Re: [asa] Cainan

Dick,
Looks like you copied an error in making the name "Canaan." I find it in
the Bagster-Harper's translation, but the Greek is _Kainan_. I also note
that you have _Kainam_ in "Jubilees." Is that where Luke got it, as
Nestle gives the best text?
Dave (ASA)

On Tue, 05 Feb 2008 23:54:33 -0500 "Dick Fischer"
<dickfischer@verizon.net> writes:
Hi Gordon, you wrote:

>Does anyone on this list know whether there is anything close to a
consensus about what was probably the original reading of those verses in

Genesis 10 and 11 in which the Septuagint mentions Cainan?<

Look at the texts.

(Sept.) Gen. 11:10-14: And these are the generations of Sem: and Sem was
a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, the second year after the
flood. And Sem lived, after he had begotten Arphaxad, five hundred years,
and begot sons and daughters, and died. And Arphaxad lived a hundred and
thirty-five years, and begot Cainan. And Arphaxad lived after he had
begotten Cainan, four hundred years, and begot sons and daughters, and
died. And Cainan lived a hundred and thirty years and begot Sala; and
Canaan lived after he had begotten Sala, three hundred and thirty years,
and begot sons and daughters, and died. And Sala lived an hundred and
thirty years, and begot Heber.

(KJV) Gen. 11:10-14: These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an
hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: 11 And
Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and
daughters. 12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:
13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years,
and begat sons and daughters. 14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat
Eber:

Only a deletion makes any sense. Can you imagine a creative scribe
making up the number of years Arphaxad lived before having Cainan, how
old Cainan was when he begot Salah, and how long Cainan lived after that?
 Luke included Cainan because he likely was listed in the temple in
Jerusalem, and Cainan is included in Jubilees:

“In the twenty-ninth jubilee, in the first week, in the beginning thereof
Arpachshad took to himself a wife and her name was Rasu’eja, the daughter
of Susan, the daughter of Elam and she bare him a son in the third year
in this week, and he called his name Kainam. And the son grew, and his
father taught him writing, and he went to seek himself a place where he
might seize for himself a city. And he found a writing which former
(generations) had carved on the rock, and he read what was thereon, and
he transcribed it and sinned owing to it; for it contained the teaching
of the ‘Watchers’ in accordance with which they used to observe the omens
of the sun and moon and stars in all the signs of heaven. And he wrote
it down and said nothing regarding it; for he was afraid to speak to Noah
about it lest he should be angry with him on account of it. And in the
thirtieth jubilee in the second week, in the first year thereof, he took
to himself a wife, and her name was Melka, the daughter of Madai, the son
of Japheth, and in the fourth year he begat a son, and called his name
Shelah …”

Dick Fischer
Richard James Fischer, author
Historical Genesis from Adam to Abraham
www.historicalgenesis.com

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Wed Feb 6 14:10:04 2008