We have touched upon this once but since then these problems still arise in my classes when we study Genesis. Understand: what we think of as a genealogy is not what the Hebrews thought of. Most of this information comes from my son Nathan’s book The Growth of the Seed: Studies in the Book of Genesis. I have been known to copy whole pages of it about this particular topic and pass it out to every class member. If you misuse a genealogy, you will come up with something absolutely ridiculous, like the date in the title of this essay. Let me explain.
The Hebrew people, like most ancients, relied on oral history. Yes, important events were eventually written down, first by Moses, and then by others as the Old Testament writings were written and collected. But family histories were oral capsules called toledots. For example, if I wanted to tell you about my ancestors, I would not tell you about every single generation. I would only mention the important ones, the ancestors who did something notable or whose lives were especially interesting. Occasionally I might mention someone just for the sake of a time landmark, especially if I had skipped a couple hundred years, but many I would omit. It only makes sense, and it only made sense to those ancient people as well.
Look at Matthew 1. This is the genealogy, or toledot, of Jesus. Did it really start with Abraham? And how can there be exactly 14 generations between Abraham and David, David and the captivity, and the captivity to Christ? Doesn’t that seem a little contrived? And it all falls apart when you see that David is in there twice! There must be a reason it is done this way and it has nothing to do with listing every single generation. We also have sets of ten in Genesis 5 and 11, another place where the numbers are meant to mean something. And if you do not believe generations are skipped compared Matthew 1:8 and 1 Chron 3:11,12. Then check Ezra 7:3,4 and 1 Chron 6:6-14.
You simply cannot start adding and subtracting numbers in any certain genealogy and think you know exactly how much time has passed and who was alive when someone else was. A man did that a long time ago and came up with the notion that the world was created on October 24, 4004 BC, at 9:30 AM 45th Meridian time, but that would be about 4:00 PM in the area of the Garden of Eden’s creation, and are we counting when God started or when He finished? See what sort of nonsense we get into?
None of the Bible writers ever used genealogies this way. Let’s be smart and follow their examples.
The days of our years are threescore years and ten, Or even by reason of strength fourscore years; Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; For it is soon gone, and we fly away Who knows the power of your anger, And your wrath according to the fear that is due unto you? So teach us to number our days, That we may get us a heart of wisdomPs90:10-12.
Dene Ward
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