Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/734

 KINGS

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KINGS

chronicles of the kings of Judah" (A. V. I ffings, xiv, 29). The writer of II Par., x-xii, gives an account of the same which in contents and form is almost identi- cal, and refers to " the books of Semeias the prophet, and of Addo the seer" (II Par., xii, 15). The same holds for the history of the following kings of Juda. After an account, often in almost the same words, now elaborate and then again more concise, we find in the Book of Kings the "book of the chronicles" and in

II Par. the " prophetic writings " given as sources. It must be added that, while in the life story of four of the seven kings in II Par., reference to the source is omitted, these are also absent in the Books of Kings. Is it then not probable that it is one and the same source whence both writers have gathered their in- formation? The " l)ook of the chronicles" quoted in

III and IV Kings the writer of II Par. designates by the then usual appellation, "the book of the kings of Juda and Israel ". The prophetic writings referred to by this writer are divisions of the last-named book. This the writer states explicitly (II Par., xx, .34) of " the words [or the writings] of Jehu the son of Ha- nani " (his source for the history of Josaphat) : they are "digested into the books of the kings of Israel [and Juda]"; also (II Par., xxxii, 32— Vulg.) of "the vision of Isaias, son of Amos " : it is embodied in " the book of the kings of Juda and Israel ". Consequently, the source utilized by both writers is nothing else but the collection of the writings left behind by the suc- cessive prophets.

That the author of the Book of Kings has thor- oughly consulted his sources, is constantly evident. Thus he is able to describe the labours and miracles of

Flavins Josephus and Eusebius as witnesses to the reliability of our book of sacred history. Especially notable in tliis respect are the inscriptions concerning the Oriental races discovered during the last century. NETEt.ER, Das 3 und 4 B,der Konigeder Vid^.und des Urtextes iibersetzl und erklarl (iMunster, 1899); Holzhet, Dos B. der Knnige (Leipzig, 1899); Crampon, Les livres des Rois (Paris, 1899): Benziger, Die B. der Konige (1899); Kittel, Die B. der Konine (Gottingen, 1900); Challoneb and Kent, Kings III and /V(London, 1904); Crockett. Books of the Kings of J udah and Israel. Harmony of the B. of Sam., Kings and Chron. in the version of 1884 (London, 1906) ; Rubie, The first Book of Kings (London, 1907); Barnes, / and II Kings (London, 1908); Maclaren, The Books of Kings (London, 1907-08); Burkitt, Fragments of the B. of Kings according to the translatixin of Aquila (Cambridge, 1897); Lagrange, L' Inscription de Mesa, etc., in Revue Biblique (1901), 522-45; Prasek, Sennacherib's Second Expedition to the West and the Siege of Jerusalem in Expository Times, XII, 225, 405; XIII, 326; Stefeens, The Structure and Purpose of the B. of Kings in The Bible Student, VIII, 153-60; DoLLER, Geographische und ethnographische Studien zum III und IV Kunige (Vienna. 1904) ; Burnham, The Mission and Work of Elijah in Biblical World, XXIV, 180-87; Scholz, Die Quellen z. Gesch. des Elias (Braiinsberg, 1906); Dodds, Elisha, the Man of God ((jhicago, 1904); von Hdmmelauer, Salomons ehemea Meer in Bibl. Zeitschr., IV, 225-31; Olmstead, The Fall of Sa- maria in American Journal of Semitic Lang, and Lit., XXI, 179- 82; Boyd, An undesigned coincidence, IV Kings, xviii in Prince- ton Theol. Review, III, 299-303 ; Gotzel, Hizkia und Sanherib in Bibl. Zeitschr., VI, 133-54; Vincent, La description du Temple de Salomon, I Rois, vi, in Revue Biblique (1907), 515-42; Breme, Ezechias und Senacherib (Freiburg im Br., 1906); Nagl, Die nachdavidische Konigsgeschichte Israels ethnograph- isch und geographisch beleuchtet (Vienna, 1905); Tot, The Queen of Sheba in Journal of Am. Folk-Lore. XX, 207-12; Caldecott, Solomon's Temple. Its history and its structure (London, 1907). Jos. SCHETS.

Chronology of the Kings. — First, we append a table in which the data of the Bible are put together. For the kings of Juda, s. signifies son, b., brother, of the preceding.

KINGS OF JUDA

King

Age

Length of Reign

Year of Accession

Bible

^.^

years

41

35 32

22 (42)

7 25

16 25

25 (20) 25 12 22 8 23 25

18(8) 21

yrs. mos. d. 40 6 40 17

3 41 25

8

1

6 40 29

52 16 16 29 55 2 31

3 U

3 10 11

IS Jeroboam I 20

4 Achab

5 Joram of Israel

11 "

12 " After"

7 Jehu

2 Joas of Israel to 15 After Joas of Israel 27 Jeroboam II

2 Phacee 17

3 Osee

II Kings, V, 4-5;

III Kings, xi, 42;

Abiam, s

III Kings, XV, 1-2:

III Kings, XV, 9-10:

III Kings, xxii. 41-42;

IV Kings, viii, 16-17;

IV Kings, ix, 29;

IV Kings, viii, 25-26;

IV Kings, xi, 3;

IV Kings, xi, 21; xii, 1;

IV Kings, xiv, 1-2;

IV Kings, xiv, 17; IV Kings, XV, 1-2;

IV Kings, XV, 32-33;

IV Kings, xvi. 1-2;

Ezpchi'as

IV Kings, xviii, 1-2;

IV Kings, xxi, 1 ;

IV Kings, xxi, 19;

IV Kings, xxii, 1 ;

IV Kings, xxiii, 31;

IV Kings, xxiii, 36;

Joachin, s

Sedecias, 3. of Josi;is

IV Kings, xxiv, 8; IV Kings, xxiv, IS;

Elias and Eliseus with such minuteness and in so fresh and vivid a manner as to make it plain that the original narrator was an eyewitness. This is why he consults the sources and refers the reader to them in his ac- count of the life of almost every king; not a few ex- pressions have been taken over verbally (cf . Ill Kings, viii, 8; ix, 21; xii, 19; IV Kings, xiv, 7, etc.). The authenticity of his history is further strengthened by its agreement with the accounts of II Par. The diffi- culties which appear at the superficial perusal of these Sacred Writings vanish after an attentive study, what seemed contradictory proving to be an amplifi- cation or else entirely new matter. In many places the historical reliability of the Books of Kings is con- firmed by what the prophetic writings of Isaias, Jere- mias, Osee, Amos, Micheas, and Sophonias report concerning the same events, cither liy direct mention or by allusion. Even profane liislorians of antiquity, Berosus, Manetho, and Menander, are quoted by

Since the deciphering of the Assyro-Babylonian in- scriptions, the chronology of the period of Kings Ijefore 730 B. c. has become untenable. We give here the points of chronological contact between the Assyro- Baliylonian history and Sacred Scripture, as also those of Egyptian history.

A. From Assyrian Inscriptions. —

(1) S.'i'l B. c. Salmanasar II, in the summer of his sixth year, vanquishes Benadad of Syria (III Kings, XX, 1), tlie predecessor of Hazael, with other kings, among Ihem .\chal) of Israel, in the Imttle of Karkar.

(2) S42 B. r. S;dmanasar II, in his eighteenth year, receives tribute from Jehu.

(3) 738 B. c. Theglathphalasar III (Phul, IV Kings, XV, 19) receives, in his eighth year, tribute from Manahem.

(4) 733-2 B. c. War between Theglathphalasar and Rasin of Syria; .siege of Damascus. "Joachaz of Juda", i. e. Achaz, brings presents from Theglath-