The books of Kings and Chronicles cover much of the same history of God’s chosen people. The books of 1 and 2 Kings take the perspective of the northern kingdom of Israel, and the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles focus more on the southern kingdom of Judah. But the same kings are mentioned in both histories. There is some question about
King Ahaziah’s age when he started to reign (this is King Ahaziah of Judah, not King Ahaziah of Israel). One record (
2 Kings 8:26) says Ahaziah was 22 years old at the start of his reign, but the other record (
2 Chronicles 22:2) says he was 42 years old—at least in some translations.
4. Somewhere in the centuries-long copying process, a scribe made an error, changing the “22 years” of
2 Chronicles 22:2 to “42 years.” Not all the Hebrew manuscripts reflect the error, as a couple of ancient translations, the Syriac and the Arabic, each have “22 years,” thus bringing
2 Chronicles 22:2 and
2 Kings 8:26 into perfect agreement.
Adding support to this fourth theory is the biblical historian’s note in
2 Kings 8:17 that Ahaziah’s father, Joram, died at the age of 40. Therefore, Ahaziah could not have been 42 years old when he took over. Joram could not have had children before he himself was born, and so Ahaziah’s age when he began to reign must have been 22.