Chronological Data

    The information recorded in Genesis 5 and 11 is given in the following tables:

 HEBREW MASORETIC TEXT

SEPTUAGINT ALEXANDRINUS

SEPTUAGINT VATICANUS

SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH

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 Legend:

A.    M. - Anno Mundi  (Year of the World).

Bold Italics - Shows textual variants.

*         Son does not necessarily mean first firstborn (e.g. Seth).
**       Enoch was translated.

***     Anno Mundi Dates from this point on may be reduced by 2 years (cf. Gen. 5:32, 10:21, 11:10)?

****   Some Chronographers believe that Abram was born when Terah was 130 (Gen. 12:4; Acts 7:4).  Haran was the eldest son who was born 60 years earlier when Terah was 70. Evidence for this comes from Genesis 1:28-29.  Haran died well before Abram and Nahor.  Haran was old enough for Nahor to marry his daughter.  If this is true Abram, according to the Hebrew text, would have been born 2008 A.M. and would have died 2183 A.M.

The Hebrew Manuscripts Compared With Other Textual Recensions.

   Which Biblical text contains the original chronological figures?  The  Masoretes were careful Scribes and copyists of the Hebrew text.  The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has provided overwhelming confirmation of the fidelity of the Masoretic text. 1   Both the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint recensions are copies of the Hebrew Text. 

  Those who favor an older earth may be tempted to adopt the longer chronology of the Septuagint.  LXX Alexandrinus provides an additional 1,386 years while LXX Vaticanus allows another 1,466 years from Adam to Abraham.  The addition of 780 years (LXX Alex.) and 880 years (LXX Vat.) is especially attractive for those who wish to add time to the 292 years given in the Hebrew text for the time from the Flood to the birth of Abraham.  

  The Hebrew Text and the Samaritan Pentateuch are both devoid of textual variants.  Both LXX recensions contain textual variants.  The two Septuagint manuscripts disagree on some numbers about Methuselah. The numbers in the Vaticanus chronology allow Methuselah to live 14 years after Noah’s flood.  In order to avoid this situation later manuscripts limit his total life-span to 782 years.  This partially accounts for the differing figures from Adam to the flood, namely 2,242 in Vaticanus and 2,262 years in Alexandrinus.

   A unique feature of the Septuagint is the introduction of a second “Cainan” in the list of generations from the flood to Abraham. After Shem and Arpachshad a second “Cainan” is listed who lived 460 years.  The text reads that he was 130 years old when his son, Salah, was born. This Cainan does not appear in the Hebrew text, neither is he found in the Samaritan Pentateuch, Vulgate, or Syriac versions.  Josephus does not list him either.  

  In consideration of the figures in the LXX as compared to the Hebrew text, a number of observations are in order.  The LXX has greater systematization than the Hebrew text (and the Samaritan Pentateuch).  In both the antediluvian and the postdiluvian lists the LXX regularly has 100 years more for the ages at the begetting of the named son, except where there is a textual variation between 79 (LXX A) and 179 (LXX B) in the case of Nahor.  Exceptions to the addition of 100 years are found in the cases of Jared, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Terah, and Abraham. 

  A second point in the systematization of the LXX is observable in the fact that the years of life subsequent to the birth of the named son for each patriarch is 100 years shorter in the antediluvian period, but the total life-span in Genesis 5 is the same as in the Hebrew text, except for the case of Lamech. The small alteration in the case of Lamech may be due to the necessity of the LXX to place his death and that of Methuselah in the year of the flood. 

  The third point of systematization is evident in the fact that the LXX has a consistent decrease of ages at the begetting of the named son until Jared (230, 205, 190, 170, 165, 162); and after this there is a steady increase until Noah (162,165,187,188, 500).  In the postdiluvian period the same alternating pattern of decreasing and then increasing ages at begetting occurs (135, 130, 130, 134, 132, 130, 79 [or 179 for LXX B]. The pattern of total life-span is steadily decreasing with the exception of Eber in LXX A or Nahor in LXX B.

  A comparison of the years of death in relation to the births of the patriarchs is also informative. The Hebrew text does not reveal any pattern or regular order.  Irregularity is the mark of the Masoretic Text.  The LXX reveals that the deaths of the patriarchs fall in the same approximate order as their births. This is also true of the Samaritan version. The Samaritan Pentateuch has Jared and Lamech, along with Methuselah, dying the same year as Noah’s Flood.  In the Samaritan Text Shem, Salah, and Eber all died after Abraham.  In the Hebrew text, Shem was contemporaneous with Jacob and Noah may have lived during the days of Abraham. 

  The situation in the Septuagint is different. The deaths of the postdiluvian patriarchs occur in the approximate order of their births, which means a relatively regular sequence of the years of death. The LXX has a more symmetrical and schematic chronology.  It is most probable that the more irregular chronology (Hebrew Text) is the original.   

  It is possible that the LXX translators added years to the chronologies in order to show that the Hebrew Scriptures pre-dated the Egyptian chronological system. The LXX translators produced their work in Alexandria, Egypt.  It is likely that the patriarchal ages were adjusted by translators to compete with Egyptian claims about the antiquity of man.2  Manetho produced his chronology of the Egyptian Pharaohs some fifty years before the LXX translators began their work.  His chronology dated the first Pharaohs to about 3,000 years earlier.3  This meant that the flood would have to pre-date this time.  This meant that the Hebrew chronology would need to be lengthened in order to achieve these results.  This appears to have been attained by adding an additional 100 years to the patriarchal ages at the begetting of their named sons.  In this process of addition a certain systematization could be achieved which removed the irregularity of the Hebrew text. 

  In this process the period of time from creation to the flood was lengthened by 606 years (LXX A) or 586 years (LXX B) respectively which means that creation took place not in the year 1656 before the flood (MT) but in the year 2262 or 2242  respectively.   

  Another significant variation is the longer period of time from the Flood to Abraham.  The Hebrew Masoretic Text lists 292 years for this time period. LXX A and LXX B  allow 1,072  and 1,172 years respectively.  The Samaritan system permits 942 years for this same time frame.  This is closer to that of the Hebrew Masoretic Text, but is still significantly longer.  The Samaritan Pentateuch yields a total figure of 2,249 years from creation to the birth of Abraham as compared to the 1,948 years of the Hebrew Text. 

Summary of  Chronological Data 

  Both the Septuagint and Samaritan Texts are modified copies of the original Hebrew manuscripts.  It appears that they have both been systematically and schematically altered.  It is most probable that the Hebrew text contains the original chronological figures when compared to those in the Samaritan Pentateuch and LXX recensions.