3,600 or 3,300 overseers?

2 Chronicles 2:2— “Here it says that Solomon appoint 3,600 overseers for the work of building the temple, but 1 Kings 5:16 says it was only 3,300.”

This is not too great a problem. The most likely solution is that 2 Chronicles included the 300 men who were selected as reservists to take the place of any supervisors who would become ill or who had died, while 1 Kings 5:16 passage includes only the supervisory force. With the group as large as the 3,300, sickness and death certainly did occur, requiring reserves who would be called up as the need arose. The Qur’ān has similar numerical discrepancies—Sura ‘Imran describes multiple angels announcing to Maryam Jesus’ birth, whereas in Sura Maryam 19:17-21 it only indicates one angel. Sura Qamar 54:19 says Allah took one day to destroy the people of Aad, but Sura Hakka 69:6-7 says it was eight long days.

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