Ahaziah's Seemingly Contradicting Ages in 2 Kings 8:26 and 2 Chronicles 22:2
There is a big issue right now concerning the King James Bible which some critics of it say that there's the problem of a copyist error. New and modern versions of the Bible use 22 instead of 42 in 2 Chronicles 22:2 in contrast to the KJB. But why do we have 42 instead of 22 in older translations?
One suggestion is that Ahaziah is not literally 42 years old but it was the amount of time from his great-grandfather via his mother Athaliah (who was his mother's paternal grandfather) Omri's reign up to his time actually totaled 42 years. Omri began his reign in 884 B.C. and Ahaziah began his reign on 842 B.C. Now it's time to do the math, shall we? 884 B.C. less 842 B.C. equals 42 years! In other words, 2 Chronicles 22:2 talks about the amount of time that Omri reigned up to the time when Ahaziah of Judah became king!
Also, here's one thing to consider about the age of marriage. The marriage standards back then were very different from today. It's possible that both Jehoram of Judah and Athaliah the daughter of Ahab were actually only 13 when they got married. Teenage marriage was a very common thing during ancient times. It's even probable that Ruth was 13 when she married Mahlon and was 23 when she returned to Judah. Boaz may have just been 36 or 40 years old. Back then, a man who was older by less than twenty years but no less than 13 could call a young woman as "daughter". This may reconcile how Ahaziah the youngest son managed to ascend at 22. Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat was 40 when he died and Ahaziah was 22 - a total of 18 years. So if Jehoram started having children with Athaliah at 14 years old then there's no reason that Ahaziah wouldn't have older siblings that had perished in Jehoram's reign.
Another explanation is that maybe Athaliah was 42 years old which may mean that she was actually two years older than Jehoram. Here's a suggestion from Bible Focus.net that could have also made sense to why Ahaziah was recorded as 42 instead of 22 in 2 Chronicles 22:2:
Hopefully, this helps resolve some contradiction for the age of Ahaziah. Also, God's Word is preserved and you can be sure of it.
One suggestion is that Ahaziah is not literally 42 years old but it was the amount of time from his great-grandfather via his mother Athaliah (who was his mother's paternal grandfather) Omri's reign up to his time actually totaled 42 years. Omri began his reign in 884 B.C. and Ahaziah began his reign on 842 B.C. Now it's time to do the math, shall we? 884 B.C. less 842 B.C. equals 42 years! In other words, 2 Chronicles 22:2 talks about the amount of time that Omri reigned up to the time when Ahaziah of Judah became king!
Also, here's one thing to consider about the age of marriage. The marriage standards back then were very different from today. It's possible that both Jehoram of Judah and Athaliah the daughter of Ahab were actually only 13 when they got married. Teenage marriage was a very common thing during ancient times. It's even probable that Ruth was 13 when she married Mahlon and was 23 when she returned to Judah. Boaz may have just been 36 or 40 years old. Back then, a man who was older by less than twenty years but no less than 13 could call a young woman as "daughter". This may reconcile how Ahaziah the youngest son managed to ascend at 22. Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat was 40 when he died and Ahaziah was 22 - a total of 18 years. So if Jehoram started having children with Athaliah at 14 years old then there's no reason that Ahaziah wouldn't have older siblings that had perished in Jehoram's reign.
Another explanation is that maybe Athaliah was 42 years old which may mean that she was actually two years older than Jehoram. Here's a suggestion from Bible Focus.net that could have also made sense to why Ahaziah was recorded as 42 instead of 22 in 2 Chronicles 22:2:
It is not unreasonable to think the scribes were so unimpressed with Ahaziah's weakness and total subjection to his mother, they put his mother's age for the age of the monarch. Athaliah had sought power. Possibly she saw Jehoram as a way to achieve her proper place as the grandaughter of both King Omri and (likely as the daughter of Jezebel) the king of the Zidonians. She prompted her husband to kill his rival brothers. She would no doubt try to deny the prophecy given to her husband that she and her sons would be smitten. Ahaziah her son had survived and he was her way to continue to rule.
The "Commentary Critical and Explanatory of the Whole Bible" also says this of 2 Chronicles 22:2:
It's amazing how some people provide several complicated explanations such as saying that there was another Athaliah or that there's a third Ahaziah. We have to realize that there was Ahaziah the son of Ahab and Ahaziah the son of Jehoram. It's possible that Jehoram named his son after his maternal uncle the Ahaziah who was his brother-in-law. Also, the term where Ahaziah of Judah is called the "son-in-law" of the house of Ahab may be easily reconciled by this one - Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat was the son-in-law of Ahab since he married Ahab's daughter Athaliah.According to that passage, the commencement of his reign is dated in the twenty-second year of his age, and, according to this, in the forty-second year of the kingdom of his mother's family [LIGHTFOOT]. "If Ahaziah ascended the throne in the twenty-second year of his life, he must have been born in his father's nineteenth year. Hence, it may seem strange that he had older brothers; but in the East they marry early, and royal princes had, besides the wife of the first rank, usually concubines, as Jehoram had ( 2 Chronicles 21:17 ); he might, therefore, in the nineteenth year of his age, very well have several sons" [KEIL] (compare 2 Chronicles 21:20 , 2 Kings 8:17 ).
Hopefully, this helps resolve some contradiction for the age of Ahaziah. Also, God's Word is preserved and you can be sure of it.