Unreliable Biblical history

Historical contradictions in the Bible

Biblical manuscripts are notoriously unreliable when it comes to historical fact, and these disagreements and contradictions appear not only between various works, but, in an even more bizarre fashion within individual books. Saul reigned over Israel for two years, according to 1 Samuel 13:1. This figure seems improbably low so the two in the Hebrew text is usually changed to read 'twenty - two' in translation. However Saul reigned for forty years, if you believe what is written in the book of Acts 13:21. The Book of Samuel places Rachel's tomb in Benjamin at Zelzah in the north (1 Samuel 10:2) , as does Jeremiah 31:15. Genesis 35:19 and Matthew 2:16 place the tomb in Bethlehem, further south. Three sons were born to Absalom, we are told in 2 Samuel 14:27. However, a few chapters ahead Absalom said, 'I have no sons to carry on my name.' (2 Samuel 18:18) In a similar passage, we are informed that to her dying day, Michal, daughter of Saul was childless, for she mocked David for dancing in his underwear. (2 Samuel 6:23) However a few chapters later we are introduced to ‘the five sons of Michal.' (2 Samuel 21:8) Translators have usually changed the word 'Michal' in the Hebrew text to read 'Merob' in order to help clear this matter up.

      Saul committed suicide in the 31st chapter of 1 Samuel. Saul's armor bearer refused to run him through with the sword, so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. Then his armor bearer fell on his own sword and died with him (1 Samuel 31:4). In the first chapter of 2nd Samuel Saul fell on his sword but he did not die. In this version a young Amalekite put him out of his misery by striking a death blow.

      We are informed that Ishosheth the Hachomite was chief of the three of David's great heroes. (2 Samuel 23:8) The Chronicler disagrees stating that it was Jashobeam the Hachomite who was the chief of the three of David's great heroes. (1 Chronicles 11:11) The 23rd chapter of 2nd Samuel then goes on to list the thirty great heroes of David, and this passage is the subject of much confusion. There are more than thirty. Thus a correction is inserted, "there were thirty - seven in all" (2 Samuel 23:38) but the actual number of names mentioned is thirty - six.

      'Chemosh' was not the god of the Ammonites as stated in Judges 11:24. Chemosh was the god of the Moabites. (Numbers 21:29, 1 Kings 11:7, 2 Kings 23:13) A contradictory theological reference to Chemosh is found in 1 Kings 3:27. It was standard theology to state there is one God, but in this passage Chemosh is also a god. The King of Moab offered a child as a whole offerings sacrifice to Chemosh, and the god responded by 'stirring up his wrath against Israel so they gave up the battle.' The Moabites are also painted in different colors, depending on the source. David (who was the grandson of a Moabite) had very friendly relations with the Moabites and even sent his father and mother to live with the King of Moab. (2 Samuel 22:3) According to Deuteronomy, David should never have been allowed into the assembly of Israel, much less reign as king, since no Moabite must ever be accepted forever. (Deuteronomy 23:3) David was in even more hot water, for the laws stated that no one who was a product of a mixed marriage with a non_Israelite could ever be accepted. (Exodus 34:11-16, Deuteronomy 7:1-5) You can compare the acceptance of Ruth , David's grandmother, and a Moabite, and the acceptance of David, a Moabite, as King, with the furious raging against mixed marriages in Ezra and Nehemiah. For reasons of political propaganda it would seem that an alternate tradition was invented to show that David really hated Moabites. David conquered Moab and then did some ethnic cleansing, forcing the Moabites to lie on the ground to be measured off for slaughter. (2 Samuel 8:2)

      While Ezra and Nehemiah share in common a loathing for foreigners, the two books come from two different sources. Compare Ezra 2:1-64 and Nehemiah 7:7-66. The differences in these genealogical lists suggest conflicting source materials, although we are given to believe that they describe the same time period and events. Ezra 2:64 gives the total of the list as '42,360' but the actual total is 29,818. The total in Nehemiah comes closer to that of Ezra with different details (31,089). Compare amount of gold and garments in Ezra 2:69 and Nehemiah 7:70. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah were not written by these men. Nehemiah lists the descendants of Joshua the High Priest down to six generations, suggesting that the manuscript was composed close to the time of Alexander the Great.

      We are told that Ishbosheth was 40 years old when he reigned over Israel and he reigned two years. (2 Samuel 2:10) This could not be the case for he did not fight at Gilboa because he was to young. David ordered that those who stayed with the baggage were to receive an equal share of the spoils of war with those who went out to battle, and from that time onward he made it a law over Israel as it remained up to the writers time. (1 Samuel 30:25) David was not yet King over Judah, not to mention Israel, and in no position to make a law over Israel. As well, the phrase "as it is to this day" shows that the manuscript was compiled at a later date from earlier (and, as we are seeing, conflicting) source materials.

      Now in the law it states that the Israelites must not despise an Edomite, for they were blood brothers. (Deuteronomy 23:7) It would seem that David was a law breaker. David made a great name for himself by the slaughter of eighteen thousand Edomites in the valley of Salt and he stationed garrisons throughout Edom. (2 Samuel 8:13) Or, then again, it was Abishai son of Zeruiah who killed those eighteen thousand Edomites in the valley of Salt; and he stationed garrisons throughout Edom. (1 Chronicles 18:13) However, before we condemn David as a law breaker, we should keep in mind that the Levitical law was unknown in David's day, and unknown in the day of whoever wrote the Samuel accounts, but it was known to the chronicler, since Chronicles is a late work. We are told that David's sons were priests. (2 Samuel 8:18) This indicates that the Levitical laws were unknown in their present form at that time, for David was from the tribe of Judah and the Levitical regulations only allowed levites from the tribe of Levi to serve as priests, and anyone else who approached would be put to death. Thus, the chronicler edits this reference to David (1 Chronicles 18:17) by stating that David's sons were ‘high officials in service to the king' (rather than priests, which, along with David's massacres of Edomites, would have placed David in serious violation of the law code - it was Abishai).