The Divided Kingdom Begins

The Kingdom of Israel was generally united under the rule of Saul, David, and Solomon, but the Almighty was displeased with Solomon because he turned to idolatry. Therefore, he divided the kingdom into two, giving the Northern Tribes to Jeroboam I, and only the territory of Judah to Solomon’s son Rehoboam. The following diagram is from the Scroll of Biblical Chronology.

The northern tribes retained the name Israel, and the southern kingdom reverted to the name of the tribe of Judah. The Almighty chose Jeroboam to be the first king of the Northern Kingdom, to be called Israel. After his announcement Jeroboam fled to Shishak in Egypt. This is noted adjacent to the last few years of Solomon’s reign between 987 and 983 BC. The BC dates run down the far left column. Over on the far right column I have detailed the reign of Shishak, who reigned in Northern Egypt, and was the founder of the XXII dynasty. A lunar synchronism in his 5th year allows us to fix the reign. Lunar synchronisms are possible because the Egyptians recorded lunar dates in terms of their 365 day sliding calendar. Lunar dates repeat on a 25 year cycle, and there are smaller 11 and 14 year cycles within the main cycle. This is why Egyptologists give quite a different number of arrangements. It should be noted that Shishak’s reign is corrected here by 50 years so that it aligns with the actual biblical chronology, and not the current chronology favored by Evangelicals which believes the “assured” results of Assyrian archaeological chronology over the Scriptural account.

In actual fact, the Egyptian chronology is the better for it. The kingdom is divided in 983 BC, and it should be noted in the center column, where it says “390 year cipher” that 390 years begin counting at this point. They end in the 5th year of the exile as recorded by Ezekiel 1:1-2, and Ezekiel 4:5. Now Egypt was often divided into different ruling families. Psuennes II, the Thebian High Priest was ruling at Thebes.

The 390 year cipher works two ways. Firstly, it is a long number to lock in the dates of the divided kingdom to when the prophecy was given in Ezek. 4:5. I am not the first chronologist to note this. But you will not find this easily since biblical scholarship is taken over by a rationalism which supposes that such things are impossible or improbable. How can the authors of so many books collude to make a long number work they are thinking? And then they tend to deny that the Spirit of the Almighty, who inspired the authors, is capable of arranging all the data so that it works! They want to hide the answer, because they know that people of faith will realize that it is the answer, and then stop believing their alternative interpretations of scripture which give no credit to God.

The second way the 390 year cipher works is that 390 years is the sum of actual years that Israel sinned independently of Judah. Now to understand this, we have to know that the nation was all called Israel from the Exodus from Egypt to the Divided Kingdom, and then only the northern tribes were called Israel after that. Israel was exiled in 720 BC. And then only Judah existed after that. The 390 years pertain to the sin of Israel independent of Judah, because a separate 40 year figure is given for the sin of Judah. Therefore the years of sin for Israel are to be found sometime between the Exodus and their exile in 720 BC.

The 390 years also must pertain to years of sin committed in the land, and not outside of it. This is because the 390 years for the sin of Israel and the 40 years for Judah are inseparably linked to the number of Sabbatical and Jubilee years that were not observed during their rebellions. 430 is the sum of 390 and 40. And if you divided 430 by 7 you have 61.4 and if you divide by 49 you obtain 8.7. Rounding these numbers off to 61 and 9, it will be seen the the number of seventh years added to the number of Jubilees are 70. In actual practice of counting the number of Jubilees is 6, and the Sabbatical years are 64. This is because the years of sin tended to occur between Jubilees during the time of the Judges. The whole distribution of such years can be seen in the Scroll of Biblical Chronology.

What we want to notice here is the orange column headed with 2Chron 11:17, which reads, Then they made be strong the kingdom of Yehūdah. Then they made by supported Reḥav̱‘am son of Shelōmōh for three years, because they had walked in the way of Daυi̱d and Shelōmōh for three years. Just who the “they” were is explained in 2 Chronicles 11:16. They were from all the tribes of Yisra’ēl. The follow up is in 2 Chronicles 12:1, Then it was as was made established the kingdom of Reḥav̱‘am, and according to his strength, he had forsaken the Law of Yăhwēh, and all Yisra’ēl with him. What is plain here is that the Northern Kingdom left the Law of Yahweh at the same time, and this was after they walked according to the Law for three years. This is detailed in the olive green column right under Rehoboam. The years are counted on a spring equinox epoch (close to Nisan 1), according to the reckoning used in the kingdom of Israel. These years are counted in the second column at the left, according to the year of the world. They are 3157, 3158, and part of 3159. Now the years of sin are counted on a Tishri epoch, so that the 3rd year of Rehoboam is the 135th year of sin. Years of sin are hereafter counted according to the sin of the northern kingdom, since it is that kingdom to which the name Israel is attached.

In terms of Rehoboam’s reign, the three years of walking with Yahweh according to the Law are his acession year, which is the half of Solomon’s 40th year, his first year, and his second year. In terms of Jeroboam’s rule they are his first, second, and third years, or 3157, 3158, and 3159. In the fall of 3159 begins the 135th year of sin. The other 134 years before this were during the period of the Judges when they were given over to other nations because they had turned to idols. This notation in 2Chronciles is just one of many texts which say when Israel sinned and when Israel walked according to the Law. And by using these texts we can verify the exact number of 390 years for the sin of Israel, and 40 years for the sin of Judah. This result cannot be obtained from the current corrupt chronology claiming to be “biblical chronology” in the vast majority of Bibles and Bible reference tools. Christians are ruinously unaware of how their publishers and schools have undermined the Scripture. It is really no different than Israel abandoning the Law so suddenly in ancient Israel when it becomes politically or economically expedient! Only the corruption is now happening by stealth. It is death by a thousand strokes. And the only defense against it is a vigilant seeking of the word of Yahweh and exactly what he has said. It requires refuting those who say Scripture is full of contradictions, and contradicts archeology, or history, or astronomy.

I have drawn in the synchronism where Egypt attacks Judah in the 5th year of Rehoboam. This occurred in 979/978 BC, and is noted in 1Kings 14:25. As close as I can tell this goes with the 9th year of Shishak. Here is the conventional theory based on Edwin Thiele and Leslie McFall’s corrupt biblical chronology:

Please note the first statement, “dead reckoning”. That about sums it up. Manetho has a gap with 3 kings lasting 25 years between Osorkon I and Takelot I which I have emmended to 29 years. I give 35 years to Osorkon I and run Osorkon II out to 47 years following David Aston’s reconstruction of Theban genealogy, instead of the usual 25. These gains allow us to raise dynasty XXII the necessary 50 years. The Dakhla lunar date corresponds to Shoshenk [I] Year 5, IV Peret 25 = Pharmouthi 25 = -981.12.16 = Decemeber 16, 982 BC. The date works out to the FULL MOON assuming the placement of Sheshonk I in this chronology. Egyptians usually tied their important dates to new and full moons. 99.8% Full Moon. The following note shows that Egyptologists are looking in the wrong place:

The only fit was sought in the period 950 to 930 BC. But the real date, as we have seen from Biblical Chronology unhindered by the Assyrian perversion is ca. 983 BC. The academic controversy is taken for granted, but it is guaranteed there will be controversy when the reconstruction is incorrect. This is because there are always some pesky truths that do not fit the incorrect paradigm. And even humanist scholars can notice these. Further progress can only be achieved by finding experts willing to start looking in the right place. But in order for that to happen scholars will have to either take the Scripture seriously, or if not, then do a lot better at figuring out Egyptian chronology without the help of Scripture.

I should note that the /982 date give here for the division of the kingdom is the same date given in David Cooper’s chronology, (Messiah: His First Coming Scheduled, 1939), and also in Willis Judson Beecher’s chronology (The dated events of the Old Testament, 1907). But we do not have to rely on these authorities. The Scriptural chronology is complete on its own. I only cite them to show that valid research was done in the past, and that the chronology presented here is not just some crazy theory invented out of nothing. And sadly, the case is that a lot of theories are invented out of the blue with no honest or careful justification.