http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1143
Are the Genealogies of the Bible Useful Chronologies?
Q.
I have heard it said that biblical genealogies are so filled with gaps
that they are “useless” in matters of chronology. Is this true, or do
the genealogies provide accurate chronological information as well? Can
these genealogies be trusted in matters of chronology?
A.
Through the years, religionists who have become enamored with (and who
have ardently defended) pseudoscientific attempts to date the Earth in
evolutionary terms of billions of years, have stated that the biblical
genealogies must not be used for chronological purposes because they
allegedly contain “huge gaps” that render them ineffective for that
purpose. In so commenting, most writers reference the classic work of
William H. Green (1890) in this area. The work of Green on Old Testament
genealogies usually is highly acclaimed, and accepted uncritically, by
those who wish to place “gaps” (of whatever size) in the biblical
genealogies. The argument usually goes something like this (to quote one
writer): “Unfortunately for those who wish to attach a precise date on
some historical events by using genealogies, their attempts are
thwarted.” Thus, we are asked to believe that the genealogies are
relatively useless in matters of chronology.
However, these same writers usually evince a complete omission of more
recent work in this area—work which has shown that much of what Green
had to say is at best incomplete, and at worst, irrelevant. When one
discusses the genealogies, he does his audience (or reader) a disservice
if he omits a discussion of Luke’s genealogy. Some are quick to talk
about Genesis 5 and 11, but rarely do you see a discussion of Luke’s
material (often it is conspicuously missing from any such discussions on
genealogical materials). One performs a further disservice if he does
not point out two very important points that come to bear on this whole
discussion. First, to use the words of Arthur C. Custance:
We are told again and again that some of these genealogies contain
gaps: but what is never pointed out by those who lay the emphasis on
these gaps, is that they only know of the existence of these gaps
because the Bible elsewhere fills them in. How otherwise could one know
of them? But if they are filled in, they are not gaps at all! Thus, in
the final analysis the argument is completely without foundation (1967, p
3).
If anyone should want to find “gaps” in the genealogies, it certainly
would be a man like Custance, who spent his life desperately searching
for ways to allow the Bible to contain an “old Earth” scenario. Yet even
he admitted that the argument that the genealogies contain sizable gaps
is ill-founded.
Second, and this point cannot be overemphasized,
even if there were
gaps in the genealogies, there would not necessarily be gaps in the
chronologies therein recorded. The question of chronology is not the
same as that of genealogy! This is a major point overlooked by those
who accuse the genealogies of being “useless” in matters of chronology.
The “more recent work” alluded to above, which sheds additional light
on the accuracy of the genealogies, comes from James B. Jordan’s timely
articles (1979, 1980). Jordan has done an extensive review of the work
of Green, and has shown Green’s arguments to be untrustworthy in several
important respects. To quote Jordan:
Gaps in genealogies, however, do not prove gaps in chronologies. The
known gaps all occur in non-chronological genealogies. Moreover, even if
there were gaps in the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11, this would not
affect the chronological information therein recorded, for even if Enosh
were the great-grandson of Seth, it would still be the case that Seth
was 105 years old when Enosh was born, according to a simple reading of
the text. Thus, genealogy and chronology are distinct problems with
distinct characteristics. They ought not to be confused (p. 12).
Much recent material
has confused these two issues. For example,
one writer stated: “Obviously, abridgment of the genealogies has taken
place and these genealogies cannot be chronologies,” when exactly the
opposite is true, as Jordan’s work accurately documents. Matthew, for
example, was at liberty to arrange his genealogy of Christ in three
groups of 14 (making some “omissions”) because his genealogy was derived
from complete lists found in the Old Testament. In the genealogies of
Genesis 5 and 11, remember also that the inclusion of the father’s age
at the time of his son’s birth is wholly without meaning unless
chronology is intended! Else why would the Holy Spirit provide such
“irrelevant” information?
There can be little doubt that some have painted a distorted picture
for audiences and readers when suggesting to them that substantial
“gaps” occur in the biblical genealogies. Such distortion occurs, for
example, when it is suggested that genealogy and chronology are one and
the same, for they most certainly are not.
In addition, there are other major points that should be made available
on these topics. Observe the following information in chart form.
Speaking in round figures, from the present to Jesus is 2,000 years—a
matter of historical record that no one doubts. From Jesus to Abraham is
2,000 years; that, too, is a matter of historical record which is well
known. Each of those figures is extractable from secular history.
| Present to Jesus |
2,000 years |
| Jesus to Abraham |
2,000 years |
| Abraham to Adam |
? years |
The only figure now lacking is that representing the date from Abraham
to Adam. Since we know that Adam was the first man (1 Corinthians
15:45), and since we know that man has been on the Earth “from the
beginning of the creation” (Mark 10:6, the Lord speaking; Romans
1:20-21, Paul speaking), if it were possible to obtain the figures
showing how long it has been from Abraham to Adam, we would have
chronological information giving us the relative age of the Earth (since
we know that the Earth is only five days older than man—Exodus 20:11;
31:17; Genesis 1-2).
The figure for the time span between Abraham and Adam, of course, is
not obtainable from secular history, since those records were destroyed
in the Great Flood. Fortunately, however, we are not dependent on the
records of secular history for such information; the biblical record
provides that material for us. Note the following (and this is why
Luke’s genealogy is so critically important in this discussion). In
Luke’s genealogy, he listed 55 generations between Jesus and Abraham. We
know from secular history (as documented by archaeology—see Kitchen and
Douglas, 1982, p. 189) that this time frame covered only about 2,000
years. Between Abraham and Adam, Luke listed only twenty generations.
And no one doubts that from the present to Jesus has been about 2,000
years. So, our chart now looks like this:
| Present to Jesus |
2,000 years |
| Jesus to Abraham |
2,000 years (55 generations) |
| Abraham to Adam |
? years (20 generations) |
From this chronological information it is an easy matter to use the 20
generations from Abraham to Adam to determine the approximate number of
years contained therein. In round numbers, the figure is 2,000. That
completes the chart, which then appears as follows:
| Present to Jesus |
2,000 years |
| Jesus to Abraham |
2,000 years (55 generations) |
| Abraham to Adam |
2,000 years (20 generations) |
Of course, some have argued that there are “gaps” in the genealogies.
But where, exactly, would those gaps be placed, and how would they help?
Observe the following: No one can put any usable gaps between the
present and the Lord’s birth; secular history records that
age-information for us. No one can put any usable gaps between the Lord
and Abraham; secular history also records that age-information for us.
The only place one could try to place any “usable” gaps (viz., usable in
regard to extending the age of the Earth) would be in the 20
generations represented between Abraham and Adam. Yet note that actually
there are not 20 generations available for inserting “gaps,” because
Jude (14) noted that “Enoch was the seventh from Adam.” Examining the
Old Testament genealogies establishes exactly that. Enoch was the
seventh, beginning from Adam, which then provides us divinely inspired
testimony (from Jude) on the accuracy of the first seven of the names.
That leaves only 13 generations remaining into which any “gaps” could be
placed. Wayne Jackson has observed that in order to get the Earth back
only to the time of the evolutionary age of man (approximately 3.6
million years as suggested by the late Mary Leakey and her present-day
colleagues), one would have to place 291,125 years in between each of
the remaining 13 generations (1978). It does not take an overdose of
either biblical knowledge or common sense to see that this quickly
becomes ludicrous to the extreme for two reasons. First, who could
believe (knowing anything about proper exegesis and hermeneutics) that
the first seven of these generations could be so exact, and the last
thirteen be so inexact? Second, what good would all of this time do
anyone? All it would accomplish is the establishment of a 3.6-
million-year-old Earth; evolutionists, theistic evolutionists, and progressive creationists need a 4.6-
billion-year-old Earth. So, in effect, all of this inserting of “gaps” into the biblical text is much ado about nothing!
And therein lies the point. While it may be true on the one hand to say
that a precise age of the Earth is unobtainable from the genealogies,
at the same time let us hasten to point out that using the best
information available to us from Scripture, the genealogies hardly can
be extended (via “gaps”) to anything much beyond 6,000 to 7,000 years.
For someone to leave the impression (even if inadvertently) that the
genealogies do not contain legitimate chronological information, or that
the genealogies are full of “gaps” that render them impotent, is to
misrepresent the case and distort the facts.
REFERENCES
Custance, Arthur (1967),
The Genealogies of the Bible, (Ottawa, Canada: Doorway papers #24).
Green, William H. (1890), “Primeval Chronology,”
Bibliotheca Sacra, 47:294-295, April. Reprinted in Classical Evangelical Essays in Old Testament Interpretation (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1972).
Jackson, Wayne (1978), “The Antiquity of Human History,”
Words of Truth, 14[18]:1, April 14.
Jordan, James B. (1979)
Creation Social Sciences & Humanities Quarterly, 2[2]:9-15.
Jordan, James B. (1980)
Creation Social Sciences & Humanities Quarterly, 2[3]:17-26.
Kitchen, K.A. and J.D. Douglas, eds. (1982)
The New Bible Dictionary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale), second edition.
