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Edwin R. Thiele (1895–1986) was an American missionary in China, an editor, archaeologist, writer, and Old Testament professor. A native of Chicago, he graduated from Emmanuel Missionary College (which was renamed Andrews University in 1960) in 1918 with a BA degree in ancient languages. After two years of work as home missionary secretary for the East Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, he left in 1920 for mission service in China. During his 12-year work in China, he was an editor and manager for the Signs of the Times Publishing House in Shanghai. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... For other uses, see Missionary (disambiguation). ... Editing is the process of preparing language, images, or sound for presentation through correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications. ... For referencing in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Citing sources. ... Nickname: Motto: Urbs in Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois Coordinates: , Country State Counties Cook, DuPage Settled 1770s Incorporated March 4, 1837 Government  - Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area  - City  234. ... Andrews University is a Seventh-day Adventist university in Berrien Springs, Michigan. ... A B.A. issued from the University of Tennessee. ... The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA), colloquially referred to as the Adventists, is an evangelical Protestant Christian denomination that grew out of the prophetic Millerite movement in the United States during the middle part of the 19th century. ... For other uses, see Shanghai (disambiguation). ...

After returning to the United States, Thiele received an MA degree in archaeology from the University of Chicago in 1937. He then joined the religion faculty of Emmanuel Missionary College, while continuing his doctoral work at the University of Chicago. He obtained a PhD degree in biblical archaeology in 1943. His doctoral dissertation, later published as The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings^[1] is widely regarded as the definitive work on the chronology of Hebrew kings.^{[citation needed]} He'd traveled extensively throughout the Middle East in the course of his research. A Master of Arts is a postgraduate academic masters degree awarded by universities in North America and the United Kingdom (excluding the ancient universities of Scotland and Oxbridge. ... The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ... PhD usually refers to the academic title Doctor of Philosophy PhD can also refer to the manga Phantasy Degree This is a disambiguation page — a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ...

In addition, Thiele also authored a popular book on Christianity "Knowing God."^[2] After his death, his widow, Margaret, completed his study of the book of Job entitled "Job and the Devil."^[3] In this work, Thiele argues that Leviathan (and Behemoth) are linked to Near Eastern myths for chaos or evil. Hence, Thiele suggests, Job pictures God struggling with Evil as lying behind Job's suffering. Job (plural jobs) refers to a piece of work or a task. ...

From 1963 to 1965, he served as Professor of Antiquity at Andrews University. After retiring from teaching in 1965, he moved to California where he continued to write. He died in St. Helena, California in 1986. He is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Andrews University is a Seventh-day Adventist university in Berrien Springs, Michigan. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... St. ...

Biblical Chronology

The following is based on Thiele's book "The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings".

The chronology of the Hebrew kings rests on a series of cross-references within the books of Kings and Chronicles, in which the accession of each king is dated in terms of the reign of his contemporary in either the southern kingdom of Judah or the northern kingdom of Israel. Unfortunately few of these cross-references match, so that a reign which is said to have lasted for 20 years results in a cross-reference that would give a result of either 19 or 21 years.

Thiele noticed that the cross-references given during the long reign of King Asa of Judah had a cumulative error of 1 year for each succeeding reign of the kings of Israel: the first cross-reference resulted in an error of 1 year, the second gave an error of 2 years, the third of 3 years and so on. He was able to demonstrate that this was due to two different methods of reckoning regnal years - the accession year method and the non-accession year method.

If we think in terms of our own calendar, if the old king died on December 31 and the new king started to reign on January 1, there was no problem. However if the old king died on December 1, what did you do with the remaining 30 days of the old year? Under the accession year method, those 30 days were called the "Accession year" and Year 1 of the new king's reign began on January 1. Under the non-accession year method the 30 days were Year 1 of the new king and Year 2 began on January 1.

If this were not complicated enough, Thiele was able to demonstrate that one kingdom celebrated a spring New Year while the other held to an autumn New Year. Differing new years and different methods of calculating reigns were responsible for much of the confusion in the cross-references, with the additional problem that the southern kingdom appears to have adopted its neighbour's method during the time when Athaliah seized power.

With this understanding of chronology, Thiele showed that the 14 years between Ahab and Jehu were really 12 years, which meant that he could date their reigns precisely, for Ahab is mentioned in the Kurk Stele which records the Assyrian advance into Syria/Palestine at the Battle of Qarqar in 853 bce, and Jehu is mentioned on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III paying tribute in 841 bce. As these two events are securely dated by Assyrian chronology at 12 years apart, Ahab must have fought the Assyrians in his last year and Jehu paid tribute in his first year. Ahab or Achav (אַחְאָב Brother of the father, Standard Hebrew Aḥʼav, Tiberian Hebrew ʼAḥăʼāḇ, ʼAḫʼāḇ) was King of the province of Samaria in the greater Kingdom of Israel, and the son and successor of Omri (1 Kings 16:29-34). ... The Kurkh Monolith is an Assyrian document that contains the Battle of Qarqar at the end. ... Combatants Assyria An alliance of 12 Kings Commanders Shalmaneser III Hadadezer Strength Assyrian records claim 100,000 troops; modern scholars believe Assyrian forces were smaller 60,000 infantry, 2,450 chariots, 1,900 horsemen, 10,000 camel riders Kurkh stela of Shalmaneser that reports battle of Karkar The Battle of... The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (reigned 858-824 BC) is a black limestone Neo-Assyrian bas-relief sculpture from Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), in northern Iraq. ... Shalmaneser III (Šulmānu-ašarēdu, the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent) was king of Assyria (859 BC-824 BC), and son of the previous ruler, Ashurnasirpal II. His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations of Mesopotamia and Syria...

Thiele was able to reconcile all the Biblical data with the exception of a single synchronism towards the end of the kingdom of Israel (the reigns of Pekah and Hoshea) and was reluctantly forced to conclude that at that point the ancient authors had made a mistake. Oddly, it is at that precise point that he himself makes a mistake, attributing an accession year to Hezekiah's co-regency (co-regencies did not begin with an accession year). This simple error destroys the pattern which he claims as evidence of the ancient mistake, but leaves the question still unsolved of how to resolve the cross-references for this period. Categories: People stubs | Kings of ancient Israel ... See also Hosea, who has the same name in Biblical Hebrew. ... Hezekiah (or Ezekias) (Hebrew: חזקיה or חזקיהו, God has strengthened) was the 13th king of indepedent Judah and the son of King Ahaz and Abijah (2 Chronicles 29:1), who was a daughter of a man (who was not the prophet) named Zechariah. ...