Research Report on Second Chronicles 12

The wars between Israel, Judah, and surrounding peoples generate a form of census count that appears prophetic for events in future time. This page explores an Egyptian attack against Judah.

Background

There are various places in the Bible where there are counts of things given in the text. Simple counts usually involve days, but certain objects extend the count. An example is in Second Chronicles 12 where an Egyptian attack against Rehoboam is recorded.

After Rehoboam's position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the LORD. Because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam. With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites that came with him from Egypt, he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 12:1-4 NIV)

This passage gives counts in the usual pattern but those things have numeric values that appear to drive this story.

Expanding the Chariots

In this case chariots, especially chariots from Egypt, have value. Chariots were imported from Egypt for 600(2 Chr 1:17) Shekels. Horses" count=" similarly were imported for 150(2 Chr 1:17) Shekels.

These values drive the prophetic story found a few chapters later. When Pharaoh attacks he brings these objects to the fight. This amplifies the values. The following table shows the amplification.

Original Count Factor Net Amount
1200 Chariots 600 Shekels/Chariot 720,000 Shekels

The following is the report.

Prophetic Dates from Second Chronicles 12
Epoch at Rehoboam’s First Year
Thu10021-01-01 AA22 Aug -967 NS2 Mar 288 BAUC3655261 AAN
521-01-01 FE31 Aug -967 OS2 Mar 1041 BC1368104 JDN
Forward 720,000 days
Fri11994-09-01 AA7 Dec 1004 NS1 Dec 1757 AUC4375261 AAN
2494-09-01 FE1 Dec 1004 OS1 Dec 1004 AD2088104 JDN
Forward 60,000 days
Mon12159-02-01 AA17 Mar 1169 NS10 Mar 1922 AUC4435261 AAN
2659-02-01 FE10 Mar 1168 OS10 Mar 1169 AD2148104 JDN

This interval hits the millennium break at about the year 1000. This is a major prophetic time, and it adds weight to the idea that this is a correct prophetic placement.

Alternative -- expanding the horses

Original Count Factor Net Amount
1200 Chariots 600 Shekels/Chariot 720,000 Shekels
60,000 Horsemen 150 Shekels/Horse 9,000,000 Men-Shekels

A "shekel" is a standard wage for a day of work so the conversion of Chariots into shekels also converts the Chariots into days. Using a starting point at the start of the 5th year of Rehoboam’s reign these 720,000 days can be "run out". The horsemen are strange because the "men" part of the count would normally run out as 60,000 days. If the value of horses in included the 9,000,000 days runs well beyond the end of any time otherwise known in the Bible Time project.

Prophetic Dates from Second Chronicles 12
Epoch at Rehoboam’s First Year
Thu10021-01-01 AA22 Aug -967 NS2 Mar 288 BAUC3655261 AAN
521-01-01 FE31 Aug -967 OS2 Mar 1041 BC1368104 JDN
Forward 720,000 days
Fri11994-09-01 AA7 Dec 1004 NS1 Dec 1757 AUC4375261 AAN
2494-09-01 FE1 Dec 1004 OS1 Dec 1004 AD2088104 JDN
Forward 9,000,000 days
Sun36665-09-01 AA4 Feb 25646 NS29 Jul 26398 AUC13375261 AAN
27165-09-01 FE29 Jul 25645 OS29 Jul 25645 AD11088104 JDN

This latter version is likely not right as there are no known stories in this future era. The problem with this second scenario is that it leaves weird units... Men-Shekels, which is like a squared unit that has been shown in other places to be wrong.

Phil Stone 2008-09-18