The Genealogy of Man from Creation to Egyptian Captivity

One day while reading Genesis I was struck with the number of years that were stated for the ages of the men when they had offspring and how old they were when they died. Being the kind of person who loves to figure things out, I set out to make a chart of each person with their ages when they had offspring and their ages when they died. After I did this, the idea came to me that if I could figure out a starting point, perhaps I could figure out when in time these things happened. So, I started from the beginning and worked my way through Genesis, but that did not prove to be very helpful in fixing events in time. So, I left the project and moved on to other things.

Next, I tried creating a chart with the reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah. That proved even more daunting because, as I discovered, there were overlaps and gaps that were difficult to reconcile. (I have since found a way to reconcile most of the overlaps and gaps and completed a chart for this as well.) However, I was able to discover a critical bit of information related to the reign of Solomon, which led me to the dates of Solomon's reign and the passage in 1 Kings 6:1 about the exodus occuring 480 years before the fourth year of Solomon's reign. This brought me back to my first project and provided a starting point at the end of the chart. By plugging into my chart about the ages of the men in Genesis the date 480 years before the fourth year of the reign of Solomon (966 BC), I calculated the year of the Exodus to be for the year of 1446.

Two views of the date of the Exodus seem to prevail among Bible scholars. The early date is 1445 B.C. and the late date is 1290 B.C. Since, according to 1 Kings 6:1, the Exodus took place 480 years before the forth year of Solomon’s reign, and since that date is fairly well estgablised to be 966, the early date of 1455 B.C. is the one adopted here. Proceeding from 1445 B.C., we calculate the beginning of the 430 years of captivity (Ex. 12:40) to be 1875 B.C. We know that Jacob died at the age of 147 after living in Egypt 17 years (Gen. 47:28), meaning he was 130 years old in 1875. This was the second year of the famine (Gen. 45:6) thus giving us 9 years from the beginning of Joseph’s rule in Egypt at age 30 (Gen. 41:46). From this and working back from when Joseph’s brothers sold him at age 17 (Gen.37:2) we calculate that Jacob was 91 when Joseph was born, meaning Jacob was born in 2005 B.C. and Joseph was born in 1914 B.C. Using these dates as our starting point, we calculate the rest of the dates on the chart. Therefore, since the ages of all of the other people back to Adam are stated clearly in Genesis, Adam would have been created somewhere around 4100 B.C. In addition, Josephus says that the number of years from Adam to the flood was 1656, which corresponds exactly with this chart (Antiquities, Book 1, Chapter III, Sec. 3)

I did not consult Rev. Archbishop Ussher's famous work Annuals of the World during my study and calculations. For one thing, I did not have a copy available, and for another thing, I wanted to figure this out on my own. After I completed my chart I pulled out an old King James Bible that I used from my childhood. It was one of those center reference versions with references to other parts of the Bible listed in a center column. At the top of each column on each page was a year, which I learned much later in life came from Ussher's book. Several years after I created this chart, I received as a gift from one of my children a very fine copy of Ussher's book. I now find that my calculations are very close to his, only different by 109 years. I have accounted for 9 years as the difference between my calculation of the year of the exodus (1446) and the one adopted from Biblical scholars (1455) which I adopted as the date of the exodus for my chart. I have not identified the difference of 100 years, but, as time permits, I will attempt to find that difference as well.

I commend this chart to my readers for their education concerning the lives and times of the people who lived before the exodus. What struck me as I conducted this study, however, was much more profound than actually making sense of the ages and years. I found that these dates are very specific, and they are absolutely congruent with each other. No one lived longer than the calculation would allow, and none died sooner. One of the interesting examples of this is that Methuselah, the man who lived the longest of any man recorded in Genesis, died the same year as the flood. It would be speculation to suggest that he died in the flood, but this is one of those congruous calculations. Methuselah could not have died after the flood, so the time line makes absolute sense. But then, if that is true, what does one do about Adam? Some have opined that the story of Adam is a myth developed to explain the origin of man. Yet, if all the other dates are so precise and congruent, why would the dates for Adam be an invention. The conclusion at which I arrived was that the dates are real, the span of time is real, and the story in Genesis is real and literal. It is not myth based on approximate dates, but a true story with actual dates. I leave my readers to ponder the realities that such a statement makes possible, and the realities that such a statement makes impossible. It was a revelation to me as the implications of my calculations became clear. Perhaps my readers will catch the revelation as well.

(Please excuse the uneven columns. I could not figure out how to do this chart in this forum any other way.)

Date....Person/
BC.......Age ....................Scripture.....Event
4113..Adam - 0 ............................1;26; 2:7..Adam is created
3983..Adam - 130.........................5:3...........Seth is born to Adam
3878..Seth - 105............................5:6..........Enosh is born to Seth
3788..Enosh - 90...........................5:9..........Kenan is born to Enosh
3718..Kenan - 70...........................5:12........Mahalalel is born to Kenan
3653..Mahalalel - 65.....................5:15........Jared is born to Mahalalel
3491..Jared - 162..........................5:18........Enoch is born to Jared
3426..Enoch - 65...........................5:21........Methuselah is born to Enoch
3239..Methuselah - 187................5:25........Lamech is born to Methuselah
3183..Adam - 930.........................5:5..........Adam dies
3126..Enoch - 365.........................5:23-24..Enoch is translated
3071..Seth - 912............................5:8..........Seth dies
3057..Lamech - 182......................5:28........Noah is born to Lamech
2973..Enosh - 905.........................5:11........Enosh dies
2878..Kenan - 910.........................5:14.......Kenan dies
2863..Mahalalel - 895...................5:17.......Mahalalel dies
2691..Jared - 962..........................5:20......Jared dies
2557..Noah - 500..........................5:32......Ham is born to Noah
2557..Noah - 500..........................5:32......Shem is born to Noah
2557..Noah - 500..........................5:32......Japeth is born to Noah
2462..Lamech - 777......................5:30......Lamech dies
2457..Methuselah - 969...............5:27......Methuselah dies
2457..Noah - 600..........................7:6........THE FLOOD
...........Ham/ Shem/Japeth - 98..11:10
2456..Noah - 601.........................8:14.......Earth was dry
...........Ham, Shem, Japeth - 99
2455..Shem - 100.......................11:10......Arphaxad is born to Shem
2420..Arphaxad - 35..................11:12......Shelah is born to Arphaxad
2390..Shelah - 30.......................11:14......Eber is born to Arphaxad
2356..Eber - 34...........................11:16......Peleg is born to Eber
2326..Peleg - 30..........................11:18......Reu is born to Peleg
2294..Reu - 32............................11:20......Serug is born to Reu
2264..Serug - 30.........................11:22......Nahor is born to Serug
2235..Nahor - 29........................11:24......Terah is born to Nahor
2165..Terah - 70.........................11:26.....Abram is born to Terah
2117..Peleg - 239........................11:19......Peleg dies
2116..Nahor - 148......................11:25......Nahor dies
2107..Noah - 950.......................9:29........Noah dies
2087..Reu - 239.........................11:21......Reu dies
2079..Abram - 86......................17:24......Ishmael is born to Abram
2066..Abram - 99......................17:24.....Covenant of circumcision with Abram
2065..Abram - 100....................21:5.......Isaac is born to Abram
2064..Serug - 230......................11:23.....Serug dies
2030..Terah - 205.....................11:32.....Terah dies
2017..Arphaxad - 438...............11:13.....Arphaxad dies
2005..Isaac - 60.........................25:26....Jacob and Esau born to Isaac
1990..Abraham - 175.................25:7......Abraham dies
1987..Shelah - 433.....................11:15.....Shelah dies
1957..Shem - 600......................11:11......Shem dies
1942..Ishmael - 137...................25:17.....Ishmael dies
1926..Eber - 464........................11:17......Eber dies
1914..Jacob - 91.........................30:22.....Joseph is born to Jacob
1897..Joseph - 17.......................37:2.......Joseph sold by his brothers
1885..Isaac - 180.......................35:28.....Isaac dies
1884..Joseph - 30....................41:46.....Joseph 2nd in command of Egypt
1875..Jacob130/Joseph39........I Kg. 6:1.Israel begins 430 years in Egypt
...............................................Ex. 12:40
1858..Jacob - 147/Joseph 56...47:28......Blessing given - Jacob dies
1804..Joseph - 110....................50:26......Joseph dies


Copyright © 1991, 1995, 1997, 2009 by William L. Fisher. All rights reserved.