Short answer
Yes. Chronicles retells the history told in Samuel and Kings, but many of its numbers and names are different. Kings says King Ahaziah began to reign at 22, but Chronicles says 42. By Chronicles' own figures his father died at 40, so the son would be older than his father. Jehoiachin is 18 in Kings and 8 in Chronicles. Solomon has 40,000 horse stalls in Kings and 4,000 in Chronicles. The books even give different totals for David's count of the people. Ages, counts and names are plain facts, and both versions cannot be right. Islam teaches that a book from God (﷾) has no such clashes (4:82), and Allah (﷾) promised to guard the Qur'an (15:9).
Full explanation
One book retelling another
Samuel, Kings and Chronicles are Old Testament books that tell the history of Israel and its kings. Historians hold that the writer of Chronicles used Samuel and Kings as his main source. He retold and reworked them. So these are not two witnesses who happened to remember differently. They are one text and a later retelling of it.
A major commentary on Chronicles. It dates the book to the late Persian or early Hellenistic period, around the end of the fourth century BCE, centuries after the events it tells, and treats Samuel and Kings as the Chronicler's main source, which he retold and reworked.
The ages of the kings
Kings says Ahaziah was 22 when he began to reign. Chronicles says he was 42. Chronicles also says his father Jehoram began to reign at 32 and reigned eight years. So Jehoram died at 40. A son of 42 would be older than his father. Kings says Jehoiachin began to reign at eighteen. Chronicles says eight.
“Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel.”
“Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.”
“Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.”
“Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother’s name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.”
“Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.”
Solomon's stalls and the temple pillars
Kings gives Solomon forty thousand stalls for horses. Chronicles gives him four thousand. Kings says each of the temple's two bronze pillars was eighteen cubits high, and says it twice. A cubit is about half a metre. Jeremiah says the same as Kings. Chronicles makes the pillars thirty-five cubits.
“And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.”
“And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.”
“For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.”
“The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits; and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work.”
“And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.”
“Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.”
More numbers that differ
Kings says Solomon's great bronze basin held two thousand baths (a bath is a measure of liquid). Chronicles says three thousand. Kings gives Solomon 3,300 overseers. Chronicles gives 3,600. Kings brings 420 talents of gold (a talent is a large weight) from Ophir. Chronicles brings 450. In Samuel, the chief of David's mighty men kills eight hundred men at one time. In Chronicles, it is three hundred.
“And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.”
“And the thickness of it was an handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; and it received and held three thousand baths.”
“Beside the chief of Solomon’s officers which were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that wrought in the work.”
“And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.”
“And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.”
“And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.”
“These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.”
“And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had; Jashobeam, an Hachmonite, the chief of the captains: he lifted up his spear against three hundred slain by him at one time.”
David's census: the numbers
Samuel and Chronicles tell of the same count of the people, but the totals differ. Samuel gives 800,000 fighting men in Israel and 500,000 in Judah. Chronicles gives 1,100,000 and 470,000. Even the punishment differs. Samuel offers David seven years of famine. Chronicles offers three.
“And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.”
“And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.”
“So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.”
“Either three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.”
| Question | Samuel or Kings says | Chronicles says |
|---|---|---|
| How old was King Ahaziah when he began to reign? | 22 (2 Kings 8:26) | 42 (2 Chronicles 22:2). That would make him two years older than his own father. |
| How old was King Jehoiachin when he began to reign? | 18 (2 Kings 24:8) | 8 (2 Chronicles 36:9) |
| How many stalls for horses did Solomon have? | 40,000 (1 Kings 4:26) | 4,000 (2 Chronicles 9:25) |
| How high were the two bronze pillars of the temple? | 18 cubits each (1 Kings 7:15) | 35 cubits (2 Chronicles 3:15) |
Chronicles retells the story told in Samuel and Kings. In each pair, at least one side is wrong. A cubit is about half a metre.
David's wars and David's family
David beat the king of Zobah, a kingdom to the north. The Hebrew of Samuel says he took 1,700 horsemen. Chronicles says 7,000. Samuel says Jesse, David's father, had eight sons. Chronicles names seven and calls David the seventh. Samuel says Michal, Saul's daughter, had no child to the day of her death. Yet the Hebrew of Samuel later says she bore five sons to Adriel, who had married her sister Merab. The King James Version has "brought up" where the Hebrew says "bore".
“And David took from him a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen; and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for a hundred chariots.”
“And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen; and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for a hundred chariots.”
“Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these.”
“Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Beth–lehem–judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.”
“And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third, Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, Ozem the sixth, David the seventh:”
“Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.”
“But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite;”
“But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul’s daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife.”
The years of the kings
Kings has Baasha of Israel dead by the twenty-sixth year of Asa, a king of Judah. Chronicles has Baasha building a town against Judah in Asa's thirty-sixth year.
“So Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah: and Elah his son reigned in his stead.”
“In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years.”
“In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.”
Christians say copyists made the mistakes
The Chicago Statement (1978), the best-known evangelical statement on the Bible, says Scripture is without error as first written. It says copies are God's (﷾) word so far as they match the original. On this view the clashing numbers are copyists' slips. Numbers were easy to miscopy, and the originals had none of these errors. This admits that the Hebrew text Bibles are translated from contains errors.
The best-known evangelical statement on the Bible. It affirms that Scripture is without error in all it teaches, and that inspiration, strictly speaking, applies only to the original manuscripts (the autographs), which no longer exist. Copies and translations are the word of God only so far as they faithfully represent the original.
What these differences show
Most of the pairs above are plain facts: an age, a count, a height, a name. Two books cannot both be right about them. The Qur'an sets its own test: a book from anyone other than God (﷾) would contain much discrepancy. Allah (﷾) promised to guard the Qur'an.
“Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy.”
“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).”
Verse by verse
2 Chronicles 22:2 — Ketuvim, Divrei HaYamim Bet, chapter 22, verse 2
“Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.”
Cited for
Ahaziah's age of 42 is a copyist's slip for 22. The original manuscript was correct, and inerrancy belongs to the original.
The response
Then the Hebrew of Chronicles, as it has come down, gives a king who is older than his father. Calling that a slip admits that the Hebrew text Bibles are translated from contains errors.
Where it lands — Calling it a copyist's error admits that the Hebrew text Bibles are translated from contains errors.
2 Chronicles 3:15 — Ketuvim, Divrei HaYamim Bet, chapter 3, verse 15
“Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.”
Cited for
Chronicles gives the length of the two pillars together, cast as one piece, so each was about 17½ cubits.
The response
Chronicles says "two pillars of thirty and five cubits" and never gives a combined figure. The Hebrew word in Chronicles is 'length', and for a standing pillar its length is its height. The King James Version and the 1917 Jewish translation both render it 'high'. In the same verse Chronicles puts the capital (the carved top) 'on the top of each of them', so its figures are for each pillar. Kings gives each pillar's height as eighteen cubits, twice, and Jeremiah agrees.
Where it lands — Chronicles' own words give thirty-five cubits for each pillar, and three passages give eighteen.
2 Chronicles 16:1 — Ketuvim, Divrei HaYamim Bet, chapter 16, verse 1
“In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.”
Cited for
"The six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa" means the thirty-sixth year of the kingdom of Judah, counted from the split after Solomon. That falls in Asa's sixteenth year, while Baasha was still alive.
The response
Chronicles says "the reign of Asa", not the kingdom of Judah. The verse just before uses the same words for Asa's own years. It says there was no war until "the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa". So the years are Asa's own.
Where it lands — In Chronicles' own wording the years are Asa's, and Kings has Baasha dead ten years before the building of Ramah.
Perspectives
Evangelical Christian
The Bible was without error as first written. The number differences between Samuel, Kings and Chronicles come from copyists. The other differences are two angles on the same events.
Inerrancy belongs to the original manuscripts; copies are God's word so far as they faithfully represent them.
Rebuttal
Grant that the originals were without error. Then the Hebrew text that Bibles are translated from contains errors, such as a king older than his father.
The Islamic perspective
Samuel, Kings and Chronicles disagree on plain facts again and again. At least one side of each pair is wrong, so the Bible as it exists today is not the text as God (﷾) gave it.
Kings makes Ahaziah 22 when he began to reign and Chronicles makes him 42, two years older than his father.
Kings makes Jehoiachin 18 when he began to reign and Chronicles makes him 8.
Kings gives Solomon 40,000 stalls for horses and Chronicles 4,000.
Kings makes the temple pillars 18 cubits high, twice, Jeremiah agrees, and Chronicles makes them 35.
Kings and Chronicles also differ on four more numbers. Solomon's bronze basin held 2,000 baths or 3,000. He had 3,300 overseers or 3,600. The gold from Ophir was 420 talents or 450. David's chief warrior killed 800 men at one time or 300.
Samuel and Chronicles give different totals for David's census, and a different famine: seven years or three.
The Hebrew of Samuel says David took 1,700 horsemen from the king of Zobah, and Chronicles says 7,000.
Samuel gives Jesse eight sons, and Chronicles lists seven with David as the seventh.
Samuel says Michal had no child to the day of her death. It then says in Hebrew that she bore five sons to Adriel, the husband of her sister Merab.
Kings has Baasha dead by Asa's twenty-sixth year, and Chronicles has him building Ramah in Asa's thirty-sixth.
If the differences are copyists' errors, the Hebrew text as handed down contains errors.
A book from other than Allah (﷾) would contain much discrepancy, and Allah (﷾) promised to guard the Qur'an.