2 Samuel 23:11—Was this a field of barley or lentils?

Problem: Here in 2 Samuel it is called a field of “lentils,” but in 1 Chronicles 11:13 it is called “barley.”

Solution: There are two basic possibilities here. One, these could be different occasions when God gave Israel deliverance from the Philistines in the midst of a field. More likely, however, it may be a copyist mistake, since the Hebrew words for lentils and barley are similar enough to be mistaken, especially if there were some smudge or imperfection on the manuscript copy. Either possibility would take care of the difficulty.

This excerpt is from When Critics Ask: A Popular Handbook on Bible Difficulties (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1992). © 2014 Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Click here to purchase this book.