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 two ways of rereading the verse:

• Seder Olam Rabbah and Rashi suggest that the verse is not referring to the actual coronation of Uzziyahu, rather the verse is counting his years from the time at which he got leprosy.  Uzziyahu had been king for a significant number of years before he got leprosy.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 is fourteen years, 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 there was a coregency between Uzziyahu and Amatzyahu for the last fifteen years of Amatzyahu's reign, meaning that Uziyahu and Yerovam began their reign in the same year.  However, according to the verses in the thirty-eighth year of Uziyahu, Zecharyah replaced Yerovam after forty-one years.  To solve this disparity of three years, Seder Olam assumes⁵ there was an additional coregency of three years on either end of Yerovam's reign.
• Rashi asserts the coregency was between Yerovam and 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 understand according to Seder Olam that the coregency was between Yerovam and Zecharyah.  Zecharyah reigned for three years together with Yerovam, and alone for only six months. The GR"A is bothered by this reading because these three years if so were counted for Yerovam and not for Zecharyah.  In addition he notes that the verse is inconsistent, counting Zecharyah's years only from when he reigned alone, but counting the year that he began to reign together with his father.
• According to Radak and Ralbag, Yerovam's forty-first year was the twenty-seventh year of Uziyahu.  Thus, we would have expected Zecharyah to begin his reign in that same year.  However, the verse above indicates that he was coronated only in the thirty-eighth year of Uziyahu, leaving a gap of eleven years.  Both commentators fill in the gap by saying there was a coregency, but differ defining which kings reigned simultaneously:
• Radak maintains that Zecharyah overlapped with Yerovam for eleven years, leaving only six months in which Zecharyah reigned alone.  These eleven years are not counted in Yerovam's sum of forty-one years, nor in Zecharyah's sum of six months.
• Ralbag asserts that Uziyahu overlapped with Amatzyahu for eleven years.  Uziyahu took over from Amatzyahu when the latter ran to Lachish.  These eleven years are counted as part of Amatzyahu's twenty-nine years and as part of Uziyahu's fifty-two years.
• 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".  Rashi notes that he doesn't know if it is a textual error, and the GR"A actually corrects the text to read "אלא שירבעם מלך בימי אביו ג' שנים".