Thursday, May 18, 2023

Septuagint Chronology: Adam to Abraham

To determine the chronology of events from the creation of Adam to the birth of Abraham is more complicated than one might imagine. To begin with, the chronology of the Masoretic Text (MT) of the Old Testament in Hebrew differs significantly from that of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament in Greek. One must choose between the two.
 
James Ussher based his chronology on the Masoretic Text. In this essay, we will look at the chronology as found in the Septuagint (LXX). This chronology, whether in Hebrew or Greek, comes primarily from Genesis 5 and 11.
 
                                                                 Lived     Total
Name             Born     Died     Begat     After     Years   Begat (MT)
Creation         5500                                                           4004
Adam              5500     4570     230         700         930     130
Seth                 5270     4358     205         707         912     105
Enosh              5065     4160     190         715         905     90
Kenan              4875     3965     170         740         910     70
Mahalalel        4705     3810     165         730         895      65
Jared               4540     3578      162         800         962     162
Enoch             4378     4013      165         200         365      65
Methuselah     4213     3244      187         802         969     187
Lamech           4026     3273      188         565         753     182
Noah               3838     2888      502         450         950     502
Shem               3336     2736     100         500          600     100
Flood              3238                                                            2349
Arpachshad     3236     2701     135         400         535      35
Kainan             3101     2641     130         330         460      x
Shelah              2971     2511     130         330         460      30
Eber                 2841     2437     134         270         404     34
Peleg                2707     2368     130         209         339     30
Reu                  2577     2238     132         207          339    32
Serug               2445     2115     130         200          330    30
Nahor              2315     2107      79          129          208    29
Terah               2236     2031      70          75            205    70
Abraham        2166                                                           1996
 
Creation to flood  MT: 4004-2349, 1655 years; LXX: 5500-3238, 2262 years; +607 years
Flood to Abraham MT: 2349-1996, 353 years; LXX: 3238-2166, 1072 years;  +719 years
Creation to Abraham MT: 4004-1996, 2008 years; LXX: 5500-2166, 3334 years; +1326 years
 
5500 Creation
3238 Flood
2166 Abraham born
2066 Isaac born
2006 Jacob born
1876 Jacob in Egypt
1446 Exodus
 
Source: Henry B. Smith, Jr., “The Case for the Septuagint’s Chronology in Genesis 5 and 11,” Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism (2018).
 
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.