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8 Dating the Book of Job – This [is] the genealogy of Shem: Shem [was] 100 years old, and begot Arphaxad 2 years after the flood … Arphaxad lived 35 years, and begot Salah … Salah lived 30 years, and begot Eber … Eber lived 34 years, and begot Peleg … Peleg lived 30, and begot Reu … Reu lived 32 years, and begot Serug … Serug lived 30 years, and begot Nahor … Nahor lived 29 years, and begot Terah … Terah lived 70 years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran … (Genesis 11:10-26 NKJV) To be clear, Stephen Franklin believes that there was also a 12-month calendar with twelve named months in use all along and that the double counting of the years that is evident in the biblical accounts was probably due to editorial or translational error. I am personally less certain that there was a 12-month year originally because there are only four named months that are referred to throughout the Old Testament of the Bible and because the ancients of other civilizations are rumored to have lived prolonged lives as well (e.g. the “Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors” of China 4 ) and because I am convinced, primarily by Walter Brown’s book “In The Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood”, that the earth before the flood was a tropical paradise world-wide without seasons of hot summer and cold winter (hence there would have been no strong reason to distinguish between the two equinoxes as beginning two distinct halves of one cycle/year). There is more intra-biblical support for the case of a six-month year having been used in ancient times. The support can be seen in the number of generations that are listed from the time of the Exodus to the beginning of the construction of the Temple. We are told that there were 480 years between the Exodus and the start of the Temple (I Kings 6:1), but there are only 6 generations listed for that span of time (Ruth 4:22). This gives us 7 consecutive segments of time that the 480 years must be divisible into. The segments are: Nahshon to Salmon (1), Salmon to Boaz (2), Boaz to Obed (3), Obed to Jesse (4), Jesse to David (5), David to Solomon (6), Solomon to the start of the Temple (7). If we were to divide these segments equally, 480 ÷ 7 = 68.5 which is quite a large value for the average age of the parent at the birth of the child over so many generations. But the average age is even greater when it is factored in that Nahshon was already old enough to be declared the leader of his tribe at the time of the Exodus (Numbers 1:7) and Solomon was called “young and inexperienced” by his father 4 years prior to the beginning of the Temple (I Chronicles 29:1) and he referred to himself as a “little child” (I Kings 3:7) at that time. If we are generous and suppose that Solomon was 30 when he referred to himself as a little child and that Nahshon begot Salmon a full 20 years after the Exodus, then we are left with 480 - 30 - 4 - 20 = 426 years to divide among the remaining 5 segments. 426 ÷ 5 = 85.2 years for the average age of the parent at the birth of the child. Such results are unreasonable. If, however, it is the case they were counting double for what we would call a years time, then the 85.2 value would be equal to what we would modernly call 42.6 years. While still excessive, 42.6 years for the average age of the parent at the birth of the child at least falls within the range of feasible values (~14 to ~60). That Boaz had “young men” who served him (Ruth 2:15) and that he blessed Ruth for choosing him over younger men (Ruth 3:9-13) 4 Note that 3 Sovereigns + 5 Emperors = 8 and there were 8 who survived the flood.
Dating the Book of Job 9 suggests that he may have been a contributing factor to the somewhat large number for the average. Also, David was the youngest of eight brothers (I Samuel 16:10-11). A similar situation exists in the case of the years of “sojourning in a strange land” that are given for Abraham’s descendants – only a few generations are listed for a relatively long span of time. Before we can count the number of generations that are listed for the 400 year period of sojourning, however, we need to know when, relative to the birth dates of Abraham and his descendants, the period begins and ends. There are three spans of time given in the Bible which concern the time in question and there is only one way that the three spans can be seen to work together as detailed in “The 400 Years and 430 Years Time Puzzle”. The spans and verses which cite them are: 400 – Genesis 15:13-14 & Acts 7:6-7, 430 – Exodus 12:40-41 & Galatians 3:15-17, and 450 – Acts 13:16-21 5 . Table 2 lists the significant events and their relative times in years. Table 2: The Years of Sojourning Event 1: Time: 000 Abraham offers Issac Confirmation of the promise (Passover) Event 2: Time: 030 Jacob is born The fathers of “the people of Israel” (Abraham, Issac, and Jacob) are “chosen” (Acts 13:17) Beginning of the “sojourning” period Event 3: Time: 430 The Exodus from Egypt (Passover) Event 4: Time: 470 The entrance into Canaan Event 5: Time: 480 The 7 nations conquered and the land divided among the Israelites The above explanation places Abraham’s descendants in Egypt for 270 years (400 years between Jacob’s birth and the Exodus from Egypt less 130 years for Jacob’s age at the time of the entrance into Egypt). Now that we have the significant events, their durations, and their starting and ending points in years relative to the birth dates of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, we can count the number of generations of Abraham’s descendants that lived during those years. Exodus 6:16-20 lists there being 4 generations from Levi to Moses (Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses). – These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven. The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimi according to their families. And the sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty–three. The sons of Merari were Mahali and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations. Now Amram took for himself Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven. (Exodus 6:16-20 NKJV) When we combine the information given in Exodus 6:16-20 with what we are told in Genesis 46:11-27, however, we find a bit of a problem. – The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. … All the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his body, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all. And the sons of Joseph who 5 The NIV and most other translations interpret the 450 years as being 400 + 40 + 10, but it should be noted that the King James links the period of 450 years to the time leading up to the arrival of Samuel.
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