(6.) IndmducU Ditorep<mcie$, — In addition to the post-diluvian Cainan noticed above, the following names appear to furnish decided proof of the superior trustworthiness of the Heb. list (see the conclusive treatise of Michaelis on this subject, translated in the Amer. Bib, Repo$.^ 2d ser., vi, 114 sq. ; also some judi- cious remarks by Dr. Pond in the Melk, Quart, Smiiw^ July, 1867).
[1.] In the cases of Adam and Seth, the addition of 100 years to their age before paternity disturbs the av- erage ratio between the season of growth and the total life, which in man, as in other animals, is a well-estab> lished proportion. These two patriarchs passed nearly one quarter of their lives childless, although their immediate successors wa« blessed with ofi^ring when they had advanced but about one tenth to one twelfth in life. Was the command to *^ increase and multiply and fill the earth" so much less urgent in the first cen- turies of the world than subsequently ? In the num- bers assigned to the first two generations, moreover, the various readings found in the text of Josephus nearly destroy the support which it gives to the Sept., leaving the balance of evidence decidedly in fiivor of the tallying numbers in the Heb. and Samar. ; and in the next three generations there is at least an equi- poise between the authorities, which are arrayed in the same manner. *
[2.] The Heb. numbers in the case of Jared aM sus- tained by all the other lists except the Samar., which not only deducts the century ftom his minority, but also arbitrarily curtails his subsequent years by a dif- ferent amount (25 years), evidently in order to force the total life into conformity with the plan of gradual reduction below the length of the pr^oeding genera- tion. In the next name, that of Enoch, the Heb. and Samar. again appear in unison against the Sept. and Josephus, the testimony of the last being impaired by the corrupt state of his numbers at this point.
[d.] The numbers given under Methuselah and La- mech, however, most decbively betray, according to the settled laws of internal criticism, marks of inten- tional corruption in all but the Heb. list. Not only
are the years Gt each of the.others totally nxiflitppotted by one another, where they difier from this, under both these names, and also embarrassed by variofB readings of a glaring character, but a compazfaon d them with the date of the Deluge shows unndatakftlilv that they were altered so as to place tha demise of these two patriarchs ** high and dry*' beyond the reac^ of this event. Those who have sneerin^y renuvkad that, according to the Hebrew diroiiol<^gy of Ufibez, " Methuselah was drowned in Noah's Flood by act of British Parliament'* (which sanctbned that prdate's scheme by autliorizing its insertion in the nuugiii of the English Bible), are not only incorrect in tbat par- ticular (for Methuselah [q. v.], according to the Hdx. numben, died a full monUi before the Deluge begmii)^ but they reason uncritically, inasmuch as so p«>r^Ki» an objection only shbws the honesty of the Maaoa«tk editors, who allowed it to remain upon the Cue of their text, when they might, by a slight aHermtioii, so quietly have obviated it. The ingenious tinkera of tiie Samar. and Greek chronologies, on the oontnuy, have carefoUy attempted to remove this stambling- block from tlM way of their version by a vkileot mod- ification of the numbers in question, docking off liere, and splicing on there, to suit dicnmstaneea. Tet, like forgers usually, they have, after all, fidlen into confusion, and convicted themselves by their own traces ; the Samar. and most of the readings of the Greek copies do but make the year of the death of these patriarchs coincide with that of the Flood, while the very suspicious fact remains that the livea <rf these two alone (besides that of Jared in the Samar.) an abbreviated not only in comparison with the longer and more dif^cult dates of tJie other lists, but sud- denly, as if for a spedal purpose, between instaocef of greater longevity immediately before (exdoding Enoch, who was translated aUve) and after. The Heb. list can alone be defended at this point on critical grounds.
[4.] The general agreement in greater age assigned to the p08t4iluvian patriarchs by the Samar. and Greek lists is not more difficult to explain to the advaDtage of the Heb. If the former be the original fbnn, no reason can be assigned for the change ; but if the lat- ter be assumed as giving the genuine numbers, it is easy to perceive how readily they may have been aug- mented in order to sweU the primidve ssra of lepopu- lation after the Flood into a nearer coefiDrmity with the extravagant mythical periods of early heathen histories. With the Egyptians, aipong whom the Sept. is known to have originated, the infioenoe of which may plainly be traced in the present account of Josephus (siid possibly, throufih some indirect dian- nel, that of the Samar. also), this temptaticm would be peculiarly strong. The internal evidence here, how- ever, it must bo confessed, is rather in fevor of the Samar. numbers, corroborated as they are throu^ut as to the age of paternity by those of the Sept. and (but less accurately) Josephus; and we might eren be inclined to adopt them, as consistent in gradatioB with those prefernd in the antedUuvian portion, did not the manifest want of authority in the non-Hebrew schemes for that part cast a strong doubt of accuracy over them in this part likevdse. This suspiciom is I confirmed by the want of harmony between the Samar. ! and Sept. as to the post-diluvian agee after paternity, the latter list oonforming in this respect quite dosely I to the Heb. If we turn to the evidence of ancient I records and tradition, we find the numbers of tiie Sept confirmed rather than those of the Heb. Hie histny ' and civilisation of Egypt, as well as of Assyria and { Babylonia, reach to a time about as eariy as the Heb. j date of the Flood. Moreover, the concurrent evidence ; of antiquity carries the origin of Gentile dvilixadoa to the Noachian races. On the acceptance, therefore, ; of the Heb. numbers we must place (as we easily may) \ the dispersion of nations [see Ethnology] very soon