Some milestone dates, and a Biblical timeline
Flood . . . . . 1656 Anno Mundi
Noah . . . . . 600 yrs old at Flood . . . Died 350 years later in 2006 . . . Gen 7:6; 9:28, 29
Shem . . . . 100 yrs old at Flood . . . Gen 11:10
Arphaxad born of Shem 2 years after flood 1658 . . . Gen 11:10
Salah born of Arphaxad in 1693, when Arphaxad was 35 . . . Gen 11:12
Eber born of Salah in 1723, when Selah was 30 . . . Gen 11:
Peleg born of Eber in 1757, when Eber was 34 . . . Gen 11:16
Reu born of Peleg in 1787, when Peleg was 30 . . . Gen 11:18
Serug born of Reu in 1819, when Reu was 32 . . . Gen 11:20
Nahor born of Serug in 1849, when Serug was 30 . . . Gen 11:22
Terah born of Serug in 1878, when Serug was 29 . . . Gen 11:24
Abram born of Terah in 2008, when Terah was 130 . . . Gen 11:27, 32; 12:4; Acts 7:4
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I realize some posit the age of Terah when Abraham was born at 70, due to Genesis 11:26,
And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
That Moses mentioned Abram first does not mean that Abram was born first (and in Terah’s 70th year), but that he was the blessed of God and a progenitor of the Messiah. The very same thing happens with the sons of Noah. Shem is listed first (cf. Gen 5:32; 6:10; 10:1; 1 Chron 1:4) even though Japheth is the elder (Gen 10:21), and this because the line of the “seed of the woman” went through Shem, as it did through Abraham. When Jacob and Esau are mentioned together, Jacob has the priority even though he is the younger (Josh 24:4; Heb 11:20). There are many other instances of this.
Gen 12:4 says that “Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.” Acts 7:4 says this of Abraham,
Then came he out of the land of the Chaldæans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
Now if Abraham was 75 when he left Harran, and he left “when his father was dead” – and we know Terah died at the age of 205 in Harran (Gen 11:32), then 205 - 75 = 130, as the age Terah begat Abraham.
As for Luke 3:36, which places Cainan in the lineage between Arphaxad and Salah (Sala), where the Genesis genealogy omits mention of Cainan, some remarks:
First, the absence of a person in the lineage does not annul the tightly interlocking numeric values between the patriarchs and their offspring. As Floyd Nolan Jones, in his
Chronology of the Old Testament puts it,
For regardless of the number of names or descendants that might be missing between Arphaxad and Salah (or any other two patriarchs) their lives are mathematically interlocked and a fixed relationship exists; when Salah was born, Arphaxad was thirty-five years old and so on across the entire span in question. Consequently, no time can possibly be missing even though names may so be. Strange as it may seem at first, in this instance the two concepts are mutually exclusive. (p. 34)
Dr. Jones is firm that both the Genesis genealogy and the one in Luke 3 are correct and both the infallible word of God. While admitting there is no explanation for the omission given in Scripture, Jones gives a number of scenarios to show how it may have come to be. Here is one of them:
In this scenario both Arphaxad and Cainan (Arphaxad’s son) married young. Cainan dies after conceiving Salah but before his birth. At age 35, Arphaxad then adopts his grandson, Salah (like Jacob adopted his grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh). (Mat. 1:1; Heb. 7:9-10) [Footnote: Compare Ruth 4:17 which declares that “there is a son born to Naomi”, whereas technically she is his step mother-in-law. . .] (Ibid., p. 35)
At any rate, the Cainan spoken of in Luke 3:36 poses no threat to the timeline of Genesis 11, only a mystery. The LXX versions of Genesis 11 which posit a Cainan in them are spurious, patently contriving to construct an order which fails.
I had noted in post #9 of this thread, difficulty enters the genealogical comparison between Noah and Abraham regarding Terah’s age at Abraham’s birth; I hope what I have written above satisfactorily addresses that (though surely not everyone will be convinced – as my commentaries show!). I do think it sound to say that Noah died two years before Abraham saw the light of day.
As for there being 10 generations both before the Flood and after it to Abraham, with both Noah and Terah having three sons, and what some say about these two lineages being but formulaic compilations with gaps between people and generations, this theory can be disproven (in the first lineage) by attestation of Scripture, and in the second, as I have shown above.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Tim 3:16, 17)
Our wonderful Saviour has kept His promise to give us an intact, infallible, preserved word of God, that we may have comfort and strength in the holy Scriptures. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but His words shall not pass away (Cf. Matt 24:35).
(I can explain this later.) Of course all kidding aside, going back to chapter 11:16: