284 F. GARD FLEAY, ESQ.^ M.A., ON THE SYNCHRONOUS 



Judah. 



B.C. 



Israel. 



52 ... 



16 J. = 8 A. 



734 







17 = 1 (6). 





(a) = 1 Mb) 











731 







20 ... 





20 J. = 12 A. 



730 



1 Hoshea 









(a) 















728 



3 ... 







1 Hezekiah 





727 











16 A." (a) 



726 









6 ... 



722 



9 



Samaria 



taken. 



The following communication has been received from the Rev. 

 R. C. OULTON, B.D., Rector of Glynn, co. Antrim : — 



I have read with great interest and pleasure Mr. Fleay's 

 valuable paper on the above subject. His method of reconciling 

 the discrepancies between certain statements in Kings and the 

 researches of Assyriologists, as well as other passages in the 

 sacred historical writings, seems to me ingenious, and, to a 

 considerable extent, well grounded. May I be permitted to offer 

 some criticism on his treatment of 2 Kings xv, 30 ? This thirtieth 

 verse he gives up as untenable for the following reasons : — 1st. 

 " Hoshea did not obtain the throne by an independent conspiracy, 

 but was appointed by Tiglath, who had smitten Pekah," according 

 to Assyrian annals. 2nd. " The twentieth year of Jotham is an 

 impossible date ; for Jotham reigned only 16 years." In expressing 

 my opinion that the rejection of the verse in question is too 

 drastic a method, I would tentatively suggest another way of 

 meeting the difficulty. 



In the first place, it does not appear to me that the verse 

 necessarily implies that Hoshea got possession of the throne " by 

 an independent conspiracy." After the murder of Pekah, there 

 may have been an interregnum for some years (as the country was 

 probably in a disturbed state) until he was recognised as reigning 

 king by Tiglath Pileser. 



Secondly, the date given namely, the twentieth year of Jotham, 

 may fairly be taken to apply to the time not when Hoshea came 

 to the throne, but rather to the time of the conspiracy. 



Thirdly, the contradiction between twenty and sixteen years 

 as the period of the reign of Jotham may be accounted for in the 



