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|| Bibletime Studies || Biblical Time Index || Hours Days Months || Hebrew Calendar || Reckoning methods || Inclusive Reckoning? || Righteous Reckoning? || Timing Events || Ages of People || Circumcised the Eighth Day || Hebrew Regnal Years || Righteous Reckoning Examples || Ambiguous Examples || Inclusive Reckoning Examples || Conclusion || Q and A ||

#5i BIBLICAL TIME - INCLUSIVE RECKONING EXAMPLES

Introduction 5i

This is a bible study giving biblical examples of inclusive reckoning of time in scripture concerning the Regnal years the of kings of Israel. We have sought to use only those examples which we believe are genuine. Not that they are all impossible to dispute, because some could be explained by righteous reckoning, but in these cases we accept that inclusive reckoning is used. Therefore when comparing the reigns of kings we will choose those reigns which fall completely inside the reign of another king. In this way we will avoid all confusion over different reckoning methods in different kingdoms, and have an indisputable length of time to reckon against.

#5i1 Nadab Reigned for Two Years over Israel

1 KINGS 15:25-28
25 And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned over Israel two years.
26 And he did evil in the sight of Yahweh, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.
27 And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon.
28 Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah Baasha killed him, and reigned in his stead.

Note: Here is a case where Nadab began to reign in the 2nd year of King Asa of Judah, and was killed and replaced in the 3rd year of King Asa. However he is stated to have reigned for two years (1Kings 15:2), even though his actual time as king must have been less than two years. This is explained as inclusive reckoning, Asa's 2nd year being a non accession year for Nadab, and the picture looks like this:

Asa's Regnal Year	2nd	3rd
Nadab's Reign in Years	1	2

At whatever time of year Nadab began to reign in Asa's 2nd year, it is counted as a whole year to him, and whenever he was killed in Asa's third year as king, it is also counted as a whole year to him, thus making two years. We could refute this if Nadab's reign began in the first half of the 2nd year of Asa, and ended during the second half of the following year. by our method of righteous reckoning these would then be counted as two whole years, but there is no scriptural proof for this, and looking at the whole picture we count this as inclusive reckoning.

#5i2 Baasha Reigned for Twenty Four Years over Israel

1 KINGS 15:33
33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, twenty and four years.

1 KINGS 16:6
6 So Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah: and Elah his son reigned in his place.
7 And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of Yahweh against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of Yahweh, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed him.
8 In the twenty sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years.

Note: Baasha began to reign in the 3rd year of Asa, and Elah his son replaced him in the 26th year of Asa. Counting both the 3rd year of Asa and the 26th year of Asa inclusively gives Baasha twenty four years, which is what is recorded for him. This is inclusive reckoning, and there is no evidence to make it anything else.

Asa's Regnal Year	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	......	22nd	23rd	24th	25th	26th
Baasha's Reign in Years	1	2	3	4	5	......	20	21	22	23	24

#5i3 Elah Reigned for Two Years over Israel

1 KINGS 16:8-10
8 In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years.
9 And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza steward of his house in Tirzah.
10 And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.

Note: Elah began to reign in the 26th year of Asa and was killed by Zimri in the 27th year of Asa. He is said to have reigned for two years, so this fits with the inclusive reckoning, the non accession-year method of counting Regnal years.

Asa's Regnal Year	26th	27th
Elah's Reign in Years	1	2

#5i4 Omri reigned Twelve Years in Israel

1 KINGS 16:15-16
15 In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah. And the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.
16 And the people that were encamped heard say, Zimri has conspired, and has also slain the king: wherefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the host, king over Israel that day in the camp.

1 KINGS 16:21-23, 29
21 Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; and half followed Omri.
22 But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned.
23 In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, twelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah.
29 And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years.

Note: Omri began to reign in the 27th year of Asa King of Judah, but the first part of his reign up to Asa's thirty first year was a co-regency with Tibni. When Tibni died Omri became sole king over Israel until Asa's 38th year. For this to be a twelve year reign inclusive reckoning would have been used, Asa's 27th year being a non-accession year for Omri.

Regnal years of Asa	27th	28th	29th	30th	31st	....	32nd	33rd	34th	35th	36th	37th	38st
Inclusive Years of Omri	1	2	3	4	5	....	6	7	8	9	10	11	12

#5i5 Ahab's Non-Accession Year

1 KINGS 16:29
29 And in the thirty eighth year of Asa king of Judah Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty two years.

1 KINGS 22:41
41 And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.

Note: In this example Ahab became king in the 38th year of Asa, but in Ahab's 4th year Asa died and his son Jehoshaphat reigned in his place. Now 38 plus 4 equals 42, not 41, and Asa died in his 41st year. Therefore Asa's 38th year must have counted as Ahab's 1st year as well as Omri's 12th. Thus the northern kingdom of Israel were using the non-accession year system which is equivalent to inclusive reckoning when counting the Regnal years of their kings. The kingdom of Judah were not using this method, but rather the accession year system, so Jehosaphat's first year would be the 5th of Ahab, not the 4th.

Regnal Years of Omri	11th	12th
Regnal Years of Ahab		1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Regnal years of Asa	37th	38th	39th	40th	41st
Regnal years of Jehosaphat					AC	1st

It is obvious that every one of these inclusive reckoning examples, which we do not dispute, are based on the Regnal years of the corrupt kings from the northern kingdom of Israel after the kingdom was divided. The southern kindom of Judah used a different system based on the accession year sytem, which is almost equivalent to righteous reckoning. Therefore we would not use these examples of inclusive reckoning, which belong to a corrupt northern Kingdom, as a basis for calculating biblical time elsewhere in scripture.