15.
Judah, Jacob’s fourth son, married and had three sons—Er, Onan, and Shelah. Er grew to manhood, married Tamar, and died. Onan then married his widow, and died also. Shelah, who was much younger than Onan, grew to manhood and refused to marry his brother’s widow. Tamar then had two sons, Pharez and Zarah, by Judah himself (Gen. xxxviii). Pharez grew to manhood, married, and had two sons, Hezron and Hamil (xlvi, 12), before Jacob and his family went to Egypt. When they went to Egypt, Judah was but forty-two years old.
CHAPTER XV.
THE JEWISH KINGS.
Much of the Bible is devoted to events which are narrated but once. These records may be true, or they may be false. We may question their truthfulness, but it is difficult to demonstrate their falsity. Had all the events of the Bible been recorded but once its credibility could the more easily be maintained. But wherever two or more accounts of the same events occur, such as in Kings and Chronicles, where two histories of the Jewish Kings are given, and in the Four Gospels, where four biographies of Jesus are given, we find them so filled with discrepancies as to make them unworthy of credit.
The following are some of the contradictory statements that occur in the books pertaining to the Jewish kings: