H Chronology of the Kings. CHAP. I. Rules of Computation. ERE begins a new era, not measured by genera tions, as in the patriarchal ages; neither by alternate periods of war and reft; but by the reigns of kings, in a regular feries. Few and obvious are the rules of computation. 1. MOSES ordained, that the years, from the Exodus progreffively, fhould begin, about the time of the vernal equinox, with the month Abib or Nifan, the term whence the Hebrew feftivals were to be regulated; though he retained the primitive order of the months, in buying, felling, and the other transactions of civil life. From this month alfo were the reigns computed. For if any king afcended the throne a few days before the fame month, it was reckoned to him for a whole year; and with the return of the fame month began his fecond of the new reign t. Jofephus, Ant. I. 3. 3. + D. Levi's Rites and Ceremonies of the Jews, p. 22; and Sir J. Newton's Chronol. ch. iv. p. 296. THE THE reigns in Judah were computed from this fource; though with respect to Hezekiah, Jofiah, and their fucceffors, the Metropolitan contends, that their years were computed from the vacancy of the throne. His arguments are fallacious. 2. REIGNS of a few days, or months, are included in those before or after, agreeably to the expreffed notations of time. 3. PARTNERSHIP in royalty is never to be admitted, except on the authority of the facred writers, for one or more years. The last year of David was not comprehended in the first of Solomon; for though the latter was anointed in the currency of that year, yet was his acceffion not reckoned from the date of his confecration, much lefs from the foregoing Nifan, as in the Annals; but from the first month of the fubfequent, the 81ft from the inauguration of Saul *, ASA reigned 41 years t. But he died in the 41ft ‡, and the last, as incomplete, was the first of Jehoshaphat, though not fo marked in the Annals. Neither was the 40th of Jehoafh the first of Amaziah, though the Primate, without the leaft colour of historical evidence, puts them in coincidence. In the like arbitrary manner, is the first of Hezekiah loft in the 16th of Ahaz. With refpect to joint reigns of more than one year, the rule is determinate. 4. IF the years common to two fovereigns were full, all belong to the senior. If he died during the currency of * 1 K. vi. 1. and 2 Chron. iii. 2. † 1 K. xv. 19. 2 Chron. xvi. 13. E 4 the the laft, that was accounted the firft of the fucceffor. From notations abundantly decifive, certain it is, that Jehoram the fon of Jehoshaphat began to reign while his father was king of Judah. The reign of the fon had a two-fold commencement:-One, two years before the other Jehoram ascended the throne of Samaria, while Jehoshaphat was living ;-another, after his decease, in the fifth of that other Jehoram. These characters of time are infallible; though it is difficult to reconcile all the terms of coincidence, Whatever was the duration of the joint reign*, the 25th and laft of the father, as incomplete, and that only, is reckoned to the fon, by the firft rule. "UZZIAH was a leper unto the day of his death, and he dwelt in a feveral house; and Jotham the king's fon was over the house, judging the people of the land +." In what year of his reign this malady was inflicted, is uncertain. The text denotes continuance of time. An interval of fix years may, though with lefs certainty, be fuppofed. But the notations of time, in the context, evince that the 52 years, afcribed to the father, were full, prior to the fole reign of the fon. 5. IN these two reigns (for none other is to be admitted as common to two fovereigns), the genealogies require, that the specified ages of Jehoram and Jotham be computed from the first commencement of their refpective reigns; and as the precife date of the conjunct fovereignty is, in neither cafe, defined, a fufficient Four years feem to be the moft probable quantity. † 2 K. xv. 5. number number of intermediate years may be affumed, for adjufting chronology to the course of nature. 6. IN fome cafes the reign of a minor is dated from the vacancy of the throne, as in the inftance of Jehoafh, the fon of Ahaziah, king of Judah * ;-in others, and particularly in that of Uzziah, from the legal age of 16. But in both cafes a regency must be supposed. Jofiah's age at his acceffion was 18 (not 8, as in all the copies). For this reafon a regency is excluded. * Concerning the father of Jehoafh, the fucceffor of Athalia, various are the fentiments of critics and expofitors. He is faid to have been the king's fon (2 Chron. xxiii. 11.), which defignation can belong to no other than Ahaziah, the predeceffor of Athalia, on the throne of Judah. Jehofheba, who concealed him in the temple, when the reft of the feed royal were cruelly put to death, was the fifter of the fame Ahaziah (2 Chron. xxii. 11.); and her humane care of that helpless infant seems to afcertain propinquity of relation. That he was a minor of seven years old at his accession, is expressly affirmed in parallel texts. Jehoiadah, the high prieft, was his pious guardian, and regent of the kingdom, till the young prince attained the legal age. By his counsel, example, and influence, was the royal pupil inftructed in religious difcipline, and in the arts of government. At the protracted age of 130, died that venerable man, as is fuppofed, in the 27th year of this reign. Jehoafh soon after degenerated into a tyrant and idolater (2 Chron. xxiv, 15-20.) Here Jehoafh is characterised as the fon of Ahaziah; and, in 2 Kings, xii. 18, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, are his lineal anceftors. СНАР. CHAP. II. Chronology of Saul's Reign. AUL, when fet apart for the fovereignty, was a SAU choice young man, and a goodly. "When he had reigned two years over Ifrael, he chofe him 3,000 men, whereof 2,000 were with Saul, in Michmash, &c. and 1,000 with Jonathan, in Gibeah +t." Thefe notations are at variance with the course of nature. The fon of a choice young man, and a goodly, cannot be supposed capable of conducting the military operations, ascribed, in the context, to Jonathan. The Primate is not cenfured for overlooking a difficulty which had efcaped the penetration of all the critics and expofitors. Neither the age of Saul at his acceffion, nor the length of his reign, is mentioned in his hiftory. In the text (1 Sam. xiii. 1.) both these notations were probably inferted. But the original numbers feem now to be partly loft and partly mutilated. Dr. Wall, in his note on the place, fuggefts, that an old fcholiaft, cited by Boss, filled up the blank in the first clause by the number 30. His reign was 40 yearst. The ancient Hebrews expressed numbers, not by words at length, but by alphaActs, xiii. 20. i Sam. ix. 2. + Ch. xiii. 2. betical |