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Contradictions in the Bible?
If we read the Bible carefully, on the surface there are some contradictions--but only by our logic, not God's. Some of them come from inexact translation into English. "Thou shalt not kill" seems to conflict with other scriptures, but in Hebrew it says more specifically, "You shall not murder" (one type of killing, but not every type).
If the N.T. says "It is written", but you can't find it in the O.T., check early translations into Aramaic (Targums) or Greek (Septuagint). They're often quoted directly.
Sorting out seeming inconsistencies won't harm us; it'll only sharpen our doctrines. Other scriptures about stewardship and responsibility limit the meaning Jesus intended for "Give to everyone who begs from you."
Probably the biggest way in which Scripture is misinterpreted is by taking particular verses out of context.
Many difficulties have been resolved by archaeological finds. (Click on highlighted text to read about one example.)
Other problems come from trying to fit Scripture into Western logic. Logic keeps us from bizarre interpretations, but it's not the whole picture. We must get back into the mindset of those to whom it was first addressed. Hebrew is a picturesque language, rarely abstract like English or Greek. Start with the ways ancient Jews interpreted Scripture. (Click on highlighted portion.)
Rabbinical compilations like the Talmud and Mishnah codified centuries of "oral torah" to which Scripture alludes as also authoritative or at least instructional. (Often where it says, "According to the instruction I gave to Moses on the mountain", we find no specifics in Scripture, but oral tradition goes into great detail.) If we don't learn these, we miss some fascinating comparisons. "Get behind me, Satan!" is what Abraham said to rebuke Satan in one such story, when he tried to discourage him from going to Mt. Moriah to sacrifice his son--the very context Jesus was in when He quoted it.
The discrepancies in the lengths of kings' reigns in Israel's divided kingdom are solved if we notice that David crowned Solomon king before he died, and they reigned simultaneously for a while. This happened in other cases, too. Ancient Jews also counted any portion of a year in which a king reigned as a whole year. Overlap the first year of each king with his predecessor's last year, and the numbers come out even.
When we find out what is really meant by what looks contradictory, we're blessed with some very deep insights.
Some genealogies leave out names mentioned in other genealogies. Why? God said of some people that He would actually blot them out of His book. Arthur Custance observed that the "480 years" in I Kings 6:1 add up to 594 by Paul's count (Acts 13:17-22), but the number of years Israel was in bondage to her enemies during the time of the judges (plus when Abimelech usurped the throne) add up to the missing 114 years. God had directed the writer of 1 Kings to strike those years from His record of history! Compare 2 Samuel 5:5 with 1 Kings 2:11; one record left 6 months out of David's reign. (Jews round years up, not down--as an American married Dec. 31 can count himself married for a year on his tax form.) 6 months is how long David was out of favor with God when he sinned. In one account, God gave us man's view of time; in another, His own view: He'd erased that time of disfavor from His memory! He does the same with our sins; He redeems the time we can't redeem (cf. Eph. 5:16).
So to be put off by apparent contradictions will leave us impoverished. Don't remain so shallow. Ask God for insight, and search out the real answers!