A Quick Note on Chronology

2 Kings 13-16
           Dating the Old Testament isn’t as straightforward as one would think.  The authors of Kings and Chronicles give the length of reign for each of the kings, so you’d think it was simply a matter of stringing those numbers together.  Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

            First off, an historian has to make sure all of his sources align.  For the kingdom period of Israel, that means that we need things to account for Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian history, too.  Without going into the details, we can reliably say that Samaria (the capital of the northern kingdom) was destroyed by the Assyrians in 723/722 BC.  That’s a fixed end date.  Then we have to fit all of the chronological evidence into the 200 years between 931/930 (the civil war) and 723/722. 

            One of the things that scholars generally acknowledge that helps with that task is that Israel and Judah (especially Judah) both practiced what is called co-regency.  That is, a son would often ‘co-rule’ with his father for a period of time.  That means that not all reigns were simply consecutive; some of those numbers overlap.  Co-regency helps us fit most of the kings in where they belong.

            The one exception to that is the reign of Pekah (2 Kings 15).  Pekah is said to reign for 20 years, but that would extend his reign well past 722.  So, is the Bible in error at that point?  How do we explain a rather substantial discrepancy?  Many scholars suggest that Menahem and Pekah were contemporaries and co-conspirators against Shallum, who was assassinated in 752.  Menahem assumed the throne, but Pekah may have thought that he should have taken the throne.  There is some hint that Pekah set himself as a rival ruler in Gilead (across the Jordan).  After Menahem died, Pekah deposed Pekahiah and claimed that he had actually been king since the time of Shallum.  I don’t know that I explained that very well, but a lot of really respectable scholars argue that position and it preserves the records of the Bible as reliable historical records, too.

            I guess my point is that it would be easier to just chuck the books of Kings and Chronicles and say, “Well, maybe the Bible just isn’t reliable.”  However, the Bible demonstrates its historical reliability over and over again.  Sometimes it takes more homework to figure out how, but the Bible can be trusted.

Kings of Israel                        Kings of Judah
Jehoahaz                              
   814-798                              

Jehoash                                  Amaziah
   798-782                                797-768

Jeroboam II
   Co-regent 793-782
   Sole rule 782-753                Azariah/Uzziah
                                                  Co-regent 791-768
Zechariah                                   Sole rule 767-751
   753-752                                 Co-regent 751-740

Shallum
   752

Menahem
   752-742

Pekahiah                               Jotham
   742-740                               Co-regent 751-740
                                                Sole rule 740-736
Pekah                                      Co-regent 736-732
   Rival rule 752-740
   Sole Rule 740-732            Ahaz
                                               Co-regent 736-732
                                               Sole rule 732-729
                                               Co-regent 729-716