Dating the Book of Job (PDF) - Ancient Hebrew Research Center

Dating the Book of Job 7
Because Elihu was five generations from Eliphaz, Eliphaz would have been over 100 years old
when the events of the book of Job took place. Job lived 140 years after his trial and saw four
generations of his children born during those years. Abraham was born about 292 years after the
flood. 2 Abraham was 100 years old when he begot Issac (Genesis 21:5). Issac was 60 years old
when he begot Esau (Genesis 25:26). Esau was about 40 years old when he begot Eliphaz his
firstborn (Genesis 26:34). 292 + 100 + 60 + 40 = 492 years after the flood that Eliphaz was born.
Because Eliphaz would have been over 100 years old at the time, we can roughly estimate that the
events recorded in the book of Job took place between 600 and 700 years after the flood … well
… as straight forward as that math might seem, there are a few curve balls that the Bible throws at
us that need to be accounted for.
Have you noticed in the numbers cited thus far how long people are living? Have you noticed
that they are not having children until fairly old ages? Most of those who have noticed these
numbers attribute them to divine blessings or a rather gradual decline in whatever environmental
condition caused those of the pre-flood generations to live so long, but there is another explanation
that deserves serious consideration.
Stephen E. Franklin in “Alignment of Hebrew, Egyptian, and Assyrian Chronologies” points
out that the Hebrew calendar of ancient times had two new years (in the Fall and Spring – each
corresponding with the first new moon after the autumnal and vernal equinoctes respectively) and,
if the ancient Hebrews were using both of these new-years in the calculation of their spans of time,
several things start to make a lot more sense; both internally with respect to the Bible and externally
in aligning the dates of significant events as recorded in the Bible with some of the more ancient
records from nearby civilizations.
Consider a few of the more notable events recorded in the Bible, prior to king Solomon’s time,
for which we are given durations in years. Is it more reasonable that Abram left home at age 75
or 37? Is it more reasonable that Abram was concerned about being killed because of the beautiful
countenance of his 68 year old wife or his 34 year old wife? Is it more reasonable that Sarah bore
Issac at 90 or 45? Did Moses choose a 40 year old man to go and spy out the land of Canaan or a
20 year old? Was Caleb boasting of being as strong at 85 as he was at 40 or at 42 as he was at 20?
The case that I personally feel puts the nail in the coffin, so to speak, for the ancients having used a
six-month year is that the birth dates recorded for all of Abraham’s ancestors back to Noah (8 generations)
are consistently in the 30 to 35 year range with respect to the parent (Genesis 11:10-26).
It is highly improbable that so many people over such a long period of time under such circumstances
would all wait until such an old age to have children. There should be at least a few, if
not most of them, who have children by sometime in their mid-twenties; especially when the need
to repopulate the earth is taken into account. If, however, those who lived in ancient times were
using a six-month year such that the durations would have to be halved to be equal to our modern
definition of years, then it is no surprise that none of them were marrying and having children much
before 30 years as 30 years, in their reckoning, would be equivalent to what we modernly recognize
as 15 years. The incredible consistency in the recorded ages at which they married is then because
they couldn’t physically have children prior to that age. Marrying at 15 years of age might seem
a bit outrageous to some of us modernly, 3 but there is archaeological evidence that even those of
nobility married in their early teens in ancient times (e.g. the pharaohnen of ancient Egypt).
2 ICR: How Young Is the Earth?
3 It is not unheard of in modern times, however. [The Sun: Baby-faced boy Alfie Patten is father at 13]