ContradictionsReading order 407Bible context 2 min read
How many sons did Absalom have?
Absalom explains his memorial by saying he has no son, although another passage records three sons. The date of the memorial relative to their births is not supplied.
- Textual conflict
- Weak tension
- The alleged conflict needs substantial assumptions, such as treating an omission as a denial or figurative language as literal.
- Importance
- Minor
- A local detail in a story, chronology, or inventory.
The recorded sons contrast with Absalom's claim of having none, but the passages do not date the memorial against their births or survival.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
Absalom says he has no son to preserve his name
Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom’s place.
2 Samuel 18:18
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:2 Samuel 18
Three sons and a daughter are born to Absalom
And unto Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a woman of a fair countenance.
2 Samuel 14:27
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:2 Samuel 14