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(Gen. 10: 21). While there is a most careful catalogue of births and deaths in the line of
Adam to Noah in Gen. 5: no such genealogy is given of the line of Cain (Gen. 4:).
Some have objected to the length of life attributed to Adam and the Patriarchs, but if we
tamper with the 930 years of Adam's life, and reduce it to so many "months", what shall
we do with the statement in the same book that Joseph was thirty years old when he stood
before Pharaoh? After all, it is more reasonable to believe that, in the beginning, disease
was less rampant than in later times, and the climate not so changeable as it became after
the Flood.
It will be noticed that Moses does not give the "date" of the birth or death of each
individual, neither day nor month being included, but reckons by complete years. This
principle must be remembered when using the chronology.
"Methuselah is said to have been 969 years at his death (Gen. 5: 27), but actually it
will be discovered that he was 968 years, 1 month and 17 days old, plus whatever fraction
of the year of his birth was included in the 65th year of his father Enoch, when the flood
began" (Anstey).
"Since Ussher, no chronologer who has adopted the numbers given in the Hebrew text
as the basis of his calculation, has ever failed to fix the flood in the year AN. HOM. 1656,
and the death of Joseph in the year AN. HOM. 2369" (Anstey).
The chronology of the Antediluvian Patriarchs.
Anno Hominis.
0
Adam created (Gen. 5: 1).
130
Age of Adam at birth of Seth (Gen. 5: 3).
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130
Seth born.
105
Add age of Seth at birth of Enos (Gen. 5: 6).
----------
235
Enos born.
90
Add age of Enos at birth of Cainan (Gen. 5: 9).
----------
325
Cainan born.
70
Add age of Cainan at birth of Mahalaleel (Gen. 5: 12).
----------
395
Mahalaleel born.
65
Add age of Mahalaleel at birth of Jared (Gen. 5: 15).
----------
460
Jared born.
162
Add age of Jared at birth of Enoch (Gen. 5: 18).
----------
622
Enoch born.
65
Add age of Enoch at birth of Methuselah (Gen. 5: 21).
----------
687
Methuselah born.
187
Add age of Methuselah at birth of Lamech (Gen. 5: 25).
----------
874
Lamech born.
182
Add age of Lamech at birth of Noah (Gen. 5: 28).