Joram son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years.

• 2 Kings 3:1

King Rehoboam established himself firmly in Jerusalem and continued as king. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite.

• 2 Chronicles 12:13

He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years.

• 2 Chronicles 27:28

Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

• 2 Chronicles 28:1

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

• Jeremiah 52:1

This was a hard quiz to get the information, but I asked myself, who were the kings that reigned the longest in Judah?  Only kings that reigned at least 25 years apply.  There were eight.  Assuming Asa was 21 years old when he became king, can you give the ages of these kings when they died?  I will even give the ages, so it becomes a matching game.

Of course, the one not listed is Jesus who will reign forever.

The kings are in chronological order.

The Questions:

	Question – King and length of reign	Bible Reference	Answers
1	Asa, 41
2	Jehoshaphat, 25
3	Joash, 40
4	Amaziah, 29
5	Uzziah, 52
6	Hezekiah,29
7	Manasseh, 55
8	Josiah, 31

The ages upon their deaths, in numerical order, are 39, 47, 54, 54, 60, 62, 67, 68.

These may be off by a year here or there in that the scripture reads for Jehoshaphat through Josiah, that they became king when they were # and the reigned of ## years.  But they might not have reached their next birthday.

Really this quiz was inspired by New Years Day when a lot of people say “Out with the old, in with the new,” but as we can see with the kings of Judah, it was not always a good thing when a new king came to power.

The confusion may come when trying to line these numbers up.  Some kings became king at a very old age and some very young.

Making it a strictly math problem might help as someone who reigned 55 years cannot have been 39 upon his death.

Bible References:

	Question – King and length of reign	Bible Reference	Answers
1	Asa, 41	2 Chronicles 16:13
2	Jehoshaphat, 25	2 Chronicles 20:31
3	Joash, 40	2 Chronicles 24:1
4	Amaziah, 29	2 Chronicles 25:1
5	Uzziah, 52	2 Chronicles 26:3
6	Hezekiah,29	2 Chronicles 29:1
7	Manasseh, 55	2 Chronicles 33:1
8	Josiah, 31	2 Chronicles 34:1

The ages upon their deaths, in numerical order, are 39, 47, 54, 54, 60, 62, 67, 68.

King David was about 70 years old when he died, reigning as king for 40 of those years.  His son, Solomon, became king at fifteen years of age and also reigned for about 40 years.

But looking over the eight kings in this list, the only king listed as a bad king was Hezekiah’s son Manasseh.  Maybe Hezekiah asked for another fifteen years of life, hoping that Manasseh would come to his senses.  Yet, when you read Jeremiah, it mentions the sins of Manasseh as the reason that Judah had to be destroyed.  Manasseh was worshiping a false god, Molek, that required the sacrificing of children.  He led many of those ceremonies in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, aka Topheth, aka the Valley of Slaughter.  Yet, late in his life, he did repent.  Hezekiah’s prayer was answered, but only after too many children were killed.

So, other than the three kings of the combined tribes of Israel, the eight kings of Judah that reigned at least twenty-five years were comprised of seven good kings and one king that was abominably evil, yet he repented.  God gave him enough time to see the error of his ways.  And understand that the idea of being a “good” king was that they worshipped the true God and calling the people to proper worship.  That does not mean the people did so.  Otherwise, how can we go from a good king to suddenly one of the worst kings ever?  While Daddy was running the country, the apple of his eye was tasting the forbidden fruit with his friends.

This should have been a billboard warning to the kings of Israel and Judah.  Worship God in the right way.  Call upon God for your strength.  Remove, at least in part, the worship of false gods.  And your reign will be longer and more fruitful.  But they did not listen.

Will we listen?  There are no guarantees that good little boys will live longer.  But God had the consistent attitude of “I have seen enough” with those bad kings.  Will He do the same with us?  We need to repent; there is no guarantee in us having one more tomorrow.

   …

   …

   …

The Answers:

	Question – King and length of reign	Bible Reference	Answers
1	Asa, 41	2 Chronicles 16:13	62
2	Jehoshaphat, 25	2 Chronicles 20:31	60
3	Joash, 40	2 Chronicles 24:1	47
4	Amaziah, 29	2 Chronicles 25:1	54
5	Uzziah, 52	2 Chronicles 26:3	68
6	Hezekiah,29	2 Chronicles 29:1	54
7	Manasseh, 55	2 Chronicles 33:1	67
8	Josiah, 31	2 Chronicles 34:1	39

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, … Here is Scots Royal Dragoon Guard playing, Auld Lang Syne.  Auld lang syne is literally “old long since.”  It was a phrase of the time of Robert Burns to mean “Once upon a time” or “Do you remember when” or as the last video suggests “To old time’s sake.”  And since we might be singing it in a couple of days, I thought I would look at it from various angles.

Here is the Home Free with an a capella version of Auld Lang Syne.

And here is Auld Lang Syne sung by the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin.

I was thinking of reviewing even more, but with my wife dying earlier this year, my wife and I will have no more times of taking a cup of kindness together to Auld Lang Syne.  I have shed enough tears.

I was going to get a bottle of good Scotch for a fish I will be preparing, if I can find it.  My wife introduced me to drinking alcohol and the first hard stuff I ever sipped was Scotch.  So, I may not stay up until midnight, but I might just toast a cup, or sip a shot, of kindness for auld lang syne.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.