Jim,
You wrote: Please show how Ezekiel 4:1-5 clearly shows ANYTHING.
You may want to read some Bible commentaries on this matter. Because of what
was long thought to be the clear meaning of the 390 years spoken of in Ezek.
4:1-5, the division of the kingdom and the death of Solomon was long
understood to have taken place 390 years before Babylon's siege of Jerusalem.
However, Edwin R. Thiele in his book "The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew
Kings" showed quite convincingly that all of the biblical and extrabiblical
chronological information we now have pertaining to the reigns of the kings
of Israel and Judah can only be harmonized if we understand that the kingdom
was divided in about 931 BC. Thus the 390 years of Ezek. 4:1-5 cannot be
telling us the kingdom was divided 390 years before the siege of Jerusalem as
was widely understood for over two thousands of years before Theile's work.
Today, due to the work of Theile and others showing that the kingdom could
not have been divided more than 350 years before Babylon's siege of
Jerusalem, modern Bible scholars and commentators have no idea what to make
of Ezek.4:1-5. However, this passage certainly refers to a 390 year period of
the house of Israel's sin.
In your opinion, when did this 390 years of sin begin and end? I believe that
any person who really understands Bible chronology will be able to offer an
explanation of Ezek. 4:1-5 that does not conflict with a date of
approximately 931 BC for the division of the kingdom. Since you certainly
imply that you understand Bible chronology, I am interested in hearing your
explanation of this passage of scripture.
Ezekiel was told to lie on his side for 390 days before a small scale model
of the city of Jerusalem being besieged by Babylon. He was told that each day
was to represent a year of "the sin of the house of Israel." Thus it
certainly seems that "the house of Israel" (all of the leaders of northern
Israel beginning with Jeroboam) must have been living in sin for 390 years
prior to Babylon's siege of Jerusalem. In your opinion, when did the 390
years of the house of Israel's sin begin and end?
You wrote: Does the Bible not say Solomon ruled 40 years?
What the Bible actually says is that Solomon "ruled 40 years over all
Israel." This leaves open the possibility that Solomon may have actually
ruled longer than 40 years, but that his additional years of rule were years
in which some people in Israel refused to submit to his rule and legally
contested his right to rule after his first 40 years as king.
Mike
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