• Acoording to this table the number of yeare from the aooeaaiona of Atbaliah and Jehu to tlie (all of Samaria is 129. Thij table, with the one aVjove of synchroiiiMms, however, hue not been given to preocnt tlie covirse of history, but to (five a blrd'»-eyc view of the chronological 8tatcment« of 1 and 2 K. VOL. I. — 26
(»)
(6)
(«)
David (40)
1069
1009
1017
Solomon (40) . . • ,
1019
969
977
Temple founded • • •
1016
966
978
Rehoboain (17) . • • .
9S9
939
937
Abijam (3) ....
962
922
920
Asa (41)
959
919
917
Jehoshaphat (26) ...
918
878
876
Jehoram (s) . . . .
893
•857
851
Ahaziah (1) . . . .
885
850
843
Athaliah (0) . . , .
884
849
842
Joash (40)
878
843
836
Amaziah (29) ....
838
•806
796
Azariab (U/.Tiah) (62)
809
•801
/•789 1 767
Jotham (16) ....
757
749
/•76S 1 737
Ahaz(16)
741
•741
735
Hezekiab(29) ....
725
•727
/•726 \ 716
722
Fall of Samaria ....
719
722
Invasion of Sennacherib , .
711
..
701
Mana8seb(66) ....
696
/ 697 \ 686
Amon (2)
641
^
641
Josiah (31) ....
639
,_
639
Jehoahaz (3 montha) . .
608
,,
608
Jehoiakim
608
^
608
Jeboiachin (3 montha) . .
697
,,
697
Zedekiah (11) ....
697
,,
697
Destruction of Jerusalem . .
686
.-
686
(d)
(•)
(/)
Jeroboam (22) . • • •
989
939
937
Nadab (2)
967
918
916
Baasha(24) ....
9fl«
917
914
Elab(2)
«42
894
(900 \890
Zlmri (7 daya) ....
941
893
/899 \8S9
Omri(12)
941
893
)b99 (889
Ahab(22)
919
882
875
Ahaziah (2) ....
897
•862
853
Joram (12) ....
896
861
862
Jehu (lis)
884
849
842
Jehualiaz (16) ....
856
821
816
Joash (17)
840
•807
798
Jeroboam n. (4l) , .
823
•804
782
Zachariah (0 montba) . .
771
703
741
Sballum (1 month) . . .
770
763
741
Menahem (10) ....
770
762
741
Pekahiah (2) . . . .
760
7i-)2
737
Pekah (2(]) ....
768
7.'.0
736
Uoshca (9) ....
728
730
734
FaU of Samaria
719
722
722
Our examination of the biblical statements shows from the variety of the modes of reckoning, and from the apparent inconsistencies of the synchron- isms (unless an ever variable factor in co-regencies is assumed), that we must look to another source for determining the true chronology of this period. Such a source, in a limited degree, has been found in the Assyr. inscriptions. These inscriptions are dated by the Assyr. calendar or canon. In this canon, which exists in several copies, all of which closely agree, covering the period from about 900 B.C. to al)Out (550 B.C., each year bears the name of an otHcer called an eponym. From the mention of a total eclipse, which occurred in 703 B.C., is determined the date of all the remaining years. The following persons and events of biblicalhistory are mentioned in the Assyr. inscriptions, and dated by the Assyr. canon {COTu. p. 167 ff.). :—
Ahab (at the battle of Karkar) ... 864
Jehu (the payment of tribute) . . . 812
Azariiih (war with Tiplath-pilesor) . . 742-740
Monaliem (payment of tribute) . . , 738
Pekah (rotuiuered by Tij:!ath-pilea«r) , . 734
Atmz (payment of tribute) .... 734
HoHhea (successor of Pekah) . . , 7S4
Fall of Samaria (near the close of tile year) . 722
Invasion of Sennacherib .... 701
Uanasseb 681-608
According to the Assyr. sources, Tiglatli pilewr III. (745-72K) conducted a canipiiign(742-7:iS)against Syria, llamuth, and I'alesUne. At the head o' a coalition against him (742-740) is mentioned
402 CHRONOLOGY OF OLD TEST.
CHRONOLOGY OF OLD TEST.
Azariah, kin^ of Jadah. Menahem is also men- tioned as paying tribute in 738. During the years 737-735 Tiglath-pileser was campaigning in the East, but in 734 lie returned to suppress another coalition in the West, when he conquered Pekah, and appointed Hoshea king of Samaria in his stead.
According to the biblical account, Menahem and Azariah were contemporaries, and Menahem paid tribute to Tiglath-pileser (called Pul in 2 K 15") ; and after the brief reign of Pekahiah the son of Menahem, in the last year of Azariah, Pekah came to the throne. Pekah, with Rezin king of Damascus, in the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz, made war on Judah, evidently to coerce Judah to form an alliance against Assyria. During the reign of Pekah the N. kingdom suffered great loss of territory and inhabitants by Assyr. invasion, and Pekah was followed by Hosliea.
These two accounts, the biblical and Assyrian, har- monize, and it only remains for us to fix the dates. In 737 Pekahiah is king, perhaps having come to the throne in the previous year. His reign is brief, and in 736 or 735 he is slain by Pekah. In 737 or 736 Azariah dies, and Jotham, who for some 14 years may be thought of as having been co-regent, nis father being a leper, becomes sole kin^. In 735 Ahaz succeeds Jotham ; in 734 Pekah is slain, and Hoshea becomes king. Samaria falls in the winter of 722-721. Thus in this period the biblical chrono- logical statements must be considerably modified. The result is given in tables (c) and (/).
A difficulty is also presented in 2 K 18"- ", which date the fall of Samaria in the 6th year of Hezekiah, and the invasion of Sennacherib in the 14th ; but the former event occurred in 722, and the latter in 701. According to the former reckoning, Hezekiah came to the throne in 728 or 727 ; and according to the latter, in 715 or 714. If we adopt the latter reckoning, the reign of Ahaz must be lengthened to some 20 years, and that of Manasseh or of Hezekiah shortened some 10 years. A co- regency of Hezekiah with Ahaz has been sugj^'ested as the solution, or that the date of an invasion of Sargon in 711 may have been given for that of Sennacherib. According to this latter solution, however, Hezekiah would have come to the throne in 725 or 724.