Bible Contradiction? Who were the sons of David born in Hebron?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Who were the sons of David born in Hebron?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

Amnon, Chileab, Absalom, Adonijah, Shephatiah, Ithream.

“Sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; 3 and his second, Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; 4 and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; 5 and the sixth, Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David at Hebron.” (2 Samuel 3:2-5)

Amnon, Daniel, Absalom, Adonijah, Shephatiah, Ithream.

“Now these were the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; the second was Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelitess; 2 the third was Absalom the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth was Adonijah the son of Haggith; 3 the fifth was Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth was Ithream, by his wife Eglah. 4 Six were born to him in Hebron, and there he reigned seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.” (1 Chronicles 3:1-4)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

 

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

 

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. It is important to know the context of what is going on with the passages the skeptic cited here.  2 Samuel 3:2-5 states to us the sons born to David and it is situated in a paragraph in which the previous verse said “Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David” (2 Samuel 3:1a).  The context of 1 Chronicles 3:1-4 on the other is part of the early part of the book of 1 Chronicles that began listing genealogies of those in Israel, with 1 Chronicles 3:1-9 focused on David and which 1 Chronicles 3:1-4 is a part of this section.
4. The point of contradiction that the skeptic sees is the difference between 2 Samuel 3:2-5 and 1 Chronicles 3:1-4 is with the name of the second son.  2 Samuel 3:2-5 states the second son as Chileab while 1 Chronicles 3:1-4 states the name of the second son is Daniel.
5. Yet in examining the two passages we also see where both 2 Samuel 3:2-5 and 1 Chronicles 3:1-4 are in agreement.
   1. Both passages named the firstborn of David in Hebron was Amnon.
   2. Both passages also identified the third son was Absalom.
   3. Both passages also identified the fourth son was Adonijah.
   4. Both passages also identified the fifth son was Shephatiah.
   5. Both passages also identified the sixth son was Ithream.
   6. Both passages also are in agreement concerning who the mothers of these sons were.
6. These similarities suggests that the authors of both passages are familiar with the same source establishing not just only the sons that David had but also their names and their orders.  It makes it less probable that there’s a Bible contradiction here given the parallels between the two passages.
7. I don’t think there’s a contradiction here since I see the second child had two names and yet both the names refer to the same person.
   1. Note that this second son in both passages is identified as having the mother Abigail the Carmelitess.  This suggests that this is the same person with the same mother and same father and the same order of birth.
   2. While the name Chileab only appear once in all of the Hebrew Scriptures the name Daniel is more popular and is also the name of others besides the second son of David whom he fathered in Hebron.  So one might in this instance have a name that’s more popular but to distinguish from other Daniel there’s also a less popular name to distinguish individuals with the same name.
8. Also its not a Bible contradiction since people in life and in the Bible can have more than one name or a name change.
   1. Abram/Abraham.
   2. Jacob/Israel.
   3. Gideon/Jerub-Baal.
   4. Joseph/Zaphenath-Paneah.
   5. Daniel/Belteshazzar.
   6. Hananiah/Shadrach.
   7. Mishael/Meshach.
   8. Azariah/Abednego.
   9. Peter/Cephas.
9. There is no contradiction here.
10. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”