Note 22
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Pekah, Jothan, Ahaz, Hoshea, Hezekiah

Concerning the interregnum between Pekah and Hoshea

II Kings 15:30 – "And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah."

According to II Kings 15:33, Jothan reigned only 16 years. "In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign. 33 Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok."

Therefore Hoshea must have killed Pekah four years after Jothan stopped ruling, when he had a joint reign with his son, Ahaz. I have no proof there was a joint reign with Ahaz and Jothan, but there seems to be no other explanation.

It is also likely that the 20th year is also the time when Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria carried Israel away into captivity the first time. II Kings 15:29. Hoshea killed Pekah at that time, but where was no king over the land because Assyria would not allow it. Later, Hoshea established himself as king, and failed to give tribute to Assyria, as described in II Kings 17:3-4. Then, II Kings 17:3, 5-6 describes how Shalmaneser, king of Assyria carried Israel away into captivity the second time. II Kings 17:7-23 describes the sins of Israel in provoking the Lord to give them over to the heathen. II Kings 17:24-41 explains that Israel was inhabited with foreigners who brought in their own religion, which was mingled with the religion of the Jews. II Kings 17:32-33 describes their compromise. "So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. 33 They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence."

Reconciling II Kings 15:27 and II Kings 15:32

II Kings 15:27 states, "In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years." II Kings 15:2 records that Uzziah reigned 52 years, therefore it would seem that Pekah began to reign in the last year of Uzziah’s reign. However, II Kings 15:32 states, "In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign." These verses reflect a difference of two years.

I think what happened is that there is a joint reign between Uzziah and his son, Jothan, where Jothan was "trained" in the ways of being a king when his father was old. There is no contradiction, it just appears to be a contradiction.

Reconciling II Kings 15:30 and II Kings 17:1

II Kings 15:30 states, "And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah."

II Kings 17:1 states, "In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years."

In this account there is some difficulty, since it was in the twentieth of Jotham, that is, the fourth of Ahaz, that Hosea conspired against Pekah king of Israel, and slew him, when it might be reasonably thought he began his reign: now either there was an interregnum until the twelfth of Ahaz, or Hoshea however was not generally received and acknowledged as king till then, as others think; he being a tributary to the king of Assyria, and a kind of viceroy, is not said to reign until he rebelled against him; after which he reigned nine years, four in the times of Ahaz, and five in the reign of Hezekiah, #2Ki 18:9,10, in this way the author of the Jewish chronology goes {r}, in which he is followed by other Jewish writers; and this bids as fair as any to remove the difficulty, unless these nine years refer to the time of his reign before the twelfth of Ahaz; and the sense be, that in the twelfth of Ahaz he had reigned nine year's; but it is said he "began" to reign then.