Historical problems, inconsistencies, and contradictions comprise a significant part of the Bible:
- (1) "Thirty and two years old was he (Jehoram--Ed.) when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem 8 years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings" (2 Chron. 21:20) and "the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead.... So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign...." (1 Chron. 22:1-2). If Jehoram began to reign at age 32 and ruled 8 years, then he died at age 40. Yet, his son took over at age 42. Imagine a son two years older than his father!
- (2) "In the thirty and first (31st) year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, twelve years:...." (1 Kings 16:23) versus "So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria and Ahab his son reigned in his stead. And in the thirty and eighth (38th) year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel" (1 Kings 16:28-29). How could Omri have reigned 12 years if he ruled from the 31st to the 38th year of Asa's rule? And how could Ahab have taken over from his father Omri in the 38th year of Asa's rule when Omri didn't give up his rule until the 43rd year of Asa's rule (31 + 12=43)?
- (3) "Solomon had three score and ten thousand (70,000) that bare burdens, and four score thousand (80,000) hewers in the mountains; Beside the chief of Solomon's officers which were over the work, three thousand and three hundred (3,300) which ruled over the people that wrought in the work" (1 Kings 5:15-16) and "the house which king Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore (60) cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits and the height thereof thirty cubits" (1 Kings 6:2) and "...So he was 7 years in building it" (1 Kings 6:38). It took 153,300 men seven years to build a house that was 60 cubits by 20 cubits by 30 cubits or 96 X 32 X 48 feet. The mountain labored and brought forth a mouse.
- (4) Now, behold, in my (David--Ed.) trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver...." (1 Chron. 22:14). The gold collected amounted to $3 billion and the silver amounted to #2 billion. In other words, David gathered more bullion than was possessed by the Roman Empire at the height of its power.
- (5) "Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six (666) talents of gold...." (1 Kings 10:14). A talent of gold is worth over $29,000. The chief of a petty, barren district of Asia Minor without significant arts, manufacture, or civilization received $20,000,000 per year. Yet, the Romans only got $22,500,000 from all their Asiatic provinces.
- (6) "Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the world...." (Ezra 1:2). When did Cyrus rule all the world or all the known world?
- (7) "...so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand (500,000) chosen men" (2 Chron. 13:17). If this is a correct figure, what a massacre! At Gettysburg, the greatest battle of the Civil War, the defeated army lost fewer than 5,000 men or 1/100th the number.
- (8) "It came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth (480th) year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the 4th year of Solomon's reign over Israel...." (1 Kings 6:1) versus "About the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot. And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of 450 years until Samuel the prophet (who lived before Solomon--Ed.)." If there were 480 years between the time they left Egypt until the 4th year of Solomon's reign and Judges ruled for 450 of these years, then that would mean that Saul and David, both of whom lived before Solomon, could only have ruled for a total of 30 years. Yet, David, alone, ruled 40 years as 2 Sam. 5:4 ("David was 30 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years") shows.
- (9) "The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God" (Ex. 23:19). Exodus was supposedly written by Moses. Yet, how could this verse have been written before the time of Solomon; for God had no house prior to the erection of the temple in 1004 B.C. which was 447 years after Moses? When David proposed to build god a house He forbade it and said he had never lived in a house since they left Egypt. "Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle" (2 Sam. 7:6).
- (10) "Your children shall wander in the wilderness for forty years...." (Num. 14:33). Does "wander" mean "lost?" If so, how could they be lost for 40 years in an area only 400 miles wide at its widest part?
- (11) "Huram said moreover, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth...." (2 Chron. 2:12). Hiram, king of Tyre, was not a Jew. Would he have said that the God of Israel made heaven and earth?
- (12) "Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even 400,000 chosen men; Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with 800,000 chosen men, being mighty men of valour" (2 chron. 13:3). All these soldiers were Jews; all lived in Palestine, a poor miserable little country about 1/4th the size of New York. Yet, 1,200,000 soldiers were put in the field. This would have required a population of 10 to 12 million which is absurd. Palestine could have barely supported 2,000,000.
- (13) "and the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: and he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but it be a daughter, then she shall live" (Ex. 1:15-16). Would the Pharoah have entrusted the execution of a command on which he thought the safety of the kingdom depended, to Hebrews. It is all but certain that the midwives were Egyptian not Hebrew. Shiphrah and Puah are Egyptian names. Josephus says they were Egyptian (Antiq. B2, Ch. 9:2).