The lesson for last Sunday's religious education class included a study of the southern kingdom of Judah under the reign of King David's descendants. I told my students that from 922 BC to 721 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel had been ruled by 19 kings before falling to the Assyrians, and from 922 BC to 587 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah had been ruled by 20 kings before the Babylonians gained control.
One of my students wanted to know why the kingdom of Judah had outlasted the kingdom of Israel by over a hundred years, with only one more king.
My immediate response was that perhaps one king had ruled for a hundred years. Some people from the Old Testament lived to be hundreds of years old, and it wasn't unheard of to be 800 years old. The textbook listed the names of the kings and the years they ruled. I suggested that the student look over the list.
After class, I examined the list myself and compared it to the textbook's list of kings from Israel. What I discovered is that five kings from Israel ruled not more than a year, seven more ruled between five and eleven years, six between 15 and 27 years, and King Jeroboam ruled the longest at 40 years.
In contrast, several kings of Judah reigned for longer periods of time. Four kings ruled not more than a year, seven kings ruled between two and eleven years, six between 17 and 37 years, and three between 40 and 45.
Students ask the most interesting questions... The same student asked about the origin of the Latin language when the lesson turned to a discussion of the four epiphanies of Christ. I stated that "epiphany" is derived from the Latin word, "epiphania", and the first epiphany occurred on Christmas Day, or the Nativity of the Lord. But this is a topic for another day!
