2 Chronicles maps & timelines

Geographic Context

Second Chronicles is anchored in Jerusalem, and above all in the temple that Solomon builds on Mount Moriah, the hill north of the City of David where the LORD had appeared to David. From this center the book views the southern kingdom of Judah, its fortified cities strengthened by kings like Rehoboam, Asa, and Uzziah, and its wars with surrounding peoples — Egypt to the southwest under Shishak and Neco, the Ethiopians, Edom and Moab and Ammon across the southern and eastern deserts, the Philistines and Arabians, Aram and Israel to the north.

The great empires then close in from the northeast: Assyria, whose Sennacherib besieges Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s day, and Babylon, which finally destroys the city and temple and deports the people far east to the plains of Babylon. The book’s final horizon is Persia, whose King Cyrus, from his vast empire, issues the decree that opens the road back to Jerusalem.

Timeline of Major Events

• c. 966-959 BC - Solomon builds and dedicates the temple; the glory of the LORD fills it.
• c. 930 BC - The kingdom divides; Judah continues under the line of David.
• c. 910-850 BC - The reforms of Asa and Jehoshaphat and their trust in the LORD.
• c. 715-701 BC - Hezekiah cleanses the temple, keeps a great Passover, and is delivered from Assyria.
• c. 640-609 BC - Josiah’s reforms and the rediscovery of the Book of the Law.
• 586 BC - Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed; Judah is exiled to Babylon.
• 538 BC - Cyrus of Persia decrees the return of the exiles to rebuild the temple.