| Ahab became king after Jeroboam (year 22), Nadab (2), Baasha (24), Elah (2), Zimri (7 days), Omri (12), and Tibni (6, at the same time as Omri) ; in the 38th year of Asa (cf. 3 Kings 16:29), that is, in the (19.5±0.5) + (37.5±0.5) + (37.5±0.5)=57(±1) year. Jehoshaphat became king: in the fourth year of Ahab (cf. 3 Kings 22: 41-42) – (57±1) + (3.5±0.5)=60.5(±1.5); after Asa (41) – (19.5±0.5) + 41= 60.5(±0.5) . Jehoram became king: after Ahab (22) and Ahasja (2) ; in the 18th year of Jehosaphat (cf. 4 Kings 3:1) – (60.5±0.5) + (17.5±0.5)= 78(±1) . Jehu killed Ahasja and Jehoram (cf. 4 Kings 9:23-28) and ascended the throne: Gophelia after Jehosaphat (25), Jehoram (8) and Ahasja (1) and Jehu after Jehoram (12) in year (78±1) + 12= 90(±1) from the D.S.K. Joash became king: in the seventh year of Jehu (cf. 4 Kings 12:1) – (09±1) + (6.5±0.5)=96.5(±1.5); after Gophelia (6) – (90±1)=96(±1). Jehoash became king after Jehu (28) and Jeoahaz (17) ; in the 37th year of Joash (cf. 4 Kings 13:10-11) – (96±1) + (36.5±0.5)= 132.5(±1.5) . Amaziah became king: after Joash (40); in the 2nd year of Joash of Israel (cf. 4 Kings 14:1-2) – (132.5±1.5) + (1.5±0.5)= 132(±2) . Jeroboam (the second) became king: in the 15th year of Amaziah (cf. 4 Kings 14:23 – (134±2) + (14.5±0.5)=148.5(±2.5); after Joash (16) – (132.5±1.5) + 16= 148.5(±1.5) . Azariah-Oziah became king: 15 year after the death of Joash (16) – (132.5±1.5) (cf. 4 Kings 14:17; 2 Chron. 25:25) – (132.5±1.5) + 16 + 15=163.5(±1.5); after Amaziah (29) – (134±2) + 29= 163(±2) . Pekah becam king: after Jerobaam (41), Zacharia (months), Salum (one month), Menael (10) and Pekah (2) ; in the 52nd year of Azariah (cf. 4 Kings 16:1-2) – (214.5±2.5) + (16.5±0.5)=231(±3); after Amaziah-Oziah (52) and Joapham (16) – (163±2) + 52 + 16= 231(±2) . Hoshea became king: after Pekah (20) ; in the 12th year of Ahaz (cf. 4 Kings 17:1-2) – (231±2) + (11.5±0.5)= 242.5(±2.5) . Hezekiah became king: after Ahaz (16); in the third year of Hoshea (cf. 4 Kings 18:1-2) – (242.5±2.5) + (2.5±0.5)= 245(±3) year after D.S.K. |
| King Hezekiah in the Bible: Royal Seal of Hezekiah Comes to Light Source: Bible History Daily December 3, 2015 HEZEKIAH IN THE BIBLE. The royal seal of Hezekiah, king of Judah, was discovered in the Ophel excavations under the direction of archaeologist Eilat Mazar. Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Eilat Mazar; photo by Ouria Tadmor. For the first time, the royal seal of King Hezekiah in the Bible has been found in an archaeological excavation. The stamped clay seal, also known as a bulla, was discovered in the Ophel excavations led by Dr. Eilat Mazar at the foot of the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The discovery was announced in a recent press release by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology, under whose auspices the excavations were conducted. The bulla, which measures just over a centimeter in diameter, bears a seal impression depicting a two-winged sun disk flanked by ankh symbols and containing a Hebrew inscription that reads “Belonging to Hezekiah, (son of) Ahaz, king of Judah.” The bulla was discovered along with 33 other stamped bullae during wet-sifting of dirt from a refuse dump located next to a 10th-century B.C.E. royal building in the Ophel. In the ancient Near East, clay bullae were used to secure the strings tied around rolled-up documents. The bullae were made by pressing a seal onto a wet lump of clay. The stamped bulla served as both a signature and as a means of ensuring the authenticity of the documents. Hezekiah, son and successor of Ahaz and the 13th king of Judah (reigning c. 715–686 B.C.E.), was known for his religious reforms and attempts to gain independence from the Assyrians. The Ophel excavation area at the foot of the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Photo: Andrew Shiva. In Aspects of Monotheism: How God Is One (Biblical Archaeology Society, 1997), Biblical scholar P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., summarizes Hezekiah’s religious reforms: According to 2 Chronicles 29–32, Hezekiah began his reform in the first year of his reign; motivated by the belief that the ancient religion was not being practiced scrupulously, he ordered that the Temple of Yahweh be repaired and cleansed of niddâ (impurity). After celebrating a truly national Passover for the first time since the reign of Solomon (2 Chronicles 30:26), Hezekiah’s officials went into the countryside and dismantled the local shrines or “high places” (bamot) along with their altars, “standing stones” (masseboth) and “sacred poles” (’aásûeµrîm). The account of Hezekiah’s reform activities in 2 Kings 18:1–8 is much briefer. Although he is credited with removing the high places, the major reform is credited to Josiah (2 Kings 22:3–23:25). |
| Hezekiah’s attempts to save Jerusalem from Assyrian king Sennacherib’s invasion in 701 B.C.E. are chronicled in both the Bible and in Assyrian accounts. According to the Bible, Hezekiah, anticipating the attack, fortified and expanded the city’s walls and built a tunnel, known today as Hezekiah’s Tunnel, to ensure that the besieged city could still receive water (2 Chronicles 32:2–4; 2 Kings 20:20). The Sennacherib Prism on display in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Photo: Hanay’s image is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0/Wikimedia Commons. On the six-sided clay prism called the Sennacherib Prism as well as other annals of the Assyrian king, Sennacherib details in Akkadian his successful campaigns throughout Judah, bragging that he had Hezekiah trapped in Jerusalem “like a bird in a cage.” According to the Bible, however, Sennacherib ultimately failed to capture Jerusalem before his death (2 Kings 19:35–37). The bulla discovered in the Ophel excavations represents the first time the royal seal of Hezekiah has been found on an archaeological project. “Although seal impressions bearing King Hezekiah’s name have already been known from the antiquities market since the middle of the 1990s—some with a winged scarab (dung beetle) symbol and others with a winged sun—this is the first time that a seal impression of an Israelite or Judean king has ever come to light in a scientific archaeological excavation,” Eilat Mazar said in the Hebrew University press release. Bullae bearing the seal impressions of Hezekiah have been published in Biblical Archaeology Review . In the March/April 1999 issue, epigrapher Frank Moore Cross wrote about a bulla depicting a two-winged scarab. The bulla belonged to the private collection of antiquities collector Shlomo Moussaieff. In the July/August 2002 issue , epigrapher Robert Deutsch discussed a bulla stamped with the image of a two-winged sun disk flanked by ankh symbols—similar to the one uncovered in the Ophel excavations. Both bullae published by Cross and Deutsch bear a Hebrew inscription reading “Belonging to Hezekiah, (son of) Ahaz, king of Judah.” |
| At the beginning of the book of the prophet Hosea, who is placed first of twelve, it is written, The word of the Lord which came to Hosea in the days of Uzziah, Jothan, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hosea 1:1 Amos also writes that he prophesied in the days of Uzziah, and adds the name of Jeroboam king of Israel, who lived at the same time. Amos 1:1 Isaiah the son of Amos – either the above-named prophet, or, as is rather affirmed, another who was not a prophet, but was called by the same name – also puts at the head of his book these four kings named by Hosea, saying by way of preface that he prophesied in their days. Micah also names the same times as those of his prophecy, after the days of Uzziah; Micah 1:1 for he names the same three kings as Hosea named – Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We find from their own writings that these men prophesied contemporaneously. To these are added Jonah in the reign of Uzziah, and Joel in that of Jotham, who succeeded Uzziah. But we can find the date of these two prophets in the chronicles, not in their own writings, for they say nothing about it themselves. Now these days extend from Procas king of the Latins, or his predecessor Aventinus, down to Romulus king of the Romans, or even to the beginning of the reign of his successor Numa Pompilius. Hezekiah king of Judah certainly reigned till then. So that thus these fountains of prophecy, as I may call them, burst forth at once during those times when the Assyrian kingdom failed and the Roman began; so that, just as in the first period of the Assyrian kingdom Abrahamarose, to whom the most distinct promises were made that all nations should be blessed in his seed, so at the beginning of the western Babylon, in the time of whose government Christ was to come in whom these promises were to be fulfilled, the oracles of the prophets were given not only in spoken but in written words, for a testimony that so great a thing should come to pass. For although the people of Israel hardly ever lacked prophets from the time when they began to have kings, these were only for their own use, not for that of the nations. |
| The Holy Prophet Micah Commemorated August 14/27 St. Nicholai Velimirovich Micah was of the tribe of Judah and from the village of Morasth for which he is called the " Morasthite. " He was a contemporary of the prophets Isaiah, Amos, Hosea and the Jewish kings Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. Micah rebuked the vices of his people and rebuked the false prophets who prophesied " of wine and of strong drink " (Micah 2:11). He foretold the destruction of Samaria. He also foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, which will come because their leaders accept bribes, the priests teach for lucre and its prophets tell fortunes for money. " Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field and Jerusalem shall become as heaps " (Micah 3:12). But, of all his prophecies, the most important prophecy is that of the Messiah, especially the place of His birth. He mentioned Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah, " Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting " (Micah 5:2). It is not known exactly whether this prophet was slain by the Jews or whether he died a peaceful death. " Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and spoke to all the people of Judah saying, Thus said the Lord of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? Did he not fear the Lord and besought the Lord and the Lord repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls " (Jeremiah 26:18-19). However, it is known that he was buried in his village and his relics were found, together with the relics of the Prophet Habakkuk, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Great according to a mysterious revelation, which Bishop Zevin of Eleutheropolis received. HYMN IN PRAISE OF MICAH Micah, God " s prophet, with the Spirit of God burns, Salvation speaks and punishment prophesies: |
| Eratosthenes says that Homer " s age was two hundred years after the capture of Troy. Further, Theopompus, in the forty-third book of the Philippics, relates that Homer was born five hundred years after the war at Troy. And Euphorion, in his book about the Aleuades, maintains that he was born in the time of Gyges, who began to reign in the eighteenth Olympiad, who, also he says, was the first that was called tyrant (τραννος). Sosibius Lacon, again, in his Record of Dates, brings Homer down to the eighth year of the reign of Charillus the son of Polydectus. Charillus reigned for sixty-four years, after whom the son of Nicander reigned thirty-nine years. In his thirty-fourth year it is said that the first Olympiad was instituted; so that Homer was ninety years before the introduction of the Olympic games. After Joas, Amasias his son reigned as his successor thirty-nine years. He in like manner was succeeded by his son Ozias, who reigned for fifty-two years, and died a leper. And in his time prophesied Amos, and Isaiah his son, and Hosea the son of Beeri, and Jonas the son of Amathi, who was of Geth-chober, who preached to the Ninevites, and passed through the whale " s belly. Then Jonathan the son of Ozias reigned for sixteen years. In his time Esaias still prophesied, and Hosea, and Michæas the Morasthite, and Joel the son of Bethuel. Next in succession was his son Ahaz, who reigned for sixteen years. In his time, in the fifteenth year, Israel was carried away to Babylon. And Salmanasar the king of the Assyrians carried away the people of Samaria into the country of the Medes and to Babylon. Again Ahaz was succeeded by Osee, who reigned for eight years. Then followed Hezekiah, for twenty-nine years. For his sanctity, when he had approached his end, God, by Isaiah, allowed him to live for other fifteen years, giving as a sign the going back of the sun. Up to his times Esaias, Hosea, and Micah continued prophesying. And these are said to have lived after the age of Lycurgus, the legislator of the Lacedæmonians. |
| In this way, the messianic prophecies of David, recorded in his God-inspired psalms, laid the foundation for faith in the Messiah as a true and coexistent Son of God, King, High Priest and Expiator of Mankind. The influence of the psalms on the faith of the Old Testament Jews was particularly great, thanks to the wide use of psalms in private life and religious services of the Hebrew people. The Prophecies of Isaiah A s we mentioned earlier, the Old Testament prophets had the immense task of keeping the Hebrew nation believing in One God, and to prepare the foundation for faith in the coming Messiah as a Being who had, besides the human, also a Godly nature. The prophets had to speak about the Godliness of Christ in such a way that it would not be understood by the Jews in heathen terms, that is, as polytheism. For this reason the Old Testament prophets revealed the secret of the Godliness of the Messiah gradually, in keeping with the measure of belief in One God instilled in the Hebrew nation. King David was the first to prophesy about the Godliness of Christ. After him there began a 250 year lull in prophecies, and the prophet Isaiah, living over seven centuries before the birth of Christ, began a new series of prophecies about Christ, in which His Godly nature is greatly manifested. Isaiah is the most outstanding prophet in the Old Testament. The book written by him, includes such a great number of prophecies about Christ and about occurrences in the New Testament, that many call Isaiah the Old Testament Evangelist. Isaiah prophesied within the bounds of Jerusalem during the reign of the Judean king Ozziah, Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh. The defeat of the Israeli army occurred during Isaiah’s lifetime in 722 BC, when the Assyrian king Sargon took the Hebrew nation occupying Israel into captivity. The Judean empire existed another 135 years after this tragedy. The prophet Isaiah suffered martyrdom during the reign of Manasseh, being sawed in half with a wooden saw. The book of the prophet Isaiah is noted for elegant Hebrew and possesses high literary merits, which is carried over even in translations of his book into different languages. |
| But Rome did not with the same quickness and facility wholly subdue all those nations of the east and west which we see brought under the Roman empire, because, in its gradual increase, in whatever direction it was extended, it found them strong and warlike. At the time when Rome was founded, then, the people of Israel had been in the land of promise seven hundred and eighteen years. Of these years twenty-seven belong to Joshua the Son of Nun, and after that three hundred and twenty-nine to the period of the judges. But from the time when the kings began to reign there, three hundred and sixty-two years had passed. And at that time there was a king in Judah called Ahaz, or, as others compute, Hezekiah his successor, the best and most pious king, who it is admitted reigned in the times of Romulus. And in that part of the Hebrew nation called Israel, Hoshea had begun to reign. Chapter 23.– Of the Erythræan Sibyl, Who is Known to Have Sung Many Things About Christ More Plainly Than the Other Sibyls. Some say the Erythræan sibyl prophesied at this time. Now Varro declares there were many sibyls, and not merely one. This sibyl of Erythræ certainly wrote some things concerning Christ which are quite manifest, and we first read them in the Latin tongue in verses of bad Latin, and unrhythmical, through the unskillfulness, as we afterwards learned, of some interpreter unknown to me. For Flaccianus, a very famous man, who was also a proconsul, a man of most ready eloquence and much learning, when we were speaking about Christ, produced a Greek manuscript, saying that it was the prophecies of the Erythræan sibyl, in which he pointed out a certain passage which had the initial letters of the lines so arranged that these words could be read in them: Ιησος Χριστος Θεο υις σωτηρ, which means, Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Saviour. And these verses, of which the initial letters yield that meaning, contain what follows as translated by some one into Latin in good rhythm: Ι Judgment shall moisten the earth with the sweat of its standard, Η Ever enduring, behold the King shall come through the ages, Σ Sent to be here in the flesh, and Judge at the last of the world. |
| Prophet Isaiah Commemorated on May 9 The Holy Prophet Isaiah lived 700 years before the birth of Christ, and was of royal lineage. Isaiah’s father Amos raised his son in the fear of God and in the law of the Lord. Having attained the age of maturity, the Prophet Isaiah entered into marriage with a pious prophetess (Is 8:3) and had a son Jashub (Is 8:18). Saint Isaiah was called to prophetic service during the reign of Oziah [Uzziah], king of Judea, and he prophesied for 60 years during the reign of kings Joatham, Achaz [Ahaz], Hezekiah and Manasseh. The start of his service was marked by the following vision: he beheld the Lord God, sitting in a majestic heavenly temple upon a high throne. Six-winged Seraphim encircled Him. With two wings they covered their faces, and with two wings they covered their feet, and with two wings they flew about crying out one to another, “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord Sabaoth, heaven and earth are filled with His glory!” The pillars of the heavenly temple shook from their shouts, and in the temple arose the smoke of incense. The prophet cried out in terror, “Oh, an accursed man am I, granted to behold the Lord Sabaoth, and having impure lips and living amidst an impure people!” Then was sent him one of the Seraphim, having in hand a red-hot coal, which he took with tongs from the altar of the Lord. He touched it to the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah and said, “Lo, this has touched thy lips, and will take away with thine iniquities, and will cleanse thy sins.” After this Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord, directed towards him, “Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people?” Isaiah answered, “Here am I, send me” (Is 6:1 ff). And the Lord sent him to the Jews to exhort them to turn from the ways of impiety and idol worship, and to offer repentance. To those that repent and turn to the true God, the Lord promised mercy and forgiveness, but punishment and the judgment of God are appointed for the unrepentant. Then Isaiah asked the Lord, how long would the falling away of the Jewish nation from God continue. The Lord answered, “Until the cities be deserted, by reason of there being no people, and the land shall be made desolate. Just as when a tree be felled and from the stump come forth new shoots, so also from the destruction of the nation a holy remnant will remain, from which will emerge a new tribe.” |
| – (ve-ashav) – «и я вернул», инфинитив (lashuv) – «возвращаться». В контексте 13-й строки мы можем говорить еще об одном глаголе, который также встречался выше, в 10-й строке – (yashev) – «обитал», «жил», инфинитив (lashevet) – «обитать», «проживать», «сидеть». Учитывая это слово –(ve-ashev), мы можем перевести как «и я переселил». Хотя вариант «и я вернул» также допустим. – (be) – «в нем», «его». – (et) – предлог винительного падежа. – (iysh). По всей видимости, как и в 10-й строке, данное слово по контексту 13-й строки, подразумевает количественное множество – «люди». – (Sharon). По всей видимости, это название местности, в частности скорее всего, долины Шарон (в Синодальном переводе «Сарон»), протянувшейся от побережья Средиземного моря до гор Самарии, и упоминаемой в 1Пар. 5:16 . – (ve-et): союз – [ve] – «и», употребленный слитно с предлогом винительного падежа – (et). Завершает 13-ю строку вновь слово – (iysh), с характерной для моавитского языка, множественной формой слова: «человек» – «люди». Перевод (13-я строка): (И я волочил) тащил его в присутствии Хамоса в Кериофе. И я поселил в нем людей Шарона и людей. Следующая, 14-я строка, продолжая повествование незаконченного предложения, судя по контексту, начинается названием географической местности – (Maheret), хотя такой топоним в книгах Священного Писания отсутствует. После вертикальной разделительной черты, новое предложение начинается словом (ve-yomer) – «и сказал». – (li) – личное местоимение в дательном падеже: «мне». – (Khemosh) – «Хамос». – (leh) – «иди», инфинитив (lalehet) – «ходить». Следующее слово – (ahaz) также является глаголом, и в древнееврейском языке можно найти аналог этому глаголу – (ahaz), инфинитив (leehoz) – «взять» (руками), «держать», «хватать», «упрочивать», «одерживать». – (et) – предлог винительного падежа. – (Nebo) – в русской традиции Синодального перевода: «Нево». Здесь речь может идти, с одной стороны, о вершине Нево горной гряды Аварим (Хирбет-аль-Мухайят (790 м), Нево (Фасги) (833 м), Сыяга (710 м)), расположенной к востоку от северной оконечности Мертвого моря, с другой стороны, о древнем городе Нево вблизи одноименной горы, перешедшем при пророке Моисее от моавитян к израильтянам (колено Рувима).Горная гряда Аварим с вершиной Нево неоднократно упоминается в книгах Ветхого Завета ( Числ. 33:47 ; Втор. 32:49; 34:1 ). |
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