i. Fro.m the Creation to the Flood. — The data for this period, which are found in the genea- logical table of Gn 5 and the notice of the year of the Kl(X)d in Gn 7', are given dilferently in the Heb text, the Sam., and the LXX. These ditlerences are exhibited in the following table : —
Age of each when next
was born or event
occurred.
Heb.
Sam.
i.ri
Adam
130
130
230
Seth
105
105
205
Knosh
90
90
190
Kenan . , ...
70
70
170
Mabalalel
65
66
165
Jarcd
1C2
62
162
Enoch . . , ,
05
95
165
Methuselah . . • • •
187
97
167
Lamecb . • . ,
182
63
188
Noah
rears horn Creation to the Flood
600
000
900
1956
1307 1 2242
Thus we have three different lengths assigned for tlie period from the creation of man to the Flood. The numbers of the Heb. text have gene- rally been regarded as the original, although recently those of the Sam. have been defended by Dilliuaun and Budde. The LXX text, however, was accepted by the Hel. Jews and the early Christian Church, and has found defenders among certain Eng. scholars (Hales, Jackson, Poole, Rawlinson, and others), who have looked upon it with favour as furnishing a chronology more in sujcord with the antiquity of man than that of the Heb. text. But these numbers, whichever table may be regarded as the original, cannot, in any case, be accepted as historical, and hence for a real chronology of the early ages of man they are valueless. To accept them as genuine records is to assume from the creation of man a degree of civilisation high enough to firovide a settled calendar, and a regular registration of births and deaths, and the preservation of such records from the creation of man to the time of the composition of Gn. All that is known of primitive antiiiuity is against such a supposition. The art of writing was not then known ; and however tenacious may have been the memory of man, it is doubtful whether language then po.sse8.sed the requisite terminology for the expression of such lapses of time. Man also has been upon the enrth for a far longer period than that given even by the LXX chronology. The conjectural character of the table of (^n 5 may be also recognised from the varia- tions of the three texts. Such liberties would prob- ably not have been taken with tigurcs supposed to rest upon authentic historical documents. The sacred writer chose the form of a genealogical table to represent tlie early period of the world's history. The number of the patriarchs, ten, is a common one in the lists of the prehistoric rulers or heroes of many peoples. It appears at once to be a sug- gestion from the ten lingers. The length assigned for the period from the Creation to the Flood is more dilticult of explanation. Accepting that of the Heb. text, the most probable exjilanation ia seen in connecting the KioO years with the subse- quent data given for the period between the Flood
398 CHRONOLOGY OF OLD TEST.
CHRONOLOGY OF OLD TEST.
and the Exodus, which together make 2666, or two-thirds of 4000 years. Four thousand years, according to a Jewish tradition, were to elapse from the creation of the world to the coming of the Mes-iiiah. Two-thirds of that period, then, would have passed at the Exodus, or the giving of the law and founding of the Jewish Theocracy at Mount Sinai.
ii. From thk Flood to the Exodus.— For the period from the Flood to the birth of Abraham, we have a genealogical table in Gn ll'»-2« similar to that of Gn 5, and likewise given differently in the tiiree ancient texts. In this instance, however, the Sam. and LXX VSS are almost identical, both giving a much longer period than the Heb. text. The LXX also has an extra name, Cainan, wanting in both the Heb. and Sam. texts, giving 1.30 addi- tional years ; and the years of Nahor at the birth of Terah in the LXX are 179, while in the Sam. 79. The variations are shown in the following table : —
Bhem . Arpacbahid. Oainan . . Bbelah . Eber . Peleg . . Reu . Serug . , Nahor . Terah . Abnbaia
Tn. of Bhem's life b«L the Flood From Flood to birth of Abrahun
Age of each when next
wu bora or event
occurred.
Heb.
Bun.
I.XX
100
100
100
86
136
136 130
80
ISO
130
S4
134
134
80
130
130
82
182
132
SO
130
130
29
79
179
70
70
70
890
1040
1270
•100
100
100
290
040
1170
of the length of the sojourn of the children o! Israel in Egypt (Ex. 12">). In this last passage the LXX and Sam. texts make the sojourning of the children of Israel to include also the sojourning of the patriarchs in the land of Canaan. From these data we present the following table with a summary of the preceding tables, with also the reference to the age of Abraham at his call from Haran (Gen. 12*) :—
Of these three texts the Heb. is undoubtedly the original. The LXX and Sam. show an endeav- our to gain more time by systematically heighten- ing the birth year of the patriarchs. The extra name of the LXX probably arose from a desire to make the number of the patriarchs ten (perhaps they were so originally), and thus bring the table more into conformity with that of Gn 5. The LXX text has been preferred by Hales, Jackson, Poole, and others as providing a more adequate time than the Heb. text for the growth of the nations of antiquity. But the LXX period is too short. It places the Flood at about .3000 B.C. But Egyptian remains point to a civilisation whose beginnings were not later than 5000 years B.C., and ▼ery likely millenniums earlier (Maspero says 8000 or 10,000 years B.C.), and Assyr. discoveries have revealed an historic period extending to as early a date. This table came evidently from the same source aa that of Gn 5, and is of the same artificial character, except that in some of the patriarchal names are reminiscences of peoples and places.