If you have ever read the books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings, you might have noticed that a significant portion of both of these books consists of dating the reigns of kings who ruled the Jewish nation in Israel (the northern kingdom) and in Judah (the southern kingdom).
I’m just going to flat honest with you: whenever I see paragraphs and paragraphs of dates in the Bible, or long genealogies, or something similar to that, I just skip right on by so I can get to the ‘good stuff’ of the biblical text. You know, the places in the Bible where I can find some solid truth and application. However, I have actually realized this is a foolish thing to do, especially since genealogies can communicate major theological truths that have massive implications to my life. For instance, the genealogy of Jesus in the gospels of Matthew and Luke are laced with significant themes that contextualize the whole book. If you look closely at Jesus’ genealogies, you will realize there are murders, prostitutes, foreigners, and rebels listed in his family tree… for the public to see. Why would the authors of the gospels include these ‘bad apples’ of the family tree if they were making a kingly argument for Jesus? Everyone else who was trying to establish himself in a high position in society would absolutely shy away from relations to the ‘rebel brother’ or ‘awkward uncle’ or ‘murderous father’ or ‘immoral relative.’ But Jesus didn’t. In short, he includes every type of sinner and outcast in his genealogy because that’s his point exactly: to identify with all of humanity. He came for sinners. That includes us all. And every type of sinner. Even though Jesus is fundamentally not one of us, he is making the statement that no one is excluded from having the opportunity to be linked to his spiritual lineage through faith–no matter what you’ve done.
So that’s my quick quip about how genealogies are important. Complete rabbit trail. Yeah, I will not be focusing on genealogies in this blog, in particular. I am focusing on the dates of kingly reigns in the books of 1-2 Kings. So, you might now be wondering–in light of the theology evidenced in genealogies–“are there equally, theologically riveting truths that I can glean from these kingly dates in the books of 1-2 Kings?”
Well, to be honest, I have not found them yet, haha. However, if you have a critical eye, you might realize that the kingly dates in 1 Kings and in 2 Kings are skewed every here and there by a year or two. Which is important to consider, especially if you hold that the Bible does not err.
Enter you: “But wait… I thought the Bible was infallible and inerrant?” Well, Sparky, the dates are clearly contradictory. So, now what?
That’s where taking a seminary class can really help iron out these allegedly apparent contradictions. Obviously, I would have never come up with this on my own. But ultimately, we diagnosed this problem in my Old Testament II class, highlighting that there are three historical factors at play that complicate the chronological picture we see in 1-2 Kings.
Here are three of them, in case you were wondering:
First, powerful empires on either side of Israel followed different practices in reckoning the length of a king’s reign. For instance, while Egypt followed the practice of antedating, Mesopotamia followed the practice of postdating. Antedating was a system where time of reign would be measured in such a way that the 1st year of reign would begin from accession to the beginning of the new year. For example, a King began to reign in Dec. 10th, 2000 and then finished his reign January 10th, 2001. In this case, he would have reigned for two years, because December 10th, 2000 to December 31st, 2000 counts as 1 year, and then he reigned into the ‘next year’. Postdating, however, was a system where time of reign would be measured in such a way that the 1st year of reign begins at the new year. Thus, if a king begins his reign on Jan. 10th, 2014, a year would not be credited until he reached Jan. 10th, 2015 in his term. Israel seems to have followed Egypt’s practice of antedating, which does not seem unusual since Jeroboam, their first king, spent much time in Egypt before his reign. Judah, on the other hand, may have used the system of antedating at certain points. However, it may have been that Judah alternated between antedating and post-dating, too. These different systems of measuring time of reign would explain the slight yearly difference or ‘contradiction’ in the dating.
Secondly, there was uncertainty regarding the beginning of the new year in the different kingdoms. There was a royal new year, which began in the spring/Nisan (referred to as a new year for kings, which began in the spring). And there was a calendrical new year, which began in the fall/Tishri (referred to as a new year for years, which began in the fall). Israel and Judah varied in this matter, and in various times of their history, they might have switched systems in terms of when they considered the new year, therefore, complicating the beginning and ending dates of a king’s reign.
Thirdly, the reality of co-regencies also skews how we might try to make sense of the slightly varying dates of between kingly reigns. A co-regency is the terminology used to describe when a son of a king began to reign before the father king died. So, the older king’s kingship would be counted all the way until he died, even if his son was currently reigning. And so the younger king’s term would start as he began his reign, even if his father king had not yet passed. Throw this factor into the mix too, and you have a quite the confusion of dates from a year-to-year basis.
Ultimately, these are three factors that can aid in reconciling the chronological difficulties and seemingly contradictory dates in the book of 1-2 Kings.
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I apologize that this was a blog of quite randomized topics and applications, but I nevertheless hope that it was helpful in better understanding the theological backdrop of genealogies and in better clarifying the alleged chronological problems in the book of 1-2 Kings.
Thanks again, everyone, for all your support and encouragement. It means a lot!
