How old was Rehoboam when he began to reign?

[tonychanyt]

In the Septuagint (LXX), the books we know as 1–2 Kings in most English Bibles are called 3–4 Kingdoms.

ESV, 1K 12:

24 ‘Thus says the LORD, You [Rehoboam] shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel. Every man return to his home, for this thing is from me.’” So they listened to the word of the LORD and went home again, according to the word of the LORD.

LXX, 3 Kingdoms 12:24 is much longer and it included

ἐν Ιερουσαλημ υἱὸς ὢν ἑκκαίδεκα ἐτῶν ἐν τῷ βασιλεύειν αὐτὸν

"In Jerusalem, being sixteen years old when he [Rehoboam] began to reign".

This phrase does not appear in the Masoretic Text. ESV does not have it. In fact, this contradicts with 1K 14:

21 Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.

LXX, 3 Kingdoms 14:

21 Ροβοαμ υἱὸς Σαλωμων ἐβασίλευσεν ἐπὶ Ιουδα· υἱὸς τεσσαράκοντα καὶ ἑνὸς ἐτῶν Ροβοαμ ἦν ὅτε ἐβασίλευσεν

Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned over Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign.

How old was Rehoboam when he began to reign?

41.

The mention of "16" in 3 Kingdoms 12:24 is likely a scribal error. It does not appear in the Masoretic Text and contradicts the LXX manuscript two chapters later.