In one verse it says in the twelfth year of Joram this king began to reign and the other one says in the eleventh year of Joram. You say, well it couldn’t be both. One other most important point to remember is the information on some of the most re cent works of chronology. These clearly reveal that there is more than one way of reckoning the ac cession years of kings. It was done one way in Babylon, and another in Judah. It was conducted in one way in the southern kingdom and still another in the northern. At one time they just switched. You may want to consider E. R. Thiele’s book, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings. Although these are minor points yet even in these circum stances research shows the accuracy of Scripture. Q . Reedley, Calif. — “I understand that when a believer dies, his spirit goes to be with the Lord. Do the soul and body sleep? What does the Bible teach about the soul and spirit being united with the body at the rapture?” (Matt. 27:52) A. This verse has nothing to do with what we mean by the resurrection of the saved and unsaved in the end times. This was the occasion of the Saviour’s crucifixion when there were earthquakes, graves were opened and some of the bodies of the saints arose. Keep in mind that these peo ple didn’t appea r in resurrection form until after our Lord’s resur rection. They couldn’t have or He wouldn’t have been the firstfruits. When a believer dies, his spirit im mediately goes to be with the Lord (II Cor. 5:8). This means “to be ab sent from the body” is to be "present with the Lord.” The spirit leaves the body at the time of physical death. Keep in mind that the soul makes one self-conscious, the body makes one world-conscious, and the spirit makes one God-conscious. The body may sleep but the soul or spirit never 24
aside for the moment until a later time. Don’t throw the whole fish away. Go right ahead eating for nourishment.” Q . Orinda, Calif. — “Last night I was studying the hook of II Kings. This caused me to write you for clarifica tion on two texts. I believe in the infallibility of the Bible just as you do. I am confused by a seeming con tradiction, however, between II Kings 8:25 and II Kings 9:29. The text refers to the 11th year as one in which Ahaziah began to reign while the earlier reference concerns this reign starting in the twelfth year. I guess modernists have used this to disprove the infallibility of the Scriptures. Can you now please help me?” A. This is correct. In the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles some apostate men have tried to disprove the Bible. This is on the basis of numbers. There are always possibili ties for errors in any numerical re port which is given. We do not be lieve in the infallibility of the copy ists. If you have a copy of the New Scofield Reference Bible notice the helpful footnote on Page 472 con cerning the question. “In copying manuscripts, mistakes in numbers sometimes occur. Many d isag ree ments between numbers in Samuel and Kings, and those in Chronicles, are alleged. Actually, out of the ap proximately 150 instances of parallel numbers in these books, fewer than one-sixth disagree. In two cases a different number is given for the age of a king at his accession (cp. II Chr. 22:2 with II Ki. 8:26; and II Chr. 36:9 with II Ki. 24:8); in the other thirteen cases of this type, numbers agree. C e rta in disagree ments are very small. Sometimes the apparent discrepancy disappears on careful study.” (New Scofield Ref erence Bible) For instance, in II Kings 8:25 and II Kings 9:29 there seems to be a head-on collision here.
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