Bible Chronology of Kings of Judah, Israel Solved!
The chronology of the kings of Israel and Judah timescale has been solved! The important point is this: Even though the numbers puzzled good and honest Bible students for thousands's of years, now we know the numbers were right all along and it proves the text of the Bible has not been tampered with or changed! For centuries, Bible students have added up the lengths of reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah and have been baffled as to why the numbers do not seem to work. Once we understood how to correctly translate these dates into our modern AD/BC time scale the problem evaporates.
Solved: Divided Kingdom Period Chronology
The dates when the kings of Israel and Judah reigned has been a complex and long lasting problem that has been completely solved with modern scholarship by absolutely brilliant men. This chronology converts the raw Bible numbers into hard BC dates on an actual timescale. After the death of Solomon the kingdom split into two – Israel (the ten tribes) in the Galilee, and Judah around Jerusalem. In 732 the kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria and the Jews were expelled. A hundred and fifty years later, in 586, Babylonia invaded Judah, destroying the temple and exiling the Jews.
Evidence for Inerrancy is found in modern works such as Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings by Edwin R. Thiele (1983 AD) and OT Chronology by Rodger C. Young (2008 AD). We now know that the numbers are correct after all! Some wrongly conclude the text of the Bible is unreliable and numbers have been changed, but this is false.
Chronology of the Judges (1350 - 1014 BC)
The formal period of the Judges is from 1350 - 1014 BC for a total of 336 years. The chronology of the book of Judges has been a problem because when you add up all the numbers and dates given in the book of Judges the sum of years is about 100 years more than what it should be. The death of Joshua in 1356 BC is a critical anchor point for beginning the Chronology of the Judges. Joshua lived to be 110 years old (1466 - 1356 BC) and began serving Moses at age 18-20. Samuel was the last judge who died in 1014 BC, which was four years before David began to reign in 1010 BC. The period of the Kings began with the anointing of Saul and the period of the Judges ended with the death of Samuel.
Below is a table based on the solved chronology calculations for the period from the Exodus to the Temple of Solomon:
| Period Description | Duration | Dates (BC) |
|---|---|---|
| Exodus to Conquest | 40 years | 1446-1406 BC |
| Conquest to death of Joshua | 50 years | 1406-1356 BC |
| Death of Joshua to first Judge | 6 years | 1356-1350 BC |
| First Judge to death of Samuel | 336 years | 1350-1014 BC |
| Death of Samuel to Death of Saul/David king | 4 years | 1014-1010 BC |
| David king | 40 years | 1010-970 BC |
| Temple Year 4 of Solomon | 4 years | 970-967 BC |
Masoretic Text (MT) vs. Septuagint (LXX)
The Masoretic is superior to the Septuagint. Only through using the chronological numbers in the Masoretic Text (MT) for the kings of Judah and Israel are we able to solve the data to produce a perfect result. While the Septuagint (LXX) is almost identical to the MT, there are two places where the text was altered in an attempt to bring harmony to the overall chronology. Instead of fixing a problem (which in fact did not exist) they created new chronological data which are no longer internally consistent.
Comparison of Historical Data
- 1 Kings 14:20: Jeroboam reigned twenty-two years; then he slept with his fathers.
- 1 Kings 15:9: In the twentieth year of King Jeroboam of Israel, Asa became king over Judah.
- 1 Kings 16:8: In the twenty-sixth year of King Asa of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king over Israel.
- 1 Kings 16:29: Ahab son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of King Asa of Judah.
It includes dating synchronisms between the Bible chronology and those of the Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians and the Canon of astronomer Claudius Ptolemy. It marks major astronomical events like eclipses of the sun and moon, which were used to nail the Bible timeline onto a hard BC dating scale. Now we know the numbers were right all along and it proves the text of the Bible has not been tampered with or changed!