Program / Course 17: Defending Scripture / Lesson 6.4
What you will learn
- Describe the purposes of biblical genealogies and the ways in which they differ from modern family trees.
- Explain the differences among the Hebrew, Greek and Samaritan numbers in Genesis 5 and 11.
- Compare the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke and the main proposals about them.
- Evaluate attempts to compute the age of the earth from the Bible, and the objections to them.
The big idea
Genealogies in the Bible are lists with a purpose. They establish identity, claim a heritage, mark off periods and structure a story. They are often selective, with names left out and relationships compressed, and numbers in them may have symbolic roles. The long ages in Genesis, the three versions of the numbers, and the differences between Matthew and Luke show that they cannot be read as simple records. Christians disagree about how far the numbers give a calendar, and the disagreement affects the debate about the age of the earth.
Key terms
- Genealogy
- A list of ancestors and descendants. In the ancient world it served to show identity, rights and status as much as biological descent.
- Telescoping
- The shortening of a genealogy by leaving out some generations, so that begat can mean became the ancestor of.
- Gematria
- The practice of reading numerical values in letters. The name David in Hebrew letters adds to 14.
- Ussher chronology
- The calculation by Archbishop James Ussher in the seventeenth century that dated creation to 4004 before Christ, by adding the numbers in the Bible.
- Sumerian King List
- An ancient Mesopotamian text that lists kings before and after a flood, with reigns of tens of thousands of years.
- Levirate marriage
- The custom by which a brother marries the widow of his brother, so that the first child counts as the dead man’s heir.
- Seventy weeks
- The prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27, read by many Christians and Jews as weeks of years, and the subject of many calculations.
Background
Genealogies appear throughout the Bible, in Genesis, Chronicles and the Gospels. To modern readers they can seem dull. To their first readers they were a way to say who a person was and where they belonged. A priest had to show descent from Aaron (Ezra 2:62), and a king needed to be of David’s line. In the Gospels, the genealogy of Jesus shows him as son of David and son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1).
Because genealogies serve such purposes, ancient writers were free to shape them. They omitted names, grouped generations and used numbers for effect. Texts from Mesopotamia and elsewhere show the same freedom. The question for the student is how this affects any attempt to use the lists as a chronology. This lesson examines the evidence and the range of Christian views.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: The ages in Genesis 5 and 11
Genesis 5 lists ten generations from Adam to Noah, and Genesis 11 lists ten from Shem to Abram. The ages given are very long in the first list, with Methuselah at 969 years, and shorter in the second. The Hebrew text, the Greek Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch give different numbers for the ages at which the fathers had their sons, producing totals from Adam to the flood of about 1,656 years in the Hebrew, 2,242 in the Septuagint and 1,307 in the Samaritan. The Septuagint also adds a generation, Cainan, in Genesis 11, and Luke 3:36 includes him.
These differences show that the numbers were not copied without variation. They also make the use of the numbers for a precise date for creation more difficult, since the answer depends on which text one follows. The Orthodox churches, which use the Septuagint, have traditionally reckoned about 5,500 years from creation to Christ, while the Hebrew text yields about 4,000. Ussher used the Hebrew and arrived at 4004.
Step 2: Telescoping and gaps
In biblical Hebrew, the word for son can mean grandson or descendant, and father can mean ancestor. Matthew 1:8 reads that Joram begat Uzziah, but 1 Chronicles 3:11-12 shows that three kings stood between them. Matthew knew the omission, since he arranges the names into three sets of fourteen (Matthew 1:17), and leaving some out makes the pattern work. The number fourteen is the numerical value of the Hebrew letters of David, which may be intentional.
If genealogies in other places are compressed in the same way, a chronology built from them would be too short. Some conservative scholars, such as William Henry Green in the nineteenth century, argued that Genesis 5 and 11 contain gaps and cannot be used to date creation. Others reply that the format of Genesis, which gives the age at the birth of a son and the total life span, appears to be designed to give a continuous count, so that gaps seem unlikely. The matter is still discussed within the evangelical world.
Step 3: Why long lives, and the ancient parallels
The Sumerian King List records eight or ten kings before a flood, each reigning tens of thousands of years, and shorter reigns afterward. The pattern resembles Genesis in the structure of a long-lived line before the flood and a decline afterward. Scholars debate what this shows. Some think that Genesis reworks a common tradition in a more modest form, and others think it shows that all such lists use large numbers in a similar symbolic way.
Proposals about the ages in Genesis include literal long lives, symbolic numbers, different units of time, and the idea that names stand for tribes or dynasties rather than individuals. Early readers also noticed the difficulty, and Josephus and Augustine both discuss the long lives. Augustine, in The City of God, argued that the ages are to be taken as stated and that the years were the same length as ours. Others in the early church read some numbers symbolically.
Step 4: Matthew and Luke, and the age of the earth
Matthew traces Jesus through the line of kings to Joseph, son of Jacob, and Luke traces him back to Adam through Joseph, son of Heli. Africanus, in the third century, proposed that the two fathers were half-brothers by a levirate marriage, and many later writers held that Luke gives Mary’s line. Scholars note that Luke says Jesus was, as was supposed, the son of Joseph (Luke 3:23). No solution is agreed.
On the age of the earth, there are broadly three Christian views. Young earth creationists accept the Ussher approach and date creation at several thousand years ago. Old earth creationists accept that the earth is billions of years old and read the genealogies as selective. Others, including many Catholic and Orthodox thinkers, hold that the Bible does not teach a date at all. The next module takes up the larger issue of Genesis and science.
- What is the difference between a genealogy as a record and a genealogy as a statement of identity?
- Why might Matthew have left out three kings in his list?
- How should a reader respond to the fact that the Hebrew, Greek and Samaritan numbers differ?
- What do the ancient parallels to the long lives of Genesis suggest to you?
- Is it fair to use Genesis 5 and 11 to calculate the date of creation? What are the arguments on each side?
- What does the diversity of ancient views about the long ages tell you about reading them?
Examples
Three sets of fourteen
Matthew divides the generations from Abraham to Christ into three groups of fourteen: from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, from the exile to Christ. To reach the pattern, he omits several names and counts one name twice or counts Jeconiah, scholars say, in more than one way. The aim is theological and not a complete record.
Ussher’s date
James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, published in 1650 a chronology that put creation on the evening before 23 October 4004 before Christ. It was printed in the margins of many English Bibles for generations. Today many conservatives and most scholars reject it, but it remains in use among young earth creationists.
The Cainan question
Luke 3:36 lists Cainan as the son of Arphaxad, as the Septuagint does. The Hebrew text of Genesis 11 does not include him. The case shows that a New Testament author could rely on the Greek tradition of the numbers.
Different perspectives
Catholic
Catholic teaching does not set a date for creation, and the Catechism affirms the truths of faith about creation without specifying a chronology. Catholic exegetes, following Dei Verbum, attend to the literary forms of the genealogies and generally accept that they do not give a calendar.
Orthodox
The Orthodox use the Septuagint, with its larger numbers, and have a tradition that the world was created about 5,500 years before Christ. Many Orthodox authors treat this as traditional and not as dogma, and many accept the findings of science about the age of the earth.
Protestant (young earth)
Young earth creationists argue that Genesis 5 and 11 give a continuous count and that the creation days were ordinary days, so that the earth is thousands of years old. They hold that rejecting this weakens the authority of Scripture. Organizations such as Answers in Genesis defend this view.
Protestant (old earth)
Old earth Christians, including many evangelicals, hold that the genealogies are selective and the earth is very old. They point to the work of B. B. Warfield and W. H. Green and argue that the Bible’s purpose is not to date creation. Critics say this introduces a distinction that the text does not suggest.
Jewish and secular
Jewish tradition counts years from creation in its calendar, and many Jews understand the number as a religious convention. Secular scholars treat the ages as legendary and compare them with ancient Near Eastern lists. Both agree that the numbers are not a dependable guide to prehistory.
Why it matters
Genealogies and ages are a point where a reader can easily go wrong by assuming the text works as a modern ledger. Learning how they were used in the ancient world helps you read them for the purposes the authors had. It also shows the real divisions within Christianity over the age of the earth, and why they have arisen. A student who sees the evidence can discuss the subject without caricature.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: The Bible says that the earth is 6,000 years old.
Correction: The Bible gives no such statement. The figure comes from adding numbers in the genealogies, a method that depends on which text is followed and on whether the lists are complete.
Misunderstanding: Matthew and Luke made mistakes in their genealogies.
Correction: They may have used different conventions and different purposes. Scholars disagree about whether they can be fully harmonized, but selectivity does not by itself show error.
Misunderstanding: Only liberal scholars think genealogies have gaps.
Correction: Conservative scholars, from Green and Warfield to many contemporary evangelicals, have argued that gaps exist. Other conservatives disagree, at least for Genesis.
Misunderstanding: The Septuagint numbers are just errors.
Correction: Scholars debate which tradition preserves the earlier numbers. The Hebrew, Greek and Samaritan texts may each have altered them in different ways.
Knowledge check
What was the purpose of biblical genealogies?
Genealogies established identity, rights and status, as when a priest needed to show descent from Aaron or a king descent from David. They also marked off periods and gave structure to a story. Because of these aims they were often selective, leaving out names and grouping generations, and so they should not be read as complete modern family records.
Why do the Hebrew, Greek and Samaritan texts of Genesis 5 and 11 matter for dating?
The three texts give different numbers for the ages at which the fathers had their sons, producing different totals from Adam to the flood and to Abraham. Any date for creation calculated from them depends on which text is followed. This is one reason many scholars doubt that the numbers were meant to give a date.
How does Matthew 1 show that genealogies can be selective?
Matthew 1:8 says that Joram begat Uzziah, but 1 Chronicles 3 shows that three kings come between them. Matthew arranges the names into three groups of fourteen, and fourteen is the value of the Hebrew letters of David. This suggests that he shaped the list for a theological purpose and that begat can mean was an ancestor of.
Name two proposals about the differences between Matthew’s and Luke’s genealogies.
One proposal, from Africanus in the third century, is that Joseph’s two fathers were half-brothers related by a levirate marriage. Another is that Luke gives the line of Mary, though Luke names Joseph. A third is that the two lists follow different conventions and purposes. None is proven, and scholars still debate the question.
Think it through
- What changes in your reading if the genealogies are not meant to be a calendar?
- How would you discuss the age of the earth with a Christian who disagrees with you?
- Which do you find stronger, the argument for gaps or the argument against them?
Independent assignment
Compare two genealogies
In your own notebook, read Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38 and list the names that appear in both and the names that appear in only one. Write 300 to 400 words describing the purpose of each list and two proposals about their differences, then say which proposal you find most plausible and why. Do not send this to anyone or post it anywhere.
Further study
- Augustine of Hippo, The City of God Read selectively for Augustine’s discussion of the long lives before the flood.
- Origen, On First Principles (De Principiis) Read selectively for Origen’s attention to the difficulties of the text.
- Jewish Publication Society, The Hebrew Bible in English (JPS translation) Read Genesis 5 and 11 in the Jewish translation and note the numbers.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Religion and Science Read for an overview of the relation between religion and science.
- Matthew 1:17 Fourteen generations three times over.
- Luke 3:23 Jesus, as was supposed, the son of Joseph.
- Genesis 5:27 Methuselah and his age.