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TABLE 20. From Pekah and Jotham to the Assyrian Captivity
		BC	JUDAH							ISRAEL			REFERENCE
1	971				Solomon’s first year
/\/\/	/\/\/				/\/\/\/\/					/\/\/	/\/\/
217		755				49			Uzziah Jereboam	41	10	Menahem
218		754					50				1	Pekahiah	15:23
219 ¹		753					51		Era of Rome		2
220 ²		752					52			1	Pekah		15:27
221 ³		751	1	Jotham						2			15:32-33
222 ⁴		750	2							3
223 ⁵		749	3							4
224 ⁶		748	4							5
225 ⁷		747	5							6
226 ⁸		746	6							7
227⁹		745	7							8
228 ¹⁰		744	8							9
229 ¹¹		743	9							10
230 ¹²		742	10			1				11			2 Kings
231 ¹³		741	11			2		Ahaz		12			15:32
232 ¹⁴		740	12			3				13	1	Zechariah 6 mo.		15:8, 17
233 ¹⁵		739	13			4				14	1	(Shallum 1 mo.)				15:13
234 ¹⁶		738	14			5				15		Pekah’s sole rule
235 ¹⁷		737	15			6				16
236 ¹⁸		736	16			7		Sole reign		17			16:1-2
237 ¹⁹		735	-			8				18
238 ²⁰		734	-			9				19
239 ²¹		733	-			10				20			15:27
240 ²²		732	20			11		Tiglath-pileser III		Pekah’s death (Fall of Damascus)				15:29-30
241 ²³		731				12						Hoshea	17:1
242 ²⁴		730				13					1
243 ²⁵		729				14					2
244 ²⁶		728				15					3		16:2,20
245 ²⁷		727				16		1 Hezekiah			4
246 ²⁸		726						2			5
247 ²⁹		725						3			6		18:9
248 ³⁰		724						4			7
249 ³¹		723						5			8	Shalmaneser V		17:1,6
250 ³²		722						6			9	Hoshea’s death			18:9,10
251 ³³		721	Sabbatical – 3 Jubilees after 868 BC - Assyrian Captivity (Sargon I)

1. This chart is evidence that the Hebrew kings did not always reign consecutively. While Jotham and Ahaz reined over Judah, Pekah and Zechariah were ruling over Israel. Prior to the temple, David and Solomon had ruled 43 years.

NOTE: In Ussher’s figures illustrated above, time from the first temple finished in 3001 AM (1004 BC), in the 12^th year of Solomon, to the second temple finished in 3491 AM (514 BC) equals 490 years.

If the Kings were Often Contemporary

Often various chronologists simply add the length of reigns making all rulers consecutive. However, as Theile and Kitchen show, some rulers were actually contemporary and had dual reigns.

When we read carefully the synchronisms in I & II Kings, we find that Assyria captured ten tribes of Israel in the 6^th year of Hezekiah in 721 BC, 251 years after Solomon’s first year in 968 BC. In Hezekiah’s 14^th year, Isaiah instructed him about the coming sabbatical and jubilee, to eat what grows of itself in that first year (712-11) and do the same in the second year (711-10) and sew and reap and plant vineyards in the third year (in 710-09, a Jubilee year) (Isa. 37:30; II Kings 19:29).

Ussher’s figures agree there was a jubilee in 710 BC. However, Ussher thought the year (710) was six jubilees after Solomon had dedicated the temple in 1004 BC in a jubilee year. He also claimed David’s first year and Solomon’s 12^th year were both Jubilees.

Conversely, research shows that David had captured Jerusalem in 1004 BC, six jubilees before 710, this becomes evidence that Jerusalem’s capture by David started a new jubilee cycle. If so, Ussher’s dating was 43 years off. In his Annals of the World, page 85, Ussher says the jubilee of 710 was extra special because it followed a very dramatic event in which the Assyrian army of Sennacherib was attacking Jerusalem, and an angel went forth to kill 185,000 of them. After his 14^th year, Hezekiah’s life was extended for another 15 years, until 697.

Era of Rome