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ChronologyInsight on the Scriptures, Volume 1
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[Chart on pages 464-466]
OUTSTANDING DATES During the Period of the Kings of Judah and of Israel
NOTE: This chart is meant to provide a helpful outline of key events in connection with the kings of Judah and of Israel. The Bible record of years that the kings of Judah ruled was allowed to govern when fixing other dates. The dates given for rulership of Judean kings extend from the spring of the stated year to the spring of the following year. Dates for the reigns of kings of the kingdom of Israel were coordinated with those for Judah. There are numerous synchronisms provided in the Bible, and these were taken into account in arriving at these dates.
High priests and prophets that are named in the Bible record in connection with the various kings are listed here. But the list is by no means complete. The Aaronic priesthood officiated first at the tabernacle and then at the temple apparently without a break in the line down till the time of the Babylonian exile. And the Bible indicates that, in addition to the prophets that are named, many more served in this sacred office.—1Ki 18:4; 2Ch 36:15, 16.
THE TWELVE-TRIBE KINGDOM
Dates B.C.E.
SAUL began to rule as king over all 12 tribes (40 years)
Prophet: Samuel
High priests: Ahijah, Ahimelech
1117
Birth of David
1107
Samuel completed book of Judges
c. 1100
Samuel completed book of Ruth
c. 1090
Book of 1 Samuel was completed
c. 1078
DAVID began to rule as king of Judah at Hebron (40)
Prophets: Nathan, Gad, Zadok
High priest: Abiathar
1077
David became king over all Israel; made Jerusalem his capital
1070
Gad and Nathan completed 2 Samuel
c. 1040
SOLOMON began to rule as king (40)
Prophets: Nathan, Ahijah, Iddo
High priests: Abiathar, Zadok
1037
Construction of Solomon’s temple began
1034
Temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem was completed
1027
Solomon wrote Song of Solomon
c. 1020
Solomon wrote book of Ecclesiastes
b. 1000
KINGDOM OF JUDAH
Dates B.C.E.
KINGDOM OF ISRAEL
REHOBOAM began to rule as king (17 years); nation split into two kingdoms
Prophets: Shemaiah, Iddo
997
JEROBOAM began to rule as king over the northern 10 tribes, apparently first from Shechem, then from Tirzah (22 years)
Prophet: Ahijah
Shishak of Egypt invaded Judah and took treasures from temple in Jerusalem
993
ABIJAH (ABIJAM) began to rule as king (3)
Prophet: Iddo
980
ASA evidently began to rule (41), but his first regnal year counted from 977
Prophets: Azariah, Oded, Hanani
978
c. 976
NADAB began to rule as king (2)
c. 975
BAASHA assassinated Nadab and then began to rule as king (24)
Prophet: Jehu (son of Hanani)
Zerah the Ethiopian came against Judah in war
967
c. 952
ELAH began to rule as king (2)
c. 951
ZIMRI, a military chief, assassinated Elah and then ruled as king (7 days)
c. 951
OMRI, chief of the army, began to rule as king (12)
c. 951
Tibni became king over part of the people, further dividing the nation
c. 947
Omri overcame Tibni’s opposition and became sole ruler in Israel
c. 945
Omri bought the mountain of Samaria and built his capital there
c. 940
AHAB began to rule as king (22)
Prophets: Elijah, Micaiah
JEHOSHAPHAT evidently began to rule (25), but his first regnal year counted from 936
Prophets: Jehu (son of Hanani), Eliezer, Jahaziel
High priest: Amariah
937
c. 920
AHAZIAH, son of Ahab, ‘became king’ (2); evidently his father was still living;
Ahaziah’s years of rulership may count from c. 919
Prophet: Elijah
Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat became associated in some way with his father in the government
c. 919
c. 917
JEHORAM, son of Ahab, began to rule as sole king of Israel (12); but in at least one text the brief reign of his brother Ahaziah, who died sonless, also may have been credited to Jehoram
Prophet: Elisha
JEHORAM became official coregent with Jehoshaphat, from which time Jehoram’s kingship may be counted (8)
Prophet: Elijah
913
Jehoshaphat died and Jehoram became sole ruler
c. 911
AHAZIAH, son of Jehoram, began to rule (1), though perhaps anointed to kingship in c. 907
High priest: Jehoiada
c. 906
ATHALIAH usurped the throne (6)
c. 905
JEHU, a military chief, assassinated Jehoram and then began to rule (28); but it seems that his years of kingship counted from c. 904
Prophet: Elisha
JEHOASH, son of Ahaziah, began to rule as king (40)
High priest: Jehoiada
898
876
JEHOAHAZ began to rule as king (17)
c. 862
Jehoash evidently became associated in the kingship with his father, Jehoahaz
c. 859
JEHOASH, son of Jehoahaz, began to rule as sole king of Israel (16)
Prophet: Elisha
AMAZIAH began to rule as king (29)
858
Jehoash of Israel captured Amaziah, breached the wall of Jerusalem, and took treasures from temple
a. 858
c. 844
JEROBOAM II began to rule as king (41)
Prophets: Jonah, Hosea, Amos
Book of Jonah was written
UZZIAH (AZARIAH) began to rule as king (52)
Prophets: Hosea, Joel (?), Isaiah
High priest: Azariah (II)
829
Book of Joel was perhaps written
c. 820
Uzziah ‘became king’ in some special sense, possibly now free from domination of Jeroboam II
c. 818
Book of Amos was written
c. 804
c. 803
ZECHARIAH ‘began to reign’ in some sense, but evidently the kingship was not fully confirmed as his until c. 792 (6 months)
c. 791
SHALLUM assassinated Zechariah and then ruled as king (1 month)
c. 791
MENAHEM assassinated Shallum and then began to rule, but it seems that his years of kingship counted from c. 790 (10)
c. 780
PEKAHIAH began to rule as king (2)
c. 778
PEKAH assassinated Pekahiah and then began to rule as king (20)
Prophet: Oded
JOTHAM began to rule as king (16)
Prophets: Micah, Hosea, Isaiah
777
AHAZ evidently began to rule (16), but his first regnal year counted from 761
Prophets: Micah, Hosea, Isaiah
High priest: Urijah (?)
762
Ahaz evidently became tributary to Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria
c. 759
c. 758
HOSHEA assassinated Pekah and then ‘began to reign’ in place of him, but it seems that his control became fully established or possibly he received the backing of the Assyrian monarch Tiglath-pileser III in c. 748 (9 years)
HEZEKIAH evidently began to rule (29), but his first regnal year counted from 745
Prophets: Micah, Hosea, Isaiah
High priest: Azariah (II or III)
746
a. 745
Book of Hosea was completed
742
Assyrian army began siege of Samaria
740
Assyria conquered Samaria, subjugated Israel; northern kingdom came to its end
Sennacherib invaded Judah
732
Book of Isaiah was completed
a. 732
Book of Micah was completed
b. 717
Compiling of Proverbs was completed
c. 717
MANASSEH began to rule as king (55)
716
AMON began to rule as king (2)
661
JOSIAH began to rule as king (31)
Prophets: Zephaniah, Jeremiah, the prophetess Huldah
High priest: Hilkiah
659
Book of Zephaniah was written
b. 648
Book of Nahum was written
b. 632
JEHOAHAZ ruled as king (3 months)
628
JEHOIAKIM began to rule as king, tributary to Egypt (11)
Prophets: Habakkuk (?), Jeremiah
628
Book of Habakkuk was perhaps written
c. 628
Nebuchadnezzar II makes Jehoiakim tributary to Babylon
620
JEHOIACHIN began to rule as king (3 months 10 days)
618
Nebuchadnezzar II took Jewish captives and temple treasures to Babylon
617
ZEDEKIAH began to rule as king (11)
Prophets: Jeremiah, Ezekiel
High priest: Seraiah
617
Nebuchadnezzar II invaded Judah again; siege of Jerusalem began
609
Walls of Jerusalem were breached on 9th day of 4th month
607
Jerusalem and temple were burned on 10th day of 5th month
607
Last Jews abandoned Judah about middle of 7th month
607
Jeremiah wrote book of Lamentations
607
Book of Obadiah was written
c. 607
NOTE: After Samaria was captured, the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel were taken into exile. But the land was not left desolate, as was the case with Judah following the destruction of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. The king of Assyria moved people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim into the cities of Israel to dwell there. Their descendants were still there when the Jews returned to Jerusalem in 537 B.C.E. to rebuild the temple.—2Ki 17:6, 24; Ezr 4:1, 2.
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ChronologyInsight on the Scriptures, Volume 1
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From 997 B.C.E. to desolation of Jerusalem. A helpful guide to the overall length of this period of the kings is found at Ezekiel 4:1-7 in the mimic siege of Jerusalem that the prophet Ezekiel carried out at God’s direction. Ezekiel was to lie on his left side for 390 days to “carry the error of the house of Israel,” and on his right side for 40 days to “carry the error of the house of Judah,” and each day was shown to stand for a year. The two periods (of 390 years and of 40 years) thus symbolized evidently stood for the length of Jehovah’s forbearance with the two kingdoms in their idolatrous course. The Jewish understanding of this prophecy, as presented in the Soncino Books of the Bible (commentary on Ezekiel, pp. 20, 21) is: “The guilt of the Northern Kingdom extended over a period of 390 years ([according to the] Seder Olam [the earliest postexilic chronicle preserved in the Hebrew language], [and Rabbis] Rashi and Ibn Ezra). Abarbanel, quoted by Malbim, reckons the period of Samaria’s guilt from the time when the schism took place under Rehoboam . . . until the fall of Jerusalem. . . . The right [side, on which Ezekiel lay] indicates the south, i.e. the Kingdom of Judah which lay to the south or right. . . . Judah’s corruption lasted forty years beginning soon after Samaria’s fall. According to Malbim, the time is reckoned from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah . . . when Jeremiah began his ministry. (Jer. i. 2).”—Edited by A. Cohen, London, 1950.
From the division of the kingdom in 997 B.C.E. to the fall of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. was 390 years. While it is true that Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, had already fallen to Assyria in 740 B.C.E., in Hezekiah’s sixth year (2Ki 18:9, 10), it is probable that some of the population fled into the southern kingdom before the Assyrians’ advance. (Note also the situation in Judah following the division of the kingdom as described at 2Ch 10:16, 17.) But, more important, the fact that Jehovah God continued to keep the Israelites of the exiled northern kingdom in view, the messages of his prophets continuing to include them long beyond the fall of Samaria, shows that their interests were still represented in the capital city of Jerusalem and that its fall in 607 B.C.E. was an expression of Jehovah’s judgment against not Judah alone but the nation of Israel as a whole. (Jer 3:11-22; 11:10-12, 17; Eze 9:9, 10) When the city fell, the hopes of the nation as a whole (with the exception of the few who maintained true faith) suffered collapse.—Eze 37:11-14, 21, 22.
In the chart that follows, this 390-year period is adhered to as a sound chronological guide. A summation of the years listed for all the reigns of the kings of Judah from Rehoboam to Zedekiah gives a total of 393 years. Whereas some Biblical chronologers endeavor to synchronize the data concerning the kings by means of numerous coregencies and “interregnums” on the Judean side, it appears necessary to show only one coregency. This is in the case of Jehoram, who is stated (at least in the Masoretic text and some of the oldest manuscripts of the Bible) to have become king “while Jehoshaphat was king of Judah,” thus giving some basis for assuming a coregency. (2Ki 8:16) In this manner the overall period comes within the 390-year limit.
The chart is not intended to be viewed as an absolute chronology but, rather, as a suggested presentation of the reigns of the two kingdoms. The ancient inspired writers were dealing with facts and figures well known to them and to the Jewish people then, and the different chronological viewpoints adopted by the writers at certain points presented no problem. Such is not the case today, and hence we may be satisfied with simply setting out an arrangement that harmonizes reasonably with the Biblical record.
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