You are correct Major, outside of the reigns of the Kings during the united monarchies, all the other examples I chose did not stipulate exact numbers, but as you illustrated, approximations.
As far as the Kings are concerned, David reigned 7 years in Hebron and 33 in Jerusalem, we can consider this to be exact. As far as Solomon or Saul is concerned, I understand there to be some controversy as to when Saul began his reign 1050 bc or 1020 bc, and David seems to be firm at 1010 to 970.
Either way, I'm sorry, those particular examples of all that I gave did not make my point, which is: the Bible does not always relate numerical values with exact precision but employs rounding, as in population counts, death counts in battles or plagues. But, the other ones that I offered, do. Plus, a couple of extras below.
Did Jesus ride on a colt and a donkey during his triumphal entry in Jerusalem (Matthew 21:6–7), or just a single donkey (Mark 11:4–7)?
Were there 2 angels at the tomb of Christ (Luke 24:4 and John 20:12) , or just one angel (Matthew 28:2 ), or one man (Mark 16:5)?
During the seemingly same event, did Jesus heal two blind men (Matthew 20:29-34), or only one (Mark 10:46–52)?
Absolutly no reason to apologize to me! It was only an opportuinty to show the perfectness of the Bible!
Now.....as for the donkey. Matthew says that a donkey which is an adult and a foal which is a baby donkey were the animals (“s” for plural) that Jesus sat upon, while Mark, Luke, and John all affirm that one donkey was used for the Triumphal Entry. The best way to reconcile these accounts with Matthew’s two donkeys is that the other three writers could have seen only one donkey, while Matthew saw two.
Now what is the most important thing to note is that Matthew had a more vested interest in the number of donkeys than the other writers
because he was there at the Triumphal Entry. Mark and Luke were not present and acquired their information from others. Apso to note is that Jesus riding in on two donkeys fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah in Zechariah 9:9 according to the Old Testament.
Now...one angel or two????
A comparison of the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John reveals that they did not coordinate their reports. In fact, a careful reading of the gospels reveals that they included different information. Matthew presents his material topically, not chronologically. Mark is usually very brief or ignores a great amount of information. Luke is the most complete and presents his material in a chronological order. The gospel of John is not as brief as Mark and is less complete than Luke.
The gospels of Matthew and Mark refer to an angel in their description of the events that occurred at the tomb after Jesus was resurrected. In contrast, Luke and John refer two angels. The differences between them are due to the facts that each gospel chose to ignore as they presented the facts they wanted to emphasize. The variations that we see reveal that the writers gave four independent accounts of the resurrection events.
If they had been in perfect agreement, critics would accuse them of copying each other. Once again, we see that apparent conflicts in Scripture are only apparent. The information between the gospels is not in conflict.
Now....two blind men or one blind man????
In Matt. 20:31, Mark 10:48 and Luke 18:30
are three accounts that describe nearly identical conversations between Jesus and the beggars and the conclusions of the stories are also identical. The beggars receive their sight immediately and follow Jesus.
Now then, if you will notice, only Mark choses to identify one of the beggars as Bartimaeus. It is not know but most scholars say that is because Bartimaeus was known to Mark’s readers, or they knew Bartimaeus’s father, Timaeus, whereas the other blind man was a stranger to them. In any case, the fact that Mark and Luke only mention one beggar does not contradict Matthew’s account.
Mark and Luke never say there was only one beggar. They simply focus on the one, Bartimaeus, who was probably the more vocal of the two. Matthew refers to both of the blind men calling out to Jesus, clearly indicating there were two.
Thanks for the questions!!!!