another In which course some considerable scruples will arise before the Student as hee goeth along which unlesse hee see and resolve hee will never be able to make the account right and which unlesse hee frame to himself such a Chronicall table as is mentioned hee will never see nor find out Hee will by the very Table as hee goeth along see that sometimes the yeeres are reckoned compleat as Reboboams seventeen are counted 1 Kings 15. 1. Sometimes current as Ahijams three 1 Kings 15. 1 2 9. and Elahs two 1 Kings 16. 8. But this will breed no difficulty since it is ordinary in Scripture thus variously to compute and since the drawing of his Table wil every where shew him readily this variety But these things will hee find of more obscurity and challenging more serious study and consideration First it is said that Jeroboam reigned two and twenty yeeres ' 1. Kings 14. 20. and Nadab his Sonne two yeeres chap. 15. 25. yet that Nadab began to reigne in the second yeere of Asa which was in the one and twentieth yeere of Jeroboam and so Nadabs two yeeres fall within the summe of his fathers two and twenty Now the reason of this accounting is this It is said in 2 Chron. 13. 20. that the Lord stroke Jeroboam and he died that is with some ill and languishing disease that he could not administer nor rule the Kingdome therefore was hee forced to substitute his Sonne Nadab in his life time and in one and the same yeer both Father and Son died Secondly it is said that Baasha began to reigne in the third yeere of Asa 1 King 13. 28. and reigned foure and twenty yeeres ver 33. then it followeth that he died in the six and twentyeth yeere of Asa as the text reckoneth the yeeres current 1 King 16. 8. And yet in the fix and thirtieth yeere of Asa Baasha came up and made war against Judah 2 Chron. 16. 1. So that this warre will seeme to bee made by â—im nine or ten yeeres after hee is dead But the resolution of this from the originall is easie For that text in the Chronicles meaneth not that Baasha made warre against Judah in the six and thirtieth yeere of Asaes reigne but in the six and thirtieth yeere of Asaes kingdome that is six and thirty yeeres from the division of the Tribes under Rehoboam For Reâ—oboam reigned seventeen yeeres Abijam his son three yeeres and in the sixteenth yeere of Asa was this warre made thirty six yeeres in all from the first division The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore should there be rendred the Kingdom and not the Reign and the thing were cleare Now the text dateth this warre not from the time of Asaes reigne but from the time of the division of the Tribes because that though they were divided hitherto in regard of their Kings yet not totally in regard of their converse and affection for some of the revolted ones affected still the house of David but Baasha to make the division sure buildeth Ramah that none might goe in or out to Asa King of Judah and this was as a second division and therefore the Text reckoneth from the first Thirdly it is said 1 King 16. 23. that in the one and thirtieth yeere of Asa King of Judah began Omri to reigne over Israel twelve yeers six yeeres reigned bee in Tirzah And yet in verse 29. it is said that In the eight and thirtyeth yeere of Asa began Ahab thâ— sonne of Omri to reigne Now how can there possibly be twelve yeeres reigne betwixt Asaes thirty first and thirty eight Answer Omri began to reigne as soon as ever he had slaine Zimri which was in the twenty seventh of Asa but he was not sole and entire King till his thirty first For Tibni his competitor and corrivall for the Crowne held him in agitation and warres till Asaes thirty first And then was he overcome and Omri acknowledged absolute King by Tibnies souldiers and so from thence forward he reigned sole King in Tirzah But yet the doubt remaineth how Omri beginning his monarchy in the thirty first of Asa and ending it in his thirty eight can bee said to have reigned but six yeeres whereas it was eight current Answer The six compleat yeeres only are reckoned for the thirty first of Asa was even ending when Tibni was conquered and the thirty eight but newly begun when Omri died Such another kind of reckoning may be observed in casting up the age of Abraham and Ismael at their Circumcision compared with the age of Abraham at Ismaels death Fourthly the beginning of the reigne of Joram the sonne of Jehoshaphat hath three dates The first in the seventeenth yeere of Jehoshaphat his father compare 2 Kings 22. 51. and 2 King 1. 17. and 2 King 3. 1. The second in the fifth yeere of Joram the son of Ahab 2 King 8 16. This was the in the two and twentyeth yeere of his father Jehoshaphat And the third at his father Jehoshaphats death 2 Chron. 21. 1. Now the resolution of this Ambiguity is thus The first time hee was made Viceroy when his father went out of the Land for the recovery of Ramoth Gilead and because Ahab the King of Israel went with him Ahaziah his Son is made Viceroy in that Kingdome also The second time hee was Viceroy again in his Father Jehoshaphats absence upon his voyage into Moah with Jehoram 2 Kings 3. and from this time doth the Text date the fixed beginning of his reign as is plain â— Kings 8. 17. 2 Chron. 21. 20. For Jehoshaphat after this â—â—me was little at home but abroad either in his own Land peraâ—bulating it to reduce the people to true Religion or in Moah to reduce that to subjection 2 Chron. 19. 20. Fifthly but a greater doubt meeteth you by farre when you come to cast up the times of his son Ahaziah For whereas Joram was thirty and two yeeres old when hee began to reigne and reigned eight yeeres in Jerusalem 2 King 6. 17. 2 Chron. 21. 20. and so died when hee was forty yeeres old and instantly the inhabitants of Jerusalem set Ahaziah upon his throne who was his youngest Son yet was this Ahaziah forty two yeeres old when hee began to reigne 2 Chron. 22. 1. and so will prove to be two yeeres older then his father Answer The booke of Chronicles in this place meaneth not that Ahaziah was so old when hee began to reigne for the book of Kings telleth plainly that he was but two and twenty 2 King 8. 26. but these two forty yeers have relation to another thing namly to the kingdom of the house of Omri and not to the age of Ahaziah For count from the beginning of the reign of Omri and you find Ahaziah to enter his reign in the two and fortieth yeer from thence as he wil readily see that shall make such a Chronicall Table as is mentioned The Originall words therefore Ben arbaguim ushethajim shanaâ—
And this sheweth the zeale of Hezekiah in the work of Reformation the more in that hee assayed and perfected it so much in the very time of his wicked Father 14. But yet there ariseth another doubt in the computation of the times of Hezekiah parallel with the times of Hoshea For whereas hee beganne to reigne in the third yeere of Hoshea as is cleere before then the seventh yeere of Hoshea should bee counted his fifth yeere and yet it is called but his fourth 2 King 18. 9. Answer The beginning of Hezekiahs reigne is of a double date Hee beganne indeed to bee Viceroy and to beare the rule in the third of Hoshea which was the fourteenth yeere of his Father Ahaz but the time of that yeere was but short that hee was in the royalty and hee did but little or nothing of note that yeere but the next yeere which was the fifteenth of Ahaz and the fourth of Hoshea on the very first day of the yeere or the first of Nisan hee beganne the Reformation and stirred bravely in the restoring of Religion 2 Chron. 29. 3. and therefore that is owned as the most remarkable and renowned beginning of his dominion And so the seventh of Hoshea and his fourth yeere fall in together In his sixth yeer the ten Tribes are captived 2 King 18. 10. And so the parallelling of the two Kingdomes of Judah and Israel in their Chronicall Annals is at an end and now the times of the kingdome of Judah lye in an easie and continued Chronicle to the captivity in Babel without any great scruple Onely about those turbulent times of Jehoachaz and Jehoiakim there is a little difficulty For there passed some yeeres between the death of Josiah and the Reign of Jehoiakim in troubles and distempers though the Text hath mentioned the three moneths onely of Jehoachaz The grosse summe of 390. between the division and the burning of the Temple keepeth all right and sheweth how much space this was when all the other particulars are taken up as the 480 between the delivery out of Aegypt and building of Solomons Temple do by the time of the rule of Joshua though the Text expressely hath not determined it So that now adde these 390 yeeres mentioned by Ezekiel which was the exact space between the falling away of the ten Tribes and the destruction of Jerusalem to the 3030 yeeres of which age the world was when the ten Tribes fell away and wee finde that Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians in the yeere of the world 3420. Sect. VII From the burning of the Temple by Nebuzaradan 2 King 25. Jer. 52. to the return from Babel 2 Chro. 36. 22. Ezra 1. 1. were fifty yeeres It hath been no small controversie among the learned that have handled the current of these times that wee are about where to begin the seventy yeeres of the captivity in Babel so renowned in Scripture Jer. 25. 11 12. and 29. 10. 2 Chron. 36. 21. Zech. 1. 12. For since there were three captivities of Hierusalem by the Babylonian namely in the third yeere of Jehoiakim 2 Chron. 36. 6. Dan. 1. 1. In the yeere of Jehoiachin 2 Chron. 36. 9 10. and in the eleventh of Zedekiah 2 King 25. 2 3. Jer. 52. 4 5. it may very well bee questioned where those seventy yeeres of captivity did beginne and where those 390 yeeres from the falling away of the ten Tribes should terminate To omit varieties of opinions and reasons that fix these periods some here some there these reasons do plainly and sufficiently demonstrate that the seventy yeeres of Judahs captivity in Babel did begin from the third yeere of Jehoiakim First Because Daniel that measured out the whole space of that captivity and that giveth account of the state of the people that time beginneth from thence Dan. 1. Secondly Because it is most proper to beginne the seventy yeeres captivity by Babel from the very first time that any captivity by Babel began Thirdly It is prophecyed by Jeremy chap. 25. 11. that not onl the Jews but also all Nations round about them should serve the King of Babel 70 yeeres So that those seventy yeeres are to bee counted the time and space of the absolute Monarchy of Babel and they are to beginne from the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar the first Monarch Now the beginning of his Monarchy is easie to settle viz. in the third of Jehoiakim from these Texts Jer. 32. 1. and 52. 12. It is true indeed that in Jer. 25. 1. the fourth of Jehoiakim is called his first and so it might bee very well for the first of Nebuchadnezzar might take up part of two yeeres of his Reigne as any one yeere of the King takes up much time of two Lord Majors hee entring his yeere in the Spring and they in Autumne Thus doe the seventy yeeres beginne from the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar but the 390 that wee have been so long upon doe not there end but they end at his nineteenth or at the eleventh of Zedekiah when the City and Temple was utterly ruined and the captivity entirely consummate as the chaine of the yeere drawn out to the length doe really fix it and as the very intent and stile of the Prophet doth the like who in that summe doth comprehend the whole time of the peoples being in their own Land after the râ—volt under Jeroboam So that nineteen yeeres compleat out of the seventy must wee take into that sum and so there are but fifty yeeres of that captivity to the time of their delivery under Cyrus remaining which summe being added to the age of the world at the burning of the Temple 3420. doth make the world to bee 3470 yeeres old at the first of Cyrus when the captivity did return Sect. VIII From the return of the Jewes out of Babel to the death of Christ 490 yeeres This is so plain in Dan. 9. in the seventy weekes or seventy time seven yeeres there mentioned from the Commandement going forth from Cyrus to restore and build Hierusalem to the cutting off of the Messias that it needeth as little to confirme it as to tell that seventy times seven is foure hundred and ninety For if the Angel speak not of a fixed and certaine time in this summe hee nameth this summe to no purpose in the world but hee doth so cleerely fix the time the two termini of its extent and some particular linkes of it as it passed that nothing can bee more cleere evident and perspicuous Now adde these 490 yeeres which reach to the death of Christ to the age of the world 3470. at the time when they began and it resulteth that our Saviour dyed in the yeere of the world 3960. Out of which subduct the two and thirty yeeres of our Saviours life and it appeareth that hee was borne in the yeere of the world 3928. that yeere being then but newly begunne stilo veteri or according to the account used from
are not to be translated as they be Ahaziah was two and forty yeeres old but Ahaziah was the Son of the two and forty yeeres as Seder Olâ—m hath acutely observed long agoe Now the reason why his reigne is thus dated differently from all others the Kings of Judah is because he in a kind was an impe of the house of Omri for Athaliah his mother was Ahabs daughter 2 King 8. 18. And she both perverted her husband Joram and brought up this her sonne Ahaziah in the Idolatry of the house of Ahab therefore is not Ahaziah fit to be reckoned by the line of the Kings of Judah but by the house of Omri and Ahab see the Evangelist Matthew setting a speciall mark upon the house of Joram at the notes on Mat. 1. 8. Sixthly there is yet one scruple more arising concerning the beginning of the reigne of this Ahaziah For the same book of Kings saith that he began to reigne in the twelfth yeere of Joram the son of Ahab 2 King 8. 25. and in the eleventh yeere of Joram the son of Ahab 2 Kings 9. 29. Answer The resolution of this doubt will bee easie to him that hath such a Chronicall Table as wee have spoken of before his eyes For there will hee see that Jehoram reigned one yeere before his Father Ahabs death For in the twentyeth yeere of Ahab which was the seventeenth of Jehoshaphat did Ahaziah the sonne of Ahab begin to reigne 1 King 22. 51. being made Viceroy when his Father went to Ramoth Gilead Hee reigning but that yeere Jehoram his sonne was Viceroy or began to rule in his stead the next yeere namely in Ahabs one and twentyeth Ahab in his two and twentyeth dyed and so Jehoram became absolute and intire King and reigned so eleven yeeres So that his reign hath a double reckoning hee reigned as Viceroy twelve yeeres but as intire King but eleven 7. Amaziah beganne to reigne in the second yeere of Joash King of Israel 2 King 14. 1. this was the eight and thirtyeth yeere of his Father Joash King of Judah three yeeres current before his death And the reason was because his Father had cast himselfe into so much misery and mischiefe through his Apostasie and murder of Zacharies 2 King 12. 17 18. 2 Chron. 24. 23 24 25. that hee was become unfit and unable to manage the Kingdome 8. Vzziah or Azariah the sonne of this Amaziah being but sixteene yeeres of age in the seven and twentyeth yeere of the reigne of Jeroboam the second 2 King 15. 1 2. it appeareth that hee was but foure yeers old at his Fathers death Therfore was the Throne empty for eleven yeeres and the rule managed by some as Protectors in the Kings minority 9. There is also an interregnum or vacancy of 22 yeers in the kingdome of Israel between Jeroboam the second and Zachariah whereof what the reason should bee is not easie to determine whether through warres from abroad which Jeroboam might have provoked against his house by the conquest of Hamath and Damascus 2 King 14. 28. or through war at home as appeareth by the end of Zachariah 2 King 15. 10. or through what else it was it is uncertain but most sure it was that the Throne was so long without a King since Jeroboam beginning to reigne in the fifteenth yeere of Amaziah and reigning forty one yeeres 1 King 14. 23. dyed in the fifteenth of Vzziah and Zachariah began not to Reigne till the eight and thirtyeth 2 King 15. 8. 10. Hoshea is said to slay Pekah in the twentyeth yeere of Jotham the Sonne of Vzziah 2 King 15. 30. whereas Jotham reigned but sixteene yeeres in all 2 King 15. 33. But the reason of this accounting is because of the wickednesse of Achaz in whose reigne this occurrence was and the Holy Ghost chuseth rather to reckon by holy Jotham in the dust then by wicked Ahaz alive For in the slaughter of Pekah the Lord avenged upon Pekah the blood-shed and misery hee had caused in Judah for hee had slaine of the men thereof 120000 in one day 2 Chron. 28. 6. Now Ahaz had caused this wrath upon the people in withdrawing them from the wayes of the Lord therefore when the Lord avengeth this injury of his people upon Pekah the time of it is computed from Jotham who was holy and upright and not from Ahaz who had caused the mischiefe 11. There is a scruple of no small difficulty about the reckoning of this twentyeth yeere of Jotham if it once bee spyed out And that is this If Pekah began to reigne in the two and fiftyeth or last yeere of Vzziah and reigned twenty yeeres as 2 King 15. 27. and if Jotham beganne to reigne in the second yeere of Pekah 2 King 15. 33. then certainly the twentyeth yeere of Pekah the yeere when Hoshea slew him was but the nineteenth yeere of Jotham and not the twentyeth Answer In this very difficulty hath the Text fixed the time of Vzziahs becomming leprous which else-where is not determined and it sheweth that it was in the last yeere of his reigne when hee assayed to offer incense in the Temple and was struck with the leprosie a disease with which the Priests who were to bee the Judges of it could not bee touched nor insected and his sonne Jotham was over the house judging the land 2 King 15. 5. till the day of his death Now that last yeere of Vzziah is counted for the first of Jotham in this reckoning that wee have in hand and although hee beganne to reigne as absolute and sole King in the second yeere of the Reigne of Pekah yet beganne hee to reigne as Viceroy in the diseasednesse of his Father the yeere before 12. It is said that Hoshea the sonne of Elah beganne to reigne in the twelfth yeere of Ahaz 2 King 17. 1. whereas hee had slaine Pekah in the fourth of Ahaz or the twentyeth of Jotham which sheweth that hee obtained not the Crown immediately upon Pekahs death but was seven or eight yeeres before hee could settle it quietly upon his head It is like that Ahaz in this time did disquiet Israel when his potent enemy Pekah was dead in revenge of that slaughter that hee had made in Judah and that hee kept Hoshea out of the Throne and for this is called the King of Israel 2 Chron. 28. 19. as well as for walking in the wayes of those Kings 13. It is said that Hezekiah began to reigne in the third yeere of Hoshea the sonne of Elah 2 King 18. 1. Now Hoshea beginning in the twelfth of Ahaz 2 King 17. 1. it is apparent that Hezekiah began in the foureteenth and so reigned two or three yeeres with his Father Ahaz who Reigned sixteen yeeres 2 King 16. 2. The reason of this was because of the wickednesse of Ahaz and because of the miseries and intanglements that his wickednesse had brought him into as 2 Chron. 28. 16 17 18. and chap. 29. 7 8 9.