Can you clear up a bible contradiction?

Question

1 Kings 4:26 says that Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots and 12,000 horsemen, but 2 Chronicles 9:25 agrees that he had 12,000 horsemen but only 4,000 stalls for his horses and chariots.

I know it doesn't seem important how many stalls he had...but if this is a a mistake, how do we know that there are no other errors in the bible? BTW, I am a Christian that considers the bible to be the Word of God, as long as it is translated correctly.

Answer 1

1Ki 4:26 - And Solomon had forty thousand stalls for horses,.... In 2Ch_9:25; it is only four thousand; and therefore some think that here is a mistake of the copier, of "arbaim", forty, for "arbah", four; which it is thought might be through divine permission, in such lesser matters, without any prejudice to the authority of the Scriptures in matters of faith and practice; but without supposing this, a reconciliation may be made, by observing, that here the writer, as Ben Gersom notes, gives the number of the horses that were in the stables, which were forty thousand, there the stables themselves, which were four thousand, ten horses in a stable; or here he numbers the stalls, which were forty thousand, and there the stables, which were four thousand, there being ten stalls in each; and the word there has the letter "yod" in it more than here, which is the numerical letter for "ten", and may point thereunto; or here the writer speaks of all the stalls for horses Solomon had throughout the kingdom, there of those only he had in Jerusalem. Benjamin of Tudela (g) affirms, that these stalls, or stables, which Solomon built very strong of large stones, are still in being in Jerusalem, and that there is no building to be seen like it any where; but no other writer speaks of them; nor is it at all probable that they should remain:

for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; some of the said stalls of horses were for his chariots, to draw in them for various uses, of which had 1400, 1Ki_10:26; and others to mount twelve thousand horsemen, who were placed in various parts, to defend kingdom.

Answer 2

In response to an above answer....I don't know that there are any original manuscripts....are there?   If there are...why the discrepancy?   Especially on a topic like this.....

Answer 3

http://www.lookinguntojesus.net/index.ht...

www.wayofthemaster.com

Answer 4

More than likely, it was a simple clerical error.  However, we really don't know.

.

Answer 5

let me look it up.. brb

what translation are you using? that could be the problem

edit: okay, found an explanation : http://sol.sci.uop.edu/~jfalward/solomon...

You can't put your faith in translations, only the ORIGINAL manuscripts are inerrant.

Answer 6

You can have a stall in which 100 horses are fed, or another writer may have consider one horse one stall.

Jesus said "I wonder how the faith of men will be when I return". Brother, does this make you stumble? What if a leader than can 'resurrect' comes up? Or one that has all the solutions to our problems in these times and governments? Or what if you see aliens - with superb intelligence and advanced technology - defying the 'creation of Adam and Eve by God, and they showed you they were here on earth since eons and whatched men all along?

Answer 7

One error leads to another and another.  

Answer 8

God inspired the men, not the pen.  

Answer 9

What about if you take a Bible commentary and seek it yourself

The Bible does not have serious contradictions.

Answer 10

If you read a 1611 yr (kjv) you'll find it has sevral more books then yours. Also there are no Js in it . The word Ieseous is used for jesus. So this means the word jesus did'nt appear utill after 1611. His real name is Yahshua.

Answer 11

the second one refers to the houses themself(stalls)and the first one refers to the horses themself . so put it like this solomon had 4000 stalls with approx. 10 horses in each.which is the 40000.heads of horses

Answer 12

those numbers are representative of other things that the bible is talking about.

Answer 13

Hello. I can relate to the frustration you can get when you read the Bible and don't really seem to be able to follow what they are saying. I finally found this website called OnePlace.com. It has a really cool way you can read the Bible and choose from more translations than I knew existed before I became fully committed to getting to know God's word. It also lets you parallel between any two translation versions so you can see just how things can be explained so we can understand what it is saying. My favorite translation version is "The Message." It even helped my teenage son understand for the first time what he was reading too. I wish you well and do hope you continue seeking Him. :)

Answer 14

The Bible is a book written by countless authors; the stories being stretched over thousands of years to which they're not the truth anymore.

The Bible is full of contradictions.

Don't believe it.

Research it.

Answer 15

The question should be, What do the number of Solomon's horses or stalls have to do with your salvation.

Does it really matter whether there are 40,000 or 4,000?

Answer 16

As others have stated, this is a problem you will run into over and over. And even though I am a Christian, I have to agree with those that say not to put too much stock in the bible.

Yes, the bible is full of errors. Yes, men corrupted it. Some were purposeful some were not. They were trying to make points and push personal interpretations. That's no different than today. But what does that really prove? That men are (as we already know) erring.

But most importantly just because the bible is wrong doesn't mean God doesn't exist. Too many people make that leap.

Answer 17

the original Taurat has been modified for writers/statesman' desires. 1 point they attempted to create a situation between Ismail & Is'haq alayhi salaam (peace be upon them), sons of Ibrahim alayhi salaam. True story, Ismail as a baby with his mom Hajir was told by Allah, our 1Creator, Ibrahim's 1Lord, to send them away, before Is'haq was born & a nation would develop from Ibrahim & Ismail & Is'haq

check this:

example according to Gen. 16:16 Abraham alayhi salaam (peace be upon him) was 86 years old when Ishmael was born. And according to Gen. 21:5 Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac alayhi salaam was born. It follows that Ishmael was already fourteen years old when his younger brother Isaac was born. According to Gen. 21:8-19 the incident took place after Isaac was weaned. Biblical scholars tell us the child was probably weaned at about the age of three. Thus, it follows that when Hagar and Ishmael alayhi salaam were taken away Ishmael was a full-grown teenager, seventeen years old. However, the profile of Ishmael in Gen 21:14-19 is a small baby and not a full-grown teenager. Why?

Genesis 21:14-21

14 Early next morning Abraham took some food and a full water-skin and gave them to Hagar. He set the child on her shoulder and sent her away, and she wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 When the water in the skin was finished, she thrust the child under a bush, 16 then went and sat down some way off, about a bowshot distant. How can I watch the child die? she said, and sat there, weeping bitterly. 17 God heard the child crying, and the angel of God called from heaven to Hagar, What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid: God has heard the child crying where you laid him. 18 Go, lift the child and hold him in your arms, because I shall make of him a great nation. 19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well full of water; she went to it, filled the water-skin, and gave the child a drink. 20 God was with the child as he grew up.

1. the original Hebrew for Gen. 21:14 is " and put the bread and water on her shoulder AND the boy." Anyone fluent in Hebrew can confirm this.

How would a mother carry a seventeen-year-old teenager on her shoulder? Certainly he was probably strong enough to carry his mother. Ishmael must have been a baby!

Second, in Gen 21:15 we are told that Hagar put the child under one of the bushes. Ishmael must have been a baby and not a teenager!

Third, in Gen 21:16 we are told that Hagar sat away so she did not have to see the child die before her eyes. Is this the profile of a husky seventeen-year-old teenager who probably was capable of being worried about his mother dying before his eyes? Or is it obviously a profile of a small helpless baby? Ishmael must have been a baby and not a teenager

read the Quran http://www.quranexplorer.com/quran/

Alhamdulillah (All Praises be to Allah)

Answer 18

Simply put, this was probably a copyist's error in transcribing the text, and it should read 4000 as in 2 Chronicles 9:25.

This though is admitted in good study Bibles.

It is also important that this does not change Orthodoxy or Orthopracty. (Probably didn't spell that right, but it means the way we practice our faith).

Answer 19

This may help explain it. Consider how much what each non Aramaic speaking listener heard differed from what their neighbor heard? Idiomatically and by local vernacular. Now think about Translators removed by centuries from the local dialects in which the Bible was written.

Acts 2

1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance 5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another,  Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.h 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, Whatever could this mean?

13 Others mocking said,They are full of new wine

Answer 20

"... as far as it is translated correctly." Unfortunately, there've been so many translations, versions, etc of the Bible that I don't know if there's any way to truly know for sure which version is correct, if any.

At the same time, if I were to tell you that today I have $X.00 in my checking account, then report a different number to you next week/month/year... does that make one report true and the other false?... eh, not necessarily.