(7) From the Founding of Solomon's Tem ple to the Babylonian Destruction of It. For this period we have the lists of the kings of Is rael and Judah. wherein three points of synchro nism can be fixed; and we have points in Assyr ian and Babylonian history so settled by the dis coveries from the records of those countries that there is now no controversy about them. There are necessary. however, some adjustments of the statements of the hooks of Kings and Chron icles as to the length of reign of the several monarchs, for reasons given below. It is to be noticed, too, that the books that we have arc not the original records: perhaps they arc not even second-hand. They. were written after the close of the period, of course; they are not a compila tion direct from royal annals. The writer (or writers?) refers often for his authority to "the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel." and to a like book for Judah. "the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Juda:a ;" but this lan guage rather implies that he used a compilation Irom the royal archives, "the Book of the Chron icles," he says. The writer is of the southern kingdom ; were the royal records of the northern kingdom saved in the sack of Samaria and brought to Jerusalem? And when the capitals— Samaria and Jerusalem—were forcibly captured, and men were anxious to the utmost for their lives and the lives of their families, even the most self-possessed and the most favored by cir cumstances arc far more likely y to have saved from their scanty libraries some compendium of facts from which a later writer has selected facts which he has expanded or condensed, and woven together in the books—sole and precious rem nants—that we now have.
The author of Kings and Chronicles dates the accession of each king in Israel by the regnal years of the king in Judah. and rice versa. This shows a comparison of two records, for original state records would surely never crumb such cross-references. An English keeper of official records dqcs not say: "James I became king of England in the fourteenth year of Henry IV of France** In a statemint so carefully made, the sum of the length of the reigns of one line should agree exactly with the sum of the reigns of the other when a common point is found. Thus Rehoboant and Jeroboam 1 began together : so did Athaliah and Jehu. The following table shows the lengths of reigns between these accessions; Zimri's reign of one week falls in the first year of Omri: R ehoboa m t7 Jeroboam.... .... .. 2 2 Abijant 3 Nadab 2 Asa 41 naitS114 24 Jehoshaphat 25 nal' 2 Joram . 8 Ziinri .......... .... ..
Ahaziah 1 Ontri t2 — Ahab 22 95 Ahaziah 2 Joram 12 The discrepancy evidently arises from the fle brew method of reckoning time, and from count ing the calendar year, twice in some cases, as the last year of one king and the first year of his suc cessor. The reckoning of part of a year or of a day as a full year or full day is illustrated famil iarly in the entombment of Jesus a few hours of Friday, all Saturday, and a first fragment of Sunday. being called three days. There may be also a co-regency the time of which is counted for both kings. Thus it is made evident by co aptation of the data given that the period of these reigns is neither 95 nor 98 years, but 9o: the lap ping of one reign upon the year of another reign and the co-regency of Jelioram and Jehoshaphat become evident in this comparison, and the ap parent time is shortened.
(8) Table of Synchronisms, Judah and Is rael.
Rehoboam's first year t : Jeroboam's first.
his reign 17 17 jeroboam.
eroboam's 18th, Abijam's , :8 ts K. 2o1h, Abijatn's 3 ao Jeroboam.
Asa's beginning, t K. xv :9 ..
Asa's first lull year ...... 1 21Jeroboam.
Asa ( z K. xv!25) 2 1 Nadal], 221 Jeroboam.
Asa It K. xv:214. 33) • . 3 1 Baasha, 2 Nadal].
Asa (I K. xvii-8).... 26 1 Elah. 24 liaasha.
Asa ........ •••• .••• 27 ZialI1, 7d. (t K. xv.fia).
(Tihni vs. Omri 4 yrs.) Asa 27 I 011111 (t K. xvi:16), Asa (, K. xvi :29) 38 a Ahab, 12 Ornri.
Jehoshaphat begins, Asa 41 4 Ahab.
)elsoshaphat's full year I 5 Ahab.
0 K. xxii 50 17 I Ahaziah, 21 Ahab. e•11 osha ph a I. (2 K. iii:1) is ? °ram, 22 Ahab, 2 Ahazialt. elloshaphaf 22, Jelsorain I 5 orain (a K. viii •t6). ehoshaphat 25, Jehoram 4 8 mans. and Ahaziah I 12 cram (2 K. viii.25)• his only year s 12 Om kills both kings.
It is objected to a part of the history of the Kings of Israel that both the Moabite stone of King Mesita and the Assyrian records make Omri of much greater importance than suits the short reign of twelve years, four of which were spent in a struggle against his rival, Tibni. In the \ s
syrian records the designation of the kingdom of Israel is "the land of the house of Omri." Even Jail is put down as of the dymasty of Omri. King Mesita in the famous inscription records that he was overcome by Ouiri, and was subject until he revolted from Joram. Ile says "And Omri took possession of the new land of the \lehedelia and it (Israel) dwelt therein during his days, and half his sons' days, forty years." The number forty may be the vague forty, meaning many; but the impression of the pomer of Omri was great both in Assyria and in the immediate vicinity of this king. I )inicker suggests that more time should be given him by a diminution of the time of liaa sha. Ahab was a great warrior. had political and family connections with Tyre, Judah. and Syria. and was against the increasing power of Assy ria at the battle of Karkar in B. C. 854, near the end of his reign.
The rest of this period (to the fall of Jerusa lem) is more difficult so far as the chronology of Isreal is concerned. Chronologers have room for much guessing as to the best way out of the diffi culty, for no proof is possible. The capture of Samaria and the end of the kingdom of Isreal oc curred, according to 2 Kings xviii :to, in the sixth year of Hezekiah of Judah and the ninth year of Hoshea of Israel. Starting from the point of agreement afforded by the concurrence of the usurpations of Athaliah in the one state and of Jehu in the other, we have in 2 Kings this list of kings and times: Here is a discrepancy of over 21 years, or more than one eighth of the period of 165 years. Two years are easily disposed of in the way of co regency ; but the ways of disposing of the remain ing nineteen show how uncertain and unsatisfac tory are all the proposed expedients. That adopt ed by most chronologers is to insert an interreg num of eleven years between Jeroboam II and Zachariah, and another between Pekah and Hoshea, of eight years' duration. This change makes the time of the northern kingdom agree with the time of the southern. But one may well question whether the southern can be made the standard, since in 2 Kings xviii:io and 13 the fall of Samaria and a great invasion by Sennacherib are placed in the sixth and fourteenth years of Hezekiah, eight years apart when they were 20 years apart, B. C. 721 or 722, and B. C. lot. Ewald recognizes the error as 21 years, and in place of interregna adds twelve years to Jero boam's 'reign and nine to Pekah's. Thenius sees that a slight substitution of Hebrcw numeral characters which resemble each other, one fif teen for one fourteen and twelve for eleven will give those kings 51 years and 3o: Lepsius makes those reigns 52 and 3o years; Bunsen gives Jero boam II 61 years, letting Pekah remain at 20.
If the data could be co-ordinated, the ingenuity and labor of biblical students would by this time have evolved something better than the guesses of which we have given samples, for there are many more. The assumption of co-regencies may force a sort of agreement, at the whim of the writer. Fortunately there is another valuable and relia ble source of chronology of these times that will fix a number of dates for us, the Assyrian Canon, in the form of annals. Its mention of an eclipse which the astronomers find to have occurred in B. C. 763 correlates the Canon to our Christian Era. Assyria was extending its power westward in the ninth century B. C., and thus touched per sons of this period of the lsraelitish kingdom.
Ahab was in the battle of Karkar against As syria, B. C. 854: his death may be placed in 853. and Joram followed him the next year. _Wm, after slaughtering all of the family of Ahab within his reach, was obliged to fulfill Ahab's and Joram's obligation, and to pay tribute to Shalma neser II, in 842, just twelve years after the battle of Karkar ; this may have been in the second year of his reign, making his accession B. C. 843. Aza riah or Uzziah has war with Assyria, Tiglath Pileser Il (or Pul) 742-740. Menahem pays trib ute 738 and Ahaz B. C. 734. Pekah is conquered by Tiglath-Pileser II, 734, and Hoshea succeeds him the same year ; but Shalmaneser IV dethrones him B. C. 722. The following is Duncker's list of kings from 800: