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Another type of arbitrary item that would be copied out would have to do with the number
system. You know, if you have a way of indicating numerals which seems to have been followed
pretty largely by the Hebrews in the older period, then they followed the Egyptian system
whereby they would have a horizontal stroke like this with a little curl around at the
end. Originally in hieroglyphic it was a vertical thing and it would look like a crochet wicket,
but then they turned it over on the side, and so that would be a numeral 10. And then
if you wanted to have, say 14, then you would put four little vertical strokes under it,
and that would come out then to the numeral 14. But suppose you wanted to have 24. Well,
then you’d put another symbol for 10 right over it, so it would look like that. Alright,
now suppose that by the time you come around to copying there is a smudge along the top
there, and all you can see is these four. Well, the copyist is going to conclude that
that was a 14.
The example that comes to my mind in this connection has to do with an apparent discrepancy
in regard to the date of the invasion of Judah by King Sennacharib which took place in 701.
Now the statement is made in 2 Kings 18:13. Let’s read and we will see what is involved
here, because there seems to have been a confusion in the copying out of a numeral at this point,
and this has had some very interesting consequences for people who have wrestled with the apparent
problem. And now, before we get to verse 13, observe that in chapter 18 of 2 Kings it states
that: “It came about in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that
Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king. He was 25 years old when he became king
and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abi, the daughter
of Zachariah.”
Alright, now here you have a synchronism with one of the last kings, or I guess you would
have to say that it was the last king of the Northern Kingdom, Hoshea. And Hoshea came
to the throne of the Northern Kingdom of Israel at about 729. And so it says, “In the third
year of Hoshea.” Well, then that would mean, if you’re counting at both ends, Hezekiah
would come on the scene as king in 727 or 726.
Alright, now you go on to the record of Hezekiah’s integrity as king, and then
you come to verse 9 and it says that “It came about in the fourth year of King Hezekiah,
which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser [that
would be Shalmaneser V] of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. And at the
end of three years they captured it in the sixth year of Hezekiah which was the ninth
year of Hoshea king of Israel.”
Alright, so first of all we have the fourth year of Hezekiah, that would mean, if you
subtract the four from 727 it would be 723, and then it states that in the third year
of the siege, which the Assyrians had to conduct before they could capture Samaria, that would
take you back to either 721 or 722. It depends upon how the calendar came out as to how you
number the years.
Alright, and this is stated to be the fourth year of Hezekiah, so that would take us back
to 723 so far as the beginning of the siege is concerned. Now, this is important, because
when you get to the 13th verse, you have the statement made that, 2 Kings
18:13: “Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah Sennacherib king of Assyria came
up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.” Well, now here we have
a problem because, Sennacherib was the son of Sargon II who died in 705. So the fourth
year would mean that in 701 this invasion took place.
Alright, now that is stated to be the fourteenth year of Hezekiah. Well, if that was the case,
the fourteenth year would have to be about 712 or 711, and that is simply wrong for the
invasion; it’s ten years off. Now, how do we cope with this?
Well, okay, it is very clear from the earlier part of the same chapter in two passages that
Hezekiah actually came to the throne in 727 or 726, and from other evidence we get the
impression that he came to the throne as vice-regent. In other words, his father Ahaz was still
the number one king at the time his son Hezekiah was inducted into office. This was a measure
that was wisely pursued by the royalty of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, because, if
the crown prince was already installed as number two king, there would be no opportunity
for a coup d’état or revolution to take place when the old king died. And of course
this could easily happen if the number one king had to go off and lead a military expedition,
because he very easily could be killed in the battlefield.
And so you have varying statements that occur in these records in 1 and 2 Kings depending
upon whether you’re dating from the time the king became number one king, or from the
time he became simply the vice-regent or the crown prince enthroned.
Alright, now with that in mind, here you have a statement that the invasion came in the
14th year of Hezekiah. Now, suppose that the copy or the ''vorlage,'' to use the
technical term, that’s the copy that you’re copying from—and this is the German term:
the one that comes before—suppose your ''vorlage'' has become a little bit scuffed and scruffy
at that point. I mean, you might see only one horizontal stroke. Now, so far as we can
unravel the mystery, the original mistake was made in the corresponding passage in the
36th chapter of Isaiah that tells about this invasion. And there in the earlier
part of that chapter there is no helpful corrective information such as you get in 2 Kings 18.
And so there the error probably began.