Q. Matthew 10:3 names a particular disciple Lebbaeus Thaddeus, while the corresponding passage of Luke 6:16 names him Judas of James. Is this the same person? If so, who is he?

A. Yes. Judas “Lebbaeus” Thaddeus.

The presence of a disciple among the original twelve who is listed by various names in two different Gospel introductions has made some wonder what reason there is to believe that he is the same person in each account. Perhaps the question should be instead, what reason is there to believe he isn’t the same person?

Judas-Not-Iscariot is referenced in Matthew 10:3, Luke 6:16, John 14:22, and Acts 1:13. The only time he appears with a name other than Judas is in Matthew, when it is specified that his surname is Thaddeus but he is called “Lebbaeus” (Λεββαῖος), which in Greek is a word that has Hebrew roots and means “near to my heart.” Some interpret this to actually mean “with heart,” as in courageous. Evidently this was Judas’ nickname. The additional title “of James” indicates that he was brother of a man named James.

Q. How many valiant men drew the sword for Israel as counted by Joab?
A. Joab concluded that 1,100,000 men of Israel drew the sword – 800,000 of which were “valiant”.

If we go by the verses cited as contradictory, that seems to be the obvious answer.

“And Joab gave the number of the registration of the people to the king; and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.” (2 Samuel 24:9)

“Joab gave the number of the census of all the people to David. And all Israel were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword; and Judah was 470,000 men who drew the sword.” (1 Chronicles 21:5)

The record of the men of Judah was simply rounded to the nearest hundred thousands’ place by the author of 2 Samuel, but recorded more precisely by the chronicler of 1 Chronicles.

Sounds too simple to be an explanation for a supposed Bible contradiction, doesn’t it? Well, maybe that leaves us some time to study Occam’s Razor…

Q. Who created heaven and earth?
A. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The following verses have been cited as contradictory regarding the Creator of the universe:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

“Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, I, the LORD am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone,” (Isaiah 44:24)

“There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” (John 1:6-10) [NOTE: If you are confused by the English translation, notice that if you continue reading through to verse 15, “He” and “Him” in the last sentence clearly refer to Jesus Christ, not John the Baptist.]

“Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” (1 Corinthians 8:6)

Any contradiction seen there clearly results from a misunderstanding about the Biblical concept of the Trinity. Yahweh, Yeshua and the Holy Spirit form the Triune God. In the docu-comedy film Religulous, a Jesus reenactor at the Holy Land Experience impressed Bill Maher by offering the different properties of water (ice, liquid and vapor) as an analogy for the three different dimensions of God. Now, picture water being supernaturally in its three different stages at once. The analogy is imperfect, but certainly helps convey the mysterious concept of the Trinity.

Q. Did Judas die by hanging himself, or by falling over in a field and having his midsection burst open spilling his guts everywhere?
A. Judas died by hanging himself.

The death of history’s most infamous traitor has stirred up such postmortem word-of-mouth controversy that it could be considered the classic Bible contradiction – the crême de la crême challenge of anti-Bible poohbahs everywhere. It also reads like a classic suicide/crime scene mystery, so it is one of the most interesting to solve.
Matthew wrote out, simply enough, what happened to Judas:

“Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ But they said, ‘What is that to us? See to that yourself!’ And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.” (NASB)
– Matthew 27:3-5

The apparent contradiction to this account was written by our historian friend Luke. In the text of a speech made by Peter, Luke inserted a peculiar parenthetical:

“‘Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.’
(Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood)…” (NASB)
– Acts 1:16-19

The more one reads that passage, the less likely it appears to be a contradiction about Judas’ death. Matthew said that Judas hanged himself, and there is no reason to believe that the book of Acts suggests otherwise. Just because Luke says that Judas fell headlong and burst open in the middle doesn’t mean that was how Judas died. The initial Bible scholar consensus was that Judas collapsed and split open after he hanged himself – perhaps he was hanging from a tree or post in the field and the rope eventually snapped (natural analysis), or maybe Satan slammed Judas’ body down when he left him (supernatural analysis). Matthew Henry pointed out as a historical anecdote that hanging plus disembowelment was since used (at least by the English) as punishment for treason.
As satisfying of an autopsy as that may be to some, I find that it may be irrelevant after closer examination of the text. Think like a detective, now…

Notice that Acts 1:18 says that the person who ended up getting their midsection split open acquired a field. Take another look at what Matthew recorded:

“Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ But they said, ‘What is that to us? See to that yourself!’ And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.
The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.’ And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.” (NASB)
– Matthew 27:3-8

So Judas, our initial gut-busting suspect, was last seen throwing the blood money into the temple sanctuary and then later found strangled in an obvious (and successful) suicide attempt. It’s very unlikely that he took any time to shop for real estate, and he certainly wasn’t the one who bought the Potter’s Field.

It was the chief priests and elders who acquired the field!

With this knowledge, I’ve examined the verses in Acts 1 again and have colored red the pronouns referring to Judas Iscariot:

“‘Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.’ (Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood)…” (NASB)

– Acts 1:16-19

The price of Judas’ wickedness – that is, the silver earned by Judas for turning Jesus in to the authorities – was used to fund the Pharisee burial-ground-for-strangers project (just when you thought priests couldn’t get any creepier…). But Judas himself had nothing to do with Hakeldama. The Greek word that is translated as “this man” in the NASB and KJV is houtos (ουτος), and the “includ. nom. masc. plur.” variation of that word in particular. This appears to be referring to the group of chief priests and elders that acquired the field. The Greek word translated there as “his” is autos (αυτου), which contains among its definitions “they, (these) things, this (man), those, together, very, which.”

Whoever happened to suffer that bizarre disemboweling experience, it most likely wasn’t Judas Iscariot.

Why do even translators have such a hard time figuring this out? Why didn’t Luke better clarify between Judas and the field buyers for our perturbed modern minds? When he was writing the Acts of the Apostles to Theophilus, what happened at Hakeldama was apparently common knowledge. Some English translators may have been confused because Luke added the historical anecdote about Hakeldama in the middle of Peter’s speech about Judas. The reason he added those details was probably to explain how Judas’ influence continued after his death (“By the way, some guy[s] acquired a field with the price of Judas’ wickedness”). The silver changed hands, but the curse upon it remained.

As is the usual case with “Bible Contradictions,” piddling over details that appear to conflict ends up obscuring the main (and highly consistent) point of the message. If we continue reading the Scriptures, it becomes apparent that the Field of Blood has prophetic significance. Matthew cited Old Testament prophecy regarding the Lord Jesus being valued at 30 pieces of silver, and how that same amount of silver would be used to buy the Potter’s Field.

“I said to them, ‘If it is good in your sight, give me my wages, but if not, never mind!’ So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the LORD said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.’ So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.” (NASB)
– Zechariah 11:12-13

That was written some 500 years before the birth of Christ. Pretty wild, isn’t it?

Q. When the women arrived at Jesus’ tomb, was the tomb opened or closed?
A. Opened.

The passages cited as contradictory are the following:

“Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.” (NASB)
– Matthew 28:1-2

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.” (NASB)
– Luke 24:1-3

Any confusion aroused in a reader of these passages comes from elementary misunderstanding of narrative. Notice that the verse in Matthew says a severe earthquake had occurred (past perfect tense). The stone was rolled away, but not right in front of the women visiting the tomb. They arrived after the fact, which is why they were so bewildered.
The other two gospel accounts support this record:

“They were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?’ Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large.” (NASB)
– Mark 16:3-4
“Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.” (NASB)
– John 20:1

You might wonder why Matthew 28:2 doesn’t appear to exercise past perfect tense in the King James Version. This is because our narrative culture has declined. We are not as accustomed to understanding the obvious inference in narrative as we should be. Many in the modern culture must have things spelled out for them. The New American Standard version has helped to better communicate the Bible as recorded in its original languages to contemporary English speakers.

On this website, I quote the Bible in NASB and have the RefTagger system set in KJV to familiarize readers with Tyndale’s superior language and help expand the mind.

Q. How many Aramean soldiers did David kill?
A. Apparently 40,000 foot soldiers and 7,000 charioteers in 700 units of 10.

The passages cited as containing a contradiction are the following:

“But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed 700 charioteers of the Arameans and 40,000 horsemen and struck down Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there.” (NASB)
– 2 Samuel 10:18

“The Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed of the Arameans 7,000 charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers, and put to death Shophach the commander of the army.” (NASB)
– 1 Chronicles 19:18

Some scholars attempt to dismiss the difference in the numbers as a “copyist error”. However, that seems unnecessarily shallow. The books of Samuel and Chronicles contain details from the battlefield that the different scribes found significant to the record or the record’s audience of that moment. Different audiences have different degrees of understanding and communication lingo. It could be that a “charioteer” in the 2 Samuel verse refers to a group of charioteers, just as “troop” sometimes refers to a group of troops. The books of Chronicles tend to be more specific with genealogies, numbers, etc. than the narrative books of Samuel.

Perhaps the writer of Chronicles saw a need to count the Aramean charioteers individually in his record. {Hint: scrolling over the hyperlinked verses reveals that the translators of the King James Version (William Tyndale and his intellectual successors) noticed that the numbers did refer to different aspects of the Syrian militia – 2 Samuel refers to the men of 700 chariots, while 1 Chronicles refers to 7,000 men who fought in chariots. We don’t know for certain what type of chariots they were or how many men each chariot could hold, or if every man skilled in chariot fighting was necessarily in a chariot at the time he was killed.}

But in quarreling over the minute details, the obviously non-contradictory point is conveniently missed: Israel kicked some Aramean butt.

The debate over the numerical value of the Aramean charioteers illustrates an interesting trend amongst Bible critics. Usually the apparent contradictions they point out are found within the minuscule details. This manner of critiquing overlooks the reason why the Bible has proved so compelling throughout history. The Bible lays claim to uniqueness because of the unity of its overall message, which exists despite being written down in the midst of different cultural atmospheres and generational changes that took place over at least a millennium.

This is why it passes the internal test of historical science.

Q. Is Jesus the only man to have ascended into heaven?
A. It depends on what you mean by “heaven”.

The verses cited as contradicting the Bible’s claims on the first man ascending into heaven are the following:

“As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses and of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.” (NASB)
– 2 Kings 2:11

“No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.” (NASB)
– John 3:13

In the verse from 2 Kings, Elijah is described in Hebrew from the viewer’s perspective as having ascended into the shamayim or shameh meaning “sky” as in “visible arch in which the clouds move.”

But in the verse from John 3, Jesus’s statement is recorded in Greek as ascending into ouranos meaning “the abode of God, happiness, power, eternity, Heaven.”

If one keeps in mind that the discussion taking place in John chapter 3 is the famous dialogue between Jesus Christ and Nicodemus, the distinction becomes more clear. The Pharisee Nicodemus has just asked Jesus what a person has to do in order to enter the kingdom of God. In the course of explanation, Jesus uses earthly analogies to convey spiritual concepts. When Nicodemus is still stumped, Jesus responds:

“If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.” (NASB)
– John 3:12-13

Jesus was, of course, referring to Himself. At the time He was speaking, He alone had been in the abode of God – the throne room of Heaven – because He was without sin.

Now, those who had ascended into heaven before Jesus made that statement – namely, Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah – likely went to heaven, but not directly to the abode of Yahweh. This is because they were sinners, and the unblemished sacrifice of the Messiah had not yet been made.

After the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ took place, the Apostle Paul explained that all believers in the Savior now have access to God the Father in Heaven and “are of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:18-22).

Q. How much did David pay for the threshing floor?
A. Some fraction of 50 shekels of silver.

The verses cited as contradictory are the following:

“However, the king said to Araunah, ‘No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing.’ So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.” (NASB)
– 2 Samuel 24:24

“So David gave Ornan [another name of Araunah] 600 shekels of gold by weight for the site.” (NASB)
– 1 Chronicles 21:25

King David purchased the entire property for 600 shekels of gold. He then included 50 shekels of silver in the payment in order to buy the oxen and the threshing floor. Assuming that the threshing floor (or threshing sledges) was worth more than the oxen, probably a greater portion of the 50 shekels was expended on the threshing floor. However, we can’t be certain how many yokes of oxen were included in the package, so figuring out exactly which fraction of the 50 shekels covered the oxen and which covered the threshing floor is virtually impossible.

Q. On the road to Damascus, did Paul’s traveling companions hear the voice that spoke to Paul?
A. Yes, but they could not understand what the voice was saying.

Saul of Tarsus (more commonly known by his legal Roman name, Paul) was a Pharisee who persecuted followers of Jesus Christ (who were known for awhile as those “belonging to the Way”) until he had a life changing experience on the road to Damascus. According to what Luke wrote in Acts, this is what happened:

“As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’

And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.’ The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice [footnote: Or sound] but seeing no one.” (NASB)
– Acts 9:3-7

Later we are told more specific details via the record of Paul’s statement to the people of Jerusalem:

“‘But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus at about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus he Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’

And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me.’” (NASB)
– Acts 22:6-9

There are two different Greek words used in these passages. In Acts 9 and Acts 22, the word used to mean “sound” or voice” is phone (Φωνη), which can mean: “through the idea of disclosure; a tone (articulate, bestial or artificial); by impl. an address (for any purpose), saying or language: – noise, sound, voice.”

Colloquially speaking, it could easily be used to refer to both a sound that was heard but not comprehended (as in Acts 9) and an address to Paul that wasn’t received by others (Acts 22).

The scenario is quite easy to understand through a simple example: Occasionally one of my siblings will mutter something from the distance and although I can clearly hear their voice, I can’t “hear” what exactly they are saying.
Just consider how often somebody says something in the middle of a crowd and another person responds, “What?” Evidently they hear enough of the person’s voice to know that something is being said, but they don’t clearly understand what the message is.

Q. According to Genesis, were humans created before the animals?
A. No.

The passages in question proceed as follows:

“God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.” (NASB)
– Genesis 1:25-27

“Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make a helper suitable for him.’
Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.” (NASB)
– Genesis 2:18-20

It requires a great stretch in basic reading comprehension to visualize a contradiction between these passages. The first chapter of Genesis gives a chronological record of the creation of the universe. The second chapter sums up the record within the first few verses, and then repeats the story in more detail (beginning at Genesis 2:4).

The 18th verse illuminates the reason and significance behind the creation of the woman. In the rhythm of a narrative, the fact about animals being created is recalled in order to emphasize the distinction between humans and animals.