Genesis: Noah

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Genesis 5

What value can a list of names I can’t even pronounce possible have?

Well . . . various scholars have used the genealogy in chapter 5 to determine a date for the flood and creation. Their calculations are based on the assumption that the genealogy in Chapter 5 is a complete and accurate listing of all generations between Adam and Noah.

Is that assumption correct enough to have become “fact”?

Some Bibles call Chapter 5 Adam’s Descendants to Noah, Adam’s Descendants, or something similar. Those titles imply that the listing is complete. However, the original writings didn’t include those headings; the writings didn’t even have chapters.

So, who decided that the genealogical listing in Chapter 5 could be used as an accurate estimate of the time between Adam and Noah?

James Ussher, 1581-1656, created what is known as the Ussher Chronology, which continues to be the basis for the literalists position on the date of creation. Is there a reason why we still rely on data from the 17th century? Shouldn’t we revisit those century-old assumptions?

Aren’t there still questions to be answered regarding the timeline? Questions like:

  • Do Adam’s 930 years include the time spent in the Garden?
  • How does Enoch’s life factor into the equation, if he never died?
  • Did any of the “other sons and daughters” live longer than those mentioned in Chapter 5?
  • Is the listing complete?

My biggest question is why are Christians fighting over the accuracy of the Biblical timeline?

Any timeline is based on assumptions. Assumptions that Chapter 5 is a complete and accurate genealogy from Adam to Noah. Yet, the author of Genesis doesn’t claim that the genealogy is complete and makes no statements as to who was or was not included in the listing. The author only claims to provide the genealogy for one branch of Adam’s family tree. How do other branches of Adam’s family tree impact the timeline of Chapter 5?

Is one person’s assumption better than another’s?

I get how people could read Chapter 5 as THE timeline between Adam and Noah. I also see how that timeline is based on a few assumptions. What I don’t see is the need for believers to condemn other believers who do not share the same assumptions. Haven’t we lost sight of the message in our drive to be right?