Calculations With Chrono-Genealogies.

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Regardless of whatever reasons people reject the straightforward interpretation of Scripture, particularly that of Genesis 1-11, it is not too difficult to show what this interpretation is - as I will attempt in this note.

First, what is a chrono-genealogy? It is a list of births and deaths with a measure of time included. Genesis 5:3-32 has the measure of time listed relative to each parent. Read these two verses:

< When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness,
after his image, and named him Seth. {Genesis 5:3 ESV} >

< When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. {Genesis 5:6 ESV} >

From verse 5:3, we find that Adam was 130 years old when he became the father of Seth and that it is the direct parentage from 4:25-26. I will assume direct parentage is the case for each instance. Does 130 sound like an old age to become a parent? Today yes, but this Scripture refers to original and not degenerate conditions of the human history; anyway, we aren't here to superimpose opinions on Scripture anyway but rather to show how this interpretation works.

From verse 5:6, Seth, whom was born when Adam was 130, became the father of Enosh when he was 105 years old; so then, Enosh was born when Adam was (130+105=) 235 years old (plus or minus a few months possibly, but for simplification of calculations the non-recorded months will be ignored.)

Next verse:

< When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. {Genesis 5:9 ESV} >

We will use Adam's age as a measure from here on out, since his age would be different from that of the world by only about 1/52nd of a year. So, Adam was around (235+90=) 325 years old when Kenan was born to Enosh.

< When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. {Genesis 5:12 ESV} >

Adam was around (325+70=) 395 years old at the time of Mahalalel's birth.

<When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. {Genesis 5:15 ESV} >

Adam was around (395+65=) 460 years old at Jared's birth.

< When Jared had lived 162 years he fathered Enoch. {Genesis 5:18 ESV} >

Adam was about (460+162=) 622 years old at Enoch's birth.

< When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. {Genesis 5:21 ESV} >

Adam was (622+65=) 687 years old when Methuselah was born.

< When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. {Genesis 5:25 ESV} >

Adam was (687+187=) 874 years old when Lamech was born.

<<< When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered ... Noah.... {Genesis 5:28-29 ESV} >

Adam would have been, and the world was, (874+182=) 1056 years old at Noah's birth.

Now things get some what interesting as the Text says,

< After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth. {Genesis 5:32 ESV} >

But, taken into account with these verses,

< Noah was 600 years old when
the flood of waters came upon the earth. {Genesis 7:6 ESV} >

And,

<These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old,
he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. {Genesis 11:10 ESV} >

We can tally the years from Noah's birth and see if he was older than 500 years when Shem was born.

Noah was born in the year the world was 1056 and the Flood came 600 years later, making the year of the Flood 1656 Anno Mundi (year of the world.) Shem's son was born when Shem was 100 and two years after the Flood, so Shem would have been 98 in the year of the Flood. 1656-98=1558, so 1558 Anno Mundi is the year when Shem was born.

Back to verse 5:32, "After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem..." and Noah was born in 1056 AM, so the year would have been 1556 AM when he was 500, which would make him 502 when Shem was born. That's after his 500th year.

To summarize the years so far,


1. Adam, created on the 6th day.

2. Seth, born in the 130th year.

3. Enosh, born in the 235th year.

4. Kenan, born in the 325th year.

5. Mahalalel, born in the 395th year.

6. Jared, born in the 460th year.

7. Enoch, born in the 622nd year.

8. Methuselah, born in the 687th year.

9. Lamech, born in the 874th year.

10. Noah, born in the 1056th year.

11. Shem, born in the 1558th year.

12. The Flood occurred in the year 1656 AM.



Now, Genesis 11:10-26 has a list in a similar format as Genesis 5:3-32, and the year of Abraham's birth can be derived from that and the verses 11:27 through 12:4 of Genesis. Would anyone like to try this to to find Abraham's approximate birth year?

*big time facepalming*

It's a stupid MYTH! A MYTH! It's NOT REAL! It's not real, so trying to calculate the "date" Adam was created is useless because Adam wasn't created, life evolved over millions of years. Well but god yada yada, well God isn't real either. Believing old myths simply because they are so old that we don't know where they came from so maybe they DID come from god is STUPID!

That's not the way I usually view the OT, but it is an interesting exercise.

The (three or so) writers of Genesis weren't attempting to tell accurate history - they were telling stories that had spiritual meaning. They would be mystified by our attempts to literally interpret their writing. They were explaining things in a way that they understood them at the time - with a great deal of faith in the mix.

So, try as one might to calculate the age of the earth or the birthdate of Abraham from OT genealogies, it just doesn't add up. It's sad that American fundamentalist Christianity too frequently tries to "prove" the Bible. If they had enough faith in the spiritual meaning of the Biblical message, instead of trying to use the spiritual to disprove the scientific, they wouldn't need to try so hard.

Z

Three or so writers? Do you mean "JEDP"? So, what of "Elleh Toledot" (These are the generations of) being similar to a colophon phrase? See http://www.trueorigin.org/tablet.asp as an example.

By the way, what "spiritual meaning" is intended by the chronogenealogies?

Nobody care to add up the years to Abraham?

Fine, since nobody else will, then I shall calculate the year of the world when Abraham was born.

A.M. = Anno Mundi?