With the length of lives (in years) that our patriarchs enjoyed, it is no
wonder, to me, that there were a people who remained faithful to the One, True God of Heaven in an
an unbroken line from the time of Creation to the time of Joseph in Egypt
approximately 2,300 years later. The amazing (and ultimately shameful) thing, is that mankind
could still become so irredeemably sinful, during that same time frame, that it required the Great
Flood, the Tower of Babel experience, and the destruction of the cities and peoples of Sodom and
Gomorrah to stop the unrestrained depravity that was taking almost total control of humanity.
Witness these interesting (and amazing) facts...
Did you know that Noah's father (Lamech) could enjoy the privilege of
speaking face-to-face with Adam for the last 56 years of Adam's life? What a witness, and
a first-hand account, Adam could provide to our antediluvian patriarchs concerning Creation, the Garden
of Eden (which also remained on the earth, as a testimony, up until just before the Great Flood), the
Fall of Man, and the ultimate Love of Our Heavenly Father in the promise of The Messiah! I can
well accept that Adam's first-hand testimony played a major part in the life Enoch chose to lead that
resulted in the translation of Enoch to Heaven without seeing death (Genesis 5:22-24; Hebrews 11:5).
Imagine the heartbreak to all of the antediluvian patriarchs, every one of them Adam's direct descendant
and all of them still living (up through Lamech's time), over having to watch the death of the First
Patriarch. Enoch was translated to Heaven only 57 years after Adam died. Before translation,
the Bible records that Enoch became one of the first "official" prophets for the God of Heaven
(Jude 1:14,15) — and I think he was a mighty one.
Did you know that Abraham's father (Terah) could enjoy the privilege of
speaking face-to-face with Noah for the last 128 years of Noah's life? What a witness, and
a first-hand account, Noah could provide for 350 years to our postdiluvian patriarch's concerning the
Garden of Eden, the Great Flood, and the Tower of Babel! Noah's witness, combined with that of his
son, Shem (born 98 years before the Great Flood and lived for 502 years after the Great Flood), makes it
a wonder that the Tower of Babel experience could even occur at all — then again, Cain's murder of his
brother Able occurred almost under the very nose of Adam and almost at the Garden gate of Eden.
A final note, on this chapter, though... Many scholars believe that Melchizedek, the king of Salem
(Genesis 14:18) and to whom Abraham paid his tithe (Genesis 14:22), was none other than Noah's son —
Shem. Shem would have died when Abraham was 150 years old and Isaac was 50 years old. Eber,
Shem's great-grandson would have died four years after Abraham died, and when Isaac was 79 and Jacob
& Esau were 19.
The following is what information I have been able to gather on the
patriarchs:
The Generations of the Patriarchs |
Son's Name |
Father's Birth Year (A.H.*) |
Father's Age at Birth of Son |
Birth Year (A.H.*) |
Age at Death |
Year of
Death (A.H.*) |
Reference for Age of Father |
Reference for Age at Death |
Adam |
|
|
0 |
930 |
930 |
|
Genesis 5:5 |
— FALL — |
8♦ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Seth |
0 |
130 |
130 |
912 |
1042 |
Genesis 5:3 |
Genesis 5:8 |
Enos |
130 |
105 |
235 |
905 |
1140 |
Genesis 5:6 |
Genesis 5:11 |
Cainan |
235 |
90 |
325 |
910 |
1235 |
Genesis 5:9 |
Genesis 5:14 |
Mahalaleel |
325 |
70 |
395 |
895 |
1290 |
Genesis 5:12 |
Genesis 5:17 |
Jared |
395 |
65 |
460 |
962 |
1422 |
Genesis 5:15 |
Genesis 5:20 |
Enoch |
460 |
162 |
622 |
365 |
987 |
Genesis 5:18 |
Genesis 5:23 |
Methuselah |
622 |
65 |
687 |
969 |
1656 |
Genesis 5:21 |
Genesis 5:27 |
Lamech |
687 |
187 |
874 |
777 |
1651 |
Genesis 5:25 |
Genesis 5:31 |
Noah |
874 |
182 |
1056 |
950 |
2006 |
Genesis 5:28 |
Genesis 9:29 |
Shem |
1056 |
502 |
1558 |
600 |
2158 |
Note 1 |
Genesis 11:11 |
— FLOOD — |
1656♦ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Arphaxad |
1558 |
100 |
1658 |
438 |
2096 |
Genesis 11:10 |
Genesis 11:13 |
Salah |
1658 |
35 |
1693 |
433 |
2126 |
Genesis 11:12 |
Genesis 11:15 |
Eber |
1693 |
30 |
1723 |
464 |
2187 |
Genesis 11:14 |
Genesis 11:17 |
Peleg |
1723 |
34 |
1757 |
239 |
1996 |
Genesis 11:16 |
Genesis 11:19 |
Reu |
1757 |
30 |
1787 |
239 |
2026 |
Genesis 11:18 |
Genesis 11:21 |
Serug |
1787 |
32 |
1819 |
230 |
2049 |
Genesis 11:20 |
Genesis 11:23 |
Nahor |
1819 |
30 |
1849 |
148 |
1997 |
Genesis 11:22 |
Genesis 11:25 |
Terah |
1849 |
29 |
1878 |
205 |
2083 |
Genesis 11:24 |
Genesis 11:32 |
Abra(ha)m |
1878 |
130 |
2008 |
175 |
2183 |
Note 2 |
Genesis 25:7 |
Isaac |
2008 |
100 |
2108 |
180 |
2288 |
Genesis 21:5 |
Genesis 35:28 |
Jacob(Israel) |
2108 |
60 |
2168 |
147 |
2315 |
Genesis 25:26 |
Genesis 47:28 |
Joseph |
2168 |
74 |
2242 |
110 |
2352 |
Note 3 |
Genesis 50:22 |
Notes:
(1) For the age of Noah at the birth of Shem, this requires a calculation of:
600+2-100=598. This is necessary because Genesis 5:32 lists all three of Noah's children
for the same year of Noah — 500 years old. One can, however, take the age of Noah at the
flood (Genesis 7:6), plus the two years after the flood when Shem's son was born (Genesis
11:10), minus the age of Shem at his son's birth (Genesis 11:10), to obtain Noah's true
age when Shem was born.
(2) For the age of Terah at the birth of Abram, this requires a calculation of:
205-75=130. This is necessary because Genesis 11:26 lists all three of Terah's children
for the same year of Terah — 70 years old. One can, however (presuming that Abram left Haran upon the death of his father), take the age of Terah at his death (Genesis 11:32),
minus the age of Abram when his father died (Genesis 12:4), to obtain Terah's true age
when Abram was born.
(3) For the age of Jacob at the birth of Joseph, this requires a calculation of:
130-2-7-30-17=74. This is necessary because the Bible does not explicitly tell the age of
Jacob when Joseph was born. One can, however, take the age of Jacob when he stood before
Pharaoh (Genesis 47:9), minus the number of years of famine before Jacob came to Egypt
(Genesis 45:6), minus the number of years of plenty (Genesis 41:53), minus the number of
years before Joseph interpreted the pharaoh's dream (Genesis 41:46), minus the number of
years before which God first called Joseph by giving him a dream of his future (Genesis
37:2), to obtain Jacob's true age when Joseph was born. |
* A.H. stands for "Anno Homini" or, "In
the year of Man" — which is an equivalent naming convention as is used for A.D.,
which stands for "Anno Domini" or, "In the year of Our Lord."
♦ Rather than the Father's Birth Year, these two numbers represent the year these
events occurred. |
(For a copy of the MS Excel Chart on the Generations of the Patriarchs, click
here.)
|