Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-02-06
OLD INHABITANTS.
Investigations - to tho Ages OF tn. Par,
aYchs.


Investigations - to tho Ages OF tn. par,.
aSchs.
On full examination of the Question
Of patriarchial- longevity the disparity
ot their ages to those Of modern times
disappears. A very light error in the
Translation of the Hebrew numbers had
led to al. this apparent disparity. The
age of the antedeluvians was not To or.
coed 100 years. Genesis vi, 8: .And
the Lord said, My spirit shall not al.
ways strive with man, for that he ia aiso
flesh, and his days shall he 1907 This
was the regular good old age of men,
with some special variations, both be-
tore and for some time after the days of
Abraham.
In reading concrete numbers the He
brews gave the large number first, thus:
Ninety and seven for 81, forty and seven
for AZ. The reversal of this rule in the
translation of Genesis ", 3-5, as an H.
lustration, will show the error in all
similar cases. Adam lived 100 years,
and hegat son" etc. This is correct,
according to the rule. Seth was born
when Adam was 13U years old, and was
bis last child. But if the rule were
here reversed as it is in the authorized
version, in the fifth verse. it would read
thus: Adam lived 5000 years and be-
gat son! This shocked the conscious.
ness OF the Christian translator, aud ha
was driven to the true rule of the He
brew uses in case Of concrete numerals
In the fifth verse we haze the force OF
the violated rule, thus: "And all the
days that Adam lived were $50 years,
and he died!' A. v. The true read
ing of the rule would be "and all the
days of Adam, which he lived, were
hundred years, and thirty and min.
years. and he died" making the entire
age OF Adam 139 years, instead Of 33(
years
1t will be seen on examination. that
concrete mineral adjectives in Hebrew
as in other languages, agree in number
with their nouns. In the case cited in
the A. V. the nine is made to agree
with hundred in the singular and not
with Years in the plural. The error il
seen at glance, for the difference be
tween niue years" and nine hundred
years" is too great to be overlooked in
any careful translation of sacred book
The translator assumed that nine here
agreed with the hundred, when it had
no such agreement; hundred in the text
il itself a concrete mineral, and separ.
ately agrees with years, meaning hun.
dred of years; at the date of this writing
"nine hundred" or any number of hun.
dreds above one, without repetition o,
circumlocution. There were none o,
the masoretic points in use. In the case
of the age of Terah, the father of Abra
ham, the translators have made the at
tempt to make two hundred out of ore
hundred in the word mathim, used IL
the plural as it might be to agree will
years, thus making Terah 2O5 instead o
1875 years old at his death; holding tn,
theory that the word mae Cor 1907 would
in the plural. mathim. make 2o). This
is contrary to all rule. The Hebrew
could. by pluralizing mineral les
than 10, add tenfold to the unit, thus
hemosh, 5, hemoshim, So This rule
applied in case of Terah, would mak
him ten times 1O5 years old, or / .05
years old. In the case of Terah the his
toric record conclusiveiy contradicts tn
translation, and hence demonstrates tn
rule that piuralizing 100 does not, in tn
Hebrew tongue, make 200, while as t
the numerals between 2 and 10 the rul
might apply thus: Shelesh, 3. she
leshim, 80, and like manner to II
With these corrections, referring to til
ages of the patriarchs before the Noach
ian delnge. the article of NJ. de Solavill,
would show a wonderful uniformity il
the age Of man since the dawn of his
tory.
From Adam to the food the age
would read as in the table below, sub
ject to few uncertainties in the mum
bers below 100, as the numerals ar
sometimes pluralized for purposes Q
agreement. when they We're not in
creased tenfold. The cases are not al
ways certain; the table to the flood
substantially true. The table is added
giving the ages of each ut the time O
his death:
l. Adam, 100 years, and not 93
years.
2. Seth, l21 years, aud not 912 years
8. Enos, 114years. aud not 3'5 years
4 Cain, 1l9 years. and not 80 years
: S. Mahalaleel, ID wears, and not 80
years.
6. Jared, III years, and not 96
years.
Z. Enoch, ia years, aud not So
years.
8. Methusalah. 124 years, and no
9G9 years.
9. Lamech. III years, and not u
years.
10. Noah, 159 years, and not $50 years
Average. 100 plus years.
Anxni.s and Hts deaf Father.
Danl was the biggest liar iii tow
aud Dany always appealed to his fathe