Jehoram and Ahaziah Once Again

ANOTHER SHAKINGOF JEHOSHAPHAT’S FAMILYTREE: JEHORAM AND AHAZIAH ONCE AGAIN

W. BOYD BARRICK Billings

This essay reexamines the genealogical relationships of Jehoram and Ahaziah of Judah to each other, to their predecessor Jehoshaphat, and to the House of Omri in (North-)Israel. According to most historical reconstructions, Jehoram was the natural son of Jehoshaphat and an unnamed spouse, and Ahaziah was the natural son of Jehoram and Athaliah. The relevant biblical data are anything but clear, however, and this proposal and the alternatives heretofore advanced are not entirely satisfactory.

The data and the problems 2 Kgs. viii 17 reports that Jehoram b. Jehoshaphat came to the throne at 32 years of age (hereinafter “yoa”). This datum coupled with the regnal data given for Jehoshaphat in 1 Kgs. xxii 42 means that Jehoshaphat was about 28 yoa ([35 yoa + 25 years of reign] - 32 yoa) at his birth. The average age of the fteen Judahite royal fathers from Jehoshaphat to Jehoiakim at the birth of their successors is 24.73 yoa. 1 The ages of the fathers of ve kings, however, are suspiciously high (Jotham, Manasseh, and Amon would have been born when their respective fathers were 43 yoa, 42 yoa, and 45 yoa, advanced ages for the time, whether or not they were rst-born sons; Amaziah’s 38 yoa is also substantially above the average) or low (Ahaz’s 11 yoa at Hezekiah’s birth is physiologically dubious). 2 Jehoshaphat’s age at Jehoram’s birth also is suspiciousl y high, but for di Verent reasons

1 Calculatedfrom thedata given in 1Kgs.xxii 42; 2Kgs.viii 17, 26; xii 1-2; xiv 2; xv 2, 33; xvi 2; xviii 2; xxi 1, 10; xxii 2; xxiii 31, 36; xxiv 8, 18. For full discussion see W. B. Barrick, “Genealogical Notes on the ‘House of David’ and the ‘House of Zadok’,” JSOT (forthcoming). 2 Pubertyfor boys typicallybegins between10 and14 yoa, with ejaculation

(see below). Ahaziah, said to have been Jehoram’s son (2 Kgs. viii 25; 2 Chron. xxii 1), came to the throne at 22 yoa according to 2 Kgs. viii 26, but at 42 yoa according to 2 Chron. xxii 2, making his father 18 yoa ([32 +8]-22) or -2 yoa ([32+8]-42), respectively; the latter is obviously impossible, but the fact that two ascension ages are given for Ahaziah signals caution. The average age-at-birth of the remain- ing 8 royal fathers is 18.25 yoa. If <20> yoa is substituted for the seven questionable ages, the average for all 15 would be 19.07 yoa; if <25> yoa is substituted, the average would be 21.4 yoa. Since there is no reason to doubt Jehoram’ s ascension age, the suspicion arises from his genealogical relationship to Jehoshaphat. Although Jehoshaphat’s 28 yoa at Jehoram’ s birth is both physiologically and sociologically reasonable, common sense and the pattern of ages just reviewed make it impossible to believe that Jehoram was his rst-born son as 2 Chron. xxi 3b explicitly asserts. 3 This claim, part of the Chronicler’s elaboration of the very brief regnal account in Kings, also makes it di Ycult to posit a plausible reason (other than willful perversity) for him to have murdered his surviving brothers (v. 4).4 The Chronicler (in the person of Elijah, addressing Jehoram) refers to them as “your brothers of your father’s house who were bet- ter than yourself ” (v. 13b), prompting the question: what about Jehoram made him their inferior? Without v. 3b to suggest otherwise, a natural inference would be his age. 5 The opposite oddity occurs with Ahaziahwho succeededhim at either 22 yoa (2Kgs. viii 26) or 42 yoa (2 Chron. xxii 2): the Chronicler explicitly asserts that he was Jehoram’s youngest son (xxii 1) who became king because his older brothers had been killed by marauding Arabs (xxi 16-17, calling him “Jehoahaz”); 6 in view of the ages reviewed above, 22 yoa is suspiciously high for the youngest son of a man who died at the age of 40, and 42 yoa is capability at between 11 and 15 yoa: A. Marks, “The Adolescent Years,” in D. F. Tapley et al. (eds.), The Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons Complete Home Medical Guide (2nd edn.; New York, 1989), p. 254. 3 Unless one imagines a decade of abstinence, female babies, and/ or obstetrical misfortunes. 4 J. Bright, for one, blames Athaliah’ s evil in uence (A History of Israel [3rd edn.; Philadelphia, 1981], p. 252). On this material see the commentaries and cf. now D. V. Etz, “The Genealogical Relationships of Jehoram and Ahaziah, and of Ahaz and Hezekiah, Kings of Judah,” JSOT 71 (1996), p. 46 and n. 18. 5 Cf. the example of David (1 Sam. xvi 6-13). 6 Although primogenitive succession in Judah and (North-)Israel is thinly docu- mented (cf. F. E. Greenspahn, “Primogeniture in Ancient Israel,” in “Go to the Land I Will Show You”: Studies in Honor of Dwight W. Young [ed. by J. E. Coleson and V. H.