The kings of Israel and Judah and the verdict the text gives each one

The united kingdom

For 120 years the kingdom is one: Saul reigns forty years (Acts 13:21 ), David forty (2 Samuel 5:4 ), Solomon forty (1 Kings 11:42 ). The era of the judges ends when the elders come to Samuel: “now make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5 ). The one kingdom splits under the fourth king: “So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day” (1 Kings 12:19 ).

The northern kingdom

Nineteen kings in nine ruling groups. Five houses hold the throne past one generation (Jeroboam, Baasha, Omri, Jehu, Menahem); the longest is Jehu’s at five reigns, promised in 2 Kings 10:30 and marked fulfilled in 2 Kings 15:12 . Seven kings are killed by their successors. The refrain of the whole record is “the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin”: it attaches by name to fourteen of the nineteen. It ends in Hoshea’s ninth year: “the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria” (2 Kings 17:6 ), and the record closes the file at 2 Kings 17:21-23 .

The kingdom of Judah

Judah keeps one house: David’s line holds the throne from Rehoboam to Zedekiah, and the text twice explains why, for David’s sake the LORD gives him “a lamp in Jerusalem” (1 Kings 15:4 ), “alway a light, and to his children” (2 Kings 8:19 ). The single interruption is Athaliah, six years (2 Kings 11:3 ), the only reign outside the line and the only woman on either throne. Twenty rulers, and the record ends with the throne in Babylon.

General

The fixed formula settles in with the divided kingdom. The united three are assessed individually: Saul by the Chronicler’s obituary, David as the measuring stick the later verdicts keep returning to, Solomon in the formula itself.

Saul

Saul (שָׁאוּל , Sha’ul) is from sha’al (שָׁאַל , “to ask”): the asked-for king, named for what the people did.

Gematria: shin(300) + aleph(1) + vav(6) + lamed(30) = 337.

He enters as the Benjamite of whom “there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people” (1 Samuel 9:2 ). Kings gives him no formula; the Chronicler writes the obituary: “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit” (1 Chronicles 10:13).

David

David (דָּוִד ) is commonly derived from dod (דּוֹד ), “beloved.”

Gematria: dalet(4) + vav(6) + dalet(4) = 14, and Matthew’s genealogy runs on the number: fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen to Babylon, fourteen to Christ (Matthew 1:17 ).

He enters at the end of Ruth’s genealogy (Ruth 4:17 ), reigns seven years and six months in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:5 ), and the verdicts after him keep returning to him as the calibration, “as did David his father” at Asa, “yet not like David his father” at Amaziah, the inverted formula at Ahaz. His own reads, “David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite” (1 Kings 15:5).

Solomon

Solomon (שְׁלֹמֹה , Shelomoh) is from shalom (שָׁלוֹם , “peace”), and the naming is text-derived: “his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days” (1 Chronicles 22:9 ).

Gematria: shin(300) + lamed(30) + mem(40) + he(5) = 375.

He enters in the list of David’s sons born in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:14 ). His verdict carries the same David calibration with the direction reversed: “Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father” (1 Kings 11:6), after his wives turned his heart away in his old age (1 Kings 11:4 ).

The north

Jeroboam I

Jeroboam (יָרָבְעָם , Yarov’am) is contested: “may the people contend” (from riv, רִיב ) and “may the people multiply” (from ravah, רָבָה ) are both proposed, with am (עַם , “people”) the fixed element.

Gematria: yod(10) + resh(200) + bet(2) + ayin(70) + mem(40) = 322.

He enters as Solomon’s servant who “lifted up his hand against the king” (1 Kings 11:26 ), and he makes the state cult the north never shakes off: two golden calves, one at Bethel and one at Dan (1 Kings 12:28-29). His own record closes, “After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way” (1 Kings 13:33), “and this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam” (1 Kings 13:34 ).

Nadab

Nadab (נָדָב , Nadav) is from nadav (נָדַב , “to offer willingly”): willing, generous.

Gematria: nun(50) + dalet(4) + bet(2) = 56.

He enters at his father’s death (1 Kings 14:20 ), reigns two years, and takes the standard grade: “And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin” (1 Kings 15:26). Baasha kills him at the siege of Gibbethon (1 Kings 15:27 ).

Baasha

Baasha (בַּעְשָׁא , Ba’sha) has no settled derivation.

Gematria: bet(2) + ayin(70) + shin(300) + aleph(1) = 373.

He enters already at war with Asa of Judah (1 Kings 15:16 ), reigns twenty-four years out of Tirzah, and takes the grade: “And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin” (1 Kings 15:34).

Elah

Elah (אֵלָה ) is the terebinth or oak; the word is the oak at Ophrah under which Gideon threshed (Judges 6:11).

Gematria: aleph(1) + lamed(30) + he(5) = 36.

He enters at his father’s burial (1 Kings 16:6 ) and dies two years later, “drinking himself drunk” in his steward’s house, at Zimri’s hand (1 Kings 16:9-10 ). The formula covers father and son together: “for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son” (1 Kings 16:13).

Zimri

Zimri (זִמְרִי ) is contested: “my song” or “my wild goat,” the zemer (זֶמֶר , “wild goat”) of the clean-animal list (Deuteronomy 14:5 ).

Gematria: zayin(7) + mem(40) + resh(200) + yod(10) = 257.

His reign is the shortest on either throne, seven days in Tirzah (1 Kings 16:15 ), and it ends in his own fire in the king’s house (1 Kings 16:18). The grade: “doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam” (1 Kings 16:19).

Omri

Omri (עָמְרִי ) has no settled derivation.

Gematria: ayin(70) + mem(40) + resh(200) + yod(10) = 320.

The army makes him king in the camp the day Zimri’s coup is reported (1 Kings 16:16 ). He reigns twelve years, six of them in Tirzah, then buys the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and builds the capital that keeps the seller’s name (1 Kings 16:24 ). The grade escalates: “Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that were before him” (1 Kings 16:25).

Ahab

Ahab (אַחְאָב , Ach’av) is ach (אָח , “brother”) plus av (אָב , “father”): “father’s brother.”

Gematria: aleph(1) + chet(8) + aleph(1) + bet(2) = 12.

He enters at Omri’s burial (1 Kings 16:28 ) and reigns twenty-two years. The grade escalates again: “Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him” (1 Kings 16:30), “and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him” (1 Kings 16:33 ). The Jeroboam way becomes “a light thing” when he marries Jezebel and serves Baal (1 Kings 16:31).

Ahaziah son of Ahab

Ahaziah (אֲחַזְיָהוּ , Achazyahu) is achaz (אָחַז , “he has grasped”) plus the divine name: “YHWH has grasped.”

Gematria: aleph(1) + chet(8) + zayin(7) + yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) = 37.

He enters at Ahab’s death (1 Kings 22:40 ) and reigns two years: “And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat” (1 Kings 22:52). He falls through the lattice of his upper chamber and dies of it without a son, and his brother takes the throne (2 Kings 1:2 , 17 ).

Jehoram son of Ahab

Jehoram (יְהוֹרָם , shortened Joram, יוֹרָם ) is the divine name plus rum (רוּם , “to be high”): “YHWH is exalted.”

Gematria: yod(10) + vav(6) + resh(200) + mem(40) = 256 for the short form; the full form adds he(5) for 261.

He succeeds his brother (2 Kings 1:17) and reigns twelve years with the first qualification on record: “And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made” (2 Kings 3:2), though “he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat” (2 Kings 3:3 ). Jehu’s arrow takes him between the arms at Naboth’s field (2 Kings 9:24 ).

Jehu

Jehu (יֵהוּא , Yehu) is the divine name plus hu (הוּא , “he”): “YHWH is he.”

Gematria: yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) + aleph(1) = 22.

He enters as an anointing assignment to Elijah: “Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel” (1 Kings 19:16 ). He wipes out the house of Ahab and the house of Baal, and his record carries the only commendation clause in the north, “Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes… thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel” (2 Kings 10:30), standing beside its cancellation: “But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart” (2 Kings 10:31). The house holds five reigns: Jehu, then Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II, and Zechariah, the fourth generation as promised, marked fulfilled in 2 Kings 15:12.

Jehoahaz son of Jehu

Jehoahaz (יְהוֹאָחָז , Yeho’achaz) carries the same two elements as Ahaziah in reverse: “YHWH has grasped.”

Gematria: yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) + aleph(1) + chet(8) + zayin(7) = 37.

He enters at Jehu’s burial (2 Kings 10:35 ) and reigns seventeen years: “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat” (2 Kings 13:2).

Jehoash

Jehoash (יְהוֹאָשׁ , also Joash, יוֹאָשׁ ) has no settled derivation for its second element.

Gematria: yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) + aleph(1) + shin(300) = 322.

He enters as Joash at his father’s burial (2 Kings 13:9 ) and reigns sixteen years: “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat” (2 Kings 13:11).

Jeroboam II

Jeroboam II (יָרָבְעָם ) carries the founder’s name.

Gematria: yod(10) + resh(200) + bet(2) + ayin(70) + mem(40) = 322.

He enters at his father’s burial (2 Kings 13:13 ) and reigns forty-one years, the longest reign in the north. The grade is the refrain: “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat” (2 Kings 14:24). Under him the border runs back “from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain,” by the word of Jonah the son of Amittai (2 Kings 14:25 ).

Zechariah

Zechariah (זְכַרְיָה , Zekharyah; the KJV spells it Zachariah) is zakhar (זָכַר , “to remember”) plus the divine name: “YHWH remembers.”

Gematria: zayin(7) + kaf(20) + resh(200) + yod(10) + he(5) = 242.

He enters at his father’s burial (2 Kings 14:29 ) and reigns six months: “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done” (2 Kings 15:9). Shallum kills him “before the people,” and the text marks the end of Jehu’s house as the word fulfilled (2 Kings 15:10-12 ).

Shallum

Shallum (שַׁלּוּם ) is from shillem (שִׁלֵּם , “to recompense”): retribution.

Gematria: shin(300) + lamed(30) + vav(6) + mem(40) = 376.

He enters as Zechariah’s killer, reigns “a full month in Samaria” (2 Kings 15:13 ), and is killed by Menahem (2 Kings 15:14 ). For a one-month reign no assessment formula is recorded.

Menahem

Menahem (מְנַחֵם , Menachem) is from nacham (נָחַם , “to comfort”): comforter.

Gematria: mem(40) + nun(50) + chet(8) + mem(40) = 138.

He enters as Shallum’s killer (2 Kings 15:14) and reigns ten years: “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat” (2 Kings 15:18). His reign carries the first Assyrian bill: a thousand talents of silver to Pul, exacted at fifty shekels a head from the wealthy (2 Kings 15:19-20 ).

Pekahiah

Pekahiah (פְּקַחְיָה , Pekachyah) is paqach (פָּקַח , “to open the eyes”) plus the divine name: “YHWH has opened the eyes.”

Gematria: pe(80) + qof(100) + chet(8) + yod(10) + he(5) = 203.

He enters at Menahem’s burial (2 Kings 15:22 ) and reigns two years: “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat” (2 Kings 15:24). His captain Pekah kills him in the palace (2 Kings 15:25 ).

Pekah

Pekah (פֶּקַח , Pekach) is the same root without the divine name: “opening of the eyes.”

Gematria: pe(80) + qof(100) + chet(8) = 188.

He enters as Pekahiah’s killer and reigns twenty years (2 Kings 15:27 ): “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat” (2 Kings 15:28). He is the northern king of the Syro-Ephraimite war against Ahaz of Judah (Isaiah 7:1 ), and Hoshea kills him in turn (2 Kings 15:30 ).

Hoshea

Hoshea (הוֹשֵׁעַ ) is from yasha (יָשַׁע , “to save”): deliverance. It is the name Joshua carried before the divine syllable was added (Numbers 13:16 ).

Gematria: he(5) + vav(6) + shin(300) + ayin(70) = 381.

He enters as Pekah’s killer (2 Kings 15:30) and takes the north’s last and mildest grade: “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him” (2 Kings 17:2). In his ninth year Samaria falls (2 Kings 17:6).

The south

Rehoboam

Rehoboam (רְחַבְעָם , Rechav’am) is rachav (רָחַב , “to be wide”) plus am, “people”: commonly “he enlarges the people.”

Gematria: resh(200) + chet(8) + bet(2) + ayin(70) + mem(40) = 320.

He enters at Solomon’s burial (1 Kings 11:43 ), answers the people roughly at Shechem, and loses ten tribes in one day (1 Kings 12:19). The Chronicler grades him: “And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD” (2 Chronicles 12:14).

Abijam

Abijam (אֲבִיָּם , Aviyam) is avi (אָבִי , “my father”) plus yam (יָם , “sea”): “my father is the sea.” Chronicles writes the name Abijah (אֲבִיָּה ), “my father is YHWH.”

Gematria: aleph(1) + bet(2) + yod(10) + mem(40) = 53; the Chronicles form aleph(1) + bet(2) + yod(10) + he(5) = 28.

He enters at Rehoboam’s burial (1 Kings 14:31 ) and reigns three years: “And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God” (1 Kings 15:3). The dynasty survives him anyway, “for David’s sake” (1 Kings 15:4).

Asa

Asa (אָסָא ) has no settled derivation; “healer” is proposed from the Aramaic.

Gematria: aleph(1) + samekh(60) + aleph(1) = 62.

He enters at Abijam’s burial (1 Kings 15:8 ) and reigns forty-one years. His is the first “right” of the divided kingdom: “And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father” (1 Kings 15:11), and it carries the first recorded exception: “But the high places were not removed” (1 Kings 15:14 ). The Chronicler adds the end: diseased in his feet, “he sought not to the LORD but to the physicians” (2 Chronicles 16:12 ).

Jehoshaphat

Jehoshaphat (יְהוֹשָׁפָט , Yehoshafat) is the divine name plus shaphat (שָׁפַט , “to judge”): “YHWH has judged”; the king carries the word of the judges in his name.

Gematria: yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) + shin(300) + pe(80) + tet(9) = 410.

He enters at Asa’s burial (1 Kings 15:24 ) and reigns twenty-five years: “doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD: nevertheless the high places were not taken away” (1 Kings 22:43). The alliances with Ahab’s house draw the seer’s question: “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD?” (2 Chronicles 19:2 ).

Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat

Jehoram (יְהוֹרָם ) is the northern king’s name, “YHWH is exalted,” on the southern throne; the two courts are intermarried.

Gematria: yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) + resh(200) + mem(40) = 261.

He enters at Jehoshaphat’s burial (1 Kings 22:50 ) and reigns eight years: “And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of the LORD” (2 Kings 8:18). The lamp promise is invoked beside the grade: “Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah for David his servant’s sake” (2 Kings 8:19).

Ahaziah son of Jehoram

Ahaziah (אֲחַזְיָהוּ ) is the northern king’s name, “YHWH has grasped.”

Gematria: aleph(1) + chet(8) + zayin(7) + yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) = 37.

He enters at his father’s burial (2 Kings 8:24 ) and reigns one year: “And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab” (2 Kings 8:27). His mother is Athaliah, “the daughter of Omri king of Israel” (2 Kings 8:26 ).

Athaliah

Athaliah (עֲתַלְיָהוּ , Atalyahu) has no settled derivation.

Gematria: ayin(70) + tav(400) + lamed(30) + yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) = 521.

When her son is dead she “arose and destroyed all the seed royal” (2 Kings 11:1 ) and reigns six years over the land (2 Kings 11:3), the only reign outside David’s line and the only woman on either throne. One infant of the line survives, hidden in the temple by Jehosheba (2 Kings 11:2 ). The Chronicler keeps her label: “that wicked woman” (2 Chronicles 24:7).

Joash

Joash (יוֹאָשׁ , also Jehoash, יְהוֹאָשׁ ) matches the northern king’s name.

Gematria: yod(10) + vav(6) + aleph(1) + shin(300) = 317 in the short form; the full form adds he(5) for 322.

He enters as the stolen infant (2 Kings 11:2) and reigns forty years under the most conditional “right” on the list: “And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him” (2 Kings 12:2). After Jehoiada dies, the king hearkens to the princes (2 Chronicles 24:17 ) and has Jehoiada’s son Zechariah stoned in the temple court (2 Chronicles 24:21-22).

Amaziah

Amaziah (אֲמַצְיָהוּ , Amatsyahu) is amats (אָמַץ , “to be strong”) plus the divine name: “YHWH is mighty.”

Gematria: aleph(1) + mem(40) + tsade(90) + yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) = 152.

He enters at Joash’s burial (2 Kings 12:21 ) and reigns twenty-nine years: “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father” (2 Kings 14:3); “Howbeit the high places were not taken away” (2 Kings 14:4 ).

Uzziah

Uzziah (עֻזִּיָּהוּ , Uzziyahu) is oz (עֹז , “strength”) plus the divine name: “my strength is YHWH.” The book of Kings names him Azariah (עֲזַרְיָה ), “YHWH has helped,” and switches to Uzziah at 2 Kings 15:13.

Gematria: ayin(70) + zayin(7) + yod(10) + yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) = 108; the Azariah form ayin(70) + zayin(7) + resh(200) + yod(10) + he(5) = 292.

He enters when the people make the sixteen-year-old king (2 Kings 14:21 ) and reigns fifty-two years: “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done; Save that the high places were not removed” (2 Kings 15:3-4 ). For taking the censer into the temple “the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death” (2 Kings 15:5 ).

Jotham

Jotham (יוֹתָם , Yotam) is the divine name plus tam (תָּם , “perfect, complete”): “YHWH is perfect.”

Gematria: yod(10) + vav(6) + tav(400) + mem(40) = 456.

He enters governing for his leper father (2 Kings 15:5) and reigns sixteen years: “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. Howbeit the high places were not removed” (2 Kings 15:34-35). His building note is the higher gate of the temple (2 Kings 15:35 ).

Ahaz

Ahaz (אָחָז , Achaz) is “he has grasped,” the Ahaziah name with the divine element dropped.

Gematria: aleph(1) + chet(8) + zayin(7) = 16.

He enters at Jotham’s burial (2 Kings 15:38 ) and reigns sixteen years under the inverted formula: he “did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father” (2 Kings 16:2). The record adds child sacrifice: “yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen” (2 Kings 16:3 ).

Hezekiah

Hezekiah (חִזְקִיָּהוּ , Chizqiyahu) is chazaq (חָזַק , “to be strong”) plus the divine name: “my strength is YHWH.”

Gematria: chet(8) + zayin(7) + qof(100) + yod(10) + yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) = 146.

He enters at Ahaz’s burial (2 Kings 16:20 ) and reigns twenty-nine years under the fullest “right” in Kings: “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did” (2 Kings 18:3), “so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him” (2 Kings 18:5 ). He is the first to remove the high places, and he breaks the brasen serpent besides (2 Kings 18:4 ). The exception is recorded by the Chronicler: “his heart was lifted up,” and then humbled (2 Chronicles 32:25-26 ).

Manasseh

Manasseh (מְנַשֶּׁה , Menasheh) is text-derived at the name’s origin: “For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil” (Genesis 41:51 ), from nashah (נָשָׁה , “to forget”).

Gematria: mem(40) + nun(50) + shin(300) + he(5) = 395.

He enters at Hezekiah’s death (2 Kings 20:21 ) and reigns fifty-five years, the longest reign of the list, with the heaviest grade: “Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel” (2 Kings 21:9 ), and “Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another” (2 Kings 21:16). Chronicles alone records the end: carried to Babylon in fetters, “he humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,” prayed, and was restored; “Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God” (2 Chronicles 33:11-13 ).

Amon

Amon (אָמוֹן ) is contested: the Hebrew amon (אָמוֹן , “artificer”) and the Egyptian god Amun are both proposed.

Gematria: aleph(1) + mem(40) + vav(6) + nun(50) = 97.

He enters at Manasseh’s burial (2 Kings 21:18 ) and reigns two years: “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did” (2 Kings 21:20). The Chronicler adds the contrast: he “humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more” (2 Chronicles 33:23 ).

Josiah

Josiah (יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ , Yo’shiyahu) has no settled derivation; “YHWH supports” is the common proposal.

Gematria: yod(10) + aleph(1) + shin(300) + yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) = 332.

He enters when the people of the land make the eight-year-old king (2 Kings 21:24 ) and reigns thirty-one years: “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left” (2 Kings 22:2), and the superlative stands beside Hezekiah’s: “like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart” (2 Kings 23:25 ). The exception is recorded at the end: at Megiddo he “hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God” (2 Chronicles 35:22 ).

Jehoahaz son of Josiah

Jehoahaz (יְהוֹאָחָז ) is the northern king’s name, “YHWH has grasped.”

Gematria: yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) + aleph(1) + chet(8) + zayin(7) = 37.

He enters when the people anoint him at Josiah’s death (2 Kings 23:30 ) and reigns three months: “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done” (2 Kings 23:32). Pharaoh-nechoh deports him to Egypt, “and he came to Egypt, and died there” (2 Kings 23:34 ).

Jehoiakim

Jehoiakim (יְהוֹיָקִים , Yehoyaqim) is the divine name plus qum (קוּם , “to rise”): “YHWH raises up.”

Gematria: yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) + yod(10) + qof(100) + mem(40) = 171.

He enters as Eliakim, renamed by the Pharaoh who installed him (2 Kings 23:34), and reigns eleven years: “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done” (2 Kings 23:37). Jeremiah’s scroll he cuts apart with a penknife and feeds to the hearth fire as it is read (Jeremiah 36:23 ).

Jehoiachin

Jehoiachin (יְהוֹיָכִין , Yehoyakhin) is the divine name plus kun (כּוּן , “to establish”): “YHWH establishes.”

Gematria: yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) + yod(10) + kaf(20) + nun(50) = 101.

He enters at Jehoiakim’s death (2 Kings 24:6 ) and reigns three months: “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done” (2 Kings 24:9). He goes out to the king of Babylon and is taken in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign (2 Kings 24:12 ).

Zedekiah

Zedekiah (צִדְקִיָּהוּ , Tsidqiyahu) is tsedeq (צֶדֶק , “righteousness”) plus the divine name: “my righteousness is YHWH.”

Gematria: tsade(90) + dalet(4) + qof(100) + yod(10) + yod(10) + he(5) + vav(6) = 225.

He enters as Mattaniah, renamed by the king of Babylon who installed him (2 Kings 24:17 ), and reigns eleven years: “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done” (2 Kings 24:19). Under him Jerusalem falls, and the book of Kings ends with Jehoiachin out of prison garments, eating bread before the king of Babylon all the days of his life (2 Kings 25:29 ).

The tally

The north closes at nineteen of nineteen “evil.” Three of the nineteen carry a qualification inside the grade: Joram’s “but not like his father” (2 Kings 3:2), Jehu’s commendation clause beside its cancellation (2 Kings 10:30-31), Hoshea’s “but not as the kings of Israel that were before him” (2 Kings 17:2). Judah’s eight “right” kings are Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah; six carry the exception inside the formula, from the high places left standing to the Jehoiada clause, and the two fullest formulas, Hezekiah’s and Josiah’s, carry their exceptions in the narrative (2 Chronicles 32:25; 35:22). The measuring stick himself carries one (1 Kings 15:5). What survives every grade on the list is the lamp promise (1 Kings 15:4; 2 Kings 8:19), and Jeremiah gives the coming king’s name in the same two elements the last king’s name carries, YHWH and tsedeq: “and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jeremiah 23:6 ).