PROPHETS TO ISRAEL AND JUDAH

God provided his people with kings as political administrators and also with prophets as their spiritual advisors. 

The prophets served as God’s spokespersons to the kings on issues to do with justice and righteousness, while at the same time having a message for all the people. The chart below is an attempt, within the limits of the data available to us, to relate the kings of Israel and Judah to the prophet or prophets who ministered during each king’s reign.

A prophet in the Bible was someone who communicate God’s messages to others. Some, like Moses, heard directly from God and passed on the words through writing or speech. Some, like Joseph and Daniel, interpreted the dreams and/or visions of others. The messages could be prophecies of the future, messages for the listener, or warnings for others. The life of a godly prophet was never an easy one (see Acts 7:52).

A prophet was called by God to be a prophet. Isaiah and Ezekiel were given visions of God’s glory (Isaiah 6; Ezekiel 1). God told Jeremiah that he had been picked out prior even to his birth: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, / before you were born I set you apart; / I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). A common description of the source of the message is that “the word of the Lord came” to the prophet (Jeremiah 1:2; Ezekiel 1:3; Hosea 1:1; Joel 1:1; Jonah 1:1; Micah 1:1; Zephaniah 1:1; Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 1:1). Another description is that the prophet received an “oracle,” that is, a special revelation from God (Isaiah 13:1; Habakkuk 1:1; Numbers 24:16, ESV).

KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH

KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH

The chart below lists the kings from the time when Israel split into two kingdoms after the reigns of Saul (1028-1013), David (1013- 973), and Solomon (973-933 BC).

The dates for the kings are only approximate because it is not easy to reconcile all the details in the books of Kings and Chronicles to get a smooth chronology. For example, calculations based on the reigns of the kings of Israel (the northern kingdom) would indicate that Solomon died in approximately 948 BC. However, if we base our calculations on the dates for the kings of Judah (the southern kingdom), his death would have taken place in approximately 964 BC. To further complicate matters, the latest date for Solomon’s death is generally held to be 933 BC.

These discrepancies should not shake our firm faith in the accuracy of Scripture. The differences can be accounted for in several ways. First, one year may be included in the dating for two kings, because a part of a year was regarded as a full year. Thus, if a king died in May of a certain year, that year would be counted as the last year of his reign, and also as the first year of his successor’s reign.

Secondly, it was not uncommon for the heir to the throne to begin ruling alongside his father. The years in which they reigned together would be counted as part of each one’s reign, so that each of these years would be counted twice.

In trying to sort out the chronology, we do, however, have some fixed dates to work with. The Assyrians brought an end to the northern kingdom in 722 BC; the Babylonians attacked the southern kingdom and took its people into captivity in 586 BC; and Uzziah died and Isaiah was commissioned in 740 BC. We also know that Ahaziah of Judah and Joram of Israel died at about the same time, since
Jehu killed both of them.