Genealogies of Genesis

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Template:Short description Template:Multiple issues Template:Bible related The genealogies of Genesis provide the framework around which the Book of Genesis is structured.[1] Beginning with Adam, genealogical material in Genesis 4, 5, 10, 11, 22, 25, 29–30, 35–36, and 46 moves the narrative forward from the creation to the beginnings of the Israelites' existence as a people.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Adam's lineage in Genesis contains two branches: Chapter 4 giving the descendants of Cain, and Chapter 5 that for Seth that is then continued in later chapters. Chapter 10 gives the Generations of Noah (also called the Table of Nations) that records the populating of the Earth by Noah's descendants, and is not strictly a genealogy but an ethnography.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Genesis 5 and Genesis 11 include the age at which each patriarch had the progeny named as well as the number of years he lived thereafter. Many of the ages given in the text are long, but could have been considered modest in comparison to the ages given in other works (for instance, the Sumerian King List).[2]

The ages include patterns surrounding the numbers five and seven, for instance the 365 year life of Enoch (the same as the number of full calendar days in a solar year) and the 777 year life of Lamech (repetitional emphasis of the number seven).[3] Overall, the ages display clear mathematical patterns, leading some people to conclude that number symbolism was used to construct them.[4] Nevertheless, since Genesis 5 and 11 provide the age of each patriarch at the birth of his named descendant, it also appears to present a gapless chronology from Adam to Abraham, even if the named descendant is not always a first-generation son.[5]

Versions

Nearly all modern translations of Genesis are derived from the Masoretic Text, but there are also two other versions of Genesis: the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint (a Greek translation of a Hebrew text).[6] Translations from the Masoretic Text are preferred by Western Christians, including Roman Catholics and Protestants and by followers of Orthodox Judaism, whereas the Greek version is preferred by Eastern Christians, including Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Ethiopic, Jacobite and Armenian.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". The Samaritan Pentateuch is held sacred by the Samaritans.[7]

Cain and Seth

Genesis names three children of Adam and Eve, Cain, Abel and Seth. A genealogy tracing the descendants of Cain is given in Script error: No such module "Bibleverse"., while the line from Seth down to Noah appears in Script error: No such module "Bibleverse".. Scholars have noted similarities between these descents: most of the names in each are variants of those in the other, though their order differs, with the names of Enoch and Mahalalel/Mehujael switching places in the two pedigrees.Template:Sfn[8] It is "as if they were different versions of the same underlying tradition."[9] This has led to speculation that a single original genealogical descent had diverged during independent transmission, only to be brought back together and put to different uses when the Book of Genesis was compiled from its Jahwist and Priestly sources.[10][11]

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Generations of Noah

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Following the Genesis flood narrative, a large multi-branched genealogy presents the descendants of the sons of Noah. (Script error: No such module "Bibleverse".) The 70 names given represent biblical geography, consisting of local ethnonyms and toponyms presented in the form of eponymous ancestors (names in origin-myth genealogies that are to be understood as ancestors and embodiments of the peoples whose names they bear). This is a symbolic presentation of the peopling of the world and indicates a view of the unity of the human race.Template:Sfn The peoples and places are not organised by geography, language family or ethnic groups,Template:Sfn and probably do not represent the geography of a particular point in history, instead deriving from an old nucleus of geographical knowledge to which additional names/peoples were subsequently added.Template:Sfn

Abraham's family tree

Script error: No such module "labelled list hatnote". The following is a family treeScript error: No such module "Unsubst". for the descendants of the line of Noah's son Shem, through Abraham to Jacob and his sons. Dashed lines are marriage connections. Template:Abraham Family Tree

Genesis chrono-genealogy

The numbers given in the text are usually similar but do vary between versions. The numbers in the Masoretic, Samaritan, and Lucianic Septuagint versions of Genesis are shown in this table:[12]

The following table lists the patriarchs that appear in the Vulgate and the Septuagint, but their names are spelled as they appear in the King James Version of the Bible. Their year of birth differs according to the Vulgate or the Septuagint. Also given is each patriarch's age at the birth of his named son and the age of the patriarch's death. Cainan, born after the flood, is mentioned in the Septuagint but not the Vulgate.[13] Methuselah survived the flood according to the Septuagint (but not the Vulgate), even though he was not on Noah's Ark.[14]

The genealogies of Genesis contain a difficulty with regards to the birth of Arphaxad. One method of calculating places the birth of Arphaxad 600 years after the birth of Noah, while another places Arphaxad's birth 602 years after Noah.[15] The table below uses the 602-year method; the 600 year method would decrease the date for Arphaxad and all the following figures by two years.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

This chart counts year totals only. Anno Mundi (AM, or 'in the year of the world') can be calculated by adding 2 to any given value in either the "Birth" or "Death" columns. The result will give a corresponding date in AM.[16][17][18] The epoch for this calendar system is 3761 BC.[19][20]

(Note: the numbers in green are consistent across all versions, while the numbers in yellow are contradicted in one other version and the numbers in red are contradicted by more than one of the other versions.)

    Masoretic & Vulgate   Samaritan Pentateuch   Septuagint (Lucian)    
Patriarch Meaning Birth Son Remain Lived Death Birth Son Remain Lived Death Birth Son Remain Lived Death Wife/Wives/etc
Template:Hstrong's "humanity"[21] 0 Template:Maybe 800 930 930 0 Template:Maybe 800 930 930 0 230 700 930 930 Eve
Template:Hstrong's possibly "substitution"[22] 130 Template:Maybe 807 912 1042 130 Template:Maybe 807 912 1042 230 205 707 912 1142
Template:Hstrong's "humanity"[21] 235 Template:Maybe 815 905 1140 235 Template:Maybe 815 905 1140 435 190 715 905 1340
Template:Hstrong's etymology uncertain[23] 325 Template:Maybe 840 910 1235 325 Template:Maybe 840 910 1235 625 170 740 910 1535
Template:Hstrong's "praising El" / "praise of El"[24] 395 Template:Maybe 830 895 1290 395 Template:Maybe 830 895 1290 795 165 730 895 1690
Template:Hstrong's "to descend"[24] 460 Template:Maybe 800 Template:Maybe 1422 460 62 785 847 1307 960 Template:Maybe 800 Template:Maybe 1922
Template:Hstrong's etymology uncertain[25] 622 Template:Maybe 300 365¹ 987 522 Template:Maybe 300 365¹ 887 1122 165 200 365¹ 1487
Template:Hstrong's meaning uncertain[26][27] 687 Template:Maybe 782 Template:Maybe 1656 587 67 653 720 1307 1287 Template:Maybe 782 Template:Maybe 2256
Template:Hstrong's meaning unknown[24] 874 182 595 777 1651 654 53 600 653 1307 1454 188 565 753 2207
Template:Hstrong's meaning uncertain[28] 1056 5022 — 950 2006 707 5022 — 950 1657 1642 5022 — 950 2592
Template:Hstrong's name 1558 100 500 600 2158 1209 100 500 600 1809 2144 100 500 600 2744
Template:Hstrong's meaning uncertain[29] 1658 35 403 Template:Maybe 2096 1309 Template:Maybe 303 Template:Maybe 1747 2244 Template:Maybe 430 565 2809
Template:Gstrong's meaning uncertain[23] — — — — — — — — — — 2379 130 330 460 2839
Template:Hstrong's branch[30] 1693 30 403 Template:Maybe 2126 1444 Template:Maybe 303 Template:Maybe 1877 2509 Template:Maybe 330 460 2969
Template:Hstrong's possibly "traveler"[31] 1723 34 430 464 2187 1574 Template:Maybe 270 Template:Maybe 1978 2639 Template:Maybe 270 Template:Maybe 3043
Template:Hstrong's etymology disputed[32] 1757 30 209 Template:Maybe 1996 1708 Template:Maybe 109 Template:Maybe 1947 2773 Template:Maybe 209 339 3112
Template:Hstrong's possibly "shepherd" or "friend"[32] 1787 32 207 Template:Maybe 2026 1838 Template:Maybe 107 Template:Maybe 2077 2903 Template:Maybe 207 339 3242
Template:Hstrong's Sarug (name of a city)[33] 1819 30 200 Template:Maybe 2049 1970 Template:Maybe 100 Template:Maybe 2200 3035 Template:Maybe 200 330 3365
Template:Hstrong's snorting 1849 29 119 Template:Maybe 1997 2100 79 69 Template:Maybe 2248 3165 179 125 304 3469
Template:Hstrong's etymology debated[32] 1878 70 135 205 2083 2179 70 75 145 2324 3344 70 205 275 3619
Template:Hstrong's exalted father 1948 100 — 175 2123 2249 100 — 175 2424 3414 100 — 175 3589 Sarai; (Hagar); Keturah

1According to most interpretations, including the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews, Enoch did not die,[34]Template:Primary source inline but was taken away by God (at an age of 365). Genesis states that Enoch "walked with God; and he [was] not; for God took him."[35]Template:Primary source inline

2On this chart Noah is listed as having lived 502 years when he begat Shem and this calculation is based on the birth year of Arphaxad.[36]Template:Primary source inline The extra-biblical Book of Jasher also mentions that Noah was 502 years old when his wife Naamah bore Shem.[37]Template:Primary source inline

Number symbolism

The following table lists all the ages of the patriarchs from Adam to Moses in the Masoretic Text, which add up to 12,600.[38]

Patriarchs Age Patriarchs Age
1. Adam 930 14. Eber 464
2. Seth 912 15. Peleg 239
3. Enosh 905 16. Reu 239
4. Kenon 910 17. Serug 230
5. Mehalalel 895 18. Nahor 148
6. Jared 962 19. Terah 205
7. Enoch 365 20. Abraham 175
8. Methuselah 969 21. Isaac 180
9. Lamech 777 22. Jacob 147
10. Noah 950 23. Levi 137
11. Shem 600 24. Kohath 133
12. Arpachshad 438 25. Amram 137
13. Shelah 433 26. Moses 120
TOTAL 12,600

The value of 12,600 is a variant of the symbolic value of 1,260 later used in the Book of Revelation (e.g. Rev. 11:2–11; 12:4–6, 11; 13:5Template:Primary source inline), although may derive from earlier traditions.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Another example of the numerical schema of 12,600 can be found in the War Scroll discovered at Qumran, where "the Sons of Light shall fight against the Sons of Darkness in the final days for a period of 35 years. Employing the Jewish luni-solar calendar of the 360-day year, 35 years equals 12,600 days."[38] Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Usage of Anno Mundi

The current formal usage of the Anno Mundi calendar era is implemented based on the calculations of Maimonides in Mishneh Torah (completed in AD 1178).[39]Template:Primary source inline It is the official method of calculating years for the Hebrew calendar currently in use. Based on a calculation using the Masoretic Text recorded in the Seder Olam Rabbah (c 160 AD) of Rabbi Jose ben Halafta, the first five days of creation in Genesis were in Anno Mundi 1,[20] and the creation of Adam was on 1 Tishrei (Rosh Hashanah) in Anno Mundi 2[17][18] which corresponds to 3760 BC.[16][40] The official Anno Mundi epoch is Anno Mundi 1. This first year begins almost a full year before creation and is commonly referred to as The Year Of Emptiness or The Ascension Year in Jewish tradition and coincides with the years 3761/3760 BC.[41][42][43]

Counting years

Counting a number of years based on an annual fixed calendar date yields a different result from a rolling year count based on dates such as birthdays which have the possibility of being at any time of the year and change depending on the individual. Using this method has led some chronologists to add or subtract a 0.5 year margin to/from the birth year of each patriarch to account for unknown birth dates.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

The first mention in Genesis of the use of a fixed method to reckon years is made in Genesis 1 referring to the "lights in the firmament".[44]Template:Primary source inline A fixed calendar system is usually determined by an annual epoch such as New Year's Day (1 January) which is fixed by the alignment of astronomical objects; the reckoning of the year occurs on its epoch. Years represented in Anno Mundi dates could be interpreted to be in alignment with Rosh Hashanah and are counted according to its annual occurrence.[45]

Birth years of Shem and Arphaxad

There are several different interpretations as to the exact birth year of Shem and his son Arphaxad. Based on Noah being at least 500 years old when he began to beget children[46]Template:Primary source inline and Noah's sons each having an age difference,[47][48]Template:Primary source inline it is not uncommon to encounter chronologies that list Shem as being 98 years old when the flood began. Shem begat Arphaxad two years after the flood when he was 100 years old.[36]

In the Masoretic, Vulgate and the Samaritan Pentateuch the method of starting from the birth of Noah and adding exactly 500 years until Shem, and adding another 100 years until the birth of Arphaxad (Born 2 years after the flood) would be the same year as the death of Methuselah following the above chart.[49]Template:Primary source inline Since Methuselah was not mentioned in Genesis among those who were aboard the ark,[50][51]Template:Primary source inline it is possible that his death came in the same year of the flood.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Based on the Masoretic Text, counting 1656 years on the above chart will result in being the 600th year of Noah's life, the year of the death of Methuselah and year that the flood began.[52][53]Template:Primary source inline The two-year discrepancy is commonly resolved by rendering the birth year of Shem in the same year that Noah was 502 years old, and rendering Arphaxad as having been born two years after the death of Methuselah and the flood.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Differences in the numbers

A comparison of the Genesis 5 numbers (Adam through Noah) in the above table shows that the ages when the sons were born plus the remainders equal the totals given in each version, but each version uses different numbers to arrive at these totals. The three versions agree on some of the total ages at death, but many of the other numbers differ by exactly 100 years. The Septuagint ages of the fathers at the birth of their sons are in many instances 100 years greater than the corresponding ages in the other two versions; in Genesis 11 some of the Samaritan Pentateuch ages agree with the Septuagint ages and are also 100 years beyond that of the Masoretic and Vulgate versions.[54][55]

The Samaritan chronology has Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech dying in Noah's 600th year, the year of the flood. The Masoretic chronology also has Methuselah dying in Noah's 600th year, but the Masoretic version uses a different chronology than the Samaritan version, with about 350 extra years between creation and flood. The Lucianic text of the Septuagint has Methuselah surviving the flood and therefore the 100 year differences were not an attempt by the Septuagint editors to have Jared, Methuselah, or Lamech die during or prior to the flood.[56] Some scholars[57] argue that the differences between the Masoretic and Septuagint chronologies in Genesis 5 can be explained as alterations designed to rationalize a primary Masoretic system of chronology to a later Septuagint system. According to another scholar,[58] to assume that the Masoretic Text is primary "is a mere convention for the scholarly world" and "it should not be postulated in advance that MT reflects the original text of the biblical books better than the other texts." The present-day Greek Orthodox Septuagint text still offers the Lucianic numbers for Methuselah,[59] which undoubtedly are the numbers as found in the original Septuagint text, most likely based on the Hebrew original that was used for the translation. This opens the possibility that these were the original numbers in the Hebrew tradition also, that only later, after discovering the chronological discrepancy, have been changed by adapting the Methuselah numbers to 167+782=969 (in some Septuagint manuscripts) or to 187+782=969 (in some other Septuagint manuscripts as well as in the present-day Masoretic text). The scholarly Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Pentateuch into Greek at Alexandria, Egypt, in about 280 BC worked from a Hebrew text that was edited in the 5th and 4th centuries BC.[60] This would be centuries older than the proto–Masoretic Text selected as the official text by the Masoretes.[58]

The Genesis 5 ages were presumably intended to be read at face value, as years and not months.[61] Attempts to rationalize the ages by translating "years" as "months" results in some of the Genesis 5 people fathering children when they were five years old (if the Masoretic chronology is assumed to be primary).[62]

There is one discrepancy between the antediluvian chronologies of different texts of the Septuagint - the age at which Methuselah gave birth to Lamech: 167 or 187 years. Because of this, the date of the Flood is shifted by 20 years. This difference is probably due to the different lists of the Septuagint from which the translation was made. For example, according to Lucianic version of the Septuagint (end of the 3rd century), the Flood was in 2242, and according to the Code of Alexandria of the Septuagint the Flood was in 2262 from cm. (as in the printed editions of the Septuagint, for example, the Frankfurt Bible or the reconstruction of G. B. Sweet; as well as in the Church Slavonic translation of the Elizabethan Bible).Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Priestly source

The Priestly source illustrates history in Genesis by compiling the genealogy beginning with the "generations of the heavens and the earth" and continuing through Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac to the descendants of Jacob and Esau. Jacob's descendants are listed in Genesis 46:8-27, beginning with the phrase "these are the names."[63]

Similar Mesopotamian traditions

The genealogies of Genesis have been likened to the Sumerian King List.[64] Some versions of the latter (not including the oldest known version, where no flood is mentioned)[65] consist of a list of implausibly long-lived figures, followed by a flood, followed by a list of figures with long but gradually shortening lifespans that move into normal historical lengths. Attempts at finding a correlation between the ages presented in the two lists have been made.[66]

See also

References

Template:Reflist

Bibliography

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External links

  • Sexton, Jeremy. "Who Was Born When Enosh Was 90? A Semantic Reevaluation of William Henry Green's Chronological Gaps," Westminster Theological Journal 77 (2015): 193-218 (pastorsexton.com/articles)

Template:Book of Genesis Template:Religious family trees Template:Adam and Eve

  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ a b Anno Mundi#Jewish tradition Occasionally in Talmudic writings, reference was made to other starting points for eras, such as Destruction Era dating, being the number of years since the AD 70 destruction of the Second Temple, and the number of years since the Creation year based on the calculation in the Seder Olam Rabbah of Rabbi Jose ben Halafta in about AD 160. By his calculation, based on the Masoretic Text, Adam and Eve were created on 1st of Tishrei (Rosh Hashanah) Day 1 in 3760 BC, later confirmed by the Muslim chronologist al-Biruni as 3448 years before the Seleucid era. An example is the c. 8th-century AD Baraita of Samuel.
  17. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ Hebrew calendar#Anno Mundi The Jewish calendar's epoch (reference date), 1 Tishrei AM 1, is equivalent to Monday, 7 October 3761 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar, the equivalent tabular date (same daylight period) and is about one year before the traditional Jewish date of Creation on 25 Elul AM 1, based upon the Seder Olam Rabbah.
  20. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  23. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  26. ↑ For the proposed etymologies "man of the dart" or "his death shall bring judgement," see Cornwall and Stelman Smith, The Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names
  27. ↑ For the proposed etymologies "devotee of Shalach" and other possibilities, see Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  28. ↑ Proposals include "rest", "comfort", and "settle down" (in an agricultural sense). Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  30. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  31. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  32. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  33. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  34. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  35. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  36. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  37. ↑ Jasher 5:18 And Noah was five hundred and two years old when Naamah bore Shem, and the boys grew up and went in the ways of the Lord, in all that Methuselah and Noah their father taught them.
  38. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  39. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  40. ↑ See The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries
  41. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  42. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  43. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  44. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  45. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  46. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  47. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  48. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  49. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  50. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  51. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  52. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  53. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  54. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  55. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  56. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  57. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  58. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  59. ↑ See e.g. the Septuagint text of Genesis 5 in Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". or the text offered by the Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  60. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  61. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  62. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  63. ↑ Coogan, Michael David. The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. THIRD ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2014, p. 78
  64. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  65. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  66. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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