272 r. GAED FLEAY^ ESQ.^ M.A.^ ON THE SYNCHRONOUS 



lines which elsewhere in the lists indicate accessions of new 

 kings. If this line does not indicate the regnal portion of 

 Arbaces, what does it indicate ? I have found no answer to 

 this question in any book accessible to me.* 



I offer no suggestion as to who was king from 763 to 754 ; 

 perhaps there was none ; certainly no Median. 



The interval from Qarqar to Jehu's tribute is apparently 

 12 years in the Assyrian reckoning, 14 in the Hebrew ; but if 

 the battle took place early in 6 Shalmaneser and the tribute 

 was paid late in 18 Shalmaneser the real interval may have 

 been nearly 13 years, and these may have fallen in B.C. 

 reckoning apparently 14 years apart. There is no real con- 

 tradiction in the dates. 



There is not much to be learned from the genealogies for this 

 period ; we have in the list of the kings of Judah a continuous 

 series of father to son from Solomon to Jeremiah 1 6 kings in 

 408 years, with an average of 25 J years for a generation ; and 

 14 high priests for the same time 29 years for a generation, or 

 if we admit Hoshea (Odeas) on the authority of Joseplius and 

 the Seder 01am 15 priests 27 years for a generation. All this 

 agrees with the general results obtained from the histories of 

 other countries, but at the same time shows how careful we 

 should be not to found our calculations on genealogical lists, 

 but to use them only as tests for conclusions derived from other 

 sources. For the list in 1 Chron. vi, 3-13, omits the six priests 

 between Amariah and Shallum, five of whom are known from 

 other scriptural texts ; inserts Ahitub and Zadok instead of them 

 who are certainly misplaced ; and transposes Azariah III from 

 his true position after Urijah to one after Hilkiah. All this has 

 been definitely proved by Lord A. Harvey {Genealogies, p. 

 300 seq.). 



The only other genealogy for this period is that of Elishama, 

 1 Chron. ii, 25-41, and as this contains eleven generations from 

 Zabad, one of David's warriors, 1 Chron. xi, 41, to Elishama, 

 the grandfather of Ishmael, who smote Gedaliah, 2 Kings xxv, 25 ; 

 that is to say, thirteen in all for 416 years from 1002 B.C. to 

 586, we get exactly 32 years for a generation, just what we 

 should expect for a private family not subject to the accidents 

 to which a reigning house is necessarily exposed. On the 

 other hand, if we adopt the scheme of the AssyriologerS; we are 



* I have in this section used a Latinised transliteration of Greek 

 names for convenience, having taken my table from Browne's Ordo 

 Scpxlorum, though not without collation with the original authorities. 



