Why do you guys bother with thes claims of inerrancy? It surely does nothing but damage your cause. Logically, you'd expect any ancient text to have errors, inconsistencies and mistranslations. By claiming supernatural errancy, you achieve another step towards disproving the existence of your claimed God when an error is actually found. I don't think any theist or atheist would think any less of your religion if you claimed that your particular Bible version is a good, albeit sometimes "mildly" flawed, means for conveying your religious message.
But because you claim errancy, you have to perform ridiculous and dishonest mental gymnastics like you have done in your email above.
How old was Noah when Shem was born? 500 or 502?
Tom wrote:
It appears to be a generalization of the age Noah was when he had his three sons. Ham is the youngest son, but Shem was born when Noah was 502 years old. kjv Genesis 11:10
And Genesis 5:32 says Shem was born when Noah was 500 years old. Generalisation, typo, falsity, inaccuracy, call it whatever but it is a literal error and inconsistency.
How many stalls did Solomon have for his horses? 4,000 or 40,000
He had 4,000 large stalls however each of these were divided into 10 stalls. This means he had both 4,000 stalls and 40,000 stalls.
And where the heck do you get that from?? You've just made that up, haven't you?
How long did Jotham reign in Jerusalem? 16 years or 20+ years?
Jotham reigned for 16 years and started his reign when he became 25 years old. When Jotham was 20 years old Remaliah reigned in Jotham's place (stead) for 5 years. 2 kings 15:30
Yes, 2 Kings 15:33 does say he reigned for 16 years, from the age of 25, but you have misunderstood 2 Kings 15:30:
"And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah."
This verse does not tells us what you claim about Remaliah: it only refers to his son Pekah, who was killed by Hoshea. Hoshea reigned in
Pekah's stead, (as King of Israel) in the twentieth year of
Jotham's reign (as King of Judah). I can't find any evidence to support your claim that Remaliah ruled in Jotham's place.
The expression "in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah" means in the twentieth year of Jotham's reign. Look how the expression "in the x year of y" is used throughout the rest of 2 Kings 15. If refers to year of reign, not age. When Kings refers to an age, it says "x was y years old".
There is a straight contradiction in 2 Kings 15 within three verses: 30 and 33.
When did Ahaziah begin his reign? 11th or 12th year?
Ahaziah was the King of Judah for 2 years and the King of Israel in Jorams place (stead) for 1 year.
I think you are confusing the Ahaziah King of Judah and the Ahaziah King of Israel. They are very much not the same person:
Timeline:
Kings of Israel and JudahTwo different kings:
Ahaziah, King of Israel
You even provide a definition of Ahaziah that depicts two different kings born of two different fathers:
"Ahaziah
'ăchazya^h / 'ăchazya^hu^
BDB Definition:
Ahaziah = Jehovah (Yahu) holds (possesses)
1) ruler of Israel, son of Ahab
2) ruler of Judah, son of Jehoram (Joram)
Part of Speech: noun proper masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H270 and H3050"
Ahaziah, king of Judah did not reign over Israel at all, and he only ruled over Judah for one year. (2 Kings and 2 Chronicles both have his reign at one year, not two). You have made incorrect statements of fact and failed to explain the Biblical inconsistency.
2 Kings 9:29 has Ahaziah commencing his reign as King of Judah in the 11th year of Joram's reign, 2 Kings 8:25 has Ahaziah commencing in Joram's 12th year. The inconsistency remains.
How old was Ahaziah when he began to reign? 22 or 42?
Ahaziah was 22 years when he began his reign of Judah, which he Ahaziah represented the 42nd year of the house of Ahab. The house of Ahab ended after these 42 years plus his two years of reigning as king of Judah.
Firstly, Ahaziah only reigned over Judah for 1 year before he was killed. Secondly, your trying, without justification to claim that 2 Chronicles refers to the
age of the house of Ahab and not Ahaziah's age. Let's see what it actually says:
"Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem..."
Doesn't say anything about the house of Ahab now does it?? I'd like to see you back up your claim of 42 years of the house of Ahab, byt the way.
You then go on to confuse the buggery out of the kings of Israel and Judah.
Another inconsistency remains.
And what about these:
How old was Jehoiachin when he began to reign?
8 (2Chronicles 36:9)
18 (2Kings 24:8)
How much gold was brought to Solomon from Ophir?
420 talents (1Kings 9:28)
450 talents (2Chronicles 8:18)
How long did God tell David he was to suffer famine?
3 years (1Chronicles 21:11-12)
7 years (2Samuel 24:13)
How many horsemen did David take with him from Hadadezer?
700 (2Samuel 8:4)
7,000 (1Chronicles 18:4)
Here's 300 odd more:
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/by_name.html
This message has been edited by Gilgamesh, 01-14-2005 00:09 AM