Was Jehoiachin 18 or 8 when he became king?

Hard question · Israel’s history: Joshua to Esther · raised by 3 of the lists sceptics circulate

A copyist’s slip

See the passages joined in the interactive map

The passages

2 Kings 24:8

“Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months.”

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.

2 Chronicles 36:9

“Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign”, reigned three months and ten days, and did evil in the Lord’s sight.

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.

2 Kings 24:15

Nebuchadnezzar carries Jehoiachin to Babylon with “the king’s mother, and the king’s wives”.

And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

The objection

2 Kings 24:8 says that Jehoiachin was eighteen when he became king; 2 Chronicles 36:9 says he was eight. The length of his reign also differs: three months, or three months and ten days.

The answer

Eighteen is right, and the ‘eight’ of 2 Chronicles 36:9 is a copyist’s slip. In Hebrew eighteen is written ‘eight-ten’ (shemoneh esreh), so the loss of one short word, esreh (‘ten’), turns eighteen into eight; if the number was once written in letters, only the small letter yod (10) need drop out. Several ancient witnesses keep eighteen in Chronicles too: Keil and Delitzsch report a few Hebrew manuscripts, the Syriac, the Arabic and many manuscripts of the Septuagint, and modern translations such as the BSB print eighteen. The story points the same way. Chronicles says he “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord”, and three months later he was taken to Babylon with “the king’s wives” (2 Kings 24:15), which hardly fits a boy of eight. The length of the reign is no conflict: Kings rounds it to three months, and Chronicles gives it exactly.

From the classic commentators

a few Hebr. codd., Syr., and Arab., and many manuscripts of the lxx, have eighteen years in the Chronicle also. The number eight is clearly an orthographical error, as Thenius also acknowledges.Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on 2 Chronicles 36

having reigned only three months, he was carried captive to Babylon, and there he had wives; and it is very improbable that a child between eight and nine years of age could have wivesAdam Clarke, Commentary on 2 Kings 24 (1810–1826)

Was Jehoiachin 18 or 8 when he became king?

The passages

The objection

The answer

Other answers Christians give

Made king beside his father

From the classic commentators

Sources

Further reading