II Kings 15:30

Pekah met with his death in a conspiracy organized by Hosea the son of Elah, who made himself king "in the twentieth year of Jotham." There is something very strange in this chronological datum, as Jotham only reigned sixteen years (Kg2 15:33), and Ahaz began to reign in the seventeenth year of Pekah (Kg2 16:1); so that Pekah's death would fall in the fourth year of Ahaz. The reason for this striking statement can only be found, as Usher has shown (Chronol. sacr. p. 80), in the fact that nothing has yet been said about Jotham's successor Ahaz, because the reign of Jotham himself is not mentioned till Kg2 15:32. (Note: Other attempts to solve this difficulty are either arbitrary and precarious, e.g., the conjectures of the earlier chronologists quoted by Winer (R. W. s. v. Jotham), or forced, like the notion of Vaihinger in Herzog's Cycl. (art. Jotham), that the words בן־עזיה ליותם are to be eliminated as an interpolation, in which case the datum "in the twentieth year" becomes perfectly enigmatical; and again the assertion of Hitzig (Comm. z. Jesaj. pp. 72, 73), that instead of in the twentieth year of Jotham, we should read "in the twentieth year of Ahaz the son of Jotham," which could only be consistently carried out by altering the text of not less than seven passages (viz., Kg2 15:33; Kg2 16:1, and Kg2 16:2, Kg2 16:17; Ch2 27:1 and Ch2 27:8, and Ch2 28:1); and lastly, the assumption of Thenius, that the words from בשׁנת to עזיה have crept into the text through a double mistake of the copyist and an arbitrary alteration of what had been thus falsely written, which is much too complicated to appear at all credible, even if the reasons which are supposed to render it probable had been more forcible and correct than they really are. For the first reason, viz., that the…

In this chapter, I. The history of two of the kings of Judah is briefly recorded: - 1. Of Azariah, or Uzziah (Kg2 15:1-7). 2. Of Jotham his son (Kg2 15:32-38). II. The history of many of the kings of Israel that reigned at the same time is given us in short, five in succession, all of whom, except one, went down slain to the pit, and their murders were their successors. 1. Zachariah, the last of the house of Jehu, reigned six months, and then was slain and succeeded by Shallum (Kg2 15:8-12). 2. Shallum reigned one month, and then was slain and succeeded by Menahem (Kg2 15:13-15). 3. Menahem reigned ten years, or tyrannised rather, such were his barbarous cruelties (Kg2 15:16) and unreasonable exactions (Kg2 15:20), and then died in his bed, and left his son to succeed him first, and then suffer for him (Kg2 15:16-22). 4. Pekahiah reigned two years, and then was slain and succeeded by Pekah (Kg2 15:23-26). 5. Pekah reigned twenty years, and then was slain and succeeded by Hoshea, the last of all the kings of Israel (Kg2 15:27-31) for things were now working and hastening apace towards the final destruction of that kingdom.