Bible Synapse
Did Jehoash reign forty years or sixteen?
Hard question · Israel’s history: Joshua to Esther · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
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“In the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem”: Jehoash (Joash) of Judah, son of Ahaziah.
In the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer–sheba.
“Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz” began “to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years”.
In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years.
Amaziah “the son of Joash king of Judah” began to reign in the second year of “Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel”.
In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel reigned Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah.
The objection
2 Kings 12:1 says that Jehoash reigned forty years; 2 Kings 13:10 says that Jehoash reigned sixteen years. It is the same name, in the same book, a chapter apart, with two different lengths of reign.
The answer
These are two different kings with the same name. The Jehoash of 2 Kings 12 was king of Judah: the son of Ahaziah, hidden as a baby from Queen Athaliah and crowned at seven (2 Kings 11:21). He reigned forty years in Jerusalem. The Jehoash of 2 Kings 13:10 was king of the northern kingdom, Israel: the son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu. He reigned sixteen years in Samaria.
The Hebrew uses two forms of the name, Yehoash and its short form Yoash (Jehoash and Joash in the KJV), for both men, but the text keeps them apart with care. Each is named with his father, his capital and his kingdom: “Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz” reigned “over Israel in Samaria”, while the other “reigned he in Jerusalem”. Their reigns overlapped: the king of Israel came to the throne “in the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah” (2 Kings 13:10). In 2 Kings 14:1 the two names even stand side by side, when Amaziah, son of the king of Judah, begins to reign in the second year of the king of Israel. Josephus already explained that the northern king ‘had the same name with the king of Jerusalem’.
From the classic commentators
This Joash then took the kingdom of Israel in Samaria, for he had the same name with the king of Jerusalem, and he retained the kingdom sixteen years.Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 9.8.6, trans. William Whiston (1737)
Sources
- Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, book 9, chapter 8, trans. William Whiston (1737), at Project Gutenberg
- Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: 2 Kings 13, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: 2 Kings 12 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub