Supposed Contradictions CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
There are supposed contradictions in the Bible. These supposed contradictions are reconciled by believing the Bible and by realizing that the information in the Bible is supplemental, not contradictory. You should recognize that men who purport to have found contradictions in the Bible do not believe the Bible, are not interested in believing the Bible and have not studied the Bible enough to resolve the apparent contradictions. Their only desire is to get you to question the Bible, like the devil did to Eve [Gen 3:1], and talk you out of your faith in the Bible. Here are some of the more common supposed contradictions:
The order of creation – Gen 1:25-27; Gen 2:7-25 – Gen 1:25-27 is a summary of what took place on the sixth day [Gen 1:31] and Gen 2:7-25 is the account of the order and the manner in which God created the things that he created on the sixth day. These are not two different and contradictory accounts of creation; rather they are supplemental.
The number of legs on a grasshopper – Lev 11:20-23 – grasshoppers, locusts and beetles have four ambulatory legs [the walking legs] and two saltatory legs [the jumping legs, “legs above their feet, to leap withal,” v.21]. There’s no contradiction; the Bible identifies them just like the entomologists.
Ahaziah’s age when he began to reign – 2 Ki 8:26; 2 Chr 22:2 – there are two Ahaziah’s who are co-regents. One is 22 [the son of Jehoram] and the other is 42 [the adopted son of Jehoshaphat]. You can see this clearly when you examine how they die [one in Samaria and one in Megiddo], 2 Ki 9:27; 2 Chr 22:9.
The volume of the molten sea in Solomon’s temple – 1 Ki 7:26; 2 Chr 4:5 – the capacity of the molten sea was 3,000 baths but it was filled with only 2,000 baths.
The charioteers and footmen or horsemen who were killed by David – 1 Chr 19:18; 2 Sam 10:18 – David killed 7,000 charioteers in 700 chariots and he killed 40,000 mounted infantrymen [they rode horseback to the battlefield and fought on foot].
The differences in the genealogies of Ezra 2 and Neh 7 – Ezra 2:64; Neh 7:66 – notice, first, that the census of the whole congregation is the same, 42,360. The differences are in the count among some of the families in the lists. For one thing, the numbers in the lists don’t add up to the total census. Ezra’s is off by 12,542 and Nehemiah’s is off by 11,271. These not counted are the numbers of men in the congregation who could not “shew their father’s house, and their seed” [as in Ezra 2:59]. Ezra’s list is the original census when they “came again unto Jerusalem and Judah,” [Ezra 2:1] and Nehemiah’s list is written over 10 years later and corrected [Neh 7:5]. About 1,300 more men were able to shew their father’s house by then and some of the numbers had to be revised within the families as they found some discrepancies. Notice very carefully that Ezra said, “The number of the men of the people of Israel,” [Ezra 2:2] whereas Nehemiah said, “The number, I say, of the men of the people of Israel was this” [Neh 7:7]. He clearly came up with some differences after they had time to identify the families of some more of the men and clear up a few differences within the families: nineteen of the families are identical and fourteen are revised. Two of the revisions differ by 1, one by 4, two by 6, two by 9, one by 11, two by 100, one by 105, one by 201, one by 300, and the largest, the sons of Azgad, by 1,100 between the accounts of Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7. These are not contradictions, at all, but rather the actual numbers in the two different lists.
The name in which people are baptized – Matt 28:19; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:16; Acts 10:48; Acts 19:5 – the Lord [Ezek 20:5, 7, 19, 26, etc.; 1 Cor 12:3; 2 Cor 3:17] – the name of the Father is the Lord, the name of the Son is the Lord and the name of the Holy Spirit is the Lord. Jews were typically baptized in the name of Jesus because he is their Messiah and they had rejected him.
The people who requested the seats on the right and left hand of Jesus – Mk 10:35-37; Matt 20:20-21 – this supposed contradiction is listed here just to show you the depths that those who hate the word of God will go to try to discredit the truth of scripture. James and John’s mother asked for her sons to be given those seats and they asked for them, as well.
Conclusion: we could go on with this list for up to 1,000 supposed contradictions and the result is always going to be the same. Those skeptics who do not believe the Bible because they don’t like it are going to look for excuses to justify not believing the Bible’s other passages concerning their sin and their eternity. Just don’t let them talk you out of your belief in the true words of God with such flimsy evidence as these supposed contradictions.