Bible Synapse
Did Absalom rebel “after forty years”, when David reigned only forty years in all?
Hard question · Israel’s history: Joshua to Esther · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
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“it came to pass after forty years” that Absalom asked leave to pay a vow in Hebron; the BSB reads “After four years”.
And it came to pass after forty years, that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the Lord, in Hebron.
David was thirty when he began to reign, “and he reigned forty years”: seven and a half in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah.
Absalom was among the sons born to David in Hebron, after David became king.
And unto David were sons born in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; And his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;
The objection
2 Samuel 15:7 says that Absalom began his rebellion “after forty years”. But David reigned only forty years altogether (2 Samuel 5:4), and Absalom was born after that reign began (2 Samuel 3:2–3). So forty years cannot have passed from any point in Absalom’s story.
The answer
The best explanation is that a copyist wrote ‘forty’ (arba‘im) where the original had ‘four’ (arba‘), and several ancient witnesses keep the right reading. The Syriac version, the Jewish historian Josephus and the church father Theodoret all read ‘four years’, as do several copies of the Latin Vulgate. The two Hebrew words have the same letters, ‘forty’ simply adding the ending -im, so the slip was an easy one. Most modern translations, the BSB among them, read “After four years”.
Four years fits the story. Absalom had spent three years in exile at Geshur (13:38) and two more in Jerusalem before his father received him (14:28, 33). He then spent time winning the hearts of the people at the city gate (15:1–6). Josephus counts the four years from the reconciliation; Ellicott thinks they count from Absalom’s return to Jerusalem. Attempts to keep ‘forty’ by counting from an earlier event, such as Saul’s reign or David’s anointing, have not convinced most commentators, since the verse measures time within Absalom’s own story.
Other answers Christians give
Forty years from an earlier event
Some older writers kept ‘forty’ by counting from the beginning of Saul’s reign, as several rabbis did, or from David’s anointing by Samuel, as Luther and Lightfoot did. Keil and Delitzsch replied that the word ‘after’ points back to some event in Absalom’s life, not to the start of the kingdom.
Still open
The verse does not say from what point the four years are counted: Absalom’s return from Geshur, his reconciliation with David, or the start of his scheming.
From the classic commentators
An obvious clerical error, though a very ancient one for four years, which may date from Absalom's return from Geshur, or from his reconciliation with David, or from the commencement of the criminal schemes to which 2 Samuel 15:1 refers.Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, on 2 Samuel 15
Sources
- Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on 2 Samuel 15, at Bible Hub
- Adam Clarke, Commentary on 2 Samuel 15 (1810–1826), at Bible Hub
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 7.196 (Whiston’s translation), at Lexundria
- UBS Translator’s Handbook: translation commentary on 2 Samuel 15:7 (TIPs)