QMC
Errors
and Contradictions in Scripture

A very common refrain I heard growing up is that there were no mistakes in the Bible; there were no contradictions. Anything that people presented as being a contradiction was simply because that person hadn't really thought about it long enough on how it actually isn't a contradiction.

However, despite my quite rigorous education in the Bible, I have become aware of a number of problems with the idea of there being no errors in the Bible. Most of the time, I can only assume that either the people teaching me were unaware of these problems, or decided that these problems were not worth teaching me. Perhaps for some of you reading this, this may be the first time being presented with some of these.

Judas' Death

For example, how did Judas die? In Matthew we have this recorded:

Matthew 27:3-10
Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me.”

In Acts we have this statement:

Acts 1:18-19
With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.

There are 2 problems here. The first is that in Matthew Judas dies by hanging himself, but in the Acts Judas falls and his intestines fall out. The second problem is that the 2 stories give completely different reasons for why the field was called the "Field of Blood". Matthew says it is because the counsel bought the field with Judas' "blood money", but in Acts the field is called "Field of Blood" because Judas spilled his guts all over it.

People as early as Augustine of Hippo (354-430) explained the discrepancy of Judas' death as simply Judas hanging himself, the rope snapping, and then his guts splaying open. Basically, he created a story that was able to explain the details of both passages. For some people, this explanation is sufficient to their own satisfaction. Though personally I this feels lacking to me because people don't really "burst open" from a short fall, but also the verse specifically says that he fell "headlong". I don't know how someone's rope snaps from hanging themselves and then the fall head first. Also that Acts explicitly says that he fell, and just happened to forget the detail that Judas was hanging himself? The details on this explanation simply don't add up in my estimation.

However, even if we accept Augustine's story at face value, then we are still left with the problem of the 2 books giving different explanations for the "Field of Blood". I am sure that someone out there has attempted to explain this discrepancy, but I have not been able to find any explanation.

Jesus Quoting Samuel

Mark 2:25-26
He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

Here Jesus is referencing a time in scripture where David eats the show bread in order to make a point about his disciples picking and eating grain on the Sabbath. The reference Jesus uses is found in 1 Samuel 21.

1 Samuel 21:1-4
David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?” David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.” But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”

The main problem here is that Jesus says that the high priest's name was Abiathar, but we can see in the story that the high priest at the time was Ahimelek, Abiathar's father.

Like other passages, you can google around for articles and long explanations (I have not found any short ones) on how to explain why Jesus uses Abiathar over Ahimelek, and I encourage everyone to do so for their own education. One explanation requires stretching "in the days of Abiathar the high priest" to also include the days before he was actually high priest. Another explanation is that Jesus is actually making a play on words by using Abiathar instead of Ahimelek on purpose, and he is actually intending to emphasize his rejection of the temple priesthood of his time.

Perhaps, it was just a mistake.

When was Jesus Crucified

Mark 14:12;15:25
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” ... It was nine in the morning when they crucified him.
John 19:14
It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

We have another interesting distinction here between the different books. In Mark, it says that Jesus was crucified after they ate the Passover meal, but in John it says that he died on the day before the Passover.

There are explanations out there that make the case that John and Mark are using different calendars, or that Passover was really 2 days long, or that the meal Jesus and his disciples had in Mark wasn't really a proper Passover meal.

Perhaps, it was just a mistake.

Paul's Destination after Conversion

Galatians 1:15-17
But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.
Acts 9:19,26
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus...When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.

In Galatians, Paul is telling a brief version of his conversion story. He says that he explicitly did not go to Jerusalem but instead went to Arabia and then returned to Damascus. However in Acts, after Saul's conversion on the road to Damascus, Saul spends a few days in Damascus and then the next place it says he visits is Jerusalem.

Taking these to statements at face value, they don't seem to be reconcilable. Acts states that Paul went somewhere that Paul in his own letter explicitly states that he did not go. I have no doubt that there are explanations that you could find online to help harmonize these 2 statements. But like all the previous ones: perhaps, it was just a mistake.

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