David, Solomon and the Kingdom That Split
David and Solomon in one row, then the split of 975 and two rows of kings until Israel’s row drops away at 721. Take the rows one at a time, with the tables on pp. 68–69 open.
The numbered pins of this stretch, walked in order, are in the book (pp. 66–67). Here you can zoom and explore it freely.
One Throne That Held, One Kingdom That Broke
Put a finger on the giant at the far left of pp. 66–67 and you are standing at the door of the most crowded stretch of the Old Testament. Goliath swings his sword in his coat of mail, facing the shepherd boy who waits on p. 61, and under him a pale block begins at 1055: David, 40. At Hebron 7½ Yrs. At Jerusalem 32½ Yrs. All of Second Samuel fits inside that block, from the little 1048 where Jerusalem becomes the capital to the figure in blue with a great harp, which is Adams’ picture for the Psalms.
Solomon’s block follows, exactly as long as his father’s, and Adams calls it a glorious reign. Here he draws the Temple, with Solomon’s name across the roof and its whole history printed beside it: foundations laid in 1012, dedicated in 1004, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 588, 416 years in all. Two pillars stand by the king with their names written up the shafts, Boaz and Jachin. For one generation Israel’s story looks finished.
Then comes 975, and the stream does something new. A branch leaves Solomon’s block and climbs to the top of the page, and along it Adams writes 10 Tribes revolt. 1 Kings 12. When the people asked Solomon’s son Rehoboam for a lighter load, he answered them roughly, and ten tribes walked away from the house of David. This is Key 4 · A stream that splits is a revolt, and from here to the right edge you read two rows instead of one.
The upper row is Israel: nineteen kings in 254 years by Adams’ count, ruled at last from Samaria. The lower row is Judah, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, governed from Jerusalem by David’s descendants. Adams numbers Judah’s kings from Saul, so Rehoboam is IV. Read the small words on the blocks and the two kingdoms begin to sound different. Israel’s throne passes from family to family; one block says slain, and twice Adams has to shade years with no king at all, the Interregnum and the Anarchy. Judah has its bad kings too, and a queen, Athaliah, Ahab’s daughter, who held the throne six years. But Judah also has Asa good and Hezekiah the good, and most of its blocks pass from father to son.
Around the rows Adams hangs the prophets as little scrolls with their dates, and they crowd toward the end of Israel’s row: Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah. God kept sending word. Follow the upper row to Hoshea and watch it turn hard and fall straight down the chart in one brown line into the stream of Assyria: 721 B.C. Carried away by Shalmaneser into Assyria, never to return. Judah’s row runs on, and Adams adds his own sum underneath it, 133 years more.
If you have ever read Kings and lost track of which Jehoram you were in, this spread sorts it out. Each reign has its block, each kingdom its row. And under the stream of time a thin line of names runs from Solomon through Jehoram, Uzziah and Hezekiah without a gap. God had promised David a throne established for ever. Here you can watch that one promise hold while everything above it splits and falls.
“Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes …”2 Kings 17:13 · KJV
Think it through
Keep your Bible open. There are no wrong answers here; the worksheet in the free Companion gives you room to write.
- David and Solomon have blocks of the same length, forty years each. What made the two reigns different, and how does the split at 975 answer that?
- Ahab’s block says he married Jezebel. Follow that marriage down to Athaliah in Judah. How far can one family’s choice reach?
- Jehoram reigned eight years, yet Adams draws four. How does seeing the overlap change the way you handle numbers in Kings that seem not to fit?
- Count the prophets’ scrolls near Israel’s last kings. What do they say about God before 721?
- Judah outlasted Israel by 133 years. Where on the chart is the promise to David kept?
- Adams lays the Temple’s foundations in 1012 by counting 480 years from his Exodus (1 Kings 6:1). Why does that one verse matter so much to his dates?
Find “Rome built in the 6th year of Pekah’s reign” on p. 67. Which key tells you what it means, and what does it say?
Show the answer
Key 6 · Same column, same moment. The note sits under Pekah’s block, 759–739: Rome was founded while Pekah ruled in Samaria.
The Promise Under the Rows
Most of the drama on pp. 66–67 happens in the two rows at the top: the revolt, the murders, the queen, the long drop into Assyria. It is easy to miss the quietest line on the spread. Slide down below the stream of time and you find the house of David running on as a thin line of names, Solomon, Jehoram, Uzziah, Hezekiah, while the rows above it overlap, break off and stop. Adams draws no drama there at all. He simply never lets the line break.
That is the shape of what God told David: “I will set up thy seed after thee … and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.” Even the judgment on Solomon carried the promise inside it. The kingdom would be torn, God said, but not all of it, “for David my servant’s sake.” When the split comes at 975, the part that stays with Rehoboam is the part that keeps the line.
The promise was not kept because David’s sons were good. Adams writes did not right on Ahaz, and for six years Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, held Judah’s throne, the one time David’s house lost it. The table on p. 68 and the overlaps on p. 69 show you how close things came and how carefully Kings records them. God kept his word through a family that often failed him, and that is a great comfort for anyone who reads these chapters about their own household.
Matthew saw the same line. His list of Christ’s ancestors walks through these very kings, and at one point it steps from Joram straight to Ozias, past three kings, just as Adams’ line steps from Jehoram to Uzziah. Matthew was not counting every man; he was showing that the throne promised to David came, king by king, to Jesus. When you read Kings, keep one eye on the rows and one on the thin line underneath.
Read and reflect
“I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.”
Which of the kings on pp. 66–67 is the son who would “build an house” for God’s name, and how long did that house stand?
“Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.”
How does this verse explain why Judah’s row keeps going after Israel’s ends?
“And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;”
Find Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Uzziah in Judah’s row: what does it tell you that Matthew passes over the kings in between?
Quiz: ten questions
Pick an answer to see whether it is right and why. Each explanation names the page of the book.
Read the whole chart, stretch by stretch
This site lets you wander; the book walks you through. All seventeen stretches on full spreads at 75% of the real chart, numbered pins explained in order, Adams' Six Keys on every page and a study page for every stretch. Large format, full color.