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Kings and Prophets of the Nation of Israel
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King
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All Years BC
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Prophet
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Saul
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1095-1055
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Samuel
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David
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1055-1015
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Nathan
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Solomon
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1015-975
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Nathan, Ahijah
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Israel was a unified nation under kings Saul, David, and Solomon, but God rent this unified nation into the ten northern tribes (which became known as Israel) and the two southern tribes of Benjamin and Judah (which became known as Judah) because of the idolatry of king Solomon (I Kings, chapter 11). Israel also was known as Ephraim because, like Judah, it was the largest of the ten northern tribes. The section immediately below explains the methodology used to generate all the dates in this table with the exception of two anchor dates - 586 BC (the destruction of the Jewish temple by Babylon) and 721 BC (the conquering of the ten northern tribes by Assyria), dates which most biblical scholars consider to be historically accurate. Along with these two anchor dates, the scriptures force the existence of two time intervals in which no definite kingship can be assigned to, known as Interregnum* (times in which Israel was without a king).
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Southern Kingdom (Judah)
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Northern Kingdom (Israel)
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King
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Years Reigned
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Prophet(s)
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King
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Years Reigned
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Prophet
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Rehoboam
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975-958
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Ahijah, Shemaiah
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Jeroboam
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975-954
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Ahijah
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Abijah
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958-955
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Ahijah
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Nadab
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954-953
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Asa
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955-914
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Azariah, Hanani
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Baasha
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953-929
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Jehu
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Jehoshaphat
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(914-889)c
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Micaiah, Elisha
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Elah
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929-927
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Jehoram(Joram)
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(895-887)c
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Elijah
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Zimri
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7 days
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Ahaziah
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887-886
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Elijah
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Tibni
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927-923
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Athaliah(Queen)
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886-880
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Omri
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927-917
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Jehoash
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880-840
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Jehoiada
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Ahab
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(917-895)c
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Elijah
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Amaziah
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840-811
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Amos
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Ahaziah
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(897-895)c
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Elijah
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Uzziah
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(811-759)c
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Isaiah, Hanani
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Joram
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895-887
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Elijah, Elisha
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Jotham
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(763-743)c
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Isaiah, Jehu, Micah
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Jehu
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887-859
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Elisha
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Ahaz
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743-726
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Isaiah, Micah
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Jehoahaz
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(859-842)c
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Elisha
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Hezekiah
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726-697
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Isaiah, Micah
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Joash(Jehoash)
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(845-829)c
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Manasseh
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697-642
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Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Nahum
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Jeroboam II
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829-788
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Jonah, Hosea, Amos
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Amon
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642-640
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Jeremiah, Nahum, Zephaniah
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Zachariah
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(773) 6 mo
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Hosea
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Josiah
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640-609
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Jeremiah, Ezekiel,Zephaniah
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Shallum
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(772) 1 mo
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Hosea
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Jehoahaz
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3 months
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Jeremiah, Ezekiel
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Menahem
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772-762
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Hosea
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Jehoiakim
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609-597
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Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk
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Pekahiah
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761-759
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Hosea
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Jehoiachin
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3 months
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Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk
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Pekah
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759-739
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Hosea
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Zedekiah
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597-586
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Jeremiah, Ezekiel
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Hoshea
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729-720
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Hosea, Obadiah
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Judah went into Babylonian captivity: (606-536)BC *Israel without a king: (788-773)BC and 739-729)BC
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Governor Zerubbabel (536-510) rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem in 516 BC
Temple dedicated ( Ezra 6:13-22 ) Prophets: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
Governor Nehemiah (445-433) BC Wall finished in 440 BC?
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Table Data Methodology Two historical anchors were employed: first, 586 BC was taken to be the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians and secondly, 721 BC was taken to be the year in which the Assyrians conquered Samaria and thus the ten Northern tribes. A third (scriptural) anchor established the reign of king Hezekiah of Judah according to the date given by the following scripture
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 2Kings 18:9,10
From this scripture we see that the last king of Israel was Hoshea and that his reign lasted nine years, which would be (729-720) BC. At the same time, this defines the first year of king Hezekiah's reign in Judah as being 726 BC. Moreover, the scriptures also tell us that king Hezekiah reigned for 29 years, so his time as king would have been (726-697) BC. All other dates are established by considering the back-and-forth method which God uses in the scriptures as He relates kings from the Southern kingdom to kings from the Northern kingdom, as in the scripture above. But in spite of very careful attention being paid to follow this line of reasoning to perfection, still there remain several pitfalls at arriving at a perfect solution. These are
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the fact that the Northern kingdom used September as the beginning of a new year (the month of Tishri) while Judah used April (Nissan) as the beginning of a new year
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all partial years were counted as whole years
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accession year and non-accession year method of reckoning dates
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the problem of co-regency, where two kings were allotted time of reign simultaneously
The time period of a king's reign is defined as the following, where, say, a and b denote successive reigns: (year a - year b) BC denotes year a as being the initial year of a king's reign, and year b denotes the initial year of the next king's reign, i.e., year b does not enter into the number of the previous year's reign, but is rather simply a place-holder, or limit, to the first king's reign, i.e.(1983-1976)BC defines a reign of seven years, namely, 1983,1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978, and 1977 (BC) In the table, King Hoshea of Israel reigned from (729-720) BC, whereupon he was conquered in 721 BC. Thus, he was conquered in the ninth year of his reign. However, in cases of co-regency, these will be years where the next king's initial reign date will precede the first king's limit date. edward vento HS, PhD
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Questions/Comments? Email: comment@thechristianlight.org
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