October 1st: Chronology of the Hebrew Kings
Speaker: Duncan Wyncoll
Introduction
Chronology is the ‘backbone of History’; especially so for the Hebrew nation
OT messages are vitally important, consistency must be seen ® confidence
But superficially it seems a little messy & a bit confused
Some scholars have been baffled & then think the Bible is “Full of Contradictions”
How then can the Bible be accurate in other things?
There appear to be ‘Errors compared with Assyrian records’; both can’t be correct – so either Hebrew dating is wrong, OR they’re wrongly understood
Specifically the Kings of Israel & Judah – a lot in Kings, Chronicles of individual nations & x-referenced between nations - Need to understand the pattern
Illus: Meticulous correctness/accuracy important to Reformed faith, esp. evident when I was young in faith
Many of the details appear to be self-contradictory
Examples
A) 2 Kings 8.25 – ‘In the 12th year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign
B) 2 Kings 9.29 – ‘& in the 11th year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah’
A) 2 Kings 1.17b – ‘& Jehoram (Joram) reigned in his stead, in the 2nd year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son’
B) 2 Kings 3.1 – ‘Now Jehoram [Joram - the son of Ahab] began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, & reigned 12 years’
1st sight - hopelessly contradictory, no harmony possible… Yet they fit a perfect pattern
Septuagint (seventy translators) – “The Greek OT”
· Hebrew into Greek in 7th Century BC – suspicion began of the accuracy of translation & copying…
· Massoretic text (the authorative Hebrew text) – Would they attempt to correct differences? No – never corrupted them…
· Translations: vast bulk are correct to the point of astonishment
· Many people thought for years they were Transmission errors, or given up in despair
· Scholars baffled; was Hebrew culture inferior?
· Split of the Kingdom/Jehu’s double killing/ Fall of Samaria…
· But none of the dates work…
· How did Spurgeon, Calvin, John Owen deal with this? – they still Trusted the Word…
Edwin Thiele (1895-1986) in 1951 solved the answers
· No inconsistencies, & no contradictions – proved the precision of the chronology
We have to make an assumption?
Premise: The Word of God is right – any inconsistency is down to our lack of knowledge!
How accurate are the dates? – VERY
Confirmed by dates of the Assyrian Kings (British Museum etc)
Example
1. 1 Kings 15.9,10 – ‘& in the 20th year of Jereboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah. & 40 & 1 years reigned he in Jerusalem…’
2. 1 Kings 16.29 – ‘& in the 30 & 8th year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: & Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria 20 and 2 years’
3. 1 Kings 22.51 – ‘Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the 17th year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, & reigned 2 years over Israel.’
Judah - Asa 41 (38) | Jehoshaphat 17
Israel - | (3) Ahab 22 | Ahaziah
How to reconcile? What did Thiele discover?
· Accession system – Accession year/1st/2nd/3rd etc
· Old King dies = last year. New king accession year
· Non-Accession system – 1st/2nd/3rd etc
· Old king dies = last year. New king year 1 – double counting…
Judah used Accession system – can understate the length of reign (also Assyria, Babylon & Persia)
Israel used Non-Accession system – can overstate length of reign
· Ahab only reigned 21 years (because of Non-accession system)
· Also have use Non-accession for 38th year of Asa reign = FULL agreement
931 BC from Kingdom splitting to 841 BC = 90 years
ISRAEL JUDAH
Jeroboam 22 Rehoboam 17
Nadab 2 Abijah 3
Baasha 24 Asa 41
Elah 2 Jehoshaphat 25
Omri 12 Jehoram 8
Ahab 22 Ahaziah 1
Ahaziah 2
Joram 12
TOTAL 98 years TOTAL 95 years
Joram & Ahaziah met their deaths on the same day at the hands on Jehu
And Another Issue
· Judah began year in Sept/October, & Israel in April/May
(Similar to Chinese NY)
· Calendar year – Jan, Tax year – April, School year – Sept, cf. with USA
· Occasional businesses change their ‘accounting years…’
· King comes to throne in Dec & dies in April – 5 months, 1 year or even 2 years!
And a Further Issue
· Often a son co-reigns with Father (co-regency)
· Length of reign of the son = total incl. co-regency
· Start of reign = coronation was start of ‘sole’ reign
How to reconcile?
· Israel 98 becomes 90 years when you understand the Non-Accession system
· Judah 95 becomes only 92 (since 3 years of co-regency)
· But when re-joined Israel temporarily used Israel’s system twice ® 90 years!
Look at charts to understand the next 119 years
Israel B
· 10 Reigns – 144 years, switched to accession system after 2 reigns - 142
· 1 overlapping reign of 11 years – 131
· Two kings together for 12 years – 119
Judah B
· 6 reigns – 166 years
· 3 co-regencies of 38 years – 128
· Fall of Samaria was 7 years before last king died – 121
· 2 non-accession reigns - 119
Lessons
1. The accuracy of God’s word. The Hebrew translators transmitted the ‘superficial inaccuracies & now we see how accurate they were’. PRECISE copying of the Massoretic text
2. We believe in & can Trust the verbally inspired word
3. If I don’t understand God’s word, then it’s probably my fault & not a contradiction – Solution only came when Thiele assumed that Bible was correct
4. It’s almost as if the Bible purposefully gives us these amazing puzzles – a test of our sincerity – take the Bible seriously
5. Also a test of how much we love & respect the Word of God
6. If we study the difficult passages then we will receive a great blessing
Romans 15.4 – ‘For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience & comfort of the scriptures might have hope.’ Learning – ‘didactic’
Conclusion
Here is God’s speech, His voice, His Word
Bible has this uncanny ability to pierce & expose our hearts
Trust the accuracy, precision & detail of God’s word
Treasure it, read it, respect it, love it, receive it as it is – the Word of God
