Chronicle Of The Old Testament Kings: The Reign-By-Reign Record Of The Rulers Of Ancient Israel, by John Rogerson

It is difficult to imagine a book on this subject that would more greatly fail to live up to its name. In roughly 200 pages, the author demonstrates by nearly every means possible his contempt for the biblical record, his inability to actually correctly read and interpret the historical books of the Bible, and a total disinclination to understand and adopt the biblical worldview when it comes to viewing earthly rulers. He even shows a minimalist approach when it comes to viewing the archeological remains, so as the better to fail to consider the Bible as a credible witness as to its rulers, making this particular book a curiously futile effort except in demonstrating the total lack of grip the author has on the biblical record and what conclusions can be drawn from it by those who recognize its historicity and share its approach and worldview. To give but one of many examples of the total failure of the author to understand his subject matter, he comments towards the end of the book that the biblical site of Bethsaida is unknown when I have visited it myself, slightly north of the present northern coastline of the Sea of Galilee not very far from the ruins of Capernaum. When the author cannot even grasp the location of fairly straightforward ruins, in a book that claims his supposed expertise in dealing with biblical studies, there are some massive credibility issues with the author and his work.

In terms of its contents, the author is no less mysterious and baffling. Although the title claims to be a chronicle of the Old Testament Kings, the author seriously pads his material by including material from the patricarchs and the judges before the institution of kingship in Israel (and Judah) as well as more than 40 pages of material, making up more than 20% of the book’s total contents, for the history of Judea and related areas and its rulers during the Second Temple Period extending to 70AD, which is an aspect of New Testament History towards its later end. Included in these contents are many sidebars about interesting biblical elements, and also many reproductions of artwork about biblical figures and events that bear no more close a reality to the actual events of the Bible than the author’s own seriously inaccurate text. Among the more risible claims of the author is that the Jehoram/Joram of Judah and Israel are the same. It is difficult to provide a reasonable explanation as to why the author, in light of his willful ignorance of and total disregard for the biblical histories, was considered by anyone to be qualified to write a historical resource about people who are mostly spoken of in the Bible.

This book may therefore be properly considered as a resource in art history and numismatics, but it bears no close resemblance to anything that would indicate it to be a worthwhile resource in terms of understanding the Bible. One wonders if this sort of work was conceived and planned with an aim of providing biblical history for those who do not like the Bible very much, designed to be as authentic to biblical history as Taco Bell is to Mexican food. That appears to be the only justification for its existence at all. Readers of this book who are familiar with the biblical history and with Ancient Near East History will already know more than this author, and can regard it as worthwhile mainly for the pictures, and for the opportunity to see someone who claims to be a biblical scholar beclown himself. Sometimes one must find what enjoyment one can in a book like this.