Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/736

 KINGS

656

KINGS

according to Israelitish dating, it was 605. Jer., lii, 31, " In the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Joacliin, king of Juda, in the twelfth month, the five and twentieth day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of liis reign [i. e. 562 b. c], lifted up the head of Joacliin, king of Juda, and brought him forth out of prison" (incorporated in IV Kings, XXV, 27), evidently follows Babylonian dating. All these datings point to 59S as the year when Joa- chin was carried away.

(15) In his eighth year, or the beginning of his ninth year, Sedecias revolted against Nabuchodonosor and called to his assistance Egypt, namely, the newly elevated Pharao Hophra (t). V. Ephree), who as-

(religious or civil). The number of inaccuracies has by tWs means been reduced to a minimum, and we are justified in this hypothesis because notliing is known with any degree of certainty concerning the system of chronology covering the years of the kings of Juda and of Israel.

From the present uncertainty as to the dates of acces- sion it follows that the precise year b. c. in which any king began his reign cannot, in most cases, be deter- mined. The inexactness is increased by the fact that the duration of any one reign is given in round num- bers of years, so that, in the absence of any determin- ing data, it is impossible to know whether the time is too long or too short by a fraction of a j'ear. We have.

The celebraterl seventeenth-century Jesuit Petavius composed in a very ingenious manner two chronological table

which, as brought by him into relation with the pre-Christian chronology have, with tew alterations,

been in vogue for a long time, 'these tables are here combined and presented as one.

Juda

Year

Israel

Year

Remarks

Juda

Year

Israel

Year

Remarks

B.C.

B. c.

B.C.

B.C.

David

105.5

Amasias

.S3S

Solomon

1015

Jeroboam II

824

(Building of the

1012

Azarias

809

15 after Joas of Is-

Temple)

rael

Roboam

975

Jeroboam I

975

(Interreg-

783

Abiam

95S

Zacharias

772

Asa

955

Nadab Baasa Ela Zambri

954 953 930 929

Joatham

.Sellum Manahem Phaceia Phacee

771 761 759

Amri

929

27 Asa— cf. Ill Kings, xvi, 15-16

Achaz

741

Osoe

738

20 Joatham

Achab

917

730

12 Achaz

Josaphat

914

Ochozias Joram

897 896

Ezechias Manasses

9S

" (end)

721

Taking of Samaria

Joram

892 889

S91

3 years together with Josaphat His true reign .\fter his father's death

Amon

Josias

Joachaz

Joakim

Joachin

643 641 610 610 599

Ochozias

885

Sedecias

599

Athalia

884

Jehu

884

(end)

5SS

Joaa

878

Joachaz Jo.as

856 840

Capture of Jerusa- lem

cended the throne in 5S9 (probably the first half of the year) — IV Kings, xxiv, 20 (cf. xxv, 1); Jer., xxxvii, 4 (A. V. xxxvii, 5); xliv, 30; Ezech., xvii, 15.

(16) The siege of Jerusalem began in the tenth month of the ninth year of Sedecias (IV Kings, xxv, 1 ; Jer., xxxix, 1; lii, 4). According to Jer., xxxii, 1, the tenth year of Sedecias coincides with the eighteenth of Nabuchodonosor. Jerusalem was taken in the eleventh year of Sedecias, the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, in the fourth month (IV Ivings, xxv, 8; Jer., hi, 12). According to Babylonian chronology, this was the eighteenth year of Nabu- chodonosor (Jer., lii, 29).

(17) The fourth month of the eleventh year of Sede- cias falls in the nineteenth year (Israelitish chronol- ogy) of Nabuchodonosor. From this it appears that the fourth month (Thammuz) of the first year of Sede- cias falls in the ninth year of Nabuchodonosor. As Joachin's abduction took place in the eighth year of Nabuchodonosor, it is very probable that Sedecias became king in this, the eighth, year.

The table on the opposite page gives the chronology' of the kings of Ju<la and of Israel, as nearly as possible in accordance with the figures of the Bible, in conjunction with the data of profane history. In this connexion it must be noted that: (1) The years b. c. are figured from Nisan to Nisan, which month ustially began with the new moon about the vernal equinox ; (2) the years during which the kings reigned are understood to be enumerated in accordance with their accession to the throne, and not according to the beginning of the year

therefore, to consider the dates b. c. here given as — within a year, earlier or later — more or less inaccurate. Dates marked with an asterisk (*) may, however, be regarded as reasonably exact.

The inaccuracies in the chronology of the Bible are attributable to various causes. In many cases they are due to would-be "corrections" on the part of the copjnsts, who did not understand certain passages or sought to bring certain dates into agreement with an error of long standing. Thus the discrepancy of twenty years excess in the reign of Azarias has also been carried through the synchronisms of the Israel- itish kings, Zacharias, etc. The sj-nchronistic com- parisons between Joatham, Achaz, and Ezechias, on the one hand, and Phacee and Osee, on the other, form a very inaccurate combination, brought into the Bible by tlie speculations of successive copj-ists and com- mentators.

The statement, tolerably accurate chronologically, concerning the beginning of Osee's reign, "in the twentieth year of Joatham" (IV Kings, xv, 30), who, be it noted, only reigned sixteen years (v. 33), seems to ha\'e originaterl with some one who did not wish to mention the godless .\chaz. The twenty years of the reign of Phacee, in whose second year Joatham be- came king, stand in relation to the twentieth year of Joatham like Oinise and effect. The synchronisms of Ezechi:is with Osee got into the Bililc through the undnubteilly genuine "twelfth year of .\chaz", during which Osee became an independent king, by means of the following arithmetical calculation: —