To aid such readers as are interested in the somewhat difficult study of the chronology of that period, we shall put

together the principal points in the elaborate note of Dr. Bahr in his Commentary on 2 Kings 8:16.

Let it be kept in mind that the accession of Jehu forms the beginning of a new period, alike as regards the kings of

Israel and those of Judah, since both Joram and Ahaziah were killed in the revolution of Jehu. Again, let it be

remembered that chronologists fix, with singular unanimity, on the year 884 B.C. as that of the accession of Jehu, and

the death of the two kings. Starting from this point, we can reckon backwards the years of the various kings in the past,

and forward those of the reigns that followed Joram and Ahaziah. In all such computations we must, however, bear in

mind that the Jews always reckoned the years of a king from the month Nisan to the month Nisan, so that not only a

month, but even a day before or after that month, was reckoned as if it had been a year. It will be seen that the

computation of a fragment of a year as if it had been a whole year must frequently introduce elements of confusion in

our attempts to piece together the statements of the various reigns. And this must therefore be taken into account when

studying the chronology. Keeping this in vie w, and counting backwards from the year 884, we have: -

I. KINGS OF JUDAH.

1. Ahaziah: died, 884; reigned one, not full, year (2 Kings 8:26); acceded in 884 or 885 B.C.

2. Jehoram: died, 885; reigned eight years (2 Kings 8:17); acceded in 891 or 892 B.C.

3. Jehoshaphat: reigned twenty-five years (1 Kings 22:42); acceded in 916 or 917 B.C.

II. KINGS OF ISRAEL.

1. Ahab: reigned twenty-two years (1 Kings 16:29). Since the first year of the reign of Jehoshaphat coincided with the

fourth of that of A hab, Ahab acceded in 919 or 920 B.C.

2. Ahaziah: reigned two, not full, years (1 Kings 22:51; cp. 2 Kings 3:1); acceded between 897 and 898 B.C.

3. Joram: died in 884; reigned twelve years (2 Kings 3:1); acceded between 895 and 896 B.C.

III CORRESPON DENCE BETWEEN THE YEARS OF REIGNS OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL.

1. Ahaziah of Judah acceded in the twelfth year of Joram of Israel (2 Kings 8:26); and as the two were killed in 884, the

one year of Ahaziah's reign cannot have been a full one.

2. Jehoram of Judah acceded in the fifth year of Joram of Israel (2 Kings 8:16). Since Joram acceded in 895 or 896

B.C., the fifth year of his reign must have coincided with that of the accession of Jehoram in 891 or 892, as indicated

under I.

3. Ahaziah of Israel, and his successor Joram, acceded respectively in the seventeenth (1 Kings 22:51) and the

eighteenth (2 Kings 3:1) years of Jehoshaphat, whence it follows that (as indicated under II.) the two years of Ahaziah

of Israel were not full years. As Jehosh aphat acceded in 916, the seventeenth year of his reign would have been 899

B.C., and the eighteenth year 898; while according to the computation under II., Ahaziah acceded between 897 and

898, and Joram between 895 and 896. But these slight discrepancies are, no doubt, due to the Jewish mode of

calculating the years of a reign, to which reference has been made above.

4. If we add the sum of the three reigns in Judah (Jehoshaphat twenty-five, Jehoram eight, and Ahaziah one), we obtain

the number thirty-four, or, making allowance for the Jewish mode of computation, thirty-two years. Again, the sum of

the three reigns in Israel (Ahab twenty-two, Ahaziah two, and Joram twelve), gives thirty-six, not full, years.