There are a lot of things I no longer agree with the Chronology of Bishop James Ussher on. But I still prefer his timeline for the Divided Kingdom over the more modern reconstructions that move the death of Solomon from 975 to 930 BC.
One article defending Ussher I am familiar with but can’t entirely endorse their methods is Evidentialism–The Bible and Assyrian Chronology by Larry Pierce for Answers in Genesis from April 2001. One out of date argument in that article (not really relevant main topic hand but still bugs me) is thinking Nabonidus and Belshazzar were different names for the same person, we definitely now know Belshazzar was the son of Nabonidus and I don’t think that was unknown in 2001.
I also recommend a YouTube video by Caleb Howelis about determining the date of the founding of Carthage using the Kings list of Tyre. His agenda is how Fall of Troy chronology I'm not endorsing but it is relevant to assumptions about when Hiram and thus Solomon lived.
As far as the the chronological confusion that has led many to date the siege of Jerusalem in the 14th year of Hezekiah by Sennecherib in 2 Kings 18-19 and 2 Chronicles 32 and Isaiah 36-37 to 701 BC which Ussher’s chronology places in 710 BC when our current understanding of the Assyrian Kings list says Sargon II was still King.
We know from comparing the Tartan verses, 2 Kings 18:17 and Isaiah 20:1, that a Sargon was also King at this time. Wikipedia currently estimates Sennecherib was born in 745 BC meaning he was about 35 in 710 BC. I think this was Sennecherib leading the campaign as Regent under his father just like how Nebuchadnezzar first pops up in Biblical History campaigning under his father at Carchemish, going of The Bible alone you would have no clue his father was still reigning at that time.
In Ussher’s timeline the three year siege of Samaria began in 724 BC and ended in 721 BC. The timeline for the Biblical dates combined with the modern timeline for the Assyrian kings helps resolve an alleged contradiction between The Bible and Assyrian sources; the siege began under Shalmanezer V but ended under Sargon II.
The last verses of 2 Kings 10 and Isaiah 37 skip way ahead out of chronological sequence to tell us how Sennecheirb eventually died, they are not saying that happened immediately.
Sennecherib may have carried out a campaign in Judah during his own reign not recorded in The Bible, but Kings and Chronicles keep reminding us they aren’t recording everything. A fact very relevant to the reason for most of this discrepancy.
The Bible doesn’t start talking about Assyria (academically called Neo-Assyria) interacting with Israel till the time of Menachem ben Gadi in 2nd Kings 15. But Assyria clearly started taking note of Israel back in the days of the House of Omri as they kept calling this kingdom the House of Omri and it's ruler Son of Omri even when they destroyed it a few dynasties later. And from the records we currently have that seems to have started with Shalmanezer III, but it could have started earlier.
Shalanezer III’s reign is currently dated to 859-824 BC or 858-823 BC.
Assyrian records have some references that have led to a belief he was contemporary with both the later reign of Ahab and early reign of Jehu (and by implication Jehoshaphat and Jehoram in Judah). But the proper Biblical timeline as counted by Ussher has Jehu end his reign by dying in 856 BC in the 23rd year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah and succeeded as king of Israel by his son Jehoahaz according to 2 Kings 10 and 13-14..
The two relevant synchronisms are conventionally dated to 853 and 841 BC. The first being the Battle of Qargar.
The Kurkh Stele does not say Hadadezer was a king of Damascus, he alone seems to have where he ruled exactly left blank. Biblically there is no Hadadadezer in the time of Omri, Ahab or Jehu, Aram-Damascus was ruled this era by first a Ben-hadad and then Hazael who will be relevant later. Biblically the name Hadadezer is never linked to Aram-Damascus but to Aram-Zobah in 2 Samuel 8 and 1 Kings 11:23. in the time of David. Zobah is modern Homs very near Hamath, and it’s a leader of Hamath listed on the Kurkh stele between Hadadezer and Ahab.
I lean towards “Israel” actually reading “Jezreel” here, that is irrelevant to if this Ahab is king Ahab son of Omri as he did rule from Jezreel for much of his reign. What is relevant is that the Kurkh Stele uses Sar and not Melek.I’ve seen it argued that Sar and Melek are referred in their rank implication how the Assyrian used them, but regardless this is describing foreigners from the western Levant.
Ahab isn’t even the only name on this list; that's also the name of a King of Israel who Ussher has reigned before the time of Salmanever III. We also have Basha son of Ruhibi of the land of Ammon. I think he was a tribal leader of Trans-Jordan Israelites whose territory was part of land God originally gave to Ammon according to Deuteronomy 2-3. So not even the same tribe as the much earlier Basha king of Israel who was an Isscharite.
So I also believe that this Ahab is just a prince of Israelites in the Jezreel valley leading an army as part of this coalition.
Hazael was still ruling as King of Aram-Damascus in 839 BC in Ussher’s chronology, so him being active in 841 BC is not an issue, it’s only the use of the name Jehu in that year.
The King of Israel in 841 BC in Ussher’s Chronology is still Jehoahaz. Not only is Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, but the entire Hebrew spelling of Jehu is the first four letters of Jehoahaz. Jehoahaz being called Jehu isn’t just possible, I’d dare call it inevitable.
Jehu (and by extension his sons) being called “Son of Omri” is only treated as in conflict with what The Bible says by the most extreme of obsessed secularists, but usually just for the reason that clearly the Assyrian records did not know or care if that usage was literally genealogically accurate, and I don’t disagree. But I do want to add that Jehu being an actual grandson or great-grandson of Omri isn’t as Biblically implausible as people assume.
We are never told all Omri’s descendants are wiped out, only that Ahab has no male-line descendants left by the time Jehu finishes killing his sons as Jezreel. Ahab had a daughter who became an ancestor to future Kings of Judah including Jesus. But more importantly a sibling of Ahab could have been a parent or grand parent or Jehu.
So why weren’t Hazael and Jehoahaz at Qarqar? IDK the then King of Judah isn’t mentioned either no one wants to explain that in the mainstream view? Maybe they simply had to send proxies this time for whatever reason. But some armies listed don’t have a leader named, including ones where also the conventional theory on where they refer to I find iffy. But I’m not writing this post to fully settle that.
One pillar of Ussher’s argument for 390 years from the death of Solomon to the Fall of Jerusalem in 588 BC was his interpretation of Ezekiel 4:9-5.
But I also did the math myself on all the reign lengths of Judah’s Kings and it came to a totally of 393 years and 6 months (plus 10 days in Chronicles), and there is wiggle room for those extra three and half years regarding these reigns not being years to the day no doubt, as well as that some date the Fall of Jerusalem to 586 BC.
Rehoboam reigned 17 years based on 1 Kings 14:21 and 2 Chronicles 12:13
Abijam/Abijah reigned 3 years based on 1 Kings 15:2 2 Chronicles 13:2
Asa reigned 41 years based on 1 Kings 15:10
Jehoshaphat reigned 25 years based on 1 Kings 22:42 and 2 Chronicles 20:31
Jehoram/Joram reigned 8 years based on 2 Kings 8:17 and 2 Chronicles 21:5-20
Ahaziah reigned 1 year? based on 2 Kings 8:26 and 2 Chronicles 22:2
Athaliah reigned 6 years according to 1 Kings 11:3 and 2 Chronicles 22:12
Jehoash/Joash reigned 40 years based on 2 Kings 12:1 and 2 Chronicles 24:1
Amaziah reigned 29 years based on 2 Kings 14:2 and 2 Chronicles 25:1
Uzziah/Azariah reigned 52 years based on 2 Kings 15:2 and 2 Chronicles 26:3
Jotham reigned 16 years based on 2 Kings 15:32-33 and 2 Chronicles 27:1
Ahaz reigned 16 years based on 2 Kings 16:2 and 2 Chronicles 28:1
Hezekiah reigned 29 years based on 2 Kings 18:2 and 2 Chronicles 29:1
Manasseh reigned 55 years based on 2 Kings 21:1 and 2 Chronicles 33:1
Amon reigned 2 years based on 2 Kings 21:19 and 2 Chronicles 33:21
Josiah reigned 31 years based on 2 Kings 22:1 and 2 Chronicles 34:1
Jehoahaz reigned three months based on 2 Kings 23:31 and 2 Chronicles 36:2
Jehoiakim reigned 11 years based on 2 Kings 23:36 and 2 Chronicles 36:5
Jehoiachin reigned three months based on 2 Kings 24:8 and three months and ten days in 2 Chronicles 36:9
Zedekiah reigned 11 years based on 2 Kings 24:18 and 2 Chronicles 36:11
Going back to what interested Caleb Howelis. One popular date for the founding of Carthage is 826 BC which in Ussher's chronology is coincidentally the same year Joash/Jehoash King of Israel invaded Judah under King Amaziah temporarily took him prisoner and pillaged The Temple. Maybe that had some butterfly effect influence on things going on in Lebanon. I’m increasingly
813 BC was during the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel and Amaziah still reigning in Judah.
Yesterday I made my argument for one area where I disagree with Ussher by arguing Solomon reigned longer than traditionally thought.
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