The detailed figures which compose the total are here more
complicated, which is no doubt partly due to the fact that some
of them are dates which the reviser found given. Yet in this
instance also the number 40 is the basis of calculation, as we see
in the reigns of the kings of Judah. From the division of the
kingdom to the destruction of Samaria in the 6th year of Hezekiah,
the numbers are as follows: Rehoboam and Abijam, 20; Asa, 41;
Jehoshaphat, Joram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, 40; Joash, 40; Amaziah and
Uzziah, 81; Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, 38. From the destruction of
Samaria to the last date in Kings (2Kings xxv. 27), Hezekiah,
Manasseh, Amon, have 80; Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin,
79 1/4. Let him believe who can that it is a mere chance that the
figures 41 + 81 + 38 make up exactly 40 + 80 + 40.
The series of the kings of Israel is in point of chronology
dependent on the series of Judah. According to the numbers of the
latter, 393 years elapsed from the division of the kingdom to the
Babylonian captivity; and if we assume with Ezekiel (iv. 4) that
Samaria fell 150 years earlier than Judah, 243 years remain for
the duration of the northern kingdom.
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