Matthew Zucki here from Verde Baptist Church Manila providing you an answer to a so-called Bible contradiction.
And in 2 Kings chapter 18 verse 9 the Bible reads,
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hushia son of Elah king of Israel,
that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
So we see in this verse that it is the fourth year of king Hezekiah.
And this king of Assyria, Shalmaneser or Shalmaneser the fifth, you know according to historical charts of who the king was,
Shalmaneser the fifth is the king in the fourth year of king Hezekiah.
Now if you drop down to verse number 13 though it says,
Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them.
And so ten years later in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib is the king of Assyria according to the Bible.
While in the fourth year it was Shalmaneser or Shalmaneser the fifth that was the king of Assyria.
Now at first glance you don't see anything that could be a Bible error.
But what makes it a so-called Bible contradiction is that in between the reigns of Shalmaneser the fifth and Sennacherib is a guy by the name of Sargon the second.
Sargon the second was the king for seventeen years according to historical charts.
He was the father of Sennacherib.
And so Sargon the second was the king for seventeen years.
But wait a minute, only ten years have gone by between Shalmaneser the fifth and Sennacherib.
So how would it be possible that Sargon who was the ruler, who was the king of Assyria for seventeen years,
How is it possible that it's only ten years later?
Now first off, obviously history can be wrong.
That is always a possibility.
History is not something that we know like two plus two equals four.
It's not necessarily a proven fact.
You know, yes history can be useful for us to understand things but we have to understand that we can trust the Bible.
We can't necessarily trust history.
And you say well are you saying it's an error within history?
No it's actually not an error within history and it's not an error within the Bible.
You say well how could that not be an error?
Well here's the reason why it's not an error.
There's something called co-regency or co-regent kings.
And what that basically means is that there'd be someone who'd be the king of a country, the king of an empire,
And he would appoint somebody else to be the king as well.
And so they reign at the same time.
They're co-regent kings.
And so what's happening here in 2 Kings 18 is that Sargon II has already appointed his son king as well so they're co-regent kings.
Sargon II is still the king of Assyria but he's also appointed Sennacherib the king of Assyria as well.
You say why would he do that?
And if you look at historical information they'll say that it's believed that Sennacherib was appointed as a co-regent king.
So I'm actually saying something that lines up with history.
Anyone who would say this is a Bible contradiction shows a lack of understanding of the Bible and a lack of understanding of history.
Because this was actually very very common especially in the past.
You say why would Sargon II do this and why is it common?
Well one reason why is because in the past, in history, there was a time that kings go forth to battle.
As the Bible says about David, at the time kings go forth to battle.
And the kings would actually lead the charge very often in war, in battle.
Now you have to understand that with Assyria, they basically worshipped a god that was basically the god of war.
And I'm going to be talking about this here in a few weeks in a sermon. I'll go into more detail about this.
But basically, you know, they basically worshipped the god of war.
And so basically by winning a bunch of battles and by fighting and killing a lot of people, it glorifies the god that they worship.
And so they felt by killing and destroying and everything like that, that basically that shows that they're really godly and that god is on their side.
Which is obviously not the god of the Bible.
And so what happened is that Sargon II, and historical information will say this about him as well, he would go on a lot of battles.
He would be gone a lot trying to conquer other lands, trying to conquer other countries.
Now here's the problem with this.
If you're gone from your home base for a long period of time, if you do not appoint somebody as the successor or appoint somebody else as the co-regent king,
what is very likely going to happen is somebody is going to try to usurp the throne from you.
So it only makes logical sense that if you're going to be gone for a long period of time, you'll appoint somebody as the co-regent king.
Just think about this on a practical level.
At Verity Baptist Church Manila, let's just say I was gone on vacation for a year and I hadn't appointed anybody as the leader of that church in my absence.
What's going to end up happening? Who knows?
Who knows who's going to be in charge? Who knows what's going to be happening?
Who knows what could end up happening or who's going to be in control or who's going to be teaching what, who's going to be preaching?
Who knows if all the rules are going to be different and the structure and the so many times, just everything's going to be changed.
You say why? Because I haven't appointed somebody as a co-regent king.
Now obviously, if you're going to appoint someone as a co-regent king, you need to pick somebody who you can trust.
And Sennacherib is the son of Sargon II.
So it makes sense that he would appoint him as king.
And honestly, throughout history, sometimes kings would appoint their son as the co-regent king in case they might end up dying and someone would try to take that throne and take it away from their lineage.
And also to give more credibility to that person.
And so as Sargon II is conquering lands, he appoints Sennacherib as the king, as the co-regent king and it gives him more authority.
And you'll see that not only was Sargon II just going and trying to conquer lands, but Sennacherib does the same thing as well.
You know, you look at the Assyrian empire and they were really just trying to, they started a lot of wars.
They were taking down other countries. They were the empire at that time.
And so what is happening is not a Bible contradiction in 2 Kings 18, but it's actually showing you that they're co-regent kings.
Now, Sargon is mentioned in the Bible in Isaiah 20, verse 1. He's briefly mentioned.
And so the Bible does make reference to this person.
And it's second, Isaiah 36, I believe it is, when it starts talking later on about Sennacherib.
And so during this time period in 2 Kings 18, verse 13, yes, Sennacherib is the king of Assyria,
but, you know, technically I don't believe he's the only king.
I believe Sargon II is actually the king and he's going and fighting a lot of battles.
And so he points Sennacherib as the leader in charge behind him.
Now what you have to understand about this is that when it comes to Bible contradictions,
this is actually the answer to a lot of the so-called Bible contradictions.
This was a very common thing in history, that you would appoint someone as a co-regent king.
You don't really see that really in the world today, but that was something that was extremely, extremely common.
Appointing someone as the co-regent king.
And so if somebody has a lot of knowledge of history, they would never think this is a Bible contradiction.
And if someone has a lot of knowledge of the Bible, they would certainly not just assume it's a Bible error
without actually thinking about it and studying it out.
There are no Bible contradictions. There are none.
There are verses in the Bible and passages we might not fully understand,
because maybe we lack knowledge in history or we lack knowledge in the Bible or something like that.
But there are absolutely no contradictions in the Bible.
That doesn't mean that I know how to answer everything in the Bible.
Somebody might come to me and throw out some contradiction I've never thought about, I've never studied.
But look, there are no contradictions in the Bible.
Every word of God is pure.
This is not a contradiction in 2nd Timothy chapter 18.
What's happening is that Sargon II is the king of Assyria,
and he appoints Sennacherib as the co-regent king because he was absent.
He was gone for a period of time fighting other battles.
Thank you and God bless.