The Portland daily press., 1882-03-15
Ages of the Patriarchs.
Some Interesting Facts and Figures.

~
[Charles s. Bryant ia Popular Science Monthly.1
On full examination of the question Of pa
triarchal longevity the disparity OF their ages
to those Of latter times disappears. A very
slight error in the translation of the Hebrew
has led to all this apparent disparity. The age
Of the antediluvians was not to exceed I'D
years. Genesis vi, 8: "And the Lord said,
My spirit shall not always strive with man, for
that he is also flesh, yet his days shall be an
hundred and twenty years. This was the regu-
lar good old age of men with special variations.
both before and some time after the days Of
Abraham.
In reading concrete numbers the Hebrews
gave the large numbers first, thus: Ninety and
seven for 81, 40 and for AZ. The reversal Of
this rule in the translation of Genesis v, 5, a.
an illustration, will show the error in all SINH
lar cases. adam lived hundred and thirty
years and begat son, ETC." This is correct,
according to the rule Seth was born when
Adam was hundred and thirty years old, and
was his last child. But If the rule was here
reversed, as it is in the authorized version, In
the fifth verse it would read thus: Adam
lived thirty hundred years, and begat a soni
This shocked the consciousness of the Christian
Hebrew uses in case of concrete numerals.
In the fifth verse we have the force OF the
violated rule, thus: Sand all the days that
Adam lived were $50 years, and he died" A
''and all the days of Adam which he lived
were hundred years, and thirty and nine
years, and he died, !" making the entire age Of
Adam 139 years, instead of $50.
1t will be seen on examination that concrete
numeral adjectives in Hebrew as in other lam
guages agree in number with their nouns. In
the case cited in the A ", the nine is made to
agree with hundred in the singular and not
with years in the plural. The error is seen At
glance, for the difference between mine
years" and ''nine hundred years is too great
| too be overlooked in any careful translation Of
| q sacred book. The translator assumed that
| nine here agreed with hundred, when 1t bad
no such ssdl ssaaatsf an s arssS
| with years, meaning hundred Of years. AT
| the date OF this writing the Hebrews had no
| means of writing mine hundred" or any num-
| Der of hundreds above one, without repetition
| or circumlocution. There were none OF tho
| masoretic points In use. In the case OF the age
| of Terah, the father of Abraham, the transla-
| tors have made the attempt to make two hun
| dred out of one hundred in the word mathim
| used in the plural as it might be to agree xith
| years, thus making Terah 205 instead OF 1O5
| years DID, at his death; holding the theory that
| the word mae Tor 100) would in the plural,
| mathim, make 200. This is contrary to all
| rule The Hebrews could by pluralizing .
| numeral, less than 10. add tenfold TO the unit,
| thus, hemosh, 8; hemoshim 80. This rule, ap-
| Piled in the case of Terah would make him 10
| times 105 years old, or 1850 years old. In the
| case of Terah the historic record conclusively
/ contradicts the translation, and hence demon
strates the rule that pluralizing 100 does not,
i in the Hebrew tongue, make 200, while as TO
| the numerals between 2 and 10 the rule might
| apply thus: Sheesh, three; sheleshim, 80;
| and in a like manner to ten. With these cor
rections, referring to the ages of the patriarchs
| before the Noachian deluge, the article OF M.
| de Solavile would show wonderful uniformi-
| ty in the age of man since the dawn of history.
| From Adam to the flood the ages would read
as in the table below, subject to few uncer-
| tainties in the numbers below 100, as the nu-
| merals are sometimes pluralized for purposes
of agreement when they were not increased
i tenfold. These cases are not always certain;
the table to the flood is substantially true. The
| table is added, giving the ages of each at the
time of DEATH
1. Adam, 139 years and not $50 years.
2. Seth, 121 years and not 912 years.
8. Ehos, ia years and not 935 years.
4. Cainan, 119 years and not $40 years.
g. Mahalaleel, 122 years and not S95 years.
6. Jared, III years and not 962 years.
7. Enoch, ia years and not 365 years.
s. Methuselah, 124 years and not 969 years.
| 9. Lamech, III years and not III years.
10. Noah 159 years and not $50 years,
Average, 120 plus years