probable Old Testament contradiction — Is King Ahaziah age 22 or 42?

[Multicolored Lemur]

Bible Gateway passage: 2 Kings 8 - New King James Version

The King Restores the Shunammite’s Land - Then Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise and go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can; for the Lord has called for a famine, and furthermore, it will come upon the land for seven years.” So the woman...

www.biblegateway.com

2 Kings, chapter 8,

verse 26:

“Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel.”

(New King James Version)

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Bible Gateway passage: 2 Chronicles 22 - New King James Version

Ahaziah Reigns in Judah - Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his place, for the raiders who came with the Arabians into the camp had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, reigned. Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he...

www.biblegateway.com

2 Chronicles, chapter 22,

verse 2:

“Ahaziah was [a]forty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah the [b]granddaughter of Omri.”

[a] = “twenty-two, 2 Kin. 8:26”

[ b] = “Lit. daughter”

(New King James Version)

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Bible Gateway passage: 2 Chronicles 22 - English Standard Version

Ahaziah Reigns in Judah - And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his place, for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he...

www.biblegateway.com

2 Chronicles 22: 2

“Ahaziah was twenty-two[a] years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri.”

[a] = “See 2 Kings 8:26; Hebrew forty-two; Septuagint twenty”

(English Standard Version)

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Now, I’m not sure why this version shuffles the issue off to a footnote, but at least it’s still there.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Far Eastern Bible College | Articles in Defence of VPP

“The problem with this easy solution is: if there is one error in the Bible (albeit an innocent slip of the pen), who is to say there are not other errors in the Bible?”

“ . . his reign is counted (in Chronicles) from the beginning of the evil dynasty of Omri. . ”

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The verses clearly say it’s the age of the king, but we’re going to count it as the years of the dynasty? (as possible solution). I guess that’s one way to square the circle.

I think it’s better just to take a deep breath and say, scribal error.

Look, unlike this Bible College website . . .

most people just don’t take religion that seriously, and that’s the fact of the matter.

In fact, I think that’s kind of the way to approach religion. For example, Christianity has inspiring stories of love and sacrifice. It has good words for a marriage, for the birth of a child, for a funeral. And it has a book you can read from in ceremonial fashion.

It all works as long as you don’t look at it too deeply.

And actually, I kind of wish I could look at it that way. But I became an evangelical Christian at age 13. And it’s kind of like, I got all the way into it, so I need to get all the way out.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Was Ahaziah 22 years old (2 Kings 8:26) or 42 years old (2 Chronicles 22:2) when he started his reign? | GotQuestions.org

Was Ahaziah 22 years old (2 Kings 8:26) or 42 years old (2 Chronicles 22:2) when he started his reign? How old was Ahaziah when he became the king of Judah?

www.gotquestions.org

‘ . . The original manuscript of each book of the Bible, being directly inspired by God, was free from all error. However, a few copyist errors crept into the Hebrew manuscripts as they were passed down from one generation to the next. In this case, the numerical notations in question varied so slightly that a smudge of ink, a wrinkle, or a tear on one copy could have led a scribe to write “42” rather than “22.”

‘The Bible today is just as authoritative as it was when originally written. We can completely trust the Bible as being God’s message to us. God’s Word endures forever, despite the occasional scribal mistake. . ’

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And I think this will be the view of many Christians.

 

[bbyrd009]

Was Ahaziah 22 years old (2 Kings 8:26) or 42 years old (2 Chronicles 22:2) when he started his reign? | GotQuestions.org

Was Ahaziah 22 years old (2 Kings 8:26) or 42 years old (2 Chronicles 22:2) when he started his reign? How old was Ahaziah when he became the king of Judah?

www.gotquestions.org

‘ . . The original manuscript of each book of the Bible, being directly inspired by God, was free from all error. However, a few copyist errors crept into the Hebrew manuscripts as they were passed down from one generation to the next. In this case, the numerical notations in question varied so slightly that a smudge of ink, a wrinkle, or a tear on one copy could have led a scribe to write “42” rather than “22.”

‘The Bible today is just as authoritative as it was when originally written. We can completely trust the Bible as being God’s message to us. God’s Word endures forever, despite the occasional scribal mistake. . ’

************

And I think this will be the view of many Christians.

im pretty sure “Bible” and “Word” are different anyway, but this one rather famous mistake has always made me wonder. Ive come to see it as deliberately installed tbh

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Ive come to see it as deliberately installed tbh

Maybe a teenager acting on a goof and a smirk, or maybe an older person trying to shoehorn in some long held belief, or anywhere in between.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Ive come to see it as deliberately installed tbh

Maybe a teenager acting on a goof and a smirk, or maybe an older person trying to shoe-horn in some long held belief, or anywhere in between!

 

[bbyrd009]

Maybe a teenager acting on a goof and a smirk, or maybe an older person trying to shoe-horn in some long held belief, or anywhere in between!

i wonder if it isnt an installed mistake, just to mess with perceived “perfection,” being as how the Bible has so many other deliberate contradictions

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

being as how the Bible has so many other deliberate contradictions

You may be right, but I’ve just never thought about it that way.

Somewhere I heard that they didn’t want Benjamin Franklin to write and/or print the actual United States Constitution because they were afraid he might put a joke in it! Maybe in a certain part the 3rd letter of every line and once you know it, it’s a zinger that just jumps out at you. And Franklin could do something like this because, besides being a smart and clever person, he also started out as a printer!

Okay, about the Bible . . .

I think a lot of it was scribes that aren’t very good, or aren’t very sophisticated, taking different versions and just cutting and pasting them together. For example, the two creation stories the beginning of Genesis.

Or two stories of the Flood. In one story, there’s a pair of every type of animal. In the other, 7 pairs of the “clean” animals. Now, someone could reconcile this by saying, well, the second version is just more detailed than the first. But I think there are other details such as the days the flood lasted which can’t be reconciled. Just two versions pasted together.