Was Ahaziah 22 or 42 When He Became King?
I received this detailed study on the age of Ahaziah via email today. Just in case you aren’t familiar, it is one of the many charges of biblical contradictions. Take a look:
2 Kings 8:26/2 Chronicles 22:2, King Ahaziah 22 or 42?
Introduction
This explanation draws from the material published by Dr Gerardus Bouw, The Book of Bible Problems, p 112ff, Dr Peter S. Ruckman, Problem Texts, p 241ff and the late Dr Dennis Spackman from New Zealand, The Stand, Oct/Nov 2007, p 35ff. All three accounts differ in some respects and this account differs slightly from any of theirs.
But I am very grateful for their efforts. All three writers are agreed that the KJB is correct with respect to the above passages and therefore cannot be charged with error or inconsistency.
I’m equating cardinal and ordinal numbers, mostly, in this study, for simplicity, though this introduces an approximation. However, that shouldn’t materially affect the final results.
Ahab and Jehoshaphat
The starting point is the reign over Israel of Ahab, son of Omri, 1 Kings 16:29. His reign starts in the 38th year of Asa king of Judah and lasts 22 years.
King Asa reigns 41 years and is succeeded by his son Jehoshaphat, in the 3rd year of Ahab’s reign. Jehoshaphat reigns 25 years and is 35 when he comes to the throne of Judah, 1 Kings 15:9, 10, 24, 2 Chronicles 20:31.
That is, the reigns of Ahab and Jehoshaphat overlap considerably and furnish basic timelines for the explanation that follows.
Ahaziah of Israel, Jehoram of Israel, Jehoram of Judah
Ahab has a son Ahaziah who comes to the throne in the 17th year of Jehoshaphat, the 20th year of Ahab and reigns 2 years, 1 Kings 22:51. The end of his reign coincides with the 2nd year of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, 2 Kings 1:17. Clearly, both Israel and Judah have co-regencies, understandable because life was precarious in those days.
Jehoram is 32 when he becomes king and reigns a total of 8 years, some of which is contemporaneous with his father Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 21:5. He also marries an unnamed daughter of Ahab, 2 Chronicles 21:6.
We need to look more closely at this overlap. It provides some essential pieces of data.
Jehoram the son of Ahab, i.e. another Jehoram, begins to reign over Israel in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat, 2 Kings 3:1. He reigns 12 years, i.e. 5 years beyond the death of Jehoshaphat. One year of Jehoram of Israel’s reign is contemporaneous with Ahaziah son of Ahab who dies in the 19th year of Jehoshaphat’s reign, 1 Kings 22:51, 2 Kings 1:17.
2 Kings 8:16, 17 state that Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, begins to reign contemporaneously with his father in the 5th year of Joram (Jehoram) son of Ahab, or the 23rd year of Jehoshaphat, who is described as “being then king of Judah.“
The best way to satisfy all the relevant scriptures, as will be seen, is to take the 8-year reign of Jehoram (son of Jehoshaphat) and his stated age, 32, from the 5th year of Joram (Jehoram) son of Ahab. Jehoram (son of Jehoshaphat) appears to have been a prince-regent for the previous 6 years, 2 Kings 1:17, 8:16, 17.
It is at this time that Jehoram (son of Jehoshaphat) is 32 years old and his father is 58.
Jehoram of Judah’s Reign
If Jehoram is 32 in the 23rd year of Jehoshaphat’s reign and his father 58, then Jehoshaphat was 26 when Jehoram was born. Jehoshaphat has another 6 sons by the same woman, 2 of whom have the same name, Azariah, which is also used for Ahaziah, 2 Chronicles 21:2, 22:2, 6, who is different from the 2 Azariahs of 2 Chronicles 21:2. Perhaps the first of these 2 Azariahs dies in infancy. What we do know is that Jehoram kills all his surviving siblings “and divers also of the princes of Israel” 2 Chronicles 21:4. Note the underlined words, in addition to the mention of the princes of Israel.
Jehoshaphat therefore dies 2 years into the reign of his son Jehoram, 2 Chronicles 20:31. Jehoram then carries out the massacre of 2 Chronicles 21:4 sometime in the next 4 years of his reign, i.e. with his father Jehoshaphat out of the way.
This is probably the case because he suffers an incurable and increasingly debilitating sickness for 2 years that kills him in the 8th year of his reign, 2 Chronicles 21:19. The 5th year of Joram (Jehoram) son of Ahab to the 12th and last year of Joram (Jehoram) son of Ahab gives 8 years, inclusive.
If Jehoram of Judah is seriously incapacitated for the last 2 years of his reign, this would explain why Ahaziah, his half-brother, is said to reign over Judah in the 11th year of Joram (Jehoram) son of Ahab, 2 Kings 9:29.
Ahaziah of Judah’s Reign
2 Kings 8:25 then states that Ahaziah, Jehoram of Judah’s half-brother (called the son of Jehoram (Joram) king of Judah in 2 Kings 8:24, 25) begins his reign in the 12th year of Joram (Jehoram) son of Ahab and the last year of the reign of his half-brother, Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat.
Ahaziah is here said to be 22 years old when he begins his reign, 2 Kings 8:26. But as effectively the sole king in Judah, with Jehoram his half-brother virtually moribund, Ahaziah is said in this verse to reign in Jerusalem, i.e. he may have begun his reign elsewhere – see below.
2 Chronicles 22:1, 2, the equivalent passage, says, however, that Ahaziah is aged 42 at the beginning of this one-year reign in Jerusalem.
And again, Ahaziah is said to be Jehoram’s son. But he cannot be Jehoram’s literal i.e. biological son because he is 2 years older than his ‘father.’ This problem will be discussed below. First, the apparent inconsistency of Ahaziah’s age will be resolved.
Ahaziah, Jehoshaphat and Athaliah
The way forward is the statement in 2 Kings 8:26, 2 Chronicles 22:2 that Ahaziah’s mother is Athaliah, daughter of Omri, i.e. sister to Ahab, 1 Kings 16:29 above. (Note the “also” in 2 Chronicles 22:2. It has been inferred from this term that 42-year-old Ahaziah is another son of Athaliah, 20 years older than the Ahaziah of 2 Kings 8:26 and they reign jointly and die at about the same time. However, only one death, even though with slightly differing details, for Ahaziah is recorded, 2 Kings 9:27, 2 Chronicles 22:9. Moreover, the narrative, 2 Kings 8:28, 29, 2 Chronicles 22:6-9, appears to be describing the same individual. Finally, Athaliah, 2 Kings 11:1, 2 Chronicles 22:10, is said to murder her grandchildren, “the seed royal,“ when she sees that “her son was dead,“ i.e. Ahaziah, not her sons, plural, each named Ahaziah. The term “also” may therefore be included in 2 Chronicles 22:2 for emphasis. See verse 3.)
And Ahaziah is also said to be the son of Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 22:9. It is feasible for Ahaziah to be Jehoshaphat’s biological son by Athaliah because Jehoshaphat would be about 24 at the time of Ahaziah’s birth – see comments with respect to 2 Kings 8:16, 17 above. Athaliah could have been about the same age. It is also feasible that Ahaziah would, biologically, be Jehoram’s half-brother because Jehoshaphat has two wives, minimum. See comments on 2 Chronicles 21:2 above under Jehoram of Judah’s Reign.
Note that although all the children of Jehoram’s mother either die or are killed by their eldest brother, 2 Chronicles 21:4, Athaliah’s son Ahaziah has brethren, 2 Kings 10:13*, who could be surviving princes of Israel**, the progeny of Jehoshaphat and Athaliah, because Jehoram only kills “divers“ of these princes, i.e. some of them.
*Note that Jehoshaphat, although king of Judah, is also said to be king of Israel, 2 Chronicles 21:2. And remember that Athaliah is the daughter of Omri and sister to Ahab, 1 Kings 16:29 above. So the offspring of Jehoshaphat and Athaliah could be princes of Israel.
Jehu kills all of them remaining, with their sons and, it seems, their servants, making the total number of dead 42, 2 Kings 10:14, 2 Chronicles 22:8. It would be reasonable to reckon that members of the royal families of that time travelled with a retinue.
Alan O’R
**The term “brethren” could also have been used figuratively rather than biologically 1 Kings 20:32. The Syrian Benhadad was clearly not Ahab’s literal biological brother. If so, the 42 dead may have been figurative “brethren” (with their sons, 2 Chronicles 22:8 and servants). Leviticus 25:46, 47 indicate that all the children of Israel are said to be “brethren,” as distinct from strangers and sojourners and thus Ahaziah’s brethren could be from the extended family nobility of Judah. But literal “brethren” with sons and servants as above is most likely, i.e. where the bible makes plain sense, seek no other sense. See comments below on 2 Chronicles 22:8, under Ahaziah’s Brethren, The Princes of Judah, The Sons of Ahaziah’s Brethren.
Alan O’R
Turn again to 2 Kings 8:26, 2 Chronicles 22:2, where Ahaziah’s age is given as 22 and 42 respectively when he begins to reign.
Subtracting 8 years from the end of Jehoram’s reign and 12 years from Jehoshaphat’s reign from the 23rd year comes to the 11th year of Jehoshaphat’s reign, or the 14th year of Ahab’s. Jehoshaphat is 46. Ahaziah would be 22. About this time begins the disastrous affinity with King Ahab, 2 Chronicles 18:1. Jehoshaphat only narrowly escapes with his life as a result of this alliance, 2 Chronicles 18:31, by God’s mercy. Obviously, dalliances with the house of Ahab, 2 Kings 8:18, and that of Omri, have begun years before, possibly when Jehoshaphat is in his teens.
But this disastrous affinity goes on for about 8 years i.e. “after certain years” 2 Chronicles 18:2, until Ahab is killed in battle, 1 Kings 22:34, 35, 2 Chronicles 18:33, 34. By this time Ahaziah is 30 years old and his father (and mother) about 54. The 22nd year of Ahab is the 19th year of Jehoshaphat so he has another 6 years to reign and dies aged 60.
Alan O’R
Ahaziah a ‘Spare’ King – in Israel
Observe at this time, Ahaziah is already a king, 1 Kings 22:26, 2 Chronicles 18:25. He has a wife, Zibiah of Beersheba, 2 Kings 12:1, 2 Chronicles 24:1. He also has an infant son Joash, who later becomes king of Judah. Note that the command of 1 Kings 22:26, 2 Chronicles 18:25 can only refer nominally to Joash and would have to have been carried out by “the great men of the city…the rulers of Jezreel” 2 Kings 10:1, 5, 6. (These sons are 70 in total but if they are the offspring of concubines or lesser wives, they would not have been considered for the immediate succession, as in the case of most of David’s sons, 2 Samuel 5.13-16.)
Alan O’R
It is very likely, and I believe it to be the case, that Ahaziah is crowned a ‘spare’ king at the time of Jehoshaphat’s political alliance with Ahab, 2 Chronicles 18:1, in order to have sufficient successors to the thrones of both kingdoms, as explained above. Note again that Jehoshaphat, although king of Judah, is also said to be king of Israel, 2 Chronicles 21:2.
2 Kings 8:27 indicates that Ahaziah is son-in-law to the house of Ahab, i.e. he probably marries one of Ahab’s granddaughters in addition to Zibiah of Beersheba above. This shows that he is closely allied to the house of Ahab.
Thus, Ahaziah is crowned king aged 22, 2 Kings 8:26 but does not become king of Judah in his own right until 20 years later, aged 42, 2 Chronicles 22:2. It is at this time, aged 42, that he definitely reigns in Jerusalem, as 2 Kings 8:26, 2 Chronicles 22:2 indicate, after having been a ‘caretaker’ king in Israel for most or all of the first 19 years and in Judah during the first year of his half-brother Jehoram’s illness, 2 Kings 9:29. This verse states that Ahaziah “began…to reign over Judah.”
Note that this analysis shows that Jehoram, king of Judah, Ahaziah king of Judah and Jehoram (Joram) king of Israel all die at roughly the same time, in the 12th year of Jehoram king of Israel, 2 Kings 8:25, Jehoram king of Judah of illness, 2 Chronicles 21:19, 20, Ahaziah and Jehoram king of Israel in Jehu’s purge, 2 Kings 9:24, 27, 2 Chronicles 22:7-9.
Alan O’R
The above analysis, therefore, shows that both passages in question, 2 Kings 8:26, 2 Chronicles 22:2, are correct. This analysis also appears to satisfy other scriptures directly associated with these passages.
Additional Problems
Four additional problems remain, having arisen from scriptures associated with the above analysis.
1. How does Ahaziah get to be the son of Jehoram, 2 years younger than he?
2. How does Ahaziah get to be “the youngest of his sons” 2 Chronicles 21:17, 22:1? Note that Jehoahaz and Ahaziah are the same individual.
3. How does Ahaziah get to be Jehoram of Judah’s only surviving son, 2 Chronicles 21:17, when he is said to have brethren, the princes of Judah, who have offspring, 2 Kings 10:13, 2 Chronicles 22:8?
4. How can the above time intervals be matched with the age of Joash, who is said to be 7 years old, when he comes to reign, but ascends the throne 7 years after the death of his father Ahaziah, 2 Kings 11:1-4, 21, 12:1, 2 Chronicles 22:10-12, 23:1, 24:1 and 19 years after the death of Ahab, 1 Kings 22:26, 2 Chronicles 18:25?
Alan O’R
The proposed explanations are as follows.
Ahaziah Jehoram’s ‘Son’
It is likely, however shocking, that Jehoram, before his illness, marries his step-mother Athaliah, 26 years his senior, sometime between the 3rd and 6th years of his reign, to help consolidate his power. She may have been agreeable to this political expedient because she is a decidedly evil woman, 2 Kings 11:1, 2 Chronicles 22:3, 10 and may even have prompted Jehoram to eliminate his siblings, 2 Chronicles 21:4. As discussed above, he suffers judgement in kind and a fatal disease, 2 Chronicles 21:16-20, both for the murder of his siblings and violation of the Levitical law in taking his father’s wife, Leviticus 18:8, Numbers 35:31.
Alan O’R
Nevertheless, if Jehoram does marry Athaliah, then his half-brother Ahaziah would indeed become his ‘son,’ though a step-son. This is possible within the biblical context, where even a son-in-law can be designated a son, 1 Samuel 24:16, Luke 3:23.
Note also 1 Samuel 18:19, 2 Samuel 6:23, 21:8 where step-sons clearly are also sons. Such a solution is therefore consistent with scripture.
Ahaziah Jehoram’s Youngest ‘Son’
Obviously Ahaziah cannot have been younger than any of Jehoram’s biological sons. Yet he is said to be the youngest of Jehoram’s sons because the Arabians slew all the eldest in their joint raid into Judah with the Philistines, 2 Chronicles 21:17, 22:1.
2 Chronicles 21:17 also says that of Jehoram’s sons, only Ahaziah (Jehoahaz), his youngest, is “left him,” although Ahaziah has “brethren” 2 Kings 10:13.
Accepting the biblical definition of sons as sons-in-law and step-sons, see above, these additional details may be explained if Ahaziah is reckoned as the most recent of Jehoram of Judah’s sons ( in Judah, not in Samaria – see below) and therefore the most junior or ‘youngest’ in the succession*.
*His mother Athaliah, aided and abetted by others of the house of Ahab, of whom Athaliah was a member, would no doubt have been anxious to promote her son** in the Judean succession and as indicated, may have prompted Jehoram to eliminate his sibling rivals for this purpose and even some of her own sons. See remarks above under Ahaziah Jehoram’s ‘Son.’
**Athaliah seems interested only in her son Ahaziah, 2 Kings 11:1, 2 Chronicles 22:3, 10 and unmindful of his brethren, i.e. most likely her other sons by Jehoshaphat, killed by Jehu, which is strongly suggestive of her obsession with royal power, to be realised (at first) through Ahaziah, whom she may have perceived as the most easily manipulated of her sons, whether or not he is the eldest. She is quick to seize power herself when the opportunity arises and eliminate all rivals, including her own grandchildren, 2 Kings 11:1, 3, 2 Chronicles 22:10, 12. This point is reinforced if she connives at the murder of her own sons as well, i.e. “divers…princes of Israel” 2 Chronicles 21:4.
Alan O’R
This approach therefore accounts for Ahaziah as Jehoram’s “youngest” son.
An apparent anomaly remains in that Ahaziah is also the only son left to Jehoram of Judah, 2 Chronicles 21:17. Yet, as indicated, Ahaziah has “brethren” 2 Kings 10:13, who should therefore also qualify as Jehoram’s sons, according to the biblical definition. This aparent anomaly will now be addressed in more detail.
Ahaziah’s Brethren, The Princes of Judah, The Sons of Ahaziah’s Brethren
The explanation is that Ahaziah’s surviving brethren, certainly after Jehoram of Judah’s massacre of their siblings, are in the north while Ahaziah as ‘caretaker’ king is being groomed for taking the reins of the southern kingdom, which he does in the two years of Jehoram of Judah’s illness, 2 Kings 8:25, 9:29, his brothers still in the north, i.e. Samaria. Note in passing that the preparation by Athaliah and her cronies in the house of Ahab is carried out convincingly, because her son Ahaziah becomes ‘the people’s choice,’ 2 Chronicles 22:1, 3, 4.
But with Ahaziah’s brethren in the north, i.e. Samaria, 2 Kings 10:12-14, where Jehu catches and kills them after killing Ahaziah and Joram of Israel, then clearly only Ahaziah, who goes to Jezreel in Samaria to visit the wounded Joram of Israel, 2 Kings 8:29, 2 Chronicles 22:6, is “left him” 2 Chronicles 21:17, with respect to Jehoram of Judah at the time of his death.
Jehoshaphat and Athaliah could have had children from about the time they were old enough to conceive them and more children after the birth of Ahaziah, to become Ahaziah’s brethren and – by virtue of their mother’s lineage, 2 Kings 8:26 and their father’s position, 2 Chronicles 21:2 – these brethren could become princes of Israel, 2 Kings 10:13, 2 Chronicles 21:4, just as Ahaziah is also effectively a prince of Israel being son-in-law to Ahab, 2 Kings 8:27.
Alan O’R
As indicated, several of these offspring could have been the “divers” victims of Jehoram’s massacre.
The remainder of the princes of Israel in Judah (i.e. if not already in Israel, i.e. Samaria) must then have escaped north to Israel from Jehoram’s massacre to seek the protection of Joram king of Israel, although only to fall victims of Jehu’s purge. But before their deaths, they must have fathered offspring, which could have been anytime, roughly, following Jehoshaphat’s disastrous alliance with Ahab. See comments above on 2 Chronicles 18:1, 2 under Ahaziah, Jehoshaphat and Athaliah.
Since these escapees are princes of Israel, they may have been designated princes of Judah after the joint Arab-Philistine invasion, which eliminates all of Jehoram’s natural sons, 2 Chronicles 21:17, 22:1, to help make up for the catastrophic losses to the royal household of Judah inflicted by the invaders. Note again that as Ahaziah’s brethren through Jehoshaphat and Athaliah, they could be princes of both royal households, i.e. Israel and Judah, by birthright.
Because note that Jehu’s victims, according to 2 Chronicles 22:8, include “the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah,” i.e. Jehu accounts for the offspring of the surviving brethren of Ahaziah as well as his brethren.
Ahaziah’s brethren, their sons and their servants could therefore easily account for the 42 slain by Jehu, 2 Kings 10:14, without using the term “brethren” figuratively, as suggested above. Ahaziah’s sons survive but not for long, 2 Kings 11:11, 2 Chronicles 22:10. It is possible that their mother (or at least mother of Joash and his brothers), Queen Zibiah, 2 Chronicles 24:1, escapes to her home, Beersheba, in the remote south.
The above analysis, therefore, appears to be consistent with scripture, with respect to solving the apparent anomaly of Ahaziah as Jehoram’s only surviving son, 2 Chronicles 21:17, even though Ahaziah has “brethren” 2 Kings 10:13, who should also have qualified as Jehoram of Judah’s sons (step-sons) via his marriage to Athaliah.
Alan O’R
Joash’s Age as King of Judah
Finally, the age of Joash, son of Ahaziah, 2 Kings 11:2, 21, 2 Chronicles 22:11, 24:1, would not be 7 when he ascends the throne of Judah after Athaliah is slain, 2 Kings 11:20, 21, 12:1, 2 Chronicles 22:12, 23:1, 24:1 if, as must be the case, he is the Joash of 1 Kings 22:26, 2 Chronicles 18:25. However, he is said to be 7 “when he began to reign” 2 Kings 11:21, 2 Chronicles 24:1.
The explanation is as follows.
If he is, say, a one-year-old infant in the 19th year of Jehoshaphat or the 22nd year of Ahab, he would be 7 when Jehoshaphat dies at the end of his 25-year reign. See discussion on 1 Kings 22:26, 2 Chronicles 18:25 above, under Ahaziah a ‘Spare’ King – in Israel.
According to the above chronology, therefore, Joash would be 13 at the end of Jehoram’s reign and at the time of the death of his father Ahaziah, at the end of his one-year reign (both deaths coinciding roughly with the death of Joram king of Israel in the 12th year of his reign, 2 Kings 3:1). Could a 13-year-old still have a nurse? It is possible, given that Deborah, designated as Rebekah’s nurse, still accompanies Jacob’s family 20 years after Rebekah’s son Jacob has wives, sons and daughters, Genesis 31:38, 35:8, 37:35. (If so, note that this analysis yields a possible reason why apparently minor, inconsequential details, such as Genesis 35:8, are sometimes recorded in scripture. Nothing is wasted in the Lord’s words.)
This would make Joash about 20 years old when he actually ascends the throne, 2 Kings 12:1, 2 Chronicles 24:1, not 7. The only explanation is that, from age 7, at the end of Jehoshaphat’s reign, Joash is also a ‘spare’ king, just as his father Ahaziah has been a ‘spare’ king, from the age of 22 but further removed in the line of succession than his father is.
Given the high mortality rate amongst the royal houses of Israel and Judah as the above study shows, the designation of ‘spare’ kings is understandable for those times.
Alan O’R
Although the time interval between 2 Kings 12:3 and 4 is unknown and the verses are separated by a paragraph mark, the command that Joash issues to the priests in verses 4 and 5 is unlikely to have come from a pre-adolescent child. Therefore, if repair of the temple is high on Joash’s priorities as king, which is a distinct possibility, 2 Kings 12:4, 5 support the conclusion that Joash comes to the throne of Judah as a young man of 20, although he begins to reign as a ‘spare’ king aged 7.
Note further that although Joash’s siblings are of “the seed royal” 2 Kings 11:1, 2 Chronicles 22:10, Ahaziah may have given Joash the kingdom and his brothers gifts, if Joash is the eldest, as 1 Kings 22:26, 2 Chronicles 18:25 imply, just as his father Jehoshaphat before him gives his eldest son Jehoram the kingdom and Jehoram’s brothers gifts, 2 Chronicles 21:3. Thus, Joash would have been a ‘spare’ king aged 7, 2 Kings 11:21, 2 Chronicles 24:1 but not necessarily his brothers.
Again, this analysis appears to satisfy all the relevant scriptures.
Conclusion
In sum, the two passages, 2 Kings 8:26, 2 Chronicles 22:2, do admit of an explanation, even if convoluted, in the KJB as it stands, as indeed do all the associated passages. It cannot therefore be charged with error in this respect.
Note in passing the abundance of seed plots etc. for TV and movie dramas etc. in the above passages. The KJB is the basis for all of these.
Alan O’R