2 Kings 18:1,2 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Bible Comments

In the third year of Hoshea, Hezekiah began to reign Namely, in the third of those nine years, mentioned 2 Kings 17:1; of which see the note there, and below, 2 Kings 18:10. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign To this it is objected, that Ahaz his father lived only thirty-six years, and therefore, according to this account, begat Hezekiah when he was but eleven years old, which seems incredible. Various explications of this difficulty have been given; but the most probable are, either, 1st, That some error in regard to the numerals has crept into the text, and that Hezekiah was not so old when he began to reign: or, 2d, That the sixteen years which Ahaz reigned are to be computed, not from the first beginning of his reign, when he reigned with his father, (as it is probable he did,) which was at the twentieth year of his age, but from the beginning of his reigning alone, in which case Ahaz would be as many years of age more than thirty-six when he died, as he had reigned with his father, before he came into the sole possession of the kingdom.

2 Kings 18:1-2

1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiaha the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

2 Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi,b the daughter of Zachariah.