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Analysis of Sacred Chronology

20/27

The Division of the Kingdom

The conflicting reigns of the kings of Judah and Israel have been termed the “Gordian knot” of chronology,-“the intricacies of which,” says Dr. Hales, “no one has been able to unravel.” In estimating the length of the reigns of the several kings, by a comparison of the Scriptures where their time is spoken of, it will be seen, that sometimes the first and last years of their reigns are reckoned as full years, when by our usage we should reckon but one; and that sometimes only one is reckoned. ASC 87.1

In adjusting the reigns of the several kings, Dr. Hales assumes that those of the kings of Judah are correct,-they being verified by the concurrence of the books of Kings and Chronicles, (the latter relating especially to the kings of Judah,) and of Josephus, Abulfaragi, and Eutychius. The incorrectness, therefore, complained of, must be confined to the “length of the reigns of the kings of Israel;” and “must be remedied by reducing them to” those of Judah. ASC 87.2

Rehoboam and Jeroboam 10. “Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king.” And when they “saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse; to your tents, O Israel; now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents. But as for the children of Israel, which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.... And it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made him king over Israel; there was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.” 1 Kings 12:1-20. B. C. 990. ASC 88.1

“In the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord, ...and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord.” 2 Chronicles 12:2, 9. B. C. 986. ASC 88.2

“Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem...And ASC 88.3

Abijam, his son, reigned in his stead.” 1 Kings 14:21, 31. “In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam, Abijam, the son of Nebat, reigned over Judah.” 15:1. B. C. 973. ASC 88.4

“Three years reigned he in Jerusalem.... And Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and ASC 88.5

Asa, his son, reigned in his stead. And in [the end of] the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, reigned Asa over Judah.” 15:2, 8, 9. B. C. 970. ASC 89.1

“The days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years; and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.” 14:20. B. C. 968. ASC 89.2

“Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa, king of Judah, and he reigned in Israel two [current-one complete,] years.” 15:25. ASC 89.3

As the sum of the years of the kings of Israel, from the commencement of Jeroboam’s and Rehoboam’s to the close of Ahaziah’s of Judah, and Joram of Israel’s reigns, exceed those of Judah during the same period by three years, to harmonize them, one year each must be deducted from the current years of three of the intervening kings of Israel. These are deducted from the length of the reigns of Nadab, Baasha, and Elah. ASC 89.4

Baasha. “In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, did Baasha [son of Abijah, of the house of Issachar,] slay him, [Nadab,] and reigned in his stead, .. to reign over all Israel twenty and four [current-twenty-three full,] years.” vs. 28, 33. B. C. 967. ASC 89.5

“In his [Asa’s] days the land was quiet ten years;” 2 Chronicles 14:1; after which the Ethiopians attacked Judah, and were destroyed with a great slaughter. v. 12. B.C. 960. ASC 89.6

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa,” all Judah and Benjamin “entered into covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers; and “they fell to him out of all Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.” .. “And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.” 15:9, 10, 19. “In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha, king of Israel, came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah.” 16:1. And “there was war between Asa and Baasha all their days.” 1 Kings 15:16. ASC 90.1

As Baasha began to reign in the third year of Asa, and was succeeded by Elah in the twenty-sixth, it is the opinion of Dr. Clark, Usher, and others, that these dates have respect, not to the actual reign of Asa, but to the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth from the division of the kingdom, which would synchronize with the fifteenth and sixteenth of Asa. This is very probable; for in the fifteenth of Asa, the men of Israel were turning to him; and Ramah, built to prevent such a result, would naturally be founded the next year. B. C. 955. ASC 90.2

Elah. “Baasha slept with his fathers, .. and Elah, his son, reigned in his stead...In the twenty and sixth year of Asa, king of Judah, began Elah, the son of Baasha, to reign over Israel in Tirzah two [current-one full] years.” 16:6, 8. B. C. 944. ASC 90.3

“Zimri went in and smote him, [Elah,] and killed him.” “In the twenty and seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah.” 1 Kings 16:10, 15. B. C. 943. ASC 91.1

“Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. And it came to pass that when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king’s house, and burnt the king’s house over him [self] with fire, and died...Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts; half of the people followed Tibni, the son of Ginath, to make him king; and half followed Omri. But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni, the son of Ginath; so Tibni died, and Omri reigned. In the thirty and first year of Asa, king of Judah, began Omri to reign over Israel, twelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah.” 16:17-23. ASC 91.2

The six years only are, doubtless, to be reckoned from the thirty-first of Asa-the twelve years being reckoned from the twenty-seventh, when Zimri, after reigning “seven days,” was slain, and succeeded by Omri. B. C. 943. ASC 91.3

Ahab. “Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria; and Ahab, his son, reigned in his stead. And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, began Ahab, the son of Omri, to reign over Israel.” vs. 28, 29. B. C. 932. ASC 91.4

“Asa, in the thirty and ninth year of his reign, was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great.... And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.” 2 Chronicles 16:12, 13. “Forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem.” 1 Kings 15:10. ASC 91.5

“Jehosaphat, the son of Asa, began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab, king of Israel.” 1 Kings 22:41. B. C. 929. ASC 92.1

“In the third year of his reign he sent to his princes,” chosen men, “to teach in the cities of Judah.” 2 Chronicles 17:7. B. C. 927. ASC 92.2

Elijah. 11 In the sixth year of Ahab, which would be the third of Jehosaphat, Dr. Hales supposes was the time when “Elijah prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the land for the space of three years and six months; he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the land produced its fruit.” James 5:17, 18. Said Elijah to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” 2 Kings 17:1. “And it came to pass, after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.” 18:1. In this year Elijah slew the prophets of Baal at the brook Kishon. ASC 92.3

“Jehosaphat .. joined affinity with Ahab,’” (2 Chronicles 8:1,) by giving his son “the daughter of Ahab to wife,” 21:6, supposed by Dr. Hales to have been in the thirteenth of his reign. ASC 92.4

Benhadad, king of Syria, came up against Ahab, king of Israel, and was defeated. 1 Kings 20:1-21. “At the return of the year,” he again came up, and was again defeated. vs. 22, 30. “And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel. And it came to pass in the third year, [’after certain years’-from the marriage of his son with Ahab’s daughter-2 Chronicles 18:2,] that Jehosaphat, the king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel,” to fight against the king of Syria. “And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness, .... so the king died,” 1 Kings 22:1, 2, 34, 37, having “reigned over Israel, in Samaria, twenty and two years.” 16:29. ASC 93.1

“And Jehosaphat, king of Judah, returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 19:1. ASC 93.2

Ahaziah. “So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah, his son, reigned in his stead.... Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, the seventeenth year of Jehosaphat, king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel.” 1 Kings 22:40, 51. ASC 93.3

As Jehosaphat began to reign in the fourth of Ahab, and his first would synchronize with Ahab’s fourth and fifth, Ahab’s twenty-second must synchronize with Jehosaphat’s nineteenth and twentieth; and Ahaziah’s first with his twentieth and twenty-first. B. C. 910. ASC 93.4

Jehoram, of Israel. Ahaziah “died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram [his brother] reigned in his stead, in the second year of Jehoram, the son of Jehosaphat, king of Judah; because he [Ahaziah] had no son.” 2 Kings 1:17. “Now Jehoram, the son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, in the eighteenth year of Jehosaphat, king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.” 2 Kings 3:1. B. C. 908. ASC 94.1

How Jehoram, of Israel, could commence his reign in the second year of Jehoram, of Judah, and in the eighteenth of Jehosaphat, is a mystery. Calmet, and others, supposed that Jehosaphat made his son, Jehoram, viceroy of the kingdom, in the seventeenth year of his reign; and that Jehoram, of Israel, began to reign in the second year of the viceroyalty of Jehoram, of Judah, which would be in the eighteenth year of Jehosaphat, and that he afterwards communicated the royalty to him in the fifth year of the reign of Jehoram, of Israel, when he had been viceroy six years. But as Jehosaphat succeeded to the throne in the fourth year of Ahab, and as Ahab’s twenty-second and last year must have extended to Jehosaphat’s nineteenth, the eighteenth of Jehosaphat would be a year or more antecedent to the death of Ahab. And as Ahab died before his son Ahaziah reigned in his stead; and Ahaziah reigned two years, and died before the accession of Jehoram, the son of Ahab, to the throne, it follows, if these texts are correct, that the reign of Jehoram, of Israel, could not succeed till the third year from the death of Ahab, which would synchronize with the twenty-second year of Jehosaphat. And thus Dr. Hales, a profound scholar, and a man of unsurpassed reverence for the Scriptures, decides that in those texts, instead of the second of Jehoram, of Judah, and the eighteenth of Jehosaphat, it should read the twenty-second of Jehosaphat. Thus corrected, the twenty-fifth and last year of Jehosaphat would synchronize with the fourth year of Jehoram, the son of Ahab. ASC 94.2

Elisha. About the commencement of the reign of Jehoram of Israel, Elijah and Elisha were parted asunder; “and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” 2 Kings 2:11, and Elisha succeeded Elijah as prophet. ASC 95.1

Jehoram, of Judah. Jehosaphat “was thirty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 20:31. “Now Jehosaphat slept with his fathers, ...and Jehoram, his son, reigned in his stead...Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 21:1, 5. “And in the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehosaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Jehosaphat, king of Judah, began to reign.” 2 Kings 8:16. ASC 95.2

From its being said, in 2 Kings 3:1, that Jehoram, of Israel, began to reign in the eighteenth year of Jehosaphat, Archbishop Usher, and others, have concluded that the fifth year of Jehoram, or Joram,-as the name is indiscriminately called,-would synchronize with the twenty-second of Jehosaphat; and that consequently Jehoram, of Judah, reigned from the twenty-second to the death of Jehosaphat, or three of his eight years in connection with his father, and but five alone. And, therefore, dating from the death of Jehosaphat, they have allowed but five full years for the reign of Jehoram, his son. ASC 95.3

It has, however, already been shown, that the reign of Jehosaphat commencing in the fourth of Ahab, the twenty-two years of Ahab’s reign would extend to the nineteenth of Jehosaphat’s, and the two years of Ahaziah’s, of Israel, to the twenty-first; and that therefore the first of Jehoram, of Israel, could not begin before the twenty-second of Jehosaphat, which would make his fourth synchronize with the twenty-fifth, and last, of Jehosaphat. Consequently, the fifth year of Jehoram, of Israel, would synchronize with the first of Jehoram, of Judah, dating his reign from the death of Jehosaphat. B. C. 904. ASC 96.1

An objection to this is found in the phrase in the text, “Jehosaphat being then king of Judah.” But this, Dr. Hales affirms, “is an anachronism, and an interpolation in the Massorite text.” That Jehosaphat died before the accession of Jehoram, his son, to the throne, and that the eight years are to be reckoned subsequent to his death, is also indicated by the texts in 2 Chronicles 21:1, 5, quoted above. ASC 96.2

This is further proved by another consideration:-As Jehosaphat began to reign in the fourth year of Ahab, and Ahab reigned subsequently eighteen years, these, with the two years of Ahaziah, and twelve of Jehoram, of Israel, his successors, would equal thirty-four years from the commencement of the reign of Jehosaphat, to the death of Ahaziah, of Judah, by Jehu. To equal this period on the part of the kings of Israel, would require the twenty-five full years of Jehosaphat, the entire year of Ahaziah, of Judah, and the eight years of Jehoram, the son of Jehosaphat, reckoned from the death of his father. And, consequently, if Jehoram, of Judah, reigned three of the eight years of his reign during the last three of his father’s twenty-five, it follows that the reigns of two of the kings of Israel must have also synchronized three years with each other. Such a supposition is unreasonable, and is not only not warranted by, but is contradictory to, Scripture. And, consequently, we reckon, with Dr. Hales, and others, the eight years of Jehoram, of Judah, from the death of his father, to B. C. 896. ASC 97.1

Ahaziah. “Joram [of Judah] slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Ahaziah, his son. reigned in his stead. In the twelfth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, did Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, begin to reign. Two and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Athaliah.” 2 Kings 8:24-26. “Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 22:2. B. C. 896. ASC 97.2

In this last text there is evidently an error; for, as Dr. Clark remarks, as Jehoram, of Judah, began to reign when he was thirty-two, and reigned but eight, being forty years old when he died, it would make Ahaziah two years older than his own father! Dr. Clark therefore adds:-“I am satisfied the reading in 2 Chronicles 22:2 is a mistake; and that we should read there as here, [in 2 Kings 8:26] twenty-two instead of forty-two years.” Says Calmet on this point, “Which is most dangerous, to acknowledge that transcribers have made some mistakes in copying the sacred books, or to acknowledge that there are contradictions in them, and then to have recourse to solutions that can yield no satisfaction to any unprejudiced mind?” ASC 98.1

“And in the eleventh year of Joram, the son of Ahaz, began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.” 2 Kings 9:29. ASC 98.2

We read, in 2 Chronicles 21:18, 19, that “the Lord smote him [Jehoram, of Judah] in his bowels with an incurable disease. And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out, by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases.” ASC 98.3

Being sick two years, Dr. Clark supposes that Ahaziah began to reign, according to 2 Kings 9:29, as viceroy with his father in the eleventh of Jehoram of Israel, and in the twelfth year, according to 2 Kings 8:25, his father died, and he reigned alone. It is a reasonable supposition. ASC 99.1

“And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Joram, the son of Ahab, in Jezreel, because he was sick.” 2 Kings 8:29. “Jehu, the son of Jehosaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram.” And “Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah, king of Judah, was come down to see Joram.... And Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth, the Jezreelite.... And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot.... When Ahaziah, the king of Judah, saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so at the going up of Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there.” 9:14, 16, 21, 24, 27. “And the Lord said unto Jehu, ...Thy children of the 4th generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” 10:30. B. C. 895. ASC 99.2

Thus was the king of Israel and the king of Judah both slain on the same day. As the reigns of Rehoboam of Judah, and Jeroboam of Israel, commenced in the same year, and those of Ahaziah of Judah, and Jehoram of Israel, both terminated at the same time; it follows that the sums of the reigns of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah-from the division of the kingdom at the death of Solomon, to the death of Jehoram and Ahaziah-must be of equal length. That such is the result, and, consequently, that the time allotted for the reign of each respective King is correctly given, may be seen by adding the reigns of each, as in the following table, which also exhibits the years of each which synchronize with those of the other. ASC 99.3

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. ASC 100.1

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. ASC 100.2

Kings of Judah.Kings of Issael.
Years.Y’rsB. C.
1st.Rehoboam’s,1st.Jeroboam’s,1st.990
1717th.“17th.“17th.
19th.Abljam’s,1st.“18th,973
320th.“3rd.“20th.
21st.Asa’s,1st.“21st.970
22nd.“2nd.“12th.12896
195th.Ahaziah’s,1st.“
9595

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 a crown upon him, and gave him the testimony, and they 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 she was slain. Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign. In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem.” 2 Kings 11:4-21; 12:1. B. C. 889. ASC 101.1

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; 13:1. B. C. 867. ASC 102.1

“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 Jehoida,” the priest. “But Jehoida waxed old, and was full of days when he died: an hundred and thirty years old.” 2 Chronicles 24:14, 15. ASC 102.2

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. 850. ASC 102.3

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.” ASC 103.1

Amaziah. 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, 27. “In the second year of Joash, son of Jehohaz, king of Israel, reigned Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah.” 2 Kings 14:1. B. C. 849. ASC 103.2

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 thirty-seventh, as before shown. ASC 103.3

“Now Elisha was fallen sick of the sickness whereof he died. And Joash, 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, 25. ASC 103.4

Jeroboam 2. “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. ASC 104.1

“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.” v. 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.” v. 25. ASC 104.2

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. ASC 104.3

“Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived after the death of Jehoash, 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.” v. 2. “Now they made a conspiracy against Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.” v. 19. B. C. 820. ASC 104.4

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 2, it follows that the twentyninth and last year of Amaziah must synchronize and end with the fifteenth of Jeroboam, and the first year after his death with the sixteenth. ASC 104.5

Azariah, or Uzziah. “All the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.” v. 21. “In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, began Azariah, son of Amaziah, king of Judah, to reign.” 15:1. B. C. 809. ASC 105.1

As the last year of Amaziah ended with the fifteenth of Jeroboam 2.; and the first of Azariah,-or, as he is called in other places, Uzziah,-commenced with the twenty-seventh 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 2., 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. ASC 105.2

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 every one 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 a clear day.” 8:8, 9. ASC 105.3

According to Usher, a great eclipse, it is found by astronomical calculations, 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. Chap. 7:11-“Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall 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.” ASC 106.1

Joel 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 Chap. 1, is that which Amos (4:7-9) mentions as actually come to pass. His time is somewhat uncertain. ASC 106.2

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. ASC 106.3

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. ASC 107.1

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. ASC 107.2

“In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah, king of Judah, did Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam, reign over Israel, in Samaria, six months.” 15:8. B. C. 770. ASC 107.3

As the first year of Azariah commenced with the twenty-seventh of Jeroboam 2., Jeroboam’s one and fortieth and last year must have ended with the fifteenth of Azariah. And as Zachariah 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 2., in the fifteenth year of Azariah, to the reign of Zachariah in the thirty-eighth. The death of Jeroboam Il., in the fifteenth of Azariah, is strikingly confirmed to have been in the year 793 B. C., by the prophesy of Amos, given “two years before the earthquake.” ASC 107.4

Zachariah “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, 12. B. C. 770. ASC 107.5

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.” vs. 13, 14. B. C. 770. ASC 108.1

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.” v. 17. In his days “Pul, king of Assyria, came against the land, v. 19-probably in the first year of his reign. 1 Chronicles 5:26. B. C. 769. ASC 108.2

As Zachariah began to reign in the thirtyeighth 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. ASC 108.3

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.” vs. 22, 23. B. C. 759. ASC 108.4

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 Arieh, 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.” vs. 25-27. B. C. 757. ASC 109.1

“Uzziah, or Ahaziah, 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. ASC 109.2

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. ASC 109.3

Micah, the Morasthite, began to prophesy in the days of “Jotham,” and continued “in the days of Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” Micah 1:1. ASC 109.4

“Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 27:1. ASC 109.5

“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 reigned in his stead.” 2 Kings 15:37. 38. ASC 109.6

Ahaz. “In the seventeenth year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign.” 16:1. B. C. 741. ASC 110.1

“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.” 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 three score and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.” Isaiah 7:1, 8. This is supposed to have been in the first or second year of Ahaz. B. C. 741-740. ASC 110.2

Hoshea. “And Hoshea, the son of Elah, made a conspiracy against Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham, the son of Uzziah.” 2 Kings 15:30. B. C. 738. ASC 110.3

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. ASC 110.4

“In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, began Hoshea, the son of Elah, to reign in Samaria nine years.” 2 Kings 17:1. ASC 111.1

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. ASC 111.2

“Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.” v. 3. ASC 111.3

“Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 28:1. ASC 111.4

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. ASC 111.5

“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. ASC 111.6

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, in 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. ASC 112.1

“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 statutes 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.” 17:7-23. B. C. 719. ASC 112.2

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: ASC 113.1

Kings of Judah.Kings of Israel.
Y’rs.Yrs.B. C.
Athliah’s1st.Jehu’s1st.895
6“6th.“6th.
Jehoash’s1st.“7th.889
“22nd.“28th.28
“23rd.Jehoahaz’s1st.867
“39th.“17th.17
40“40th.Joash’s1st.850
Amazlah’s1st.“2nd.849
“15th.“16th.16
“15th.Jeroboam’s1st.834
29“29th.“15th.821
11Interregnum.
Azariah’s1st.“27th.809
“15th.“41st.41794
1st Interregnum23
“38th.Zachariah & Shallum1st.1770
“39th.Menahem’s1st.769
“49th.“10th.10
“50th.Pekaiah’s1st.759
“51st.“2nd.2
52“52nd.Pekah’s1st.757
Jotham’s1st.“2nd.757
16“16th.“17th.
Ahaz’s1st.“18th.741
“3rd.“20th.20739
“2nd Interregnum9
“13th.Hoshea’s1st.729
1616th.“3rd.
Hezeklah’s1st.“4th.725
6“6th.“9th.9720
176176

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 reigns of the kings of Israel. ASC 114.1

That portion of the prophecy of Micah, which predicts that Zion shall “be ploughed as a field,” Micah 3:12, we learn from Jeremiah 26:18, was given in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah. ASC 114.1

“Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, did Sennacherib, king of Assyria, come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.... And the king of Assyria sent Tartan, and Rabsaris, and Rab-shakeh, from Lachesh to King Hezekiah, with a great host, against Jerusalem.” But when Hezekiah had prayed unto the Lord, “it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out and smote, in the camp of the Assyrians, an hundred four score and five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses.” 2 Kings 18:13, 17. 19:35. B. C. 712. ASC 114.2

“In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon, the king of Assyria, sent him,) and fought against Ashdod,” the Lord spake to Isaiah, as recorded in Isaiah 20th. ASC 114.3

“In those days was Hezekiah sick untodeath.” And when he had prayed, the Lord sent by Isaiah, saying, “I will add unto thy days fifteen years.” 2 Kings 20:1, 6. “At that time, Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.” Isaiah 39:1. ASC 115.1

“Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 29:1. And when the fifteen years added to his days were fulfilled, he “slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David.... And Manasseh, his son, reigned in his stead.” 32:33. B. C. 696. ASC 115.2

“Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem,” ..... to B. C. 641. “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.... And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh, king of Judah, hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies: and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies.” 2 Kings 21:1, 2, 10-14. “Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria. which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.” 2 Chronicles 32:11. B. C. 675. ASC 115.3

This event occurred, says Dr. Hales, “in the twenty-second year of his reign, B. C. 675, (as the Jews in Seder Olam Rabba, and the Talmudists, date the year of his captivity and repentance. See Ganz, p. 45.) This king of Assyria was Esarhaddon, or Asardine, who six years before, B. C. 680, had taken Babylon, and subdued the Babylonians, weakened by intestine divisions, and an interregnum, as we learn from Ptolemy’s Canon. He was a prosperous prince, and afterwards transplanted a colony of Babylonians, Cuthites and Syrians, into the cities of Samaria, in the room of the captive tribes, about B. C. 675, as observed before. 2 Kings 17:24. Ezra 4:2.” New Anal. Chro., vol. ii., p. 468. ASC 116.1

This fulfilled the prophecy uttered by Isaiah, sixty-five years before. Isaiah 7:7, 8. ASC 116.2

“It was sixty-five years from the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, when this prophecy was delivered, to the total depopulation of the kingdom of Israel by Esarhaddon, who carried away the remains of the ten tribes which had been left by Tiglath-pileser, and Shalmaneser, and who planted the country with new inhabitants. That the country was not wholly stripped of its inhabitants by Shalmaneser, appears from many passages of the history of Josiah, where Israelites are mentioned as still remaining there: 2 Chronicles 34:6, 7, 33. 35:18. 2 Kings 23:19, 20. This seems to be the best explanation of the chronological difficulty in this place, which has much embarrassed the commentators. See Usseri Annal. V. T. ad. an. 3327, and Sir I. Newton, Chronol. p. 283. ASC 116.3

“‘That the last deportation of Israel, by Esarhaddon, was in the sixty-fifth year after the second of Ahaz, is probable for the following reasons: the Jews, in Seder Olam Rabba, and the Talmudists, in D. Kimchi, on Ezekiel 4th, say, that Manasseh, king of Judah, was carried to Babylon by the king of Assyria’s captains, 2 Chronicles 33:11, in the twenty-second year of his reign; that is, before Christ 676, according to Dr. Blair’s tables. And they are probably right in this. It could not be much earlier; as the king of Assyria was not king of Babylon till 680. Ibid. As Esarhaddon was then in the neighborhood of Samaria, it is highly probable that he did then carry away the last remains of Israel, and brought those strangers thither who mention him as their founder. Ezra 4:2. But this year is just the sixty-fifth from the second of Ahaz, which was 740 before Christ. Now, the carrying away the remains of Israel, who, till then, though their kingdom was destroyed forty-five years before, and though small in number, might yet keep up some form of being a people, by living according to their own laws, entirely put an end to the people of Israel, as a people separate from all others: for, from this time, they never returned to their own country in a body, but were confounded with the people of Judah in the captivity; and the whole people, the ten tribes included, were called Jews.’-Dr. Jubb. Two MSS. have twenty-five instead of sixty-five; and two others omit the word five, reading only sixty.”-Dr. Clark. ASC 117.1

“And when he [Manasseh] was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him: and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem, into his kingdom.” 2 Chronicles 33:12, 13. He was in captivity, Dr. Hales supposes, about twelve years, to the death of Esarhaddon. B. C. 663. ASC 118.1

“Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem,” 2 Chronicles 33:1; and he “slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house; and Amon, his son, reigned in his stead.” v. 20. B. C. 641. ASC 118.2

“Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.... And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house.” 2 Chronicles 33:21, 24. ASC 118.3

“The last Assyrian invasion of Judea is only noticed in the apochryphal book of Judith, but it is perfectly consonant with the whole range of sacred and profane history, and supplies some important links in both, which are not to be found elsewhere. The object of this invasion was to punish all the western states who had refused to send auxiliaries to Nebuchadonosor, king of Assyria, the grandson of Esarhaddon, in his war with Arphaxad, or Phraortes, king of Media, whom he slew in a pitched battle, and took Ecbatana, the capital city. B. C. 641. Judith 1:1-16.” Hale’s Chro., vol. 2, p. 469. ASC 119.1

The next year, “in the eighteenth of Nabuchodonosor,” B. C. 640, Holofernes was sent with a great army to the borders of Judea. This was after the death of Amon; for Joachim, the high priest, seemed to take the management of affairs.-Judith 4:6. They were also “newly returned from the captivity of Manasseh.” v. 3. By a stratagem, Judith fascinated Holofernes, and proved his destruction. ASC 119.2

Josiah. “But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah, his son, king in his stead.” 2 Chronicles 33:25. B. C. 639. ASC 119.3

“Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years,” [to B. C. 608,] ......And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.... For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images..... Now, in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah, the governor of the city, and Joah, the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.” 34:1-8. B. C. 622. ASC 119.4

In the same year, the passover was kept with great splendor: “Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the Lord, in Jerusalem.” 2 Kings 23:22. ASC 120.1

Zephaniah prophesied “in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.” Zephaniah 1:1. ASC 120.2

Jeremiah began to prophesy “in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.” The word of the Lord came to him “also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive, in the fifth month.” Jeremiah 1:1, 2. ASC 120.3

In the days of Josiah, “Pharaoh-nechoh, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria, to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. And his servants carried him in a chariot, dead, from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre.” 2 Kings 23:29, 30. ASC 121.1

Nahum predicted the destruction of Nineveh. His precise time is not known; but it was after the destruction of “populous No,” Nahum 3:8, which fixes it about B. C. 613. ASC 121.2

Habakkuk predicted the Chaldean invasion, and must, therefore, have lived before B.C. 605. His precise time is uncertain. Habakkuk 1:6. ASC 121.3

Obadiah uses several expressions, in foretelling the destruction of Edom, similar to those in Jeremiah (compare Obad. vs. 1, 8, with Jeremiah 49:9, 14-16.) Lowth supposes he lived just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. Dr. Clark supposes he lived as late as B. C. 587. ASC 121.4

Jehoahaz. “And the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead. Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.” 2 Kings 23:30, 31. B. C. 608. ASC 121.5

Pharaoh-nechoh returned from his expedition against the Assyrians, took Jerusalem. “And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his [Jehoahaz] brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.” 2 Chronicles 36:4. “And he died there.” 2 Kings 23:34. ASC 121.6

Jehoahaz was called “Shallum,” before he was made king. 1 Chronicles 3:15. His death was thus predicted by Jeremiah: “Weep not for the dead [Josiah] neither bemoan him; but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. For thus saith the Lord touching Shallum, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah, his father, which went forth out of this place; he shall not return thither any more; but he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive.” Jeremiah 22:10-12. ASC 122.1

Jehoiakim. “Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king, in the room of Josiah, his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt and died there.” 2 Kings 23:34. “Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem,” v. 36, from B. C. 608. ASC 122.2

“In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from the Lord, saying, thus saith the Lord, Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord’s house, all the words that I command thee.” Jeremiah 26:1, 2. This proves that his reign commenced at one of the great feasts, in the beginning of the Jewish year. ASC 122.3

The words he was commanded to speak to the people, were words of pardon, if they would turn from their evil ways, and of threatening if they refused to hear. ASC 123.1

Nebuchadrezzar. 12 The 25th of Jeremiah contains “The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon.” v. 1. B. C. 605. ASC 123.2

The word of the Lord first came to Jeremiah in the days of Josiah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. Jeremiah 1:2. Jeremiah testifies that, “from the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, even unto this day,”-Jehoiakim’s fourth, and Nebuchadrezzar’s first-“is the three and twentieth year” that he had spoken to the Jews, “rising early and speaking,” and they had “not hearkened.” 25:3. Josiah reigned thirty-one years; from his thirteenth, reckoning that as the first, his thirty-first would be the nine-teenth; the first of Jehoiakim, the twentieth; and his fourth, the twenty-third. ASC 123.3

This was before Nebuchadrezzar came up against Judea; for at this time, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Behold I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment and a hissing, and perpetual desolations......Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.” Jeremiah 25:9-12. ASC 123.4

“In the fourth year of Jehoiakim,” the word came to Jeremiah, (which is recorded in the forty-fifth and forty-sixth chapters of his prophecy, 45:1.) “Against Egypt, against the army of Pharoah-nechoh, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates, in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, smote, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah.” 46:2. B. C. 605. ASC 124.1