Jonah, Nineveh, and the eclipse of 763 BC

[KevinT]

I recently watched a YouTube Video, here, from a channel named Expedition Bible. I have not watched enough of this channel to determine the overall scholarly integrity of the presenter, but his presentation of the facts seemed to stand for itself. The overall subject of the video is how Biblical dating can be supported through archaeology. But what interested me was his discussion of a possible correlation between the story of Jonah and Nineveh and an eclipse.

Relevant facts:

• Assyrian chronologies have been discovered (see original translated source here) showing that in 763 BC, in the year with eponym Esdu-sarabe, it is stated "Revolt in city of Assur, in month of Sivan, sun was eclipsed." (see page 63 in above source).
  
  
• It is possible to date past eclipses, and it is known that in the area of Nineveh, there was an eclipse on June 15, 763 BC. And, actually, I think that eclipse was used to link the Esdu-sarabe year mentioned above to 763 BC. In this web site there is an artist's rendition of what the eclipse would have looked like in Nineveh. And at this website there is a graphic showing the path of the eclipse just north of Mosul, the modern name of the area for former Nineveh.
  
  
• Next is to determine the dating of Jonah. The book of Jonah, itself, doesn't seem to contain any dating links. But Jonah is mentioned as being a prophet during the reign of of Amaziah in Judah and Jeroboam in Israel:
  
  2 Kings 14:23 "In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. 24 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. 25 He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea,[e] in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher." (map of Jonah's home town Gath Hepher.)
  
  Here is a graphic timeline showing prophets and the kings of Judah and Israel, though it doesn't have any references for the sources of information. This site has a chronology table of the kings of Israel that includes Jeroboam's (Jeroboam II) dates of reign: 782/781-753 BC. And this link shows chronology of the kings of Judah that includes Amaziah's dates of reign: 796/795-767. Here is another chart: Wikipedia timeline of the kings of Israel and Judah.
  

So to conclude: Jonah seems to have been God's prophet at the time of the 763 BC Eclipse, and it is recorded that God sent Jonah to Nineveh, and also that the city repented. It is conjecture as the the EXACT timing. I.e. did Jonah show up BEFORE the eclipse? AFTER the eclipse? But the fact that the entire city repented gives weight to the fact that there was something in addition to Jonah's words that motivated everyone. Perhaps it was just the story of Jonah being swallowed by the fish, but if there was an eclipse, that would give even more weight to his words.

What do you think?

KT