Jeremy Goldberg, «Two Assyrian Campaigns against Hezehiah and Later Eight Century Biblical Chronology», Vol. 80 (1999) 360-390
The massive Assyrian invasion of Judah in 701 (reflected in 2 Kgs 18,13b; 18,1719,37) has apparently been confused with an earlier, limited invasion in Hezekiahs 14th year (reflected in 2 Kgs 18,13a.14-16; 2 Kgs 20; 2 Chr 32; Isa 22). Historically, this earlier campaign can best be dated to 712, when Sargon II apparently led the Assyrian royal guard on a Palestinian campaign. Chronologically, this dating fits perfectly with e.g. recent dating of the definitive fall of Samaria (2 Kgs 18,9: in Hezekiahs 6th year) to 720. 2 Kgs 18,9s parallel dating to Hosheas 9th year agrees with his apparent accession in 731 or 729. Dating Menahems death to 743 (as required, following biblical data, to avoid a triple overlap among Uzziah, Jotham and Ahaz) agrees with Eponym Chronicle evidence for this dating of 2 Kgs 15,19-20s presumably already desperate fiasco, and is consistent with a plausibly composite 738 tribute-list naming Menahem. Combining these datings produces a workable later 8th century biblical chronology.
Since Uzziah reigned for 52 years, the suggested dating to 743-729 of the interval from the death of Menahem (in year 50 of Uzziah) to the death of Pekah / accession of Hoshea (in year 20 of Jotham / year 12 of Ahaz) could very well avoid a triple overlap of Judaean kings. However the chronology is tight enough for the feasibility of this solution to depend on the chronological conventions in use during this period. These appear to include, in both Israel and Judah, rounding off of regnal year totals for all rulers and postdating for non-coregents95. To avoid a triple overlap, antedating for Judaean coregents is also required (cf. Fig.1). With a Tishri (i.e. early fall) royal new year in Judah (which seems more likely than the alternative dating in Nisan, i.e. early spring), a brief coregency between Hezekiah and Ahaz would also be necessary96.
Such a coregency is unexceptional (indeed to be expected) in view of known 8th century Judaean practice. And antedating by Judaean coregents during this period follows from 2 Kgs 15,30.32, which separate the death of Pekah from the accession of Jotham (as universally accepted on chronological grounds, clearly during the lifetime of Uzziah) by 18 Israelite royal new years (based on rounding off for Pekah) and 19 or 20 Judaean royal new years, depending on whether Jothams regnal years were antedated or postdated. 18 var. 19 years for this interval requires only the accession of Jotham between the Israelite and Judaean royal new years and the death of Pekah between the Judaean and Israelite royal new years. But 18 var. 20 years is impossible.
The scheme of later 8th century biblical chronology arising from preceding considerations is precisely-defined97 and discards no biblical data apart from the seemingly unavoidable recognition of