.POST-DILUVIAN PATRIARCHS - FROM SHEM TO ABRAHAM. (AN. HOM. 1558-2008). THE Chronology of the Post-diluvian Patriarchs presents the same features as those already met with in dealing with the Ante-diluvian Patriarchs. The 11th Chapter of Genesis supplies us with a list of Patriarchs in many respects similar to that which we have been studying in the 5th chapter. The most notable differences are, (1) the reduction in the length of the lives of the Patriarchs placed at the head of the list, to about one half of that of the Patriarchs who lived before the Flood, and (2) its further reduction to about one half of the new standard of longevity, when we reach the name of Peleg, which stands very nearly in the middle of the list.Both lists of Patriarchs, the Ante-diluvian List, from Adam to Noah, and thePostdiluvian List, from Shem to Abraham, contain the same number of names, there being exactly ten names in each case.In this list the writer gives the age of the Patriarch at the birth of his son, and the residue of his years thereafter.The sum total of the years of the life of the Patriarch is not stated as it is in the case of the Ante-diluvian Patriarchs. POST-DILUVIAN PATRIARCHS. From the Flood to the Birth of Abram . ANNO HOMINIS EVENT REFERENCE 1656 The Flood – Shem aged 98 Gen. 11:10, see Chapter 5 2+ Add the years after the Flood when Arphaxad was born Gen. 11:10 1658 Arphaxad born, Shem aged 100 35+ Add age of Arphaxad at birth of Salah Gen. 11:12 1693 Salah born 30+ Add age of Salah at birth of Eber Gen. 11:14 1723 Eber born 34+ Add age of Eber at birth of Peleg Gen. 11:16 1757 Peleg born 30+ Add age of Peleg at birth of Reu Gen. 11:18 1787 Reu born 32+ Add age of Reu at birth of Serug Gen. 11:20 1819 Serug born 30+ Add age of Serug at birth of Nahor (Abrams grandfather) Gen. 11:22 1849 Nahor, Abrams grandfather, born 29+ Add age of Nahor at birth of Terah Gen. 11:24 1878 Terah born 130+ Add age of Terah at birth of Abram Gen. 11:26,32; Gen. 12:4; Acts 7:4 2008 Abram born The design of this genealogical list is to carry forward the Chronology from the date of the Flood to the birth of Abram. CHAPTER VIII.THE TERAH - ABRAHAM CONNECTION. Terahs age at the birth of Abraham = 130 years. In Gen. 11:26 we read, And Terah lived 70 years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.We have already seen, in the parallel case of Noah and his three sons, that though Shem was mentioned first, he was not the eldest son of Noah, and was not born till two years after his father was 500 years old, as stated in Gen 5:32 We have now to show that in like manner, Abram, though mentioned first, was not the eldest son of Terah, and was not born till sixty years after his father was seventy years old, as stated in Gen. 11:26. We begin with the result obtained in our last chapter, that Terah was born AN. HOM. 1878.From Gen. 11:32 we learn that Terah was 205 when he died.Therefore Terah died AN. HOM. 2083.From Acts 7:4 we learn that when Terah died Abram left Haran. The words of Stephen in Acts 7 make explicit what is implicit in Gen. 11:27-12:5.It is clear that there were two distinct calls given to Abram. In response to the first he left Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan, but halted when he came to Haran, and dwelt there.In response to the second call he left Haran to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came. The rendering of this passage in the A.V. is faulty in two respects, (1) the insertion of the word had in the phrase Now the Lord had said unto Abram in Gen. 12:1 is inaccurate and misleading.There is nothing in the Hebrew Text to warrant it.It suggests to the reader that there was only one call instead of two.And (2) the division into chapters breaks the continuity of the narrative in which the connection between Gen. 11:32 and Gen. 12:1 is direct and immediate.It should read thus:- Terah died in Haran, and the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy fathers house, into a land that I will show thee...So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.Gen. 11:32-12:4. The consecutiveness of the narrative enables us to say that when Terah died at the age of 205, Abram left Haran at the age of 75, and came into the land of Canaan.But if Abram was 75 when Terah was 205, it follows that Abram was born when Terah was 130.We were, therefore, justified in adding, at the end of the list of the Post-diluvian Patriarchs the figures given in connection with the last name on the list, viz. that of Abram. ANNO HOMINIS EVENT REFERENCE 1878 Terah born See Chapter 7 130+ Add age of Terah at birth of Abram Gen. 11:26,32; Gen. 12:4; Acts 7:4 2008 Birth of Abram The lateness of Abrams birth in the life of his father explains how he could be only ten years older than his half-niece Sarah or Iscah (Gen. 11:29) and therefore of an age to marry her in spite of the fact that he belonged to a generation earlier than the generation to which she belonged.Sarah married her father Harans much younger brother Abram.Similarly Milcah, Sarahs sister, married her father Harans brother Nahor.Abram was probably Terahs son by a second wife.If so this would explain how Abram could say to Abimelech, She is the daughter (granddaughter) of my father Terah, but not the daughter (granddaughter) of my mother.Thus:- Terah. | +--------------------------+--------------------------+ ||| |Haran. | ||| |+---------------+-------------+| || || Nahor + Milcah.|| Iscah } | or}+ Abram Sarah } The credit of the discovery of the age of Terah at the birth of Abram is due to Archbishop Ussher.It is one of the principal improvements of his system, and a proof of the acuteness of his intelligence, and the keenness of his insight into the chronological bearing of the statements contained in the text of Holy Scripture. CHAPTER IX.COMPARATIVE CHRONOLOGY - SHEM TO ABRAHAM. THE Table of the Post-diluvian Patriarchs, with their ages at the birth of their sons, and the number of years in the residue of their lives as given in the Hebrew Text, has been manipulated in the LXX. and in the Samaritan Pentateuch, in the same way that the Table of the Ante-diluvian Patriarchs was manipulated by them. The first of the following tables gives a comparative view of the Hebrew, LXX., and Samaritan figures for the age of each of the Ante-diluvian Patriarchs at the birth of his son, the residue of his years, and the total number of the years of his life.This third column is given in the Samaritan Pentateuch but is wanting in the case of the Hebrew and the LXX.It is here supplied in brackets for the sake of comparison. The second table gives a comparative view of the figures adopted by the Early Christian Fathers, and by Josephus.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 17:59:56 +0000
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