Contradictions in the texts of the Torah:

The Books of the Torah are filled with contradictions in their texts, which makes us unable to distinguish the correct piece of information from among these texts. Following are some of such contradictory texts:

1.     In 2 Kings we read:  “Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign.”[1] In 2 Chronicles we read: “Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign.”[2] The difference between them is evident. The second is definitely wrong as the commentators confirm, for his father (Jehoram) died at the age of forty and he assumed authority after his father immediately as the previous section clearly indicates. If the first text were not wrong it would mean that he was older than his father by two years!![3]

2.     In 1 Kings we read: “It contained two thousand baths.”[4] In 2 Chronicles we read something that contradicts it: “and it received and held three thousand baths.”[5]

3.     In 2 Samuel we read: “And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.”[6] In contrast, “Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.”[7] Who then ordered our Master David (peace be upon him) to number Israel: the Lord or Satan?[8]

4.      In Exodus we read: “Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.”[9] In Deuteronomy they claim that God said to Moses  (peace be upon him), reminding him and the Children of Israel of His Favor: “And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.”[10] As to the impossibility of seeing Allah  (He be Glorified), they mention in their Book that Moses (peace be upon him) wanted to see Allah Almighty and He said to him: “And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.”[11]

5.     Mount Ebal or Mount Gerizim?

In Deuteronomy we read: “Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones…in mount Ebal.”[12] This is the text in the Hebraic Version. In the Samaritan Version we find Mount “Gerizim” instead of “Mount Ebal”.

6.      Moses died and then wrote:

In Deuteronomy: “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. …And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab.”[13] This text including Chapter 34 of Deuteronomy deals with what happened after the death of Moses. The People of the Book claim that Deuteronomy is part of the Torah that Moses wrote as Revelation from Allah. How can Moses then write this Chapter after his death? This proves that all the text including the whole of Chapter 34 was added by an annotator, a historian or a priest but was not revelation as they claimed.[14]

7.     God repents and does not repent:

In the Book of Judges we read: “…for it repented the LORD because of their groaning.”[15] In 1 Samuel we read what contradicts that: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should      repent.”[16]

8.     Differences and disagreements among the three Versions:

The Torah mentioned the birth dates of the descendants of Adam up to Noah (peace be upon him) and determined the age of every one of them and his age when he had the firstborn child. If we compare what appears in the three Versions regarding the ages of those mentioned at the time they had their firstborns we find clear differences. Following are some examples: [17]

How can we then reconcile these contradictory narrations with each other? And which of them is the word of God?