On the old "Newhart" show, Bob Newhart played a transplanted city slicker who runs an inn in rural New England only to be slightly bewildered at the colloquial behavior and mannerisms of his new found friends and co-workers. One source of his amusement and confusion are two brothers both named Darrell who may or may not be twins. It would seem that this comedy show cannot hold a candle to some of the comedic antics contained in the Bible. In this case presented below our protagonist, David, seems to have a bit of a problem with his sons---he can't seem to keep them straight. Maybe that's giving David a bit of a bad rap. With several wives and numerous concubines kicking out offspring you really can't blame him for losing track of just who's who in his family. And, I am sure the royal scribes, even as inspired as they were by Yahweh, had a pretty difficult time keeping things straight in David's crazy, mixed-up wacky life. But Bible inerrancy is inerrancy no matter who did the writing and in these examples these inspired pen men of Yahweh were indeed confused and made recording errors pertaining to the members of David's family. One would think that as popular as David was as king that his scribes could have done a better job in fleshing out the correct details in David's family life.

In the first example, Eliphelet is listed as both the third and ninth son; in the second his is listed only as the ninth and the third son is now Elpelet. In 2 Samuel though, Elpelet is not mentioned at all and neither is Nogah.

1 Chronicles 3:4-9 (NIV)
David reigned in Jerusalem thirty-three years, 5 and these were the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon. These four were by Bathsheba daughter of Ammiel. 6 There were also Ibhar, Elishua, Eliphelet, 7 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 8 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet-nine in all. 9 All these were the sons of David, besides his sons by his concubines.

The duplication is also in the KJV, ESV, ASV, and other versions.

However, then the Chronicler, eleven chapters later, separates the two:

1 Chronicles 14 (NIV)
3 In Jerusalem David took more wives and became the father of more sons and daughters. 4 These are the names of the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 5 Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, 6 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 7 Elishama, Beeliada and Eliphelet.

Here we see that the first Eliphelet is spelled differently or correctly. So this would make the first reference to Eliphelet simply a misspelling. But then, according to Samuel we find:

2 Sam 5:13 (NIV)
13 After he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him. 14 These are the names of the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet.

And here we find that the first Eliphelet/Elpelet is missing altogether as is Nogah (Note: Beeliada is a form of Eliada)

Which is the correct account? All three cannot be accurate if they contain differing accounts. I am sure some enterprising inerrantist can come up with some explanation on the duplications, different spellings, and omissions shown here...they always seem to. But the accounts contradict each other. It will be interesting to see just how far they go to reconcile these accounts to avoid admitting that the editors and redactors of the holy script were just as confused as Bob Newhart was. Perhaps they will say that these inspired men of God were just interjecting some comic relief that only the ancient Jews would understand and wouldn't be rediscovered for another couple of thousand years by the writers and actors playing in a TV sitcom.