KINGS
654
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-
