Immanuel Velikovsky: The Reign Of King Hezekiah

Dakota Goodwin
HPU-BIB 1303.053-Fall 2016

The Reign of King Hezekiah
The Reign of King Hezekiah is an article written by Immanuel Velikovsky and was known for writing controversial books on ancient history. Immanuel Velikovsky was a Jewish independent scholar, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst that was born in Russian. Velikovsky was viewed as a radical because of who had several books and articles about his interpretation of history is published. His article lays out his interpretation of the timeline on The Reign of King Hezekiah by using scripture and a science theory of the sun standing still. His thesis in this article reads “Here, however, the concern is with a chronological problem, albeit minor, dealing with the reign of Hezekiah
He provides a timeline through scriptures of II Chronicles and II Kings that Hezekiah reign for twenty-nine years in the southern kingdom of Judah. Through scriptures we also know that the last king of Israel was King Hoshea whose reigned for nine years in Samaria and started on the twelfth year of King Ahaz’s sixteen year reign in Jerusalem. The same scriptures teach us King Hezekiah began his reign in the third year of King Hoshea’s reign. During the seventh year of King Hoshea’s reign and the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, the Shalmaneser King of Assyria surrounded Samaria, which lasted for three years. II Kings 18 tells us that Samaria fell in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign and the sixth year of King Hezekiah’s reign. Velikovsky stated the accepted date of 722 B.C. for the fall of Samaria, which is when King Sargon began his seventeen year reign, is incorrect. Velikovsky provides the accepted date of 701 B.C. for when King Sennacherib sat on the
God granted King Hezekiah fifteen additional years of life. He argues that the number fifteen was not a random number and a significant event occurred with the planets and the rotation. Velikovsky writes that when King Hezekiah was healed by God, “the sun retarded to set by the same amount, namely ten degrees (degrees applied to the sundial) by which it speeded up to descend on the sundial built by Ahaz—and, further, that this phenomenon of acceleration of the sun reaching the horizon took place on the day Ahaz was brought to the grave”. Mr. Velikovsky feels that the additional fifteen years King Hezekiah was given by God should extent his time on the throne and his life to past 687 B.C. He also believes that II Kings, II Chronicles and Isaiah reflect two reigns by one king, but fifteen years apart and that this phenomenon of what occurred with the sun and the sundial is laid out in different biblical sources. He argues that the solar disturbance acceleration of the sun on the day of King Ahaz’s funeral caused the planets to rotate directions and causing to loose time.
Immanuel Velikovsky article did support his thesis; however I do not support his theory. The article went into great detail about the timeline of the reign of King Hezekiah and other kings, but I was disappointed that he did not going into the type of king he was. I would have read