Why Are The Numbers Of The Years of the Famine Different?
(2 Samuel 24:13; 1 Chronicles 21:12)
Addressing the following alleged "problem": 2 Samuel 24:13 mentions that there will be seven years of famine, whereas 1 Chronicles 21:12 mention three years of famine for the punishment that was to be enacted upon David and the nation of Israel for David's lack of faith in the supreme power of God.
2 Samuel 24:11-13: "Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, ‘Go and tell David, "Thus says the LORD:" ‘I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.' So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, ‘Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.'"
1 Chronicles 21:11,12: "So Gad came to David and said to him, ‘Thus says the LORD:' "Choose for yourself, either three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the LORD-the plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel." Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me."
Solution: It is possible that there were two approaches made by Gad the prophet to David because of the way that he presented himself to David. In the 2 Samuel account, the choice of punishment is asked in the form of a question. In the 1 Chronicles account, the choice of punishment is presented as a command.
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