GENESIS 5 GENEALOGIES

In this list of pre-flood patriarchs, one is first of all struck with the long lifetimes of the personages involved, with Methuselah topping the list at 969 years. The unrealistic length of these ages is one cause for most liberal scholars consigning them to the category of legends written down in a late period of Israelite history.

Hamilton states that one “issue related to the origins of ch. 6 is whether a case can be made for identifying some extrabiblical composition as the source from which the genealogy of ch. 5 was either borrowed or after which it was modeled. The most popular parallel is a composition known as the Sumerian Kings List.” This list is known in several variations and is generally dated to the reign of King Utuhegal (ca. 2000 B.C.). It starts out with a brief summary of the reigns of 6-10 kings (depending on the source) preceding a great flood and followed by another list of kings after the flood. In that respect, it resembles the early chapters of Genesis, as well as in their somewhat similar formats.

But there are also differences. Wenham points out some of these and concludes they indicate “direct dependence most improbable. Rather, the contacts between Mesopotamian and Hebrew tradition must have occurred far back in the process of oral transmission between one culture and the other.” The greatest difference between the Kings List (SKL) and Genesis 5 is in the length of the various lifetimes. Thus, the ages in SKL range from 18,600 to 43,200 years each before the flood and considerably less after that event. By contrast, the biblical ages seem modest in comparison, certainly more rooted in real history.

Another thing that the Sumerian Kings List demonstrates is “that the Sumerians and Semitic tribes west of the Euphrates had evolved and elaborated genealogical traditions no later than the turn of the 3^rd millennium B..C.. Perhaps this evidence should caution one against attributing all, or most, biblical genealogies to a late period in OT history, specifically to the Priestly School.” (Hamilton)

All of that still leaves up in the air the problem of the extended lifetimes of the patriarchs. Various approaches have been taken to solve this issue:

Longman states, “Our awareness of the similarity between the SKL and Genesis 5 makes us open to the possibility that we should not press the ages of the prediluvians [those living before the Flood] too literally.”

Barnouin feels that the ages in Genesis 5 are more symbolic and related to the various astronomical periods of the planets. That is a highly unlikely suggestion due to the apparent lack of interest in astronomy evinced by the Israelites of all ages.

Whitcomb and Morris attempt a “scientific” explanation by proposing that before the flood there was still a great deal of water vapor in the atmosphere which shielded the inhabitants of the earth from the dangerous, and life-limiting, effects of cosmic rays. After the flood, that vapor shield was gone and lifetimes became reduced to their present level.

Hamilton and others propose that the formula “X fathered Y” may actually mean that “X fathered the line that culminated in Y.” This is a reasonable suggestion since there are several places in the Bible where a person said to be the “son of X” can actually be shown to be a more distant descendant instead.

As to the ages of people after the flood, Hamilton suggests that the drastic reduction in lifetimes “may be the Bible's way of saying that history is regressing rather than advancing.

And, I would be remiss if I didn't mention what the Bible has to say regarding the reduction of lifetimes after the flood. In Genesis 6:3 right before the flood, God specifically limits man's life to 120 years. The fact that it doesn't happen immediately has a direct parallel in God's earlier words to Adam and Eve telling them that the “day” they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they would surely die. It did happen, but only after hundreds of years.