 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The Reliability of the Historical Events in Genesis - Part One Adam, Lamech, and Shem in the Transmission of History (continued) |
|
Continued from Page One We will begin by examining the transmission of history prior to the flood where it could then only be carried into the new world by Noah and his sons. One of the most surprising facts we discover is that Lamech, Noah's father, lived while Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah were still alive on the earth (all of those in his direct line of descendant all the way back to Adam). Adam did not die until Lamech was 56 years old, and Enoch was not translated until Lamech was 113 years old. This is remarkable, since it means that Lamech would have had a very accurate knowledge of everything that happened since creation from those who experienced it, as well as an accurate genealogy through first-hand accounts (since everyone in his line was still alive). It is interesting that the Bible has Lamech conveying knowledge about the ground being cursed by God (cf. Gen. 5:29), information he may have received directly from Adam. We must also keep in mind that any discrepancies in the historical accounts of the creation, the fall, the slaying of Abel by Cain, or other events being conveyed from one to another during this time could have been easily resolved since Adam was still alive, and possibly Eve as well. Even Noah himself was alive as an adult with all of his ancestors except Adam and Seth who had died and Enoch who was translated before he was born. Enos, the next in the line of descent from Adam, did not die until Noah was 84 years old. With most of his ancestors still alive, Noah would have had an accurate knowledge of the early events of Adam's life from his father and others who knew Adam. Noah did not begin building the ark until after all of those in his direct line of descent from Adam had died except for his father Lamech and his grandfather Methuselah. Adam had been dead over 600 years, Seth over 500 years, and Enoch had been taken by God over 500 years before Noah began building the ark. This was plenty of time for the world to begin to forget the truths of God and become corrupt, as Paul explains in chapter one of Romans. Lamech, Noah's father, died five years prior to the flood. Another interesting thing we discover is that Methuselah died and Noah entered the ark on the exact same year of 1656 from the creation of Adam. He was the last one alive in Noah's line and the oldest man whoever lived. It seems as if God waited until Methuselah, the last in his line of descent from Adam, died before destroying the earth with the flood. Not only did Methuselah live for 243 years before Adam died, but he was also the son of Enoch and may have been an actual eyewitness in some way to the translation of Enoch since Methuselah was 300 years old when his father was taken by God. Lamech, the grandson of Enoch, who was 113 years old when God took Enoch, may have also been an eyewitness. The critical information to gather here in our study is that Noah and his three sons (who were approximately 100 years old) took only first-hand and second-hand knowledge of all prior historical events from the creation to the flood with them into the new world. Lamech, Methuselah, and others, who probably possessed either first-hand knowledge or eyewitness accounts of all history from the creation, most likely passed on this historical information directly to Noah and his sons. In addition, Noah himself was the eyewitness of all history for the preceding 585 years or so (if we begin his ability to witness and retain historical events at the age of 15) before the flood with only having to rely on first-hand and second-hand knowledge for the first 1071 years of history. Since Noah began building the ark while his father Lamech and grandfather Methuselah were still alive, it is very possible that Noah may have taken a written recorded history with him in the ark. These seems to be the view of the Jewish historian Josephus in the case of genealogical records when he insists, "those who then lived, having noted down, with great accuracy, both the births and deaths of illustrious men" (antiq. b. i. chap. iii. sect. 3). Though the Bible does not tell us this one way or another, it seems a very strong possibility. Noah and his son Shem are probably the most crucial figures in the transmission of mankind's history since they not only had second-hand knowledge, first-hand knowledge or direct eyewitness knowledge of all history before the flood, but they were the eyewitness to the flood and everything that happened for hundreds of years after the flood. Surprisingly, Noah and Shem were both still alive during the building of the tower of Babel and the confusion of languages and everything else that transpired, including the birth of their descendant Abraham. The entire direct line of descent from Noah down to Abraham's father was still alive up until Abraham was 49 years old, and Noah did not die until Abraham was 60 years old. Abraham left Haran with Lot only 15 years after Noah died, and Shem was still alive when Abraham finally died 100 years after that. Shem did not die until Jacob (Israel) was 50 years old. Here we find a very important bit of information. Abraham may have received historical information directly from Noah while Jacob could have gathered historical facts directly from Shem. This leaves us with Jacob, the father of the nation of Israel, as having only third-hand knowledge, second-hand knowledge, first-hand knowledge or direct eyewitness knowledge of all the history of mankind from the creation through to his day. And since Noah and his sons would have been the only source of pre-flood history, and they were still alive in the days of Abraham, with Shem living up until the days of Jacob, they would have been the means by which accuracy of pre-flood history would have been determined and maintained. When we understand the short transmission of history from Adam to Jacob, we then understand that Jacob would have possessed a very accurate and thorough knowledge of history from the creation through to the events of his day when he came to Egypt to live with his son Joseph. Even if the transmission was oral and not written all the way from Adam through to Jacob, the accuracy and reliability could have been easily maintained with such a short transmission history that came with numerous checks and balances of multiple long-living eyewitnesses of most historical events from the beginning of creation up until Jacob's day. It seems as if the historical truth was always easily verifiable by at least two or more witnesses as a guarantee of the greatest accuracy (even in the case of the creation and the fall, Eve may have lived for a considerable time as well to reinforce Adam's account). Though there were multiple others as support and verification in the transmission of history, a direct line of transmission could be as short as Adam to Lamech to Shem to Jacob. Jacob could have received third-hand knowledge of the creation and fall, second-hand knowledge of Enoch's translation, and first-hand knowledge of the flood, the tower of Babel and everything else that followed. This is amazing when we realize that Jacob gave birth to Levi, who then gave birth to Kohath, the father of Amram and the grandfather of Moses (who was the author of Genesis). Date of related births, deaths and events 1
creation of Adam Written by Ira Benjamin Hezekiah |
©2003-2004 King & Associates. All Rights Reserved. Click here for information on quoting or copying from this site.