The Problem of Jehoiachin's Age
2 Kings 24:8 vs. 2 Chronicles 36:9
By Fred Butler |
Fred's
Bible Talk
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As a believer reads the
scriptures, he will occasionally come across what are termed
"copyist’s errors." These are apparent discrepancies found
primarily in the OT, particularly within the historical
books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. The two books of
Samuel with the two books of Kings parallel the two books of
Chronicles in recording the history of Israel. Together, the six books begin
with the monarchy of Saul and then finish with Cyrus's
decree to allow the Jews safe return to the land. The
“copyist’s errors” occur when the two sets of histories are
studied concurrently. Information contained in Kings will
be exactly the same as the account in Chronicles, but a
slight alteration exists between the two narratives. This
is the case with the two passages before us:
2 Kings 24:8 reads:
Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he began to
reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem 3 months.
2
Chronicles 36:9 reads:
Jehoiachin was 8 years old when he began to
reign, and he reigned 3 months and 10 days.
The disparity has to do with
Jehoiachin's age: Was he 18 when he began his reign
as king or was he 8?
A
standard study Bible will usually contain a footnote for
these two passages that will read something like, “This is a
copyist error and the ‘18’ of 2 Kings 24:8 is the correct
rendering.” The footnote may even state such ancient
translations of the original Hebrew like the Septuagint even
correct the “error.” Other scholarly works tend to provide a
similar, vague and inconclusive answer. For example, in
Gleason Archer's Encyclopedia of Biblical Difficulties,
the author’s comments on this problem are identical to the
traditional study Bible footnote. Archer writes, “Obviously
there has been a textual error committed by the copyist.
This type of error occurs now and then because of blurring
or surface damage in the earlier manuscript.” Archer then
goes on to explain how a miswritten stroke over a series of
numerical characters can be mistaken for an “8” rather than
an “18.” Another book, When Critics Ask, also deals
with such problems. The authors, Norman
Geisler and Thomas Howe, give
the same answer to the dilemma. They write, “This is
probably a copyist error. The text gives the description of
an older man rather than a younger boy. Additionally, the
Chaldeans condemned him to
prison, indicating that they considered him to be a
responsible adult.”
It seems as if no one really
grapples with the biblical account itself to find an answer.
I respect their answer in that these solutions recognize
the presence of textual variants, errors that arise between
ancient, handwritten manuscripts copied and transmitted from
one generation to the next and these variants will produce
discrepancies between historical accounts. However, I do
not believe all discrepancies are necessarily “copyist’s
errors.” With many of these difficult passages, I think
scholars lazily sweep the problem under the category of
“copyist error” and do not provide a full study of the
overall text where the alleged error is found. Can we
honestly say that all such difficult discrepancies fall into
the realm of a “copyist’s error?” I do not think so and
when we reconsider these portions of scripture, I believe
there are some other reasonable solutions from the actual
passages.
(1).
The first solution is quite simple. During a monarchy a king
would make a son co-regent with him while he was still
alive. This practice would assure the king's favored son
(usually the first-born of the favored wife) as being the
next king. Some of the kings had more than one wife, and
thus several sons from these wives. To prevent civil war and
fighting among the family, he would appoint the selected son
as co-regent, so when he died, the co-regent son would be in
place to take over completely. An example of this is seen in
the life of David. In 1 Kings 1 and 2, David in his dying
days called Solomon and had the high priest, as well as the
prophet Nathan, anoint him before the people. David, though
he was still king, made his son Solomon co-regent. Coming
to 2 Kings 24:8, the biblical record is giving the age of
Jehoiachin as 18. The
cross-reference of “8 years old” in 2 Chronicles 36:9 could
be his age when he was made the co-regent with his father.
(2).
A second solution involves the king's mother. When
Jehoiachin was 8 years old, his
father, Jehoiakim, was deported
(2 Chron. 36:6). The young king
ruled jointly with his mother, the queen, until he too was
led away captive. The reasoning behind this view is that
women were not necessarily listed in the historical record.
Even though the king was young and the queen was probably
making decisions, the official record would name
Jehoiachin as the king. The one
difficulty with this view, however, is that the biblical
narrative would more than likely be more specific about such
a situation. The one place that names a queen is 2 Kings 11
with Athaliah. If there were a
joint rulership between
Jehoiachin and his mother, such
a deviation from the norm would have been discussed in the
scripture. Some writers point out 2 Kings 24:12 where the
text describes the king going to Babylon with his mother. They say this implies
she ruled jointly with him, but nothing in the text remotely
suggests such a conclusion. The phrase “his mother” does
not mean she ruled with him anymore than the servants,
princes, and officers also listed in the deportation
recorded in the verse. Another passage is Jeremiah 13:8,
where it speaks of the coming deportation of the king and
queen. It is argued the queen is
Jehoiachin’s mother, but the text is not specific.
This queen could be his wife for all we know.
(3).
The third solution, and the one that appears to be more
biblical, hinges on the phrase 8 years old from 2
Chronicles 36:9. The 8 years does not refer to the actual
age of Jehoiachin but is a time
marker pointing to an event: the first invasion of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar and the
Babylonians. In 605 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar invaded the
Mediterranean countries including Judah.
It was during this first invasion when Daniel and many
others were taken to Babylon in what was to be the first of 3
deportations. The second was in 598-597 B.C. with the taking
of Jehoiachin’s father
Jehoiakim. The Babylonians left
Jehoiachin in power as a sort of
puppet regent, but only for 3 months (2
Chron. 36:9 gives the exact figure of 3 months, 10
days). Like his father, Jehoiachin
rebelled and the Babylonians returned to have him removed.
They took him back to
Babylon, and
left his brother Zedekiah as king. Jehoiachin's
appointment as king was 8 years after Nebuchadnezzar came to
power and invaded Judah. This is
the reason 2 Chronicles 36:9 has “8 years old.” Second Kings
24:12 affirms this solution where it states, “and the king
of Babylon
took him (Jehoiachin) in the 8th
year of his (Nebuchadnezzar) reign.”
On some occasions the
biblical writers will count chronological dates from
significant events. We reckon chronology in similar ways in
our modern world. For all Americans, the 11th
day of the 9th month of the year 2001 will
forever be a significant date. In fact our society speaks
of a pre-9/11 world and a post 9/11 world. This is the case
here with Jehoiachin. The writer
of Chronicles is reckoning his kingly appointment and his
eventual capture from the time Nebuchadnezzar came to rule
Babylon.
Ezekiel, for example, does this in his book. He reckons
dates and years from the captivity of Judah, (Ez.
1:7, 33:21, 40:1). Another example is found in 2 Chronicles
16:1 where the 36th year spoken of Asa
may refer to the number of years after the division of the
kingdom in 930 B.C., rather than his actual years as king.
It can be concluded, then,
with a little study, these so-called "copyist errors" can be
explained biblically. Granted, “copyist’s errors” may very
well exist, but how much richer is the Bible to our souls
when we first endeavor to dig a little and let God show us
biblical based solutions to problems like these.
Sources cited:
Gleason Archer, Encyclopedia of Biblical
Difficulties.
Leon Wood, Survey of
Israel's History.
Edmund Theile, The Mysterious
Numbers of the Hebrew Kings
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