II Kings 14:1-2, 17 and 23 all agree, stating that Amaziah
the son of Joash, king of Judah began to reign in the 2nd year of
Joash, king of Israel and continued to rule 15 years after his death. Jeroboam
II began to reign in the 15th year of Amaziah, king of Judah.
II Kings 14:1-2 – In the second year of Joash son of
Jehoahaz king of Israel reigned Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah. 2 He
was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and reigned twenty and
nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
II Kings 14:17 – And Amaziah the son of Joash king
of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel
fifteen years.
II Kings 14:23 – In the fifteenth year of Amaziah
the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel
began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years.
The problem appears with II Kings 15:2, which states that
Azariah (Uzziah) began to reign in the 27th year of Jeroboam.
Amaziah, king of Judah, lived only to the 15th year of Joash, king
of Israel; therefore there is an 11 or 12 year period when Judah has no king.
II Kings 15:1-2 – In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of
Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign. 2 Sixteen years
old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in
Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.
Now Amaziah lived only to the fifteenth year of Jeroboam,
II Kings 14:2,17,23 in which year, and not in his twenty seventh, it might be
thought Azariah his son began to reign. There are various ways taken to remove
this difficulty, not to take notice of a corruption of numbers, "twenty
seven for seventeen", which some insist on. Ben Gersom and Abarbinel are
of opinion, that those twenty-seven years of Jeroboam’s reign are not to be
understood of what were past, but of what were to come before the family of
Jehu was extinct; and that he reigned twenty-six years, and his son six
months, which made twenty-seven imperfect years. Others suppose that Jeroboam
reigned with his father eleven or twelve years before his death; and,
reckoning from the different periods of his reign, this was either the twenty
seventh year, or the fifteenth or sixteenth: and others, that the reign of
Azariah may be differently reckoned, either from the time his father fled to
Lachish, where he might remain eleven or twelve years, or from his death, and
so may be said to begin to reign either in the fifteenth or twenty seventh of
Jeroboam; or there was an interregnum of eleven or twelve years after the
death of his father, he being a minor of about four years of age, which was
the fifteenth of Jeroboam, during which time the government was in the hands
of the princes and great men of the nation; and it was not till Azariah was
sixteen years of age, and when it was the twenty seventh year of Jeroboam’s
reign, that the people agreed to make him king, see II Kings 14:21 and which
seems to be the best way of accounting for it.
Quote from John Gill - there was an interregnum of eleven
or twelve years after the death of his father, he being a minor of about four
years of age, which was the fifteenth of Jeroboam, during which time the
government was in the hands of the princes and great men of the nation; and it
was not till Azariah was sixteen years of age, and when it was the twenty
seventh of Jeroboam’s reign, that the people agreed to make him king, see II
Kings 14:21 and which seems to be the best way of accounting for it.
II Kings 15:1 – In the twenty and seventh year of
Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign.
The twenty seventh year of Jeroboam’s reign refers to the length of time
Jeroboam had been both viceroy and king of the land. The actual length of
Jeroboam’s reign as king of Judah was 41 years.
II Kings 14:17 – And Amaziah the son of Joash king of
Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen
years. There is a reason this verse states that Amaziah lived 15
years after the death of Jehoash, king of Israel. There is also a reason II
Kings 14:21 states that the next king of Judah, Azariah, the son of Amaziah
was 16 years old when the people made him king. And all the people of Judah
took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his
father Amaziah. It seems very probable that the reign of Jeroboam was
looked on as having begun about the fifth year of his dad, Jehoash, when he
was made viceroy of the land. It is well known that Jeroboam recovered those
cities his father had lost and overthrew Benhadad. Even though Jehoash was
ruling king, Jeroboam was very powerful and considered by some to be the
actual ruler of the land. This reasoning eliminates the 11 or 12-year
interregnum between the reign of Jehoash and Jeroboam, and places the vacancy
after Jeroboam’s reign.
If the interregnum is placed between Jehoash and Jeroboam,
it must be established that Amaziah had no sons older than Azariah that could
have taken the throne. It must also be supposed that some sort of council, or
other group ran the government of Judah, while Azariah was being prepared for
the position of king. The interregnum period remains 11 or 12 years. If
Azariah had been established as king when he was only 4 or 5 years old, he
would not have been a real ruler anyway. He would have been much too young for
the position. Establishing Azariah as king when he was 16 years old is young
enough.