02.06. FROM JEHU TO THE CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL ATHALIAH

FROM JEHU TO THE CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL ATHALIAH and Jehu. “When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal. But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons which were slain.... And he was with her hid in the house of the Lord six years. And Athaliah did reign over the land.” 2 Kings 11:1-3. — B.C. 895 . As the first year of Jehu and the first of Athaliah commence at the same time, they furnish another epoch from which to reckon the reigns of the succeeding kings. JEHOASH. In “the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the Lord, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the Lord, and showed them the king’s son.... And he brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king. And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard, and of the people, she came to the people into the temple of the Lord.... And they laid hands on her; and she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king’s house; and there was she slain. Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem.” 2 Kings 11:4-21; 2 Kings 12:1. B.C. 889. Jehoahaz. “Jehu slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years.” “In the three and twentieth year of Joash [Jehoash] the son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years.” 2 Kings 10:35-36; 2 Kings 13:1. — B.C. 867 . “In the three and twentieth year of king Jehoash,” he (Jehoash) thoroughly repaired the Lord’s house (2 Kings 12:6, B.C. 867, and he served “the Lord continually, all the days of Jehoiada,” the priest. “But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; a hundred and thirty years old.” 2 Chronicles 24:14-15. Joash. “And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria; and Joash his son reigned in his stead. In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years.” 2 Kings 13:9-10. B.C.

If Joash, the son of Jehoash, began to reign in the thirty-seventh of Jehoash of Judah, he must have reigned two years with his father, which Calmet supposes. But it expressly says that “Jehoahaz slept with his fathers;” and the natural inference is that the reign of Jehoash his son dates from his death. Consequently, the first year of Jehoash of Israel would synchronize with the thirty-ninth of Jehoash of Judah. Thus, Dr. Hales says, it reads “in the accurate Aldine edition of the Greek Septuagint.”\parAMAZIAH. The Servants of Jehoahaz king of Judah conspired against him, “and slew him on his own bed, and he died.” “And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.” 2 Chronicles 24:25; 2 Chronicles 24:27. “In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel reigned Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah.” 2 Kings 14:1. As the first year of Amaziah synchronized with the second of Joash of Israel, the first of Joash must have synchronized with the fortieth, beginning in the thirty-ninth of Jehoash of Judah, and not in the thirtyseventh, as before shown. “Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over him.” Elisha prophesied that Joash should thrice defeat the king of Syria; and “three times did Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel.” 2 Kings 13:14; 2 Kings 13:25. Jeroboam II. “Jehoash [Joash, king of Israel] slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead.” 2 Kings 14:16. — B.C. 834 . “In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years.” 2 Kings 14:23. “He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah the son of Amittai the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher.” 2 Kings 14:25. JONAH. This reference to Jonah proves him to have been one of the early prophets. Dr. Hales thinks his prophecy against Nineveh could not have been later than — B.C. 800 . “Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years.” 2 Kings 14:17. “He was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem.” 2 Kings 14:2. “Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.” 2 Kings 14:19. — B.C. 820 . As the first year of Jeroboam began with the fifteenth year of Amaziah, and Amaziah lived fifteen years after the death of Joash, the father of Jeroboam II., it follows that the twenty-ninth and last year of Amaziah must synchronize and end with the fifteenth of Jeroboam, and the first year after his death with the sixteenth. AZARIAH, orUZZIAH. “All the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.” Kings 14:21. “In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign.” 2 Kings 15:4. B.C. 809. As the last year of Amaziah ended with the fifteenth month of Jeroboam II., and the first of Azariah, or, as he is called in other places, Uzziah, commenced with the twenty-seventy of Jeroboam, it follows that, from the death of Amaziah to the commencement of the reign of Azariah, an interregnum of eleven years must have intervened in the line of the kings of Judah. As Azariah was but sixteen years of age in the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam II., he could have been but five years of age at the death of his father, Amaziah. Therefore, Dr. Lightfoot, and others, have supposed that the government was administered by regents during eleven years of the minority of Azariah. AMOS. The prophecy of Amos, “which he saw concerning Israel,” was uttered “in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.” Amos 1:1. The earthquake is thus predicted: “Shall not the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn that dwelleth therein?... And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.” Amos 8:8-9.

According to Usher, it is found by astronomical calculations that a great eclipse must have occurred in Samaria B.C. 791, two years after the death of Jeroboam, so that Amos uttered his prophecy in the last year of Jeroboam, whose death he also predicted. Amos 7:11 : “Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.” Says Dr. Hales, “Such a curious coincidence of astronomical computation with prophecy affords a strong presumption, bordering on certainty, that the chronology of the reigns of the kings of Israel is here rightly assigned.”\parJOEL is supposed, by Archbishop Usher, to have prophesied a short time before Amos. He thus concludes, from his inference, that the drought predicted by Joel, in chapter 1, is that which Amos (Amos 4:7-9) mentions as actually come to pass. His time is somewhat uncertain. HOSEA also began to prophesy in the days of Uzziah and Jeroboam. He prophesied “in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel.” Hosea 1:1. ISAIAH was contemporary with Hosea, as we learn by the vision “which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” Isaiah 1:1. ZACHARIAH. “Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead.” 2 Kings 14:29. — B.C. 793 . “In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months.” 2 Kings 15:8. — B.C. 770 . As the first year of Azariah commenced with the twenty-seventh of Jeroboam II., Jeroboam’s one and fortieth and last year must have ended with the fifteenth of Azariah. And as Zechariah did not begin to reign till the thirty-eighth, it follows that an interregnum of twenty-three years must have intervened from the death of Jeroboam II., in the fifteenth year of Azariah, to the reign of Zachariah in the thirty-eighth. The death of Jeroboam II., in the fifteenth of Azariah, is strikingly confirmed to have been in the year 793 B.C., by the prophecy of Amos, given “two years before the earthquake.”

Zechariah “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.” “And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.” “This was the word of the Lord which he spake unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass.” 2 Kings 15:9-10; 2 Kings 15:12. — B.C. 770 . Shallum. “Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria. For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.” 2 Kings 15:13-14. — B.C. 770 . Menahem. “In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria.” 2 Kings 15:17. In his days “Pul king of Assyria” came against the land (2 Kings 15:19), probably in the first year of his reign. 1 Chronicles 5:26. — B.C. 769 . As Zachariah began to reign in the thirty-eighth of Azariah, and Menahem succeeded Shallum in the thirty-ninth, but one year may be allowed for the reigns of Zachariah and Shallum. And the ten years of Menahem’s reign will end with the forty-ninth of Azariah. Pekahiah. “Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead. In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years.” 2 Kings 15:22-23. — B.C. 759 . Pekah. “But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king’s house, with Argob and Arich, and with him fifty men of the Gileadites; and he killed him, and reigned in his room.... In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. 2 Kings 15:25-27. — B.C. 757 .

Uzziah, or Azariah, was sixteen years old “when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem.” 2 Kings 15:1-2. “In the year that king Uzziah died,” Isaiah, in vision, saw “the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.” Isaiah 6:1. JOTHAM. “Uzziah slept with his fathers,... and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.” 2 Chronicles 26:23. “In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign.” 2 Kings 15:32. — B.C. 757 . MICAH THE MORASTHITE began to prophesy in the days of Jotham, and continued “in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”

Micah 1:1. “Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 27:1. “In those days the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah. And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.” 2 Kings 15:37-38. AHAZ. “In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.” 2 Kings 16:1. B.C. 741. “And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.” f16 Then the Lord sent Isaiah to Ahaz to prophesy against Ephraim, saying, “The head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.” Isaiah 7:1; Isaiah 7:8. This is supposed to have been in the first or second year of Ahaz. — B.C. 741 -740. Hoshea. “And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.” 2 Kings 15:30. — B.C. 738 . As Ahaz began to reign in the seventeenth year of Pekah, and Jotham reigned in all but sixteen years from the second of Pekah, it follows that the twentieth year of Pekah, when Hoshea came against him and slew him, must have been three years after the death of Jotham, or in the third year of Ahaz, which would be in the twentieth year from the commencement of Jotham’s reign. “In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.” 2 Kings 17:1. As Hoshea slew Pekah in the third year of Ahaz, and did not begin to reign in his stead till the twelfth, it follows that from the death of Pekah to the commencement of the reign of Hoshea was an interregnum of nine years. This was the second interregnum that occurred in the reigns of the kings of Israel. — B.C. 729 . “Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.” 2 Kings 17:3. “Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 28:1. HEZEKIAH. “Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem; but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.” 2 Chronicles 28:27. “Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.” 2 Kings 18:1. — B.C. 725 . “He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them.” 2 Chronicles 29:3.

Hoshea conspired against the king of Assyria. “And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. And at the end of three years they took it; even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes; because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.” 2 Kings 18:9-12. “For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, and walked in the statues of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made....

Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.... for the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.” 2 Kings 17:7-23. — B.C. 720 . As the ninth and last year of Hoshea, the last king of Israel, synchronizes with the sixth of Hezekiah, the sum of the reigns of the kings of israel from the first of Jehu must equal those of Judah from the first of Athaliah, and synchronize as in the following table: — FROM JEHU TO THE FALL OF SAMARIA.

Kings Reign. Before Christ.

Kings of Judah Kings of Israel Kings Reign Athaliah’s... . 1st. = Jehu’s... . 1st. 6 Athaliah’s... . 6th. = Jehu’s... . 6th.

Jehoash’s... . 1st. = Jehu’s... . 7th. Jehoash’s... 22d. = Jehu’s... . 28th. Jehoash’s... 23d. = Jehoahaz’s . . 1st. Jehoash’s... 39th. = Jehoahaz’s . . 17th. 40 Jehoash’s... 40th. = Joash’s... 1st. Amaziah’s... 1st. = Joash’s... 2d. Amaziah’s... 15th. = Joash’s... 16th. Amaziah’s... 15th. = Jeroboam’s . . 1st. 29 Amaziah’s... 29th. - Jeroboam’s . . 15th. 11 Interregnum.

Azariah’s... . 1st. - Jeroboam’s . . 27th. 809 Azariah’s... 15th. - Jeroboam’s . . 41st. 41 1st.Interregnum 1st. Azariah’s... 38th. - Zachariah and Shallum’s 1st 1 Azariah’s... 39th. - Menahem’s . . 10th. Azariah’s... 49th. - Menahem’s . . 1st. Azariah’s... 50th. - Pekaiah’s... 2d. Azariah’s... 51st. - Pekaiah’s... . . 52 Azariah’s... 52d. - Pekah’s...... Jotham’s... . 1st. - Pekah’s... . 1st. 16 Jotham’s... . 16th. - Pekah’s... . 2d.

Ahaz’s... . . 1st. - Pekah’s... 17th. Ahaz’s... . . 3d. - Pekah’s... 18th. 20 2d. Interregnum 20th. Ahaz’s... . . 13th. - Hosheah’s... 1st.729 16 Ahaz’s... . . 16th. - Hosheah’s... 3d.

Hezekiah’s... 1st. - Hosheah’s... 4th. Hezekiah’s... 6th. - Hosheah’s... 9th. 9 176 Thus the sums of the reigns of the two lines of kings are equal. If to one hundred and seventy-six we add ninety-five, the length of time that intervened from the revolt of the ten tribes, we have two hundred and seventy-one years. And if from this we deduct thirty-two years, the length of the two interregnums, we have two hundred and thirty-nine full, or two hundred and forty current years, which Josephus gives (Ant. IX., 14:1) as the length of the reign of the kings of Israel.