Contradictory Or Harmonious - 1

Contradictory Or Harmonious - 2Kings 8:26 and 2Chronicles 22:2.

Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. 2Kings 8:26 (NIV).

Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. 2Chronicles 22:2 (NIV).

Ahaziah (841 BC?), King of Judah, was the son of King Jehoram and grandson of King Jehoshaphat (2Kings 8:16). King Ahaziah's prior name might have been Jehoahaz (2Chronicles 21:17). Septuagint, Syriac and Targum writings have the name Jehoahaz in place of Ahaziah. Some scholars say that it's a variant in Hebrew language. Some scholars say that Jehoahaz might have renamed his name as Ahaziah after ascending the throne, as we too know of a few kings who changed their names in the history (for example: Britain's Prince Albert, Duke of York, took the name of George VI). King Ahaziah was also called as Azariah in some versions of the Bible.

However, the question is not about his name Ahaziah, but of his age when he started to reign as King. Is it twenty-two or forty-two? Some try to bring in co-regency with his father Jehoram to make the Scriptures harmonious. But this doesn't fit in. To my knowledge, this can be sought out by hebrew numericals. In his book "A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew" by "J.Weingreen", writing under the Hebrew alphabets, he also writes their numerical values. He gives the value "2" to alphabet Vet "ב"; and value "20" to alphabet Kaf "כ"; and value "40" to alphabet Mem "מ". So "כב" makes the value 22 and "מב" makes it 42. The only difference in the scribing is a little stroke which resembles the alphabet Waw "𐡅" (Aramaic form) and "ו" (modern hebrew form). If the scribe misses this small stroke while copying the alphabet Mem "מ" the resultant would end in the resembling alphabet Kaf "כ". While most of the Manuscripts read twenty-two, some like Septuagint, Syriac and Masoretic Texts read forty-two. Out of 5000 and odd Manuscripts found till now, most corroborate with twenty-two, while a few of them with forty-two.

There is an another point to add to this, the undivided books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles were written by two different set of authors about the same time period. These undivided books were divided by the translators of Septuagint while translating the Old Testament into Greek. While the authors of 1 and 2 Kings cover the history from 970 BC to 560 BC, the author of 1 and 2 Chronicles (probably Ezra) writes the history of the kings in the middle of the fifth century BC.

In spite of this major authorship, most of the text corroborates with one another. As said in 2Timothy 3:16,17, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work". So, let's keep aside the little contradictory statements, and in fact they are not at all contradictions until the footnotes of the Bible gives the variants; and ask God to equip us with the knowledge and wisdom of His.

*Subject for correction.