WHO WAS KING OF JUDAH WHEN SAMARIA FELL?
III. Co-Regencies: Two Kings at Once
by miriam berg
may, 1994


III. CO-REGENCIES: TWO KINGS AT ONCE

The second principle of the Hebrew historians, but which they did not always follow, was to count the years of a co-regency in the total reign of a king. Many of the kings became co-regent while their father was still alive. There are also many examples of this, such as:

1) Jehoram of Israel began his reign in the 18th year of the reign of Jehoshaphat which is also called the 2nd year of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat. But Jehoshaphat is said to have ruled for 25 years, so that Jehoram of Judah must have become co-regent in the 17th year of Jehoshaphat's reign, and they must have ruled together over Judah for 8 or 9 years, as shown in Figure IV. But the Hebrew historians neglected to count these years in Jehoram's reign, which they give as 8 years.
 ___________________________________________________________________
 |                                                                 |
 |                        JUDAH             ISRAEL                 |
 |                          |                 |                    |
 |(38th of Asa)             |               Ahab (1st)             |
 |                          |                 |                    |
 |(41st of Asa)        Jehoshaphat            | (4th of Ahab)      |
 |                          |                 |                    |
 |                          |                 |                    |
 |(17th of Jehoshaphat)(Jehoram co-regent) Ahaziah (22nd of Ahab)  |
 |(18th of Jehoshaphat,     |              Jehoram (2nd of Ahaziah)|
 | 2nd of Jehoram of Israel)|                 |                    |
 |                          |                 |                    |
 |(1st of Jehoram        Jehoram king         | (5th of Jehoram    |
 | of Judah)                |                 |   of Israel)       |
 |                          |                 |                    |
 |(8th of Jehoram)       Ahaziah              | (12th of Jehoram   |
 |                          |                 |   of Israel)       |
 |_________________________________________________________________|
                       FIGURE IV (see also Figure VIII)

2) Jeroboam II became king in the 15th year of the reign of Amaziah, and Azariah became king in the 27th year of the reign of Jeroboam II after the death of Amaziah. But since Amaziah only reigned 29 years, the 29th year of Amaziah must be the same as the 27th year of the reign of Jeroboam II, and therefore the 15th year of the reign of Amaziah, 14 years before the 29th, must be the same as the 13th year of Jeroboam II, 14 years before the 27th, so that Jeroboam must have already been co-regent for 13 years before he became king, as shown in Figure V.

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 |                                                                |
 |                   Amaziah           |                          |
 |                      |              |                          |
 | (15th of Amaziah)    |         Jeroboam II (13th of co-regency)|
 |                      |              |                          |
 |                      |              |                          |
 | (29th of Amaziah) Azariah           | (27th of Jeroboam II)    |
 |                      |              |                          |
 |________________________________________________________________|
                            FIGURE V

3) Similarly, Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam II, became king in the 38th year of Azariah, but since Jeroboam II reigned for 41 years, that must have also been his 41st year. But if the 41st year of Jeroboam II was the same as the 38th year of Azariah, then the 27th year of Jeroboam II must have been the same as the 24th year of Azariah, so that Azariah must have already been co-regent for 24 years before he became king, as shown in Figure VI.

 _________________________________________________________________
 |                    |              |                            |
 |                    |        (Jeroboam II) (1st of co-regency)  |
 |                    |              |                            |
 | (1st of         Azariah           |       (4th of Jeroboam)    |
 |  co-regency,       |              |                            |
 |  6th of Amaziah)   |              |                            |
 |                    |              |                            |
 | (15th of Amaziah)  |         Jeroboam II (13th of co-regency,  |                            |
 |                    |              |       16th of Jehoash of   |
 |                    |              |       Israel)              |
 |                    |              |                            |
 | (24th of        Azariah           | (27th of Jeroboam II)      |
 |   co-regency,      |              |                            |
 |   29th of Amaziah) |              |                            |
 |                    |              |                            |
 | (38th of Azariah)  |          Zachariah (41st of Jeroboam II)  |
 | (39th of Azariah)  |          Shallum, Menahem                 |
 |                    |              |                            |
 |________________________________________________________________|
                         FIGURE VI

4) Ahaz became king in the 17th year of Pekah, and Hoshea replaced Pekah in the 12th year of Ahaz, which was called the 20th year in the reign of Jotham, Ahaz's father. But then the 12th year of Ahaz must have been the 20th year in the reign of Pekah, because he is said to have reigned 20 years. But how could Ahaz have begun to reign in the 17th year of Pekah if the 20th year of Pekah, the 4th year afterward, was his 12th year?! The answer again is that the 17th year of Pekah must have been the 9th year of Ahaz's co-regency with his father, and it must have also been the 16th year of Jotham, which agrees with the fact that the first year of Hoshea is also called the 20th year of Jotham. This is shown in Figure VII.

  _____________________________________________________________________
 |                                                                     |
 |                       JUDAH         ISRAEL                          |
 |                         |              |                            |
 | (52nd of Azariah)       |            Pekah                          |
 |                      Jotham            |     (1st and 2nd of Pekah) |
 |                         |              |                            |
 |                         |              |                            |
 |                         |              |                            |
 | (1st of co-regency)  (Ahaz)            |                            |
 |                         |              |                            |
 |                         |              |                            |
 | (16th of Jotham)      Ahaz  (9th)      |     (16th & 17th of Pekah) |
 |                         |              |                            |
 |                         |              |                            |
 | (12th of Ahaz)          |            Hoshea  (19th & 20th of Pekah) |
 |                         |              |                            |
 |                         |              |                            |
 | (15th&16th of Ahaz)  Hezekiah          |     (3rd of Hoshea)        |
 |                         |              |                            |
 |_____________________________________________________________________|
                              FIGURE VII
These examples show that it was actually common for the son of a king to become co-regent, but that the writers were not consistent in whether they counted those years or not. They are not counted in the reign of Jehoram of Judah, but they are counted in the reigns of Jeroboam II and Azariah, and they are also counted in the reign of Ahaz, but not in the reign of Jotham. They also frequently failed to mention the first year of the co-regency at all. But this principle causes even more trouble determining the chronology of the kings, because several years will be counted twice!