For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Who was Sheba’s father?
Here are the answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:
Raamah
“The sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.” (Genesis 10:7)
“The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.” (1 Chronicles 1:9)
Jokshan
“Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim.” (Genesis 25:3)
“The sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine, whom she bore, were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan were Sheba and Dedan.” (1 Chronicles 1:32)
Joktan
“Joktan became the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah 27 and Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah 28 and Obal and Abimael and Sheba” (Genesis 10:26-28)
“Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 21 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 22 Ebal, Abimael, Sheba,” (1 Chronicles 1:20-22)
(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)
Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:
- 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.
- One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the website’s track record of inaccurate handling of biblical passages. See the many examples of their error we have responded to here in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions. Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this post, which is what the remainder of the post will do. But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages the Skeptic Annotated Bible cited and see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
- The skeptic tries to pit Genesis 10:7 and 1 Chronicles 1:9 as claiming “Sheba’s father was Raamah” against Genesis 25:3 and 1 Chronicles 1:32 as claiming “Sheba’s father was Jokshan” and also against Genesis 10:26-28 and 1 Chronicles 1:20-22 as claiming “Sheba’s father was Joktan.“
- Note that the skeptic uses the King James Version which uses “Sheba” but NASB uses “Seba.”
- The skeptics here did rightly interpreted all six verses.
- However one must remember that there can be more than person with the same name. It seems this is what is going on here.
- Note 1 Chronicles 1:32 talks about “The sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine” and we learn that Sheba is the grandson of Abraham through Keturah’s line, specifically through Abraham’s son name Jokshan. Looking at the surrounding context of Genesis 25:3 we see in Genesis 25:1 that it is also talking about Abraham’s descendants through Keturah when it says “Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah,” with verse 2 also mentioning Jokshan as the father of Sheba.
- Both Genesis 10:7 and 1 Chronicles 1:9 gives us chronologically earlier genealogy than Genesis 25:3 and 1 Chronicles 1:32 where both Genesis 10:7 and 1 Chronicles 1:9 explicitly in these verses says it focuses on the “sons of Cush” which include Cush’s son of Raamah and his descendant name Dedan.
- In the context of Genesis 10:26-28 and 1 Chronicles 1:20-22 that shows “Sheba’s father was Joktan.” Joktan is the son of Shem. This lineage is from Shem’s (Noah’s son) genealogy and is different than both Genesis 10:7 and 1 Chronicles 1:9 where that Sheba is through the line of Ham, another son of Noah. It is contrasted also in time with Genesis 25:3 and 1 Chronicles 1:32 as claiming “Sheba’s father was Jokshan” which is later chronologically in Shem’s lineage.
- Consider how in history people can have the same names but that does not mean they are the same person especially if they live during different time period with different genealogical background. I think of the example of how we have a fifteen century German monk name Martin Luther and how there’s also Martin Luther King in Twentieth Century United States. They are examples of two different persons, with the same name.
- There is no contradiction here. Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
- 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.”
thank jah and you for this in sight!
You are welcome! By Jah you are referring to God yes?
Good reminder to those looking for a contradiction: “one must remember that there can be more than person with the same name”
Amen so true! How goes your week so far?
It’s so bashful the critics thinks this is legitimate criticism
You seem to know your Bible well, good for you
Yeah I find it astounding that they don’t dig deeper a little bit and they will find how this isn’t a contradiction by a long shot
Doesn’t look like they tried
Thanks for the reminder…sometimes we have to do the background to keep the names straight. 🙂
How we all need to be Berean Eman?
AMEN! Acts 17:11. “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”
This makes me sad that people think that logic and Gof are in conflict, when God is truth and logic is a tool in pursuit of the truth about that which is all around us 😢
Yes God is the source of logic and reasoning!
Thanks for thoroughly debunking this alleged contradiction. Steve/Stephen Wells gets another “F” for research inaptitude.
I agree if there was to be a great report card for what he’s doing Steve definitely does deserve an F! He barely consider simple logic and basic rule of interpretation. It’s incredible how low quality these alleged contradictions are! How are you today?
The thought often comes to me that my fifth grade grammar school teacher would have scolded me if I had used that level of logic on an assignment.
Doing pretty well, thanks! My big accomplishments today were getting our Amazon Echoes reactivated after getting a new router installed and making a diaper run for our elderly dog.
How was your Saturday?
Thanks. Excellent as always. He seems to consistently miss this: “Consider how in history people can have the same names but that does not mean they are the same person especially if they live during different time period with different genealogical background. “
Yeah it’s incredible how he misses this so badly. I think he literally doesn’t read anything In the context…this one is like the many same ones he has written, where it’s ridiculous!
Funny site but funnier skeptics. It be better to ignore the mockers instead of arguing
Are you arguing? Is that self-defeating?
I suppose I was foolish
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Now I’m not sure who and how they approached the situation but I will say this, the best way to understand scripture is to let the Bible interpret itself.
2 Peter 1:20-21
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
The issue I see a lot on this forum when debating is, that when skeptics presents a scripture, they will often refuse to look at others that shed light to the one they presented. And I’ve seen people accuse others of what you’re saying, trying to “contradict” one out with another. When in fact, there are times when that’s not the case, they are doing what you’re supposed to do and let scripture interpret scripture.
Thanks for reading this post and commenting on here!
I appreciate your effort in this article
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Great article, it speaks with clarity! I can’t believe you called them out like that! Good job
Thanks for checking out my response to the critics there brother
I am not a man I’m a woman
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