Bible Contradictions

Phil · 10-01-2001, 12:11 PM

realist999 brought up this....

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
- II Kings 24:8
Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.
- II Chronicles 36:9

usually my bible has some kind of footnote that explains possible contradictions, but i couldn't find one for these verses....any one??

Phil · 10-01-2001, 12:18 PM

BTW, if anyone knows of any other supposidly contradictions in the Bible I would love to hear them here

realist999 · 10-01-2001, 12:22 PM

I think one would be sufficient to prove that the bible in not perfect.

Phil · 10-01-2001, 12:38 PM

id like to hear from luke about this one... too bad he's not here

guyforGod · 10-01-2001, 01:28 PM

ummmmm what version are you guys lookin at, cuz the NIV says the same thing in both verses

Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. He did evil in the sight of the Lord
2 Chronicles 36:9

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalme. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father had done.
2 Kings 23:8-9

or was the eight supposed to be 18 in the second one???

i am not seeing a contradiction.

--Brian

Luke · 10-01-2001, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by fillup07
[B]realist999 brought up this....

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
- II Kings 24:8
Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.
- II Chronicles 36:9

He was 18. We know this because he had wives at the time (2 Kings 24:15).

Many of our Hebrew manuscripts list him as 18, however, the ones that the particular compilation that the English translation was taken from said 8.

So, basically, we have some errant manuscripts.

Phil · 10-01-2001, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by guyforGod
ummmmm what version are you guys lookin at, cuz the NIV says the same thing in both verses

Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. He did evil in the sight of the Lord
2 Chronicles 36:9

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalme. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father had done.
2 Kings 23:8-9

or was the eight supposed to be 18 in the second one???

i am not seeing a contradiction.

--Brian

the NASB has 18 and 8

**Chrysostom** · 10-01-2001, 02:34 PM

No one said every manuscript was perfect, or even that our English Bibles are perfect. Instead, we said the original Scriptures are inerrant and divinely inspired. Therefore, slight copying errors or inconsistency of manuscripts in no way disproves the original text's inerrancy. As Luke pointed out, it says he had wives, so why would he be 8? i would consider this an obvious copying error.

SnapCase · 10-01-2001, 02:38 PM

Yeah..I answered that on the other thread that this came up in. See..we all agree

guyforGod · 10-01-2001, 02:45 PM

ok thanks fillup

thought i was seeing things!

--Brian

Phil · 10-01-2001, 05:46 PM

yup.... does anyone know about the hebrew with numbers?? is 18 and 8 just a difference of writing a "1" in front of it????

**Chrysostom** · 10-01-2001, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by fillup07
yup.... does anyone know about the hebrew with numbers?? is 18 and 8 just a difference of writing a "1" in front of it????

i may be wrong, but i would assume they use base 10. The only other base commonly used was 60, to my knowledge. i believe the Babylonians used that, so it's a possibility they did too, but i think they used 10.

Phil · 10-01-2001, 05:55 PM

man i wish i knew lots of languages!!!

SccHarpGirl · 10-02-2001, 05:27 PM

IN hebrew the various letters had a number component. you make 18 by joining ten (Yud) and eight (CHet). That's about the extent of my knowledge in Hebrew, hope it helps

Luke · 10-02-2001, 05:31 PM

Like SCC said, Hebrew uses base ten and would use a prefix for the addition of ten just like we do.

And, for whoever brought it up, Rome used base 6 (not 60, 6). They also created our time system, which is why you have a 60/60/24 system (6×10, 6×10, 6×4).

Personally, I have always thought we should keep the 24 hours but redefine minutes and seconds on a 1/100 system...will never happen, though.