How old was Jehoiachin when he became king of Judah, 8 or 18?
Posted on Dec.07, 2008. Filed in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles. Average rating: 2.0 / 10 (Rate It).
Both 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles agree that Jehoiachin was king of Judah when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. They are less consistent, however, when it comes to his age at the start of his reign.
According to 2 Kings, Jehoiachin was 18 at his accession:
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign… [2 Kings 24:8a (NRSV)]
According to 2 Chronicles, though, he was only 8:
Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign… [2 Chronicles 36:9a (NRSV)]
So how old was Jehoiachin when he became king of Judah?
N.B. All posts are written in a style sympathetic to the claim of Biblical error, even in cases where the author ("Errancy") disagrees with the claim. See the About page for the site's philosophy.
1 Comment Ratings
Inerrantist Responses
To suggest a response to this claim of error, please use the comments section below.
Rate this Claim of Error
How serious a problem for inerrancy do you think this is?
Average rating: 2.0 / 10
You must be logged in to rate errors.
January 23rd, 2009 on 9:24 pm
Could be a copyist’s error. I think inerrantists are only supposed to believe that the original “autographs” were without error. That means errors that occurred as the Bible was copied don’t really count.