Bible Discussion Thread

 
  • Ryan - 3 years ago
    hello,

    please help me reconcile this contradicition??? i love the KJV, here it is:

    According to 2 Kings 8:26, Ahaziah was 22 years old when he began to reign, and reigned for one year in Jerusalem.

    2 Chronicles 22:2 gives his age as 42 years when his reign began in Jerusalem.

    which is it?
  • Jesse - In Reply - 3 years ago
    Ryan,

    Very interesting! It does seem as though there's a contradiction there. Definitely one I never caught, not that I look for contradictions because I trust God's word, but I do realize that men can make mistakes. The great thing about it is that when we find something that is in contradiction, the answer can usually be found in scripture. In this case, the one you are sharing, we can figure out which age we should go with, because they can't both be correct, right?

    Was he 22 or was he 42?

    I'm going with 22, and here's why. If you go to 2 Kings chapter 8 Verse 17, it tells us that Ahaziah's father Joram was 32 years old when he became king. He died 8 years later at the age of 40. Guess who took the throne after Joram died at age 40? His son Ahaziah took the throne according to the bible. I'm not too good at math, but I think I can figure this one out. If king Joram died at age 40 and his son took the throne after his death, he could not have been 42 or he would have been older that his dad, and that don't work unless you're from Arkansas! (Dear Lord, I hope no one from Arakansas is reading this!!!). So I think it is safe to say that his age was 22, not 42.

    I chose to answer you because you seem sincere. Someone else listed a whole slew of "contradictions" but never asked for help figuring them out. I'm not too sure what their motive was. But I believe we can find the answer to every supposed contradiction in the bible from the bible itself!
  • Sacha - In Reply - 3 years ago
    Hi Ryan ,we read in 2nd Chr ch21 v20 that Jehoram king of Jerusalem was only 40 years old when he died , so Ahaziah could not have been 42 years old when he began to reign , so the narrative in 2nd Kings which states that Ahaziah was 22 years old is very likely correct , it can get a bit confusing as the families of the kings of Israel and Judah did intermarry and pick the same names at times ,this does seem to be a genuine error in translation .



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