Despite our general disdain for King Ahab, the Encyclopaedia Judaica, provides an interesting summary of Ahab's Reign, that provides a far better picture of him as a king, than does the biblical narrative. King Ahab is best remembered as the husband of Queen Jezebel. It was during his reign that Elijah the prophet was quite busy slaying false prophets and running from Queen Jezebel.
31 And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. 32 And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made the Asherah; and Ahab did yet more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
It was during his reign that Elijah the prophet was quite busy slaying false prophets and running from Queen Jezebel. 1 Kings Chapter 18 tells the story of how Elijah confronted the 850 false prophets on Mt. Carmel; of how his sacrifice was accepted by the Almighty in burning fire; and how he slew the prophets of Baal. 1 Kings 21:23 records Elijah's prophecy concerning Jezebel's death saying: "The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the moat of Jezreel."
Despite our general disdain for King Ahab, the Encyclopaedia Judaica1, provides an interesting summary of Ahab's Reign, that provides a far better picture of him as a king, than does the biblical narrative.
While the Biblical Narratives paint Israel as a pagan nation, it nevertheless makes it clear that Ahab believed in the Israelite Prophets and their power. "Bright" argues that the two 'capitals' reflects a dual role of the "Omrides" as Kings of the Canaanite and Israelite elements of the population, and that this was balanced by a cultic dualism. From this perspective then Ahab might be seen as a reasonably pragmatic leader. See: Bright. J. (1981) 2
The Judah, Israel and Tyre alliance in which Ahab took part, provided economic benefits for all, particularly for Israel. The threat posed by Syria was weakened when Ahab defeated Ben-Hadad at Aphek in 867 BCE. Ahab completed building Samaria and fortified various cities. The economic prosperity that arose during his reign however was not evenly reflected throughout the nation, and there did arise a gulf between the rich and the poor.
By the standard of the 'King's Calendar' (which uses an computer generated artificial calendar) King Ahab of Israel /Samaria commenced his first (artificial) regnal year in December of 883 BCE. He ascended the throne during his father's (Omri) last year, which commenced in January of 883 BCE. This was the 38th Regnal year of King Asa of Judah (1 Kings 16:29).
Ahab's first regnal year is therefore, Asa's 39th year.
In Ahab's 4th year, King Jehoshaphat commenced to reign in Judah. (1 Kings 22:41)
Since Ahab reigned 22 years, he died during Jehoshaphat's 19th year in 863 BCE.
This date for Ahab's death is problematical, for currently held opinions which claim legitimacy by relying on one piece of archaeological evidence, place Ahab at the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BCE. This however is a fallacious claim which flies in the face of two other pieces of non-biblical archaeological evidence.
2 Bright. J. (1981) A History of Israel. 3rd Ed. Philadelphia. Westminster Press Page 244 Footnote 47 citing A. Alt (Der Stadstaat Samaria [1954; cf. KS, III, pp. 258-302]
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R.P.BenDedek is the owner and Editor of KingsCalendar.com which was originally set up to publicize his research results into the Chronology of Ancient Israel. Those results were published under the title: 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran'.
Whilst there have been many attempts to solve the chronological riddle of the Bible's synchronisms of reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah and their synchronism with other Ancient Near Eastern Nations, no other research is based on a simple mathematical formula which could, if it is incorrect, be disproved easily. To date, no one has been able to dismiss the mathematical results of this research.
Free to air Academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
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