Bath Circumference
1 Kings 7:23—”If the bath had a diameter of 10 cubits the circumference should be 31.416.”
Verse 26 says that the bath rim was about 8cm thick and was shaped like a lily:
Therefore it depends on where you measure from.…
4,000 or 40,000 stalls?
1 Kings 4:26—”Did Solomon have 40,000 stalls for his horses (1 Kings 4:26), or 4,000 stalls (2 Chronicles 9:25)?”
This is clearly a copyist mistake; the original text of both is 4,000. In Hebrew, forty (ארבעים) and four (ארבעת) look almost identical.…
Seven or three years?
2 Samuel 24:13—”This passage mentions that there will be seven years of famine, whereas 1 Chronicles 21:12 mentions only three.”
We may assume that the author of 1 Chronicles emphasized the three-year period in which the famine was to be most intense, whereas the author of 2 Samuel includes the two years prior to and after this period, during which the famine worsened and lessened respectively.…
Fighting men in Judah (2 Samuel 24:9)
2 Samuel 24:9— (Question #2) “This passage gives the round figure of 500,000 fighting men in Judah, which was 30,000 more than the corresponding item in 1 Chronicles 21:5.”
1 Chronicles 21:6 clearly states that Joab did not complete the numbering, as he had not yet taken a census of the tribe of Benjamin, nor that of Levi’s either, due to the fact that David came under conviction about completing the census at all.…
God or Satan incited David?
2 Samuel 24:1— “Does God incite David to conduct the census of his people (2 Samuel 24:1), or does Satan (1 Chronicles 21:1)?”
One might as well ask in the incident of a shooting whether a shooter kills a victim or the gun killed the victim.…
2 Samuel 23:8 – 800 or 300 men?
2 Samuel 23:8— “Did the chief of the mighty men of David lift up his spear and killed 800 men (2 Samuel 23:8) or only 300 men (1 Chronicles 11:11)?”
It is quite possible that either the passages described two separate incidents of the same man, or one passage may have only mentioned in part what the other passage mentions in full.…
Five sons or no sons?
2 Samuel 21:8—”Did Michal have five sons or no sons (2 Samuel 6:23)?”
Two ancient Hebrew manuscripts and some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac read “Merab”; other manuscripts read “Michal.” It is quite clear that originally the text said “Merab” as in the former manuscripts and there was a copyist mistake in the others, since Merab was the one of the sisters remarried to Adriel (1 Samuel 18:19).…
1,700 or 7,000 horsemen?
2 Samuel 8:4—”Did David capture 1,700 of King Zobah’s horsemen (2 Samuel 8:4), or was it 7,000 (1 Chronicles 18:4)?”
It is sufficiently clear that the original text for 2 Samuel 8:4 is seven thousand; (“one thousand chariots seven thousand horsemen”), like in Chronicles.…
Ark moved when?
2 Samuel 5,6— “Did David bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem after defeating the Philistines (2 Samuel 5,6), or before (1 Chronicles chapters 13 and 14)?”
This is not really a problem, for if we continue reading on further to 1 Chronicles 15, we find that David brought the Ark after defeating the Philistines.…
Jerusalem captured or not?
Joshua 10:23,40—”This verse says that Joshua and the Israelites did capture Jerusalem, but Joshua 15:63 says they did not.”
They didn’t capture Jerusalem. In chapter 10, Jerusalem’s king led an army out to attack Gibeon, where he was killed by Joshua’s armies.…