The Chronology of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

• Author: Miller, J. Maxwell
• Position: Review

By GERSHON GALIL. Studies in the History of Culture of the Ancient Near East, vol. 9. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1996. Pp. 200 + 35 tables. HF1 102, $66 (cloth).

The chronological data for the kings of Israel and Judah embedded in 1-2 Kings are seductive but never entirely satisfying. The figures seem authentic and precise, the sort of information that might have been derived from official sources. Also they fit reasonably well with data provided by Assyrian and Babylonian sources. They do not quite "add up," however, either internally or in relation to the Assyrian and Babylon sources. Moreover, the chronological notations recorded in 1-2 Kings are part of a more comprehensive chronological structure that extends back to Genesis, places Creation approximately six thousand years ago, attributes fantastic life spans to Methuselah and others, dates Noah and the Great Flood, and so on. It is not without clear warning signals, therefore, that one undertakes to calculate absolute dates for the Israelite and Judean kings on the basis of the biblical figures. Any such attempt calls for a package of hypothetical explanations for the apparent contradictions, and still it is necessary to "adjust" or reject at least some of the biblical figures. Recognizing all of this, Galil advances a chronology that, in his opinion, "is successful in reconciling approximately 90% of the biblical and external data, making use of a relatively simple set of principles" (p. 9).

Galil's dates fall well within the range of those calculated by others and already generally accepted today. Solomon's death usually is dated between 932 and 922 B.C.E., for example; Galil settles on 931-930. Omri's accession to the throne has been dated 886 B.C.E. (Andersen), 885 B.C.E. (Thiele, Miller and Hayes), 882 B.C.E. (Begrich, Jepsen), and 876 B.C.E. (Albright); Gall calculates 884. Hezekiah's accession has been dated 727 B.C.E. (Miller and Hayes), 726 B.C.E. (Begrich, Jepsen), 716 B.C.E. (Thiele), and 715 B.C.E. (Andersen, Albright); Galil makes this 726. Everyone places the final destruction of Jerusalem in either 587 or 586 B.C.E.; Galil calculates 586. Thus the distinctiveness of Galil's study is not so much the resulting chronology as his period-by-period discussion of the issues and the many innovative suggestions he makes along the way.

As for the principles that guide his calculations, they seem to be basically as follows: (1) Galil favors the Massoretic figures and devotes a full...