From: slinke@sdcc3.ucsd.edu (Steven Linke)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,sci.skeptic,talk.religion.misc
Subject: Re: Agnostics and Athiests
Date: 31 Jul 92 07:07:38 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.books
Distribution: na
Organization: University of California, San Diego

In article <11510@optilink.UUCP> cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:
>
>One of the more interesting items I've read on this subject was
>written in the last century, by a literalist, demonstrating that
>Bishop Usher's chronology was wrong EVEN FROM A LITERALIST PERSPECTIVE!
>The word "begat" in the KJV is a translation of a word in Hebrew that
>merely indicates descent, and not necessarily one generation.
>Further, there are significant differences in genealogies in
>different parts of the Bible, with symbolic significance to the
>which generations, and which "X begat Y" are present.  Thus,
>Usher's attempt at determining the age of the Earth is doomed to
>failure.

Many years ago I did a semi-detailed study of the generations in the
Bible.  I constructed a genealogy based on Genesis, Exodus, and
Leviticus (mainly).  The numbers actually fit together very well.  I
have heard the argument about "begat" only meaning a descendant
rather than a son.  However, I have some problems with it.  First of
all, in many cases the age of the man was given at the time the
son/descendant was "begat," so even if he wasn't the true father the
absolute age would be known.

More significant is the use of the the word "generation" in Matthew
1.  Verse 17 reads: "So all the generations from Abraham to
David were fourteen generations, and from David to the Deportation
to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon
to the Christ fourteen generations."  Further, all of the names of
the people who represent these generations are given.  Why is the
Bible so specific about naming everybody and giving exact numbers of
generations if they really aren't true?  What's the point?

Here are the names in the genealogy of the first 22 generations and
the absolute date from time zero when they were born according to
the first books of the Bible:

Name           Year

Adam              0
Seth            130
Enosh           235
Kenan           325
Mahalalel       395
Jared           460
Enoch           622
Methuselah      687
Lamech          874
Noah           1056
Shem           1559
  Flood        1656
Arpachshad     1659
Shelah         1694
Eber           1724
Peleg          1758
Reu            1788
Serug          1820
Nahor          1850
Terah          1879
Abraham        1949
Isaac          2049
Jacob (Israel) 2109

The absolute dates are lost at this point, but the genealogy
continues uninterrupted as is summarized in Matthew 1:

Judah
Perez
Hezron
Ram
Amminadab
Nahshon
Salmon
Boaz
Obed
Jesse
David
 .
 .
Christ

In summary, 2109 years passed between the birth of Adam and the
birth of Jacob.  And between the birth of Jacob and the birth of
Christ, there were 38 more generations.  According to the Bible
ages, men were living less than 120 years in these final 38
generations.  Therefore, being very liberal (assuming sons were
born when their fathers were 120 years old), a maximum of 4560 years
would have passed during these last 38 generations.  Adding this to
the first 22 generations gives a final figure of 6669 years between
the creation of Adam and the birth of Christ.  Since most of the
recorded births occurred when the fathers were about 35, a more
realistic estimate would be about 3450 years between the creation of
Adam and the birth of Christ.

Thus the creationist might conclude that the age of the Earth is
between about 5400 and 8700 years, and indeed they do.  It's all a
bunch of bologna to me, though.  However, the way the dates and
generations fit together made for a very interesting one-day Bible
study.

-- 
Steve Linke
Salk Institute (Gene Expression Lab)
La Jolla, CA
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books