Bible Contradiction? Which sons of David were born in Jerusalem?

 

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

Here are the three passage the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

“Now these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet.” (2 Samuel 5:14-16)

“These were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon, four, by Bath-shua the daughter of Ammiel; 6 and Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet, 7 Nogah, Nepheg and Japhia, 8 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet, nine.” (1 Chronicles 3:5-8)

“Then David took more wives at Jerusalem, and David [a]became the father of more sons and daughters. 4 These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 5 Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, 6 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 7 Elishama, Beeliada and Eliphelet.” (1 Chronicles 14:3-7)

(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. The skeptic tries to pit 2 Samuel 5:14-16, 1 Chronicles 3:5-8 and 1 Chronicles 14:3-7 against each other with the listing of the children of David that was born in Jerusalem.
4. The skeptic did properly interpreted all three passages as referring to David’s lineage is the topic at hand with 2 Samuel 5:14-16, 1 Chronicles 3:5-8 and 1 Chronicles 14:3-7.  Note the reference to David in 2 Samuel 5:13, 1 Chronicles 3:1 and 1 Chronicles 14:3.
5. Before looking at the names note how many names of children of David are mentioned as being born in Jerusalem.  There are 11 names mentioned in 2 Samuel 5:14-16, 13 names in 1 Chronicles 3:5-8 and 13 names in 1 Chronicles 14:3-7.  Formally the numbers of sons mentioned in these passages are not contradictory since none of these passages stated that these are the only sons born in Jerusalem.
6. Similarly the names in these lists are not formally contradictory since none of the passages said these are the only names of the sons of David.
7. Also in the context of 1 Chronicles 3:5-8, in the next verse in 1 Chronicles 3:9 it states “All these were the sons of David, besides the sons of the concubines; and Tamar was their sister.”  Note how this verse explains that the lists of names in 1 Chronicles 3:5-8 is by no means exhaustive of all the sons that David had in Jerusalem.
8. Don’t forget too that during ancient times children fatality happened a lot more frequent than our time.  So some of the names being omitted might be because of this reason.
9. Furthermore individuals can have more than one name or their names over the course of their lifetime.  This is true during biblical times but its also true elsewhere in other society even before and after Biblical times.  For an example in the Bible see our post “Bible Contradiction? What was the name of the tax collector who was called by Jesus?“
10. Outside of the Bible we also see that if a historical account mention one person or one party and did not refer to another party and other individuals that doesn’t mean the first account says it is ONLY one party or one person, and it does not mean we have a contradiction with other account.  See for example my posts on the Gold Medal at the Cambrian Patrol, the Louisiana Purchase, the Thanksgiving Story, and September 11th.
11. Thus we don’t have a contradiction here.
12. 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.”

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