When did Ahaziah begin to reign?
Two notices in Kings assign Ahaziah's accession to different years of the same Israelite king.
- Textual conflict
- Direct contradiction
- The quoted passages make incompatible claims about the same subject under the same conditions. Little additional inference is needed.
- Importance
- Minor
- A local detail in a story, chronology, or inventory.
The same accession is dated to both the eleventh and twelfth year of Joram without a different counting basis.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
Ahaziah begins reigning in Joram's twelfth year
In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign.
Ahaziah begins reigning in Joram's eleventh year
And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah.