Lesson 2
Kings of Judah and Israel

For those of you who are interested in a more in-depth study of the Kings of Judah and Israel we have provided this chart with HTML LINKS directly to ChristiansAnswers.net so that you can explore details about each king. Keep this file and go to it at your convenience.


THE DIVIDED KINGDOM
With the end of Solomon's reign came a split in the kingdom of Israel into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. Israel is the Northern, and Judah is the Southern Kingdom. Rehoboam was Solomon's son and his successor in the kingdom of Judah.

All of the kings of Israel were evil. In Judah, the southern kingdom, not all the kings were evil, of the 20 only 7 were upright before God. Those marked with an asterisk (*) were evil kings in Judah.

Take notice that there were 20 kings in each of the kingdoms during the Divided Kingdom, and God sent 20 prophets to the divided kingdoms.

You will not be responsible to learn the kings of Israel and Judah but this list should become a rich resource for your future studies of the Old Testament, and give you a bird's eye view of the period preceding the Intertestamental Period. As a further help we have tried to add the perspective of the prophets and where they are placed in the time period.

(CLICK ON ANY NAME TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THEM.)


KINGS OF ISRAEL (Northern Kingdom)


    Date BC   King           Ruled   Scripture           Prophets

1.  930-909 * Jeroboam 1      22 yrs  1 Kings 12:25-14:20

2.  909-908 * Nadab            2 yrs  1 Kings 15:25-31

3.  908-886 * Baasha          24 yrs  1 Kings 15:32-16:7      ELIJAH

4.  886-885 * Elah             2 yrs  1 Kings 16:8-14           |

5.  885     * Zimri            7 days I Kings 16:15-20          |

6.  885-880 * Tibni            5 yrs  I Kings 16:21-22          |

7.  885-874 * Omri            12 yrs  1 Kings 16:23-28          |

8.  874-853 * Ahab            22 yrs  1 Kings 16:29-22:40     ELISHA

9.  853-852 * Ahaziah          2 yrs  1 Kings 22:51 2K 1:18     |

10. 852-841 * Joram (Jehoram) 12 yrs  2 Kings 1:17/3:1-8:15     |

11. 841-814 * Jehu            28 yrs  2 Kings 9:30-10:36        |

12. 814-798 * Jehoahaz        17 yrs  2 Kings 13:1-10        JONAH

13. 798-973 * Jehoash         16 yrs  2 Kings 13:10-25          |

14. 793-753 * Jeroboam 2      41 yrs  2 Kings 14:23-29        AMOS

15. 753     * Zechariah        6 mth  2 Kings 15:8-12           |

16. 752     * Shallum          1 mth  2 Kings 15:13-15          |

17. 752-742 * Menahem         10 yrs  2 Kings 15:16-22        HOSEA

18. 742-740 * Pekahiah         2 yrs  2 Kings 15:23-26          |

19. 752-732 * Pekah           20 yrs  2 Kings 15:27-31          |

20. 732-722 * Hoshea           9 yrs  2 Kings 15:30/17          |

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========= 722  BC FALL OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM - Israel  =======|


KINGS OF JUDAH (Southern Kingdom)

    Date BC   King           Ruled   Scripture           Prophets

1.  930-913 * Rehoboam        17 yrs  1 Kings 12:1-24        |

2.  913-910 * Abijah           3 yrs  1 Kings 15:1-8         |

3.  910-869   Asa             41 yrs  1 Kings 15:9-24        |

4.  872-848   Jehoshaphat     25 yrs  1 Kings 22:41-50       |

5.  848-841 * Jehoram          8 yrs  2 Kings 8:16-24     OBADIAH

6.  841-841   Ahaziah          1 yr   2 Kings 8:25-29        |

7.  841-835 * Athaliah         7 yrs  2 Kings 11            JOEL

8.  835-796   Joash           40 yrs  2 Kings 12             |

9.  796-767 * Amaziah         29 yrs  2 Kings 14:1-22        |

10. 792-740 * Azariah         53 yrs  2 Kings 15:1-7      ISAIAH

11. 750-732   Jotham (co)     16 yrs  2 Kings 15:32-38     MICAH

12. 732-715 * Ahaz            16 yrs  2 Kings 16             |

13. 715-686   Hezekiah        29 yrs  2 Kings 18:1-20:21   NAHUM

14. 697-642 * Manasseh        55 yrs  2 Kings 21:1-18        |

15. 642-640 * Amon             2 yrs  2 Kings 21:19-26    ZEPHANIAH

16. 640-609   Josiah          31 yrs  2 Kings 22-23       JEREMIAH

17. 609     * Jehoahaz         3 mths 2 Kings 23:31-33       |

18. 609-598 * Jehoakim        11 yrs  2 Kings 23:34-24:7  HABAKKUK

19. 598-597 * Jehoiachim       3 mths 2 Kings 24:8-17        |

20. 597-586 * Zedekiah        11 yrs  2 Kings 24:18-25:26    |



===== 586 BC FALL OF SOUTHERN KINGDOM & JERUSALEM (Judah) ======

       (587 - 657  The Babylonian Captivity =70 years)       |

                                                          EZEKIEL

                                                             |

                                                  605-530  DANIEL

                                                             |

                                                  520-480 ZECHARIAH*

                                                           HAGGAI*

                                                             |

                                                    458     EZRA

                                                             |

                                                    432   NEHEMIAH

                                                             |

                                                  440-430  MALACHI*

                                                             |

400 B.C. --- Intertestamental Period ------(400 years)------(Silence)-




RETURN FROM BABYLON
ZERUBBABEL
Persia conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. and king Cyrus issued a decree that allowed the Jews to return to Palestine in 536 B.C. Zerubbabel, who became governor of Jerusalem, was among the first wave of immigrants (about 50,000 of them) to return to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity in Babylon (605-536 B.C.). He was responsible for the physical restoration of the temple which was dedicated in 515 B.C.

EZRA
Ezra was a "scribe" who was allowed to return from Babylon 60 years later (Ezra 6:22 and 7:1) with a remnant of the people (2,000) to restore worship to the temple, which was a shadow of its former beauty. Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the 7th year of Persian king, Xerxes (458 B.C.) son of Darius. He was responsible for reestablishing proper worship and sacrifices to the temple and restoring the Law of God to the hearts of the people.

ESTHER - 460 B.C.
Esther fits into the time period of Ezra (actually between chapters 6 and 7 of Ezra) while Xerxes I was king of the Persians. (Ahasuerus is the Hebrew transliteration of the Persian name "Khsayarsaha." The Greek form of the same name is Xerxes.) The events cover a period of about 10 years. Though Esther is not considered as one of the prophets, her story is nonetheless one of heroic faith, proving once again that God always has a remnant according to grace.

NEHEMIAH
Nehemiah brought back another group of Jews by Artaxerxes' permission (Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes) to rebuild the walls of the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah followed Ezra in the 20th year (445 B.C. or thirteen years later). Ezra and Nehemiah led the people in revival and reforms.

MALACHI - 430 B.C.
Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets. Like Ezra and Nehemiah he decried the backsliding of the people of God. The priests were worldly, the people were tired of waiting for God's deliverance and began to question God's love and care for His chosen people.

The three postexilic prophets were Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

400-4 BC Intertestamental Period


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