RE: [asa] Two questions... (genealogy gaps)

Sorry for the late reply to this...life keeps one busy.

I was referring mainly to Cain's lineage in regards to the development of
technologies such as metallurgy, stringed instruments, cattle domestication.
Enoch's wife is mentioned, but no family is mentioned for Irad, Mehujael, or
Methusael, and then we see that Lamech had two wives. This possibly
indicates that Irad, Mehujael, or Methusael were notable forefathers in this
lineage, but leaves open the possibility for others.

With regard to Seth's lineage, I am struck by several things, and actually
that's what brought me back to this thread to read (all of) your comments.

First, it seems to me that Gen 5 begins by linking Seth not only to Adam the
father of Seth, but directly to the original Adam. However I have to admit
that it isn't clear; why the ancient Jews couldn't make better use of their
limited vocabulary, I guess we will never know. Strong's #120 is used three
different ways in the first two verses! Nevertheless, it seems clear that
the author means that this lineage starts "from the beginning".

Second, I have to admit that the wording (I'm reading KJV) indicates the
years that X lived to the birth of Y, and how many years after, and how many
years total. Is there a modern translation of the Masoretic Text
interpretation of these lineages? (Also, which book of Lemoureux are you
referring to Bernie? Do you mean Lamoureux?) So those do seem to indicate
pretty straightforward lineages.

Third, in looking at the lineages from Adam to Noah, and from Seth to Abram,
I note that there are 10 in each. Seems rather symmetric. This symmetry
seems to me to perhaps be indicative of choosing the "top 10", and thus
indicative of not being a strict timeline.

I will be interested in reading Lemoureux/Lamoureux.

James

-----Original Message-----
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
Behalf Of gordon brown
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 9:55 PM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: RE: [asa] Two questions... (genealogy gaps)

On Tue, 10 Feb 2009, Dehler, Bernie wrote:

> James Patterson: "The genealogies are well known to contain gaps."
>
> How can there be gaps in Genesis geneologies when it not only gives names,
but who begat who and how long each lived and how old they were when one was
begat? My opinion is that the history is nailed-down, but wrong; but it's
ok because the history is incidental to the theological message (RE:
Lemoureux).
>
> ...Bernie
>

There are many questions raised by the Biblical genealogies, and there are
numerous theories about them, none of which is obvious, and so I would say
that they are speculations.

Some genealogies have obvious gaps. For example, Matthew 1 skips three of
the kings of Judah. Also 14 generations from Abraham to David would
require very long generations if there are no gaps there. It has been
suggested that the OT and NT writers deliberately chose their genealogies
to have a predetermined number of generations.

In order for Dick Fischer to date the Flood at 2900 B.C. without positing
gaps in the genealogies, he would need to use the Septuagint rather than
the Masoretic text. Whereas in the MT's genealogy from Noah to Abraham
most individuals fathered their sons while in their 30s, in the LXX they
were in their 130s. Also Cainan is in the LXX but not in the MT. We also
note that in the Masoretic text these individuals died in roughly the
reverse order of their births.

Gordon Brown (ASA member)

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Received on Thu Feb 19 07:45:35 2009