Was Ahaziah 22 years old or 42 years old when he became King? | GotQuestions.org

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Which age was Ahaziah when he became king? We're going to answer that question, and you can also discover more on GodQuestions .org.

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The books of Kings and Chronicles cover much of the same history of God's chosen people. First and Second Kings take the perspective of the northern kingdom of Israel, while First and Second Chronicles focus more on the southern kingdom of Judah.

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But the same kings are mentioned in both histories. There is some question about Judah's king

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Ahaziah's age when he started to reign. One record says Ahaziah was 22 years old at the start of his reign, but the other record says he was 42 years old, at least in some translations.

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All translations of Second Kings 8 .26 are in agreement that Ahaziah of Judah was 22 years old at the start of his reign, and most translations of Second Chronicles 22 .2

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also have his age at 22. However, some versions state that Ahaziah acceded to the throne when he was 42 years old, not 22.

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There are several theories to explain the discrepancy between passages. Here are four of them.

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1. Second Kings 8 .26 records when Ahaziah began co -ruling with his father

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Joash, while Second Chronicles 22 .2 records when Ahaziah began ruling on his own once his father

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Joash died. 2. The 42 year age is that of Ahaziah's mother.

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This theory is based on the peculiar wording of the Hebrew in Second Chronicles 22 .2,

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which literally says that the king was a son of 42 years. 3.

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The 42 years is a reference not to Ahaziah's age, but where he came in the history of his family's dynasty.

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Ahaziah was in the family of King Ahab of Israel. That dynasty began with his grandfather

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Omri. Since Ahaziah began to reign in Judah in the last years of Joram's reign in Israel, Ahaziah would have ascended the throne in the 42nd year of that dynasty in Israel, which explains his being called a son of 42 years.

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Ahaziah was a son of the dynasty of Omri, which was in its 42nd year when he took the throne.

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If this theory is correct, then Second Kings gives us Ahaziah's age and Second Chronicles gives us the age of his family's rule.

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4. Somewhere in the centuries -long copying process, a scribe made an error, changing the 22 years of Second Chronicles to 42 years.

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Not all the Hebrew manuscripts reflect the error, as a couple of ancient translations, the

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Syriac and the Arabic, each have 22 years, thus bringing the passages into perfect agreement.

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Adding support to this fourth theory is the biblical historian's note in Second Kings that Ahaziah's father,

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Joram, died at the age of 40. Joram could not have had children before he himself was born, and so Ahaziah's age when he began to reign must have been 22.

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The original manuscript of each book of the Bible, being directly inspired by God, was free from all error.

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However, a few copyist errors crept into the Hebrew manuscripts as they were passed down from one generation to the next.

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In this case, the numerical notations in question varied so slightly that a smudge of ink, a wrinkle, or a tear in one copy could have led a scribe to write 42 rather than 22.

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The Bible today is just as authoritative as it was when it was originally written. We can completely trust the

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Bible as being God's message to us, God's word endures forever, despite the occasional scribal mistake.

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Such errors are readily identified and the issues they give rise to can be resolved.

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That answers the question, which age was Ahaziah when he became king? On our website,

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