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Catholic Bible Dictionary - Appendix 2
Catholic Bible Dictionary - Appendix 2
A ppendix 2
It is a challenging task to ascertain the dates ond was the nonaccession-year system of an-
of the biblical kings. There are several reasons cient Mesopotamia, in which only the first full
for this. For one, fathers and sons sometimes year of a king’s reign was counted as his first
reigned at the same time during overlapping year on the throne. Despite these irregulari-
periods of co‑regency. For another, the king- ties, which make synchronizing the dates of
doms of Israel and Judah used different meth- the biblical kings a painstaking task, the over-
ods of calculation at different times in their all picture is fairly secure: Solomon’s kingdom
history. Two different methods were adopted split apart about 930 b.c., and the rival king-
from the systems in use in the empires of the doms set up in the north and south fell to for-
ancient Near East. One was the accession-year eign invaders in 722 b.c. (Assyrian conquest of
system of ancient Egypt, in which the year of Israel) and 586 b.c. (Babylonian conquest of
the king’s coronation was counted as a full year Judah). Both kingdoms saw the rise and fall
in the final calculation of his reign. The sec- of nineteen kings in succession.
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Catholic Bible Dictionary - Appendix 2 Edited by Scott Hahn
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