-Year from the Creation, according to the English Bible, 3108. -Year before the birth of Christ, 892.
-Year before the vulgar era of Christ’s nativity 896. -Year since the Deluge, according to Archbishop Usher and the English Bible, 1452.
-Year of the Cali Yuga, or Indian era of the Deluge, 2206. -Chronologers vary very considerably in their calculations of the time which elapsed between the flood and the birth of Abraham, the difference of the two extremes amounting to nine hundred years! Archbishop Usher’s computation is from the common Hebrew text, with the single exception of fixing the birth of Abraham in the one hundred and thirtieth year of the life of his father, instead of the seventieth, in order to reconcile Genesis 11:26, 32, with Acts 7:4. But these passages are better reconciled, in the opinion of Dr. Kennicott, by stating (with the Samaritan Pentateuch) the whole life of Terah to have been one hundred and forty-five years, instead of two hundred and five, as in our common Bibles.
-Year from the destruction of Troy, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 289.
-Year from the foundation of Solomon’s temple, 115.
-Year since the division of Solomon’s monarchy into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 79.
-Year before the era of Iphitus, who re-established the Olympic Games, three hundred and thirty-eight years after their institution by Hercules, or about eight hundred and eighty-four years before the commencement of the Christian era, 12.
-Year before the conquest of Corœbus at Elis, usually styled the first Olympiad, (being the 28th Olympiad after their re-establishment by Iphitus,) 120.
-Year before the Varronian or generally received era of the building of Rome, 143.
-Year before the building of Rome, according to Cato and the Fasti Consulares, 144.
-Year before the building of Rome, according to Polybius, the historian, 145.
-Year before the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, who lived about two hundred and twenty-five years before the Christian era, 149. -Year before the commencement of the Nabonassarean era, 149. —The years of this epoch contained uniformly 365 days, so that 1461 Nabonassarean were equal to 1460 Julian years. This era commenced on the fourth of the calends of March, (Feb. 26,) B.C. 747; which was the year in which Romulus laid the foundation of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor.
-Year of the Julian Period, 3818.
-Year of the Dionysian Period, 94.
-Cycle of the Sun, 10.
-Cycle of the Moon, 18.
-Year of Megacles, the sixth perpetual archon of the Athenians, 26. -Ocrazeres, the immediate predecessor of Sardanapalus, was king over the Assyrians about this time, according to Strauchius: but when this king reigned is very uncertain, Scaliger fixing the fall of Sardanapalus, which ended the Assyrian empire, in the year of the Julian Period, 3841; Langius, in 3852 of the same epocha; and Eusebius, in the year before Christ, 820.
-Year of Agrippa Silvius, the eleventh king of the Latins, 20. -Year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, 18.
-Year of Ahaziah, king of Israel, 2.
-Last year of the Prophet Elijah.
-Tenth year of Elisha.
Joseph Benson
Argument
BEN_VOL2.PDF, source PDF p. 661
THE SECOND BOOK OF THE
KINGS,
COMMONLY CALLED, THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE
KINGS.
ARGUMENT.
THIS book is a continuation of the history of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, begun in the preceding book, to the entire destruction of the one by the Assyrians, and to the carrying of the other into captivity to Babylon by the Chaldeans. We find here that the kings of Israel, with their subjects in general, a small number only excepted, continued in their idolatry, notwithstanding all the admonitions and chastisements which God employed to reform them; so that he at length permitted Tiglath-pileser to take away the whole tribe of Naphtali, and transport them into Assyria: but this having no effect on the remaining tribes, to make them forsake their idolatries, and turn to the true God, he entirely rejected them, and gave them into the hand of Shalmaneser, who made them all captives, and carried them into Assyria, which put an entire end to the kingdom of Israel, after it had subsisted distinct from the house of Judah about two hundred and sixty-two years. As to the kingdom of Judah, though it kept up the worship of the true God, yet that worship was often mixed with gross superstitions and idolatrous rites, except when kings of extraordinary piety sat on the throne, and exerted themselves to have it exercised according to God’s law: and such were their provocations, such their relapses, that God saw fit at last to deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the country, took Jerusalem, burned the temple, and carried them away captives to Babylon; which happened about three hundred and eighty-eight years after the revolt of the ten tribes, Judah having subsisted as a separate kingdom that length of time. But the divine providence made this difference between their captivity and that of the ten tribes; that the captivity of the latter was to bring on their entire dissolution as a people, but that of Judah was only to reform them; and accordingly, after having remained in captivity a course of years, during most of which, through the workings of providence, they were permitted to exercise their own worship in the midst of an idolatrous nation, they were brought home entirely cured of their idolatry, into which they never fell afterward, but continued to keep up the worship of the true God till the Son of God came into the world. Through the whole of the history of both nations we may observe, that the administration of God’s government was according to the behaviour of the people; and that all methods proper to reform them and bring them to happiness were made use of. The whole period of time included in the history contained in this book is about three hundred years.
Adam Clarke
The Second Book of the Kings,
CLA_2KI.PDF, source PDF p. 3
THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS,
OTHERWISE CALLED THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS
-Year from the Creation, according to the English Bible, 3108. -Year before the birth of Christ, 892.
-Year before the vulgar era of Christ’s nativity 896. -Year since the Deluge, according to Archbishop Usher and the English Bible, 1452.
-Year of the Cali Yuga, or Indian era of the Deluge, 2206. -Chronologers vary very considerably in their calculations of the time which elapsed between the flood and the birth of Abraham, the difference of the two extremes amounting to nine hundred years! Archbishop Usher’s computation is from the common Hebrew text, with the single exception of fixing the birth of Abraham in the one hundred and thirtieth year of the life of his father, instead of the seventieth, in order to reconcile Genesis 11:26, 32, with Acts 7:4. But these passages are better reconciled, in the opinion of Dr. Kennicott, by stating (with the Samaritan Pentateuch) the whole life of Terah to have been one hundred and forty-five years, instead of two hundred and five, as in our common Bibles.
-Year from the destruction of Troy, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 289.
-Year from the foundation of Solomon’s temple, 115.
-Year since the division of Solomon’s monarchy into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 79.
-Year before the era of Iphitus, who re-established the Olympic Games, three hundred and thirty-eight years after their institution by Hercules, or about eight hundred and eighty-four years before the commencement of the Christian era, 12.
-Year before the conquest of Corœbus at Elis, usually styled the first Olympiad, (being the 28th Olympiad after their re-establishment by Iphitus,) 120.
-Year before the Varronian or generally received era of the building of Rome, 143.
-Year before the building of Rome, according to Cato and the Fasti Consulares, 144.
-Year before the building of Rome, according to Polybius, the historian, 145.
-Year before the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, who lived about two hundred and twenty-five years before the Christian era, 149. -Year before the commencement of the Nabonassarean era, 149. —The years of this epoch contained uniformly 365 days, so that 1461 Nabonassarean were equal to 1460 Julian years. This era commenced on the fourth of the calends of March, (Feb. 26,) B.C. 747; which was the year in which Romulus laid the foundation of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor.
-Year of the Julian Period, 3818.
-Year of the Dionysian Period, 94.
-Cycle of the Sun, 10.
-Cycle of the Moon, 18.
-Year of Megacles, the sixth perpetual archon of the Athenians, 26. -Ocrazeres, the immediate predecessor of Sardanapalus, was king over the Assyrians about this time, according to Strauchius: but when this king reigned is very uncertain, Scaliger fixing the fall of Sardanapalus, which ended the Assyrian empire, in the year of the Julian Period, 3841; Langius, in 3852 of the same epocha; and Eusebius, in the year before Christ, 820.
-Year of Agrippa Silvius, the eleventh king of the Latins, 20. -Year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, 18.
-Year of Ahaziah, king of Israel, 2.
-Last year of the Prophet Elijah.
-Tenth year of Elisha.
Joseph Benson
Argument
BEN_VOL2.PDF, source PDF p. 661
THE SECOND BOOK OF THE
KINGS,
COMMONLY CALLED, THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE
KINGS.
ARGUMENT.
THIS book is a continuation of the history of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, begun in the preceding book, to the entire destruction of the one by the Assyrians, and to the carrying of the other into captivity to Babylon by the Chaldeans. We find here that the kings of Israel, with their subjects in general, a small number only excepted, continued in their idolatry, notwithstanding all the admonitions and chastisements which God employed to reform them; so that he at length permitted Tiglath-pileser to take away the whole tribe of Naphtali, and transport them into Assyria: but this having no effect on the remaining tribes, to make them forsake their idolatries, and turn to the true God, he entirely rejected them, and gave them into the hand of Shalmaneser, who made them all captives, and carried them into Assyria, which put an entire end to the kingdom of Israel, after it had subsisted distinct from the house of Judah about two hundred and sixty-two years. As to the kingdom of Judah, though it kept up the worship of the true God, yet that worship was often mixed with gross superstitions and idolatrous rites, except when kings of extraordinary piety sat on the throne, and exerted themselves to have it exercised according to God’s law: and such were their provocations, such their relapses, that God saw fit at last to deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the country, took Jerusalem, burned the temple, and carried them away captives to Babylon; which happened about three hundred and eighty-eight years after the revolt of the ten tribes, Judah having subsisted as a separate kingdom that length of time. But the divine providence made this difference between their captivity and that of the ten tribes; that the captivity of the latter was to bring on their entire dissolution as a people, but that of Judah was only to reform them; and accordingly, after having remained in captivity a course of years, during most of which, through the workings of providence, they were permitted to exercise their own worship in the midst of an idolatrous nation, they were brought home entirely cured of their idolatry, into which they never fell afterward, but continued to keep up the worship of the true God till the Son of God came into the world. Through the whole of the history of both nations we may observe, that the administration of God’s government was according to the behaviour of the people; and that all methods proper to reform them and bring them to happiness were made use of. The whole period of time included in the history contained in this book is about three hundred years.