"How old was Jehoiachin when he began to reign?" (Alleged Contradiction #E9434)
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother’s name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
II Kings 24:8
Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.
II Chronicles 36:9
Response
Jehoiachin became a co-regent with his father at only eight years old and assumed full responsibility at eighteen when his father died. His father may have made him a co-regent to ensure Jehoiachin succeeded as king instead of his (possibly) older brother, Zedekiah. 1
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Notes
- Some believe Zedekiah may have been born illegitimately. I Chronicles 3:15-16 refers to Zedekiah as the son of Josiah and then also as the son of Jehoiakim. This could imply that Zedekiah was the biological son of Jehoiakim and Hamutal, a wife of Josiah, making Zedekah also the son of Josiah in a sense. This could explain the motivation for making Jehoiachin a co-regent at only eight years old. See http://www.contradictingbiblecontradictions.com/?p=2572. ↩