Genealogies of Genesis

The genealogies of Genesis (in chapters 4, 5 and 11 of the Book of Genesis) list the traditional descendants of Adam and Eve to Abraham, including the age at which each patriarch fathered his named son and the number of years he lived thereafter. The genealogy contains two branches: for Cain, given in Chapter 4, and for Seth in Chapter 5. Genesis chapter 10, the Table of Nations records the populating of the Earth by Noah's descendants, and is not strictly a genealogy but an ethnography).

Enumerated genealogy

Three versions of the Genesis genealogy exist: the Hebrew Masoretic Text, the Greek Septuagint, and the Hebrew Samaritan Pentateuch. Translations from the Masoretic Text are preferred by Western Christians, including Roman Catholics and Protestants and by followers of Orthodox Judaism, whereas the Greek version is preferred by Eastern Christians, including Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Ethiopic, Jacobite and Armenian. The Samaritan version of the Pentateuch is used mainly by the Samaritans. The Vulgate, published by Jerome in 405, is a Latin translation based on a Hebrew Tanakh compiled near the end of the first century, whereas the Septuagint was produced during the third century BC based on an earlier version of the Tanakh. Both have, like the Masoretic Text, been the basis for translations into numerous vernacular languages.

Genealogies of Cain and Seth

Three of Adam and Eve's children are named. The main genealogy is via Seth, who was born after Cain, the firstborn son, slew his brother Abel. A genealogy for Cain is also given (in ), with some names similar to those for Seth's descendants. No years are provided, so the following table simply lines the descendants up by generation.

(for a continuation of this family tree through the line of Shem, see Abraham's Family Tree)

Genesis numbers

Nearly all modern translations of Genesis are derived from the Masoretic (Hebrew) Text. But there are also two other versions of Genesis: the Samaritan (from a Hebrew script) and the Septuagint (a Greek translation of a Hebrew text). Although scholars are aware that these three versions of Genesis 5 have different numbers, people who have seen only the commonly available translations are often unaware that other versions exist. The numbers in the Masoretic, Samaritan, and Lucianic Septuagint versions of Genesis are shown in this table:

The following table lists the patriarchs that appear in the Vulgate and the Septuagint, but their names are spelled as they appear in the King James Version of the Bible. Their year of birth differs according to the Vulgate or the Septuagint. (AM = Anno Mundi = in the year of the world). Also given is each patriarch's age at the birth of his named son and the age of the patriarch's death. Cainan, born after the flood is mentioned in the Septuagint but not the Vulgate. Methuselah survived the Flood according to the Septuagint (but not the Vulgate), even though he was not on Noah's Ark.

			Masoretic & Vulgate					Samaritan					Septuagint
Patriarch	Meaning		Birth	Son	remain	Death		Birth	Son	remain	Death		Birth	Son	remain	Death		Wife/Wives/etc
Adam	red		0	130	800	930		0	130	800	930		0	230	700	930		Eve
Seth	compensation		130	105	807	912		130	105	807	912		230	205	707	912
Enosh	man		235	90	815	905		235	90	815	905		435	190	715	905
Kenan	possession		325	70	840	910		325	70	840	910		625	170	740	910
Mahalalel	One who praises God		395	65	830	895		395	65	830	895		795	165	730	895
Jared	descent		460	162	800	962		460	62	785	847		960	162	800	962
Enoch	dedicated		622	65	300	365¹		522	65	300	365¹		1122	165	200	365¹
Methuselah	man of the dart or his death shall bring judgment		687	187	782	969		587	67	653	720		1287	167	802	969
Lamech	powerful		874	182	595	777		654	53	600	653		1454	188	565	753
Noah	rest		1056	500	—	950		707	500	—	950		1642	500	—	950		Naamah
Shem	name		1557	100	500	600		1207	100	500	600		2142	100	500	600
Arphaxad	I shall fail as the breast		1658	35	403	438		1307	135	303	438		2244	135	430	565
Cainan	their smith		—	—	—	—		—	—	—	—		2379	130	330	460
Salah	sprout		1693	30	403	433		1442	130	303	433		2509	130	330	460
Eber	the region beyond		1723	34	430	464		1572	134	270	404		2639	134	270	404
Peleg	division		1757	30	209	239		1706	130	109	239		2773	130	209	339
Reu	friend		1787	32	207	239		1836	132	107	239		2903	132	207	339
Serug	branch		1819	30	200	230		1968	130	100	230		3035	130	200	330
Nahor	snorting		1849	29	119	148		2098	79	69	148		3165	179	125	304
Terah	station		1878	70	145	205		2177	70	75	145		3344	70	205	275
Abram	exalted father		1948	100	—	175		2247	100	—	175		3414	100	—	175		Sarai; (Hagar); Keturah

¹According to most interpretations, including the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews, Enoch did not die, but was taken away by God (at an age of 365). Genesis states that Enoch "walked with God; and he [was] not; for God took him."

Differences in the Genesis 5 numbers

A comparison of the Genesis 5 numbers (Adam through Noah) in the above table shows that the ages when the sons were born plus the remainders equal the totals given in each version, but each version uses different numbers to arrive at these totals. The three versions agree on some of the total ages at death, but many of the other numbers differ by exactly 100. The Septuagint numbers for the ages of the fathers at the birth of their sons, are in many instances 100 greater than the corresponding numbers in the other two versions.

The Samaritan chronology has Jared and Methuselah dying in Noah's 600th year, the year of the Flood. The Masoretic chronology also has Methuselah dying in Noah’s 600th year, but the Masoretic version uses a different chronology than the Samaritan version. The Lucianic text of the Septuagint has Methuselah surviving the Flood and therefore the 100 year differences were not an attempt by the Septuagint editors to have Jared, Methuselah, or Lamech die during or prior to the Flood. Some scholars argue that the differences between the Masoretic and Septuagint chronologies in Genesis 5 can be explained as alterations designed to rationalize a primary Masoretic system of chronology to a later Septuagint system. According to another scholar, to assume that the Masoretic Text is primary "is a mere convention for the scholarly world" and "it should not be postulated in advance that MT reflects the original text of the biblical books better than the other texts."

The Genesis 5 numbers were presumably intended to be read at face value, as years and not months, because attempts to rationalize the numbers by translating "years" as "months" results in some of the Genesis 5 people fathering children when they were five years old (if the Masoretic chronology is assumed to be primary).

The scholarly translation of the Hebrew Pentateuch into Greek at Alexandria, Egypt in about 280 BC worked from a Hebrew text that was edited in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. This would be centuries older than the proto–Masoretic Text selected as the official text by the Masoretes.

Priestly source

The Priestly source illustrates history in Genesis by compiling the genealogy beginning with the "generations of the heavens and the earth" and continuing through Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac to the descendants of Jacob's son Esau. Jacob's descendants are listed in Genesis 46:8-27, beginning with the phrase "these are the names."

See also

• Genealogy of Jesus
• Genealogy of the Bible
• Timeline of the Bible

References

• Hall, Jonathan, Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity Cambridge U.Press, 1997.
• Malkin, Irad, editor, Ancient Perceptions of Greek Ethnicity in series Center for Hellenic Studies Colloquia, 5. Harvard University Press, 2001. Reviewed by Margaret C. Miller in Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2002
• Custance, Arthur C., The Roots of the Nations.[1]
• Schmandt-Besserat, Denise, How Writing Came About, University of Texas Press, 1996, ISBN 0-292-77704-3.
• Etz, Donald V., "The Numbers of Genesis V 3-31: a Suggested Conversion and Its Implications", Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 43, No. 2, 1994, pages 171–187.

External links

• Hasel, G.F., 1980. "The meaning of the chronogenealogies of Genesis 5 and 11", Origins 7(2):53–70.