6.