KINGS
656
KINGS
according to Israelitish dating, it was 605. Jer., lii,
31, " In the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of
Joacliin, king of Juda, in the twelfth month, the five
and twentieth day of the month, Evilmerodach king
of Babylon, in the first year of liis reign [i. e. 562 b. c],
lifted up the head of Joacliin, king of Juda, and
brought him forth out of prison" (incorporated in IV
Kings, XXV, 27), evidently follows Babylonian dating.
All these datings point to 59S as the year when Joa-
chin was carried away.
(15) In his eighth year, or the beginning of his ninth year, Sedecias revolted against Nabuchodonosor and called to his assistance Egypt, namely, the newly elevated Pharao Hophra (t). V. Ephree), who as-
(religious or civil). The number of inaccuracies has
by tWs means been reduced to a minimum, and we are
justified in this hypothesis because notliing is known
with any degree of certainty concerning the system of
chronology covering the years of the kings of Juda and
of Israel.
From the present uncertainty as to the dates of acces- sion it follows that the precise year b. c. in which any king began his reign cannot, in most cases, be deter- mined. The inexactness is increased by the fact that the duration of any one reign is given in round num- bers of years, so that, in the absence of any determin- ing data, it is impossible to know whether the time is too long or too short by a fraction of a j'ear. We have.
The celebraterl seventeenth-century Jesuit Petavius composed in a very ingenious manner two chronological table
which, as brought by him into relation with the pre-Christian chronology have, with tew alterations,
been in vogue for a long time, 'these tables are here combined and presented as one.
Juda
Year
Israel
Year
Remarks
Juda
Year
Israel
Year
Remarks
B.C.
B. c.
B.C.
B.C.
David
105.5
Amasias
.S3S
Solomon
1015
Jeroboam
II
824
(Building of the
1012
Azarias
809
15 after Joas of Is-
Temple)
rael
Roboam
975
Jeroboam I
975
(Interreg-
783
Abiam
95S
Zacharias
772
Asa
955
Nadab
Baasa
Ela
Zambri
954
953
930
929
Joatham
.Sellum
Manahem
Phaceia
Phacee
771
761
759
Amri
929
27 Asa— cf. Ill
Kings, xvi, 15-16
Achaz
741
Osoe
738
20 Joatham
Achab
917
730
12 Achaz
Josaphat
914
Ochozias
Joram
897
896
Ezechias
Manasses
()9S
" (end)
721
Taking of Samaria
Joram
892
889
S91
3 years together with
Josaphat
His true reign
.\fter his father's
death
Amon
Josias
Joachaz
Joakim
Joachin
643
641
610
610
599
Ochozias
885
Sedecias
599
Athalia
884
Jehu
884
(end)
5SS
Joaa
878
Joachaz
Jo.as
856
840
Capture of Jerusa-
lem
cended the throne in 5S9 (probably the first half of the
year) — IV Kings, xxiv, 20 (cf. xxv, 1); Jer., xxxvii,
4 (A. V. xxxvii, 5); xliv, 30; Ezech., xvii, 15.
(16) The siege of Jerusalem began in the tenth month of the ninth year of Sedecias (IV Kings, xxv, 1 ; Jer., xxxix, 1; lii, 4). According to Jer., xxxii, 1, the tenth year of Sedecias coincides with the eighteenth of Nabuchodonosor. Jerusalem was taken in the eleventh year of Sedecias, the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, in the fourth month (IV Ivings, xxv, 8; Jer., hi, 12). According to Babylonian chronology, this was the eighteenth year of Nabu- chodonosor (Jer., lii, 29).
(17) The fourth month of the eleventh year of Sede- cias falls in the nineteenth year (Israelitish chronol- ogy) of Nabuchodonosor. From this it appears that the fourth month (Thammuz) of the first year of Sede- cias falls in the ninth year of Nabuchodonosor. As Joachin's abduction took place in the eighth year of Nabuchodonosor, it is very probable that Sedecias became king in this, the eighth, year.
The table on the opposite page gives the chronology' of the kings of Ju<la and of Israel, as nearly as possible in accordance with the figures of the Bible, in conjunction with the data of profane history. In this connexion it must be noted that: (1) The years b. c. are figured from Nisan to Nisan, which month ustially began with the new moon about the vernal equinox ; (2) the years during which the kings reigned are understood to be enumerated in accordance with their accession to the throne, and not according to the beginning of the year
therefore, to consider the dates b. c. here given as —
within a year, earlier or later — more or less inaccurate.
Dates marked with an asterisk (*) may, however, be
regarded as reasonably exact.
The inaccuracies in the chronology of the Bible are attributable to various causes. In many cases they are due to would-be "corrections" on the part of the copjnsts, who did not understand certain passages or sought to bring certain dates into agreement with an error of long standing. Thus the discrepancy of twenty years excess in the reign of Azarias has also been carried through the synchronisms of the Israel- itish kings, Zacharias, etc. The sj-nchronistic com- parisons between Joatham, Achaz, and Ezechias, on the one hand, and Phacee and Osee, on the other, form a very inaccurate combination, brought into the Bible by tlie speculations of successive copj-ists and com- mentators.
The statement, tolerably accurate chronologically, concerning the beginning of Osee's reign, "in the twentieth year of Joatham" (IV Kings, xv, 30), who, be it noted, only reigned sixteen years (v. 33), seems to ha\'e originaterl with some one who did not wish to mention the godless .\chaz. The twenty years of the reign of Phacee, in whose second year Joatham be- came king, stand in relation to the twentieth year of Joatham like Oinise and effect. The synchronisms of Ezechi:is with Osee got into the Bililc through the undnubteilly genuine "twelfth year of .\chaz", during which Osee became an independent king, by means of the following arithmetical calculation: —
