Note: There are several instances where Northern and Southern kings have similar or identical names. Therefore, I will distinguish them as such: “Ahaziah (I)” for Ahaziah of Israel and “Ahaziah (J)” for Ahaziah of Judah. I will also choose only one name to use for each king that has aliases.

Interpretative Key 4: Jeroboam Set the Northern Calendar Year to Start in the Eighth Month

[Credit: me]

2969E: Rehoboam becomes king of Judah

2969E: Jeroboam become king of Israel

God established (or reconfirmed) the Israelite calendar at the time of the Exodus (Exodus 12:1). The month “Abib” became the first month, and Passover was celebrated in the middle of that month. Up until the days of Jeroboam, all Israel observed that calendar. Once he started ruling Northern Israel, however, Jeroboam set up an alternate feast to Passover in the eighth month (1 Kings 12:32). 1 Kings 12:33 says he “devised this month in his own heart,” implying that he was not just establishing a different feast but also setting the eighth month to be the first month of the calendar of Northern Israel, in the hopes of divorcing his nation from the true system of worship as much as possible.

The years in the books of 1 and 2 Kings make sense when you realize that the reigns of the Northern kings from Jeroboam through Jehu are counted according to Jeroboam’s system, while the Southern kings are counted according to God’s original designated calendar.

Based on the years given for the first few kings after Solomon (in other words, without creating either an unexplained gap or an undefined co-reign between Rehoboam and Abijam), Rehoboam and Jeroboam apparently both began reigning before the eighth month of 2969, and Jeroboam set up the new calendar later that year.

Thus, Jeroboam became king in “early 2969,” and his next year, his “first year,” began in late 2969 and went through early 2970. I will call the first seven months of a year the “early” part of that year (which I will format as “XXXXE”) and the last five months the “late” part of that year (which I will format as “XXXXL”). Note: I’m sure Jeroboam enjoyed the fact that even though Rehoboam began reigning first, Jeroboam reached each numbered year of his reign five months before Rehoboam did.

Also note: Because the Southern calendar is paramount, God provides enough data to identify the Southern year in which every event occurs. For Northern events, that means we will know both the Southern year and which segment of the year (early or late) they occurred in.

Interpretative Key 5: Lengths of Reigns Do Not Consistently Start or End with Either a Co-Reign or a Full Reign

[Credit: me]

When we read statements like “X was Y years old when he became king and reigned for Z years” or “X became king in the Yth year of Z king of Judah/Israel”:

• The beginning of the king’s rule could be referring to either the beginning of his co-reign with his father or the year he became sole king after the death of his father.
• The end of the king’s rule could be referring to either the beginning of his co-reign with his son or the year of his death.
• Co-reigns are rarely made explicit. Often, they are discovered only by working through the data methodically.
• If there is a co-reign, enough data is given to map out the beginning and end of the co-reign and the beginning and end of the solo reign. There is never a time when it is unclear whether there was a co-reign or not.

The lengths of the reigns of the kings are therefore a puzzle that has to be carefully teased out.

Interpretative Key 6: For Judean Kings Who Were Co-Regents with Their Fathers, Their Listed Ages Refer to the Beginnings of Their Co-Reigns

[Credit: me]

Having gone through all the co-reigns of the kings of Judah, I have never found a time when a Judean king put his son on the throne as co-regent before his son was 20 (this is the Biblical age of adulthood, as seen in Numbers 14:29-31). Any time a king of Judah was put on the throne before the age of 20, it always appears that it had to be done, because the previous king died before his eldest son turned 20 (the kings of Israel do not have their ages listed in the Bible, so we can’t know how they handled this issue).

As we will see, there are two times we can be reasonably confident that the age of a Judean king at the time of his “beginning to reign” is tied to the beginning of his co-reign with his father, not his age when his father died (or was deposed):

• The “42 years” of 2 Chronicles 22:2 runs up to the beginning of Ahaziah’s co-reign with Jehoram.
• Ahaz became king at the age of 20. If I am correct that Judean kings did not make their sons co-regents until they were legal adults, this must be a reference to Ahaz’s age when he began a co-reign with Jotham, not when he became sole king (else he would have been a minor when he became co-regent).

As I don’t believe the many references to the ages of Judean kings at the beginning of their reigns would be included if they couldn’t be tied to a specific year in the Bible timeline, without any evidence going against this framework, I am concluding that the age of Judean kings at the time they began to reign refers to their age at the beginning of a co-reign, if they had one.

Calculations

2928: Rehoboam is born (1 Kings 14:21; 2 Chronicles 12:13)

2974: Shishak invades Judah (1 Kings 14:25; 2 Chronicles 12:2)

2986L: Rehoboam dies

2986L: Abijam becomes king of Judah

2989E: Asa becomes co-regent with Abijam in Judah

2991E: Jeroboam dies

2991E: Nadab becomes king of Israel

2992L: Baasha murders Nadab

2992L: Baasha becomes king of Israel

2994: Abijam dies

2994: Asa becomes sole king of Judah

2994: Asa begins cleansing Judah

2994: Judah experiences rest from war

3004: Asa defeats Zerah the Ethiopian

3004: Asa renews the covenant in Judah

3005: Baasha invades Judah

3015E: Elah becomes co-regent with Baasha in Israel

3016L: Baasha dies

3016L: Elah becomes sole king of Israel

3016L: Zimri murders Elah

3016L: Zimri becomes king of Israel

3016L: Omri defeats Zimri

3016L: Zimri dies

3016L: Omri becomes king of Israel

Jeroboam reigned for 22 years (1 Kings 14:20). Therefore, he stopped reigning (either because he set up a co-reign with his son or because he died) in either late 2990 or early 2991.

Rehoboam reigned for 17 years (1 Kings 14:21; 2 Chronicles 12:13). Because there is no evidence of a co-reign between Rehoboam and Solomon, that means he stopped reigning in 2986.

Abijam began reigning in Judah in the 18^th year of Jeroboam (1 Kings 15:1; 2 Chronicles 13:1), which would be either late 2986 or early 2987.

Abijam reigned for three years (1 Kings 15:2; 2 Chronicles 13:2). Looking at the data about his son Asa, we can see that after Abijam’s death, Asa did some initial cleansing of the idolatry in Judah that led to ten years of quiet (2 Chronicles 14:1). At the end of ten years, Zerah the Ethiopian came up against Judah, but Asa cried out to God for help, so God delivered him and Judah. Then God sent Azariah the prophet to encourage Asa to complete the cleansing of Judah that he had been too scared to complete previously (Zerah’s invasion was apparently meant to be a wake-up call for Asa about the consequences of not completing his covenant renewal). Therefore, Asa took courage, finished the good work he had started previously, and renewed the covenant.

Note that there is a seeming discrepancy between 1 Kings 16:11-15, which says that Zimri wiped out Baasha’s lineage in the 27^th year of Asa, and 2 Chronicles 16:1, which says that Baasha invaded Judah in the 36^th year of Asa. Looking at all the data for Abijam, Asa, and the Israelite kings through Omri, this cannot be due to an extremely long co-reign between Asa and Abijam. As it turns out, 2 Chronicles 15:19 and 2 Chronicles 16:1 are critical pieces of data for mapping out the timeline of Abijam and Asa. Therefore, I agree with James B. Jordan’s suggestion (Testimonies of Two Witnesses [Chronologies and Kings V]) that the 35 years and 36 years are dated from the splitting of the kingdom in 2969 (when Southern Judah became its own independent entity).

Note: The other possibility Jordan offers, although he disagrees with it, is that these verses are scribal errors. Ascribing difficult verses to scribal errors is a nuclear option that I never found the need to use in building the timeline in this chronology project, which is good, because it is ripe for “slippery slope” problems.

The full covenant renewal occurred in Asa’s 15^th year (2 Chronicles 15:10). If the 35 years of 2 Chronicles 15:19 are indeed dated from the splitting of the kingdom, then the covenant renewal of Asa occurred in 3004, while the conflict with Baasha and Asa’s failure to respond faithfully occurred the following year in 3005 (the 36^th year from the splitting of the kingdom – 2 Chronicles 16:1). As Jordan points out (ibid), this follows the typical pattern of man’s failure immediately after the establishment or renewal of a covenant.

This also means the ten years of quiet ended in Asa’s fifteenth year, which means there was a five-year co-reign between Asa and Abijam. But Asa became king in the 20^th year of Jeroboam (1 Kings 15:9), which would be either late 2988 or early 2989. That must therefore be the start of the 15 years of Asa that ended in 3004, so Asa began reigning in early 2989.

Therefore, Abijam died in 2994. Given that there is no evidence of a co-reign between Rehoboam and Abijam, the only option for the three years of his reign must be from late 2986 to early 2989 (which would be two years in Northern time but three years in Southern time). Therefore, Rehoboam died and Abijam became king in late 2986.

Nadab became king of Israel in Asa’s second year (1 Kings 15:10). There is no evidence of a co-reign between Jeroboam and Nadab, which means Jeroboam died in early 2991. Because Nadab reigned two years (1 Kings 15:25) and then was murdered by Baasha in Asa’s third year (1 Kings 15:28; 1 Kings 15:33), Nadab must have died and been replaced by Baasha in late 2992 (which would be two years in Northern time, albeit only one year in Southern time).

Baasha reigned for 24 years (1 Kings 15:33), which means he stopped reigning in either late 3016 or early 3017. His son Elah began reigning in Asa’s 26^th year (1 Kings 16:8), which could be dated from either 2989 or 2994, which would be either 3015 or 3020. If, however, Elah’s start was dated from 2994, we would have no further information about either the end of Baasha’s solo reign or the end of his full reign, which means the author is implying that Elah began a co-reign with his father in 3015.

Elah reigned two years (1 Kings 16:8) and then was murdered by Zimri in Asa’s 27^th year (1 Kings 16:10). As Asa’s 27^th year was 3016, the only way this could work is if Elah became king in early 3015 and was murdered and replaced by Zimri in late 3016. As Elah reigned in Baasha’s place after Baasha’s death (1 Kings 16:6), Baasha must have died in late 3016, shortly before Elah was murdered. This makes sense if Elah was a drunkard of a far weaker political constitution than his father (1 Kings 16:9), and after Baasha’s death Zimri immediately saw his opportunity to take over.

According to 1 Kings 16:15, Zimri’s entire seven-day reign took place in late 3016, at which point he was replaced by Omri.

3000: Jehoshaphat is born (1 Kings 22:42; 2 Chronicles 20:31)

3020E: Omri wins his civil war with Tibni

3032E: Omri dies

3032E: Ahab becomes king of Israel

3033: Asa becomes diseased in his feet (2 Chronicles 16:12)

3035L: Asa dies

3035L: Jehoshaphat becomes king of Judah

3038: Jehoshaphat sends teachers of the Law throughout Judah (2 Chronicles 17:7)

3052E: Ahaziah (I) becomes co-regent with Ahab in Israel

3053L: Ahab dies

3053L: Ahaziah (I) dies

3053L: Jehoram (I) becomes king of Israel

At this point, we have three tasks we must accomplish as we proceed through the remainder of the pre-Jehu timeline:

• We have to map out the start and end of Omri’s reign.
• We have to determine the Southern year the capital of Israel moved from Tirzah to Samaria.
• We have to account for 2 Chronicles 22:2. According to 2 Kings 8:26, Ahaziah (J) was 22 when he began ruling. However, 2 Chronicles 22:2 says he was 42. As it turns out, per Jordan’s suggestion, this is a similar case to the 35 and 36 years of Asa (ibid), but my exact interpretation is slightly different than his.

The key to achieving these objectives (and after extensive analysis and experimentation, I don’t believe there’s any other way to do so) is to interpret Omri winning the civil war with Tibni as happening in the 31^st year of Asa (1 Kings 16:23) as dated from the beginning of Asa’s co-reign with Abijam in 2989, which would be 3020, but the beginning of Ahab’s reign as happening in the 38^th year of Asa (1 Kings 16:29) as dated from Abijam’s death and the beginning of Asa’s solo reign in 2994, which would be 3032. The 12 years of Omri (1 Kings 16:23) therefore ran from either early 3020 to early 3032 or late 3020 to late 3032.

This means there is no evidence of a co-reign between Omri and Ahab. There is also no evidence of a co-reign between Jehoshaphat and Asa, which means that Asa’s death in his 41^st year (2 Chronicles 16:13) must have happened in 3035, at which time Jehoshaphat became king. However, Jehoshaphat became king in Ahab’s fourth year (1 Kings 22:41), which means Ahab became king in early 3032, and Jehoshaphat became king in late 3035. This means Omri became king in early 3020 and died in early 3032.

Ahaziah (I) began ruling in the 17^th year of Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 22:51), which would be 3052. He reigned for two years (1 Kings 22:51) and then died and was replaced by Jehoram (I) in the 18^th year of Jehoshaphat (2 Kings 3:1), which would be 3053. This means Ahaziah (I) began ruling in early 3052 and died in late 3053.

Ahab reigned for 22 years (1 Kings 16:29), which means he died in either late 3053 or early 3054. However, because the kingdom went from Ahaziah (I) to Jehoram (I) after Ahaziah’s death instead of reverting to Ahab (2 Kings 1:17), we know Ahab had to have died before Ahaziah did. This means Ahaziah began a co-reign with Ahab in early 3052, Ahab died in late 3053, and Ahaziah died shortly afterwards in late 3053 as well.

3051E: Ahab spares Ben-Hadad

3051E: Jehoram (J) becomes co-regent temporarily with Jehoshaphat in Judah

Jehoram (I) began reigning in the second year of Jehoram (J) (2 Kings 1:17), which means Jehoram (J) began reigning in 3051. Jehoshaphat reigned for 25 years (1 Kings 22:42; 2 Chronicles 20:31), which means he stopped reigning in 3060. Jehoram also started reigning in the fifth year of Jehoram (I) (2 Kings 8:16), which would be late 3058 or early 3059. This provides three starting points for Jehoram (J): 3051, 3058L/3059E, and 3060.

I will adopt Jordan’s approach (Jehoram of Judah [Chronologies and Kings X]) of assuming Jehoram (J) began a temporary co-reign in 3051 that was stopped and was later restarted in the fifth year of Jehoram (I), although I don’t follow his proposed solution completely. 2 Kings 8:16 explicitly calls out that Jehoshaphat was king at the time the second co-reign began, which is evidence for the double co-reign idea. Furthermore, the age and reign of Jehoram (J) are repeated in 2 Chronicles 21:5 and 2 Chronicles 21:20, which is a sign from the author that something unusual is happening and we need to pay careful attention (something similar happens later with Jotham).

To understand the double co-reign, let’s consider the timeline of the last few years of Ahab’s life. Ahab died after three years without war between Israel and Syria (1 Kings 22:1), in the “third year” (1 Kings 22:2). This means the start of the peace, which happened in the spring (1 Kings 20:26), must have happened in early 3051, as Ahab died in late 3053 (as Ahab is the focus of the narrative, I assume the author is using the Northern counting system).

Earlier during that Northern year (3050L/3051E), God had warned Ahab via a prophet (1 Kings 20:22) that Syria would attack in the spring of that (Northern) year. I would posit that after the conflict between Syria and Israel in the spring of 3051, Jehoshaphat, seeing that God was helping Israel and wanting to join forces with them against the Syrians, allied himself with Ahab, taking Ahab’s daughter Athaliah as a wife for Jehoram (J) (2 Chronicles 18:1) and placing Jehoram (J) on the throne as co-regent.

Note: It would be appropriate that Ahab and Jezebel’s murder of Naboth (1 Kings 21) would follow shortly after this alliance was forged, as Jehoshaphat’s attempts to ally the Northern and Southern kingdoms were foolish and unable to bring about righteousness in the North (2 Chronicles 19:2).

Because Ahaziah (I) was a co-regent when Ahab died, both Ahab and Jehoshaphat had co-regents in place at the time they went out to battle with Syria in 1 Kings 22. Then, at some point afterwards, Jehoshaphat removed Jehoram (J) from the throne. Jordan has suggested that that may have been due to wickedness on the part of Jehoram (J) (ibid), but I am more inclined to believe that Jehoshaphat temporarily took the rebuke of Jehu the son of Hanani to heart (2 Chronicles 19:2) and undid the act of making Ahab’s daughter the queen of Judah.

Unfortunately, Jehoshaphat should have gone farther and forced a divorce between Jehoram (J) and Athaliah. His failure to do so, along with his later alliance with Jehoram (I) (2 Kings 3:6-7), had disastrous consequences after his death.

3023E: Omri moves the capital of Northern Israel to Samaria

3026: Jehoram (J) is born (2 Kings 8:17; 2 Chronicles 21:5; 2 Chronicles 21:20)

3043: Ahaziah (J) is born (2 Kings 8:26)

3058L: Jehoram (J) becomes co-regent with Jehoshaphat in Judah again

3060: Jehoshaphat dies

3060: Jehoram (J) becomes sole king of Judah

3064: Jehoram (J) develops an incurable intestinal disease (2 Chronicles 21:19)

3065E: Ahaziah (J) becomes co-regent with Jehoram (J) in Judah

3066E: Jehoram (J) dies

3066E: Ahaziah (J) becomes sole king of Judah

3066E: Jehu kills Jehoram (I) and Ahaziah (J)

Given the temporary nature of Jehoram’s first co-reign, we know Jehoram (J) became permanent co-regent in late 3058 or early 3059, and Jehoshaphat died in 3060. Jehoram (I) reigned for 12 years (2 Kings 3:1), which means he died in late 3065 or early 3066. Ahaziah (J) began reigning in both the 11^th (2 Kings 9:29) and 12^th (2 Kings 8:25) years of Jehoram (I), and he reigned for one year (2 Kings 8:26).

Jehoram (J) reigned for eight years (2 Kings 8:17; 2 Chronicles 21:5; 2 Chronicles 21:20), which could be timed from either late 3058, early 3059, or sometime in 3060. However, the second beginning of the reign of Ahaziah (J) in the 12^th year of Jehoram (I) must have happened when Jehoram (J) died, which means Jehoram (J) must have died in late 3065 or early 3066. Therefore, the only option that works is for Jehoram (J) to have begun a co-reign with Jehoshaphat in late 3058 and died in early 3066.

Ahaziah (J) became co-regent in the 11^th year of Jehoram (I), which would be late 3064 or early 3065. But he reigned for one year (according to the Southern calendar) before dying, so he became co-regent with Jehoram (J) in early 3065 (probably when his father’s intestinal diseased progressed to the point where he could no longer rule effectively) and reigned for one year (both Southern and Northern) from the beginning of his co-regency to his death in early 3066, on the same day Jehoram (I) died.

We can now examine the 42 years of 2 Chronicles 22:2. Something significant must have happened 42 years before either early 3065 or early 3066. It cannot be traced back to either start of Omri’s reign in late 3016 or early 3020 (Jordan’s suggestion was that the 42 years traced back to Omri becoming king), but we know from 1 Kings 16:23 that Omri reigned for six years in Tirzah before moving the capital of Israel to Samaria. If those six years began in late 3106 and ended in early 3023, then the move to Samaria was exactly 42 years before Ahaziah (J) began his co-reign with Jehoram (J) in early 3065 (this would be 42 years according to both the Northern and the Southern calendar, which is fitting, as this number connects a Southern king to his Northern political influence).

Thus, the author of 2 Chronicles is indicating that, just as with Asa’s reign being dated back to the kingdom split, the move to Samaria represented a new beginning for the Northern kingdom. Hence, the evil of Jehoram (J) and Ahaziah (J) had the wickedness of this new kingdom at its root. It’s also possible that Omri arranged for Ahab’s marriage to Jezebel at the time he moved to Samaria, which would fit thematically, but I have not uncovered additional Bible evidence for that idea.

Note: Further evidence for this interpretation is the fact that 2 Chronicles 22:2 is the only piece of chronological data that can provide the exact Southern year the capital of Israel was moved to Samaria, an event that is clearly meant to be tied into the timeline.