Chronology of Melakhim II 14-15/2

Chronology of Melakhim II 14-15

Exegetical Approaches

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Reinterpreting the verse

Sources:Seder Olam Rabbah19About Seder Olam Rabbah, RashiMelakhim II 14:17-22Melakhim II 15:1Melakhim II 15:8About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki, RadakMelakhim II 14:14,17,22Melakhim II 15:1Melakhim II 15:8About R. David Kimchi, RalbagMelakhim II 15:1Melakhim II 15:8About R. Levi b. Gershom, MalbimMelakhim II 15:1About R. Meir Leibush Weiser

"בִּשְׁנַת עֶשְׂרִים וָשֶׁבַע שָׁנָה לְיָרׇבְעָם מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל מָלַךְ עֲזַרְיָה" – The commentators suggest several ways to reread the verse:

• Seder Olam Rabbah and Rashi suggest that the verse is not marking Uzziyahu's from his coronation but rather from the point at which he was struck with leprosy.  This allows for him to have reigned for several years before the 27th year of Yerovam.¹  
• Radak notes that it would be strange to count Uzziyahu's reign specifically from a point in which he became unable to effectively rule and most of his duties were taken over by his son.² He and Ralbag, therefore, suggest an alternative possibility, that the verse means that he began to rule twenty-seven years from the end (not the beginning) of Yerovam's reign.³  Since Yerovam reigned for forty-one years, twenty-seven years from the end of his rule would be his fourteenth year, which is when Amatzyahu died and Uzziyahu replaced him.
• Alternatively, Malbim suggests that the twenty-seventh year of Yerovam marks the beginning of Uzziyahu's autonomous control over the kingdom of Yehuda.⁴  Until then, he had reigned as king, but Yehuda was controlled by the kingdom of Yisrael as a result of Amatzyahu's war with Yoash.

"בִּשְׁנַת שְׁלֹשִׁים וּשְׁמֹנֶה שָׁנָה לַעֲזַרְיָהוּ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה מָלַךְ זְכַרְיָהוּ"

• Seder Olam Rabbah maintains that Uzziyahu co-reigned with his father Amatzyahu for the last fifteen years of Amatzyahu's reign.  According to this, Uzziyahu and Yerovam began their reign in the same year. If so, one would have expected Zechrayah to begin his reign in the 41st year (rather than 38th year) of Uzziyahu, as this is when Yerovam dies. To solve this three year discrepancy, Seder Olam assumes that three years worth of Yeorvam's reign ⁵ must have been a coregency. The Midrash, though, is ambiguous regarding the details and commentators offer two possible understandings:
• Rashi asserts the coregency was between Yerovam and his father Yoash.  The last three years of Yoash's reign, Yerovam reigned together with him.  So as soon as Yerovam died, Zecharyah took his seat.
• Tosafot on the Bavli and Radak suggest that the coregency was between Yerovam and Zecharyah.  Zecharyah reigned for three years together with Yerovam, and alone for only six months.⁶
• According to Radak and Ralbag, Yerovam's forty-first year was the twenty-seventh year of Uzziyahu (see the above point).  Thus, we would have expected Zecharyah to begin his reign in that same year and not in Uzziyahu's 38th year. Both commentators fill in the eleven year gap by saying there was a coregency, but differ regarding which kings reigned simultaneously:
• Radak maintains that Zecharyah overlapped with Yerovam for eleven years, and reigned alone for 6 months.  These eleven years are not counted towards either Yerovam's sum of forty-one years or Zecharyah's sum of six months.
• Ralbag, instead, asserts that Uzziyahu overlapped with Amatzyahu for eleven years.  Uziyahu took over from Amatzyahu when the latter ran to Lachish.  These eleven years are counted as both part of Amatzyahu's twenty-nine years and as part of Uziyahu's fifty-two years. As such, when the verse states that Zecharyah reigned in Uzziyahu's 38th year it is including the years of his coregency.
• Malbim answers the same way as Ralbag, that Uziyahu overlapped with Amatzyahu for eleven years.  Yerovam began his reign three years before Uziyahu, so Yerovam's forty-first year was Uziyahu's thirty-eighth year.

Amatzyahu in Lachish

• Seder Olam explains the need for the language "אַחֲרֵי שְׁכַב־הַמֶּלֶךְ עִם־אֲבֹתָיו" (Melakhim II 14:22), to emphasize that Uziyahu built Eilat once he began to reign alone, after Amatzyahu's death.
• According to the Malbim, the battle did not end with Yoash taking gold and silver, but rather Yoash ruled over the kingdom of Yehuda for twenty-four years after the battle. Uziyahu served as king, but he was enslaved to Yoash. Only in Uziyahu's twenty-fourth year did he get strong enough and ruled by himself.

Republic

R. Moshe EhrenreichR. Moshe Ehrenreich Hoshea 1:1

"בִּשְׁנַת עֶשְׂרִים וָשֶׁבַע שָׁנָה לְיָרׇבְעָם מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל מָלַךְ עֲזַרְיָה" – R. Ehrenreich explains that the people decided not to be ruled by a king for these twelve years, rather be ruled by a republic.

"בִּשְׁנַת שְׁלֹשִׁים וּשְׁמֹנֶה שָׁנָה לַעֲזַרְיָהוּ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה מָלַךְ זְכַרְיָהוּ"

¹ According to Seder Olam, Uziyahu was not king for only fifteen years as would seem from the simple reading of the verse, but rather he coreigned with Amatzyahu as well.

² See Divrei HaYamim II 26:21 which shares that after Uzziyahu was stricken, Yotam was in charge of the king's house and of judging the people.

³ Ralbag's opinion states that Uziyahu began to reign eleven years earlier, in the third year of Yerovam, since Uziyahu coreigned with his father Amatzyahu.  This verse then is counting only from when Uziyahu began to reign alone.

⁴ Malbim writes that Uziyahu began to reign three years after Yerovam, and Yerovam's twenty-seventh year was the twenty-fourth year of Uziyahu.

⁵ Seder Olam writes "עוזיהו וירבעם מלכו כאחת אלא שירבעם מלך בימי אביו שנה אחת", mentioning one year rather than three.  Rashi raises the possibility that this is a textual error, and the GR"A actually corrects the text to read "אלא שירבעם מלך בימי אביו ג' שנים".

⁶ The GR"A questions this reading because according to it, the overlapping three years are counted only for Yerovam's reign but not for Zecharyah. In addition, he notes that if Zechraya's reign is being counted only from when he began to reign on his own, the verse (Melakhim II 15:8) should mark this as taking place in the 41st year, not the 38th year.


that Melakhim II 15:8 is internally inconsistent as on one hand it counts Zechraya's total reign only from when he began to reign alone, yet it says that this took place in the 38th year of Uzziyahu (rather than the 41st).