Date of Award
1988
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
College
Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary
Program
Religion, Old Testament Studies PhD
First Advisor
Leona G. Running
Second Advisor
Marion J. Merchant
Third Advisor
Roy Naden
Abstract
Problem. The research problem of this study has been, How might church pastors and college Bible teachers answer questions from members/students regarding the three numerically disparate versions of Gen 5 and 11b?
Method. The categories of chronological data investigated were: prepaternal, remainder, life span, anno mundi, and postflood birth and death. Analysis preceded synthesis, and the formulation of hypotheses followed the investigation of the data. It was assumed that the necessary arithmetic commonly used within Torah was available to the ordinary reader. In hypothetical reconstructions, investigation was confined to extant variants rather than fictitious numbers.
Findings. An interlocking formula notwithstanding, the prepaternal data of Gen 5 and 11b were found to be artificial and unilaterally derivative, that is, LXXA contained data which SP rearranged and the highly schematized MT later drew upon both LXXA and SP for its arrangement. Differences in each version's data were found to be directly related to epochal calculations pivoting on the flood. LXXA arranged the data into epochs of 2,262 years, ending with 723/722 B.C.; SP, into epochs of 1,307 years, to coincide with the death of Joseph on Egypt; and MT, into epochs of 1,657 years, climaxing with the destruction of the temple in 586 B.C. Two lost LXX versions (both with epochs of 2,242 years) were hypothesized, the first, having a focal point of 622/621 B.C.; the second, 612 B.C. Hypothetical historical and philosophical rationales were explored. It was hypothesized that Jeremiah argued against implementation of some of the schemes.
Recommended Citation
House, Colin L., "The Successive, Corresponding Epochal Arrangement of the "Chronogenealogies" of Genesis 5 and 11B in the Three Textual Traditions : LXXA, SP, and MT" (1988). Dissertations. 455.
https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/455
https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dissertations/455/
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dissertations/455/
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