Patriarchs’ Bronze Age Languages

This topic discusses languages of the Bronze Age (approximately 3300–1200 BC) in the Ancient Near East (ANE), relative to the time of the Biblical patriarchs.

We don’t know what the language of Adam was (cf. Ge.2:19-20).  Many historians think Sumérian is the oldest written language.  Sumerian is called an isolated language, with no ancestor tongue.  But loan words have been identified in Sumerian writings.  So Sumerian as the first language is questioned.  Encyclopaedia Brittanica “The Sumerian language…first attested about 3100 BC in S. Mesopotamia.”

Wikipedia: Writing System “The Sumerian archaic cúneiform script closely followed by the Egyptian híeroglyphs are generally considered the earliest writing systems, both emerging out of their ancestral proto-literate symbol systems from 3400 to 3200 BC with earliest coherent texts from about 2600 BC.”

Dating from pre-3000 BC Súmer, pictograph was pictures that represent a word or idea.  Cuneiform script was wedge-shaped marks or symbols, on clay tablets.  Cuneiform was adapted from pictograph.

The sons of the patriarch Noah were Shem, Ham and Jápheth (Ge.9:18).  The family survived the Flood.  The Septúagint/LXX dates Noah’s Flood circa (c) 3200 BC.  After the Flood, his descendants migrated from old Armenia (Ge.8:4), to Shinár (Ge.10:10), and so on.  The Ge.10–11 account, with the tower of Babél zíggurat, coincides with the development of language families from a primitive root language.

Post-Flood, Ge.11:1-9 “The whole earth was of one language [lip, shore, Strongs h8193 Hebrew]. They found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said, ‘Let us build a city & tower whose top is in heaven.’ Its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language [lip/shore], and scattered them over the whole earth.”  Wikipedia: Tower of Babel “The Akkadian name of the city was Babilim, meaning ‘gate of God.”  Shinar (Sumer, or Sínjar?) was an area in Mesopotamia (Ac.2:9, 7:2; it included ancient Babylonia).  Shinar means ‘two rivers’.  Mesopotamia (Greek) means ‘land between the rivers’, the Tigris and Euphrates.  Mankind spread out over the land; other languages emerged.

Language families developed through Noah’s descendants (ref Ge.10:1, 5, 20, 31).  Carlos Quiles From Adamic or the Language of the Garden of Eden Until the Tower of Babel “The language spoken by Noah and his descendants, whether the original Adamic language or the derived Chaldáic [?], split into 70 or 72 languages, according to the different traditions.”  People dispersed upon the earth through extended family lines, clans, languages.  It is said that 14 major language families exist today (e.g. Indo-European, Áfro-Asiátic the oldest).  Dialects developed within the major language groups/tree models as humanity spread geographically; numerous dialects of descent are within each.

Ge.10:6 “The sons of Ham were Cush, Mízraim [Egypt], Phut and Canáan.”  The Egyptian people descended from Ham.  Ge.10:22 “The sons of Shem were Elám, Asshúr, Arpachshad, Lud and Arám.  These were grandsons of Noah.  Semític languages are named from Shem.  (The Aramaic language would be named from Aram.)  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Elam…the Elamites, ancestors of the Persians [Iranians]. Asshur lived at the city Nineveh, and named his subjects Assyrians. Arpachshad named…the Chaldéans. Aram…called Syrians. Lud…Lydians [W Turkey].”  (see the topics “Aramaic in the Bible” and “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.)  Aram & Arpachshad were brothers.

Wikipedia: Arpachshad “Arpachshad was understood by many Jewish and Muslim scholars [pre-1920] to be an area in northern Mesopotamia. This led to the identification of Arpachshad with Urfa-Kasid, a land associated with the Khaldis.”  Wikipedia: Chalybes “The Chalybes and Chaldoi were…peoples living in N. Anatolia [Turkey]. Their territory was known as Chaldia.”  (Later they’d move south.)

Ge.10:24 LXX “Arphaxad begot Kaínan (not Canaan), Kainan begot Shélah, Shelah begot Éber.”  (The Hebrew people would be named after Eber, Josephus ibid.)  Eber was the great-grandson (or grandson) of Arphaxad.

Sumerian of Iraq is an extinct linguistic isolate.  At Ur in S Mesopotamia, the writings on the mud-brick walls of the Great Ziggurat (2000–2100 BC) are Sumerian cuneiform.  The ancient Elamite language of SW Iran, dating from c 2600 BC and now extinct, is also considered a language isolate.  Although Elamite was named from Shem’s son Elam (Ge.10:22), it isn’t considered a Semitic language.

There were multilinguals in Mesopotamia, speaking Sumerian, Akkádian…then other dialects.  Akkadian is an extinct E Semitic Afro-Asiatic language.  Ge.10:10 Akkád was in or near the land of Shinar (the exact location hasn’t been discovered).  Akkadian names are seen in Sumerian writings, dated c 2500 BC.  Wikipedia: Akkadian Empire “Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere around 2000 BC.”  Near the commencement of the Middle Bronze Age.

Ge.11:10-27 Abrám descended from Arphaxad.  v.31 Abraham (born c 2100 BC) likely came from Ur/Urfa/SanliUrfa/Edessa, or Urkesh, in N Mesopotamia.  He migrated approx 25 miles S to Harrán (Akkadian ‘Harránu’, ‘crossroads’) in far S Turkey, 10 miles above the N Syrian border.  The region of Aram in Upper Mesopotamia.  Ancient Urkesh (Tel Mozan today) in NE Syria was 100+ miles E of Harran.  Abram later would migrate SSW through Damascus; cf. Ge.15:2 his “Eliézer of Damascus”.

Ge.11:16-27 the names of early Hebrews (descendants of Eber and ancestors of Abraham) are seen in the names of towns located in the vicinity of Harran, Turkey.  Péleg, the city of Paliga; Serúg, the city of Sarugi; Nahór, Nakhur in the valley; Abraham’s father Térah, Til-Turakhi (‘mound of Terah’).

Rudolph Klein Abraham’s Chaldean Origins and the Chaldee Language “He must have been literate & fluent in Sumerian, Akkadian, various other Semitic languages (e.g. Amorite), probably Egyptian as a trade language. His descendants would adopt the language of…Canaan [Phoenícian/old Hebrew].”

Mark D. Kaplan The Languages of the Bible “One of the earliest ancient cities was Akkad in Mesopotamia (Ge.10:10). Perhaps Abraham originally spoke an Akkadian dialect in Ur. Abraham went south to Canaan…the Canaanites were descendants of Ham [Ge.10:1, 6 Noah’s son]. In Canaan Abraham picked up the local language. His clan’s version of Canaanite became known as Hebrew [much later].”  (Hebrew is classed as a Canaanite NW Semitic Afro-Asiatic language.)

Eblaite, named after the city Ebla (Tel Márdikh today] in N Syria, is an extinct E Semitic Afro-Asiatic language dating from the (latter) 2000s BC.  Ebla was approx 90 miles SW of Harran & 190 miles N of Damascus.  Wikipedia: Ebla [3000–1600 BC] “At its greatest extent, Ebla controlled an area half the size of modern Syria, from Ursaum in the north [S Turkey] to around Damascus in the south, and from Phoenícia and the coastal mountains in the west to Haddu in the east. It is probable the inhabitants of 3^rd kingdom Ebla [2000–1600 BC] were predominantly Amorites, as was most of Syria at that time.”

Wikipedia: Eblaite Language “Similarity to Hebrew, Ugarític, or Phoenician.”  Eblaite is an E Semitic sister language to Akkadian.  Jeff Benner The Archives of Ebla and the Bible “The tablets were written [2300 BC at Ebla] with a cuneiform script, like Úgarit [N Syrian coastal city]. The Eblaite language shares many similarities to the Hebrew language.”  Kevin Drendel The Ebla Tablets Confirm Biblical Accounts “The tablets include Sumerian Eblahite vocabularies with thousands of translated words. Also an ancient language…related to [the later] Hebrew and Phoenician.”

Abram was also probably familiar with Hurrian, an extinct N Mesopotamia language dating from 2300 BC.  And Elamite (cuneiform).  Ge.14:1-17 Abram defeated Chedorlaómer, the powerful king of Elam.  Bible patriarchs knew Akkadian, some Eblaite & Hurrian.  And Amorite too, an extinct NW Semitic Afro-Asiatic language (and an ancestor of Ugaritic?).  Ge.10:15-16 the Amorites descended from Ham’s son Canaan.  Abram dwelt in the plain of his ally Mamré the Amorite (Ge.14:13), near Hebron.

Ge.12:10-20 while in Egypt, Abram perhaps spoke Middle Egyptian (an Afro-Asiatic language) with Pharaoh.  Ge.20:1-18 Abraham and an ancient Abimélech, king of Gerár (capital city), dialogued SE of Gaza (Ge.21:32-34).  There they possibly spoke an early form of Proto-Sináitic?  So-called “Philistine” territory was the SW coast of Canaan.  Those Philistines descended from Mizraim/Egypt, son of Ham.  Ge.10:13-14 “Mizraim begot Pathrúsim and Caslúhim, from whom came the Philistines, and Caphtorím.”  Josephus op.cit. 1:6:2 “All the children of Mizraim, eight in number, possessed the country from Gaza to Egypt; though it retained the name of one only, the Philistim.”  Ge.21:34 “Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.”  Gill Exposition “For many years.”

Later the Israelites would say of their ancestor in De.26:5, “My father was a wandering Araméan [Arammíy h761, Syrian]”.  Referring to Abraham or Jacob.  Ge.14:13 “Abram the Hebrew” (Ibríy h5680) and grandson Jacob were from Eber’s line.  Abraham and Jacob (born c 1950 BC) had spent years in N Syria; both would have known Akkadian, Amorite, and Jacob the developing Proto-Aramaic.

Abraham told his servant, Ge.24:1-4 “Don’t take a wife for my son from the Canaanites, among whom I live; but go to my country to my relatives and take a wife for Isaac.”  v.10 “He went to Arám-of-the-two-rivers, the city of Nahór.”  Wikipedia: Aramaic “Ancient Aram…Syria”.  The city of Abraham’s brother Nahor was in N Mesopotamia, Syria-Turkey, 400 miles distant.  The servant brought back Rebekah for Isaac.  Ge.25:20 “Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuél the Aramean of Paddán-Arám, the sister of Labán the Aramean [Arammiy].”  Ge.22:20-23 Bethuel, the son of Nahor, was Abraham’s nephew.  90 years later, Ge.28:5 “Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-Aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean.”  A form of primitive Aramaic was likely the dialect at the ‘plain of Aram’.  Jacob brought his wives Leah & Rachel from the old country to the Land of Canaan.

Laban was an Aramean.  Pre-Aramaic and pre-Hebrew are reflected in the same verse in Ge.31:43-48. “They took stones and made a heap, and ate there. Laban called it Jegár sahaduthá, but Jacob called it Galéed.”  They made a “heap of witness” c 1865 BC at Mizpáh of Gilead, E of the Jordan River.  Laban called the memorial by a proto-Aramaic name, but Jacob called it by a precursor of Hebrew.  Barnes Notes “Here is the first specimen of Aramaic, as distinguished from Hebrew.”  Jacob would’ve learned both dialects in Canaan, Proto-Canaanite pre-Hebrew and his mother’s primitive Paleo-Syrian.

Codex 99 Proto-Sinaitic “Around 1900 BC the Proto-Sinaitic script began to appear in Egypt, the Sinai and the Levánt. Associated with hieroglyphic or hierátic signs. It was adopted by the Canaanites (hence Proto-Canaanite) and later by the Phoenicians.”  Omniglot: Proto-Sinaitic/Proto-Canaanite “Proto-Canaanite is a version of the Proto-Sinaitic script as used in Canaan, modern Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and parts of western Syria. It is also used to refer to an early version of the Phoenician script as used before 1050 BC, or an ancestor of Phoenician.”  Phoenicia was a 150-mile coastal region, Lebanon today.  (cf. Mk.7:26 “The woman was a Syrian-Phoenician.”)  Phoenicia included the cities of Tyre, Byblos, Sidon.  Ge.10:15 Sidón was the firstborn son of Canaan.

Ge.40:15 Jacob’s son Joseph was from the “land of the Hebrews”, peoples racially disliked by the Egyptians (Ge.43:32).  Descendants of Eber lived in N Syria and then Canaan.  After Pharaoh made Joseph a ruler in Egypt, Jacob/Israel and his sons’ families moved from Canaan to Egypt c 1827 BC.  see “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.  Ge.42:23 an interpreter was necessary, since the Middle Egyptian language and the Proto-Canaanite (and the Akkadian of the Old Assyrian period) differed.

Joseph died in Egypt c 1757 BC.  The Amorite Hammurabi (1810-1750 BC) wrote his famous law Code between 1755–1750 BC in Akkadian cuneiform text at the ancient Babylon city-state.  He was the 6^th king of the First Babylonian Empire (1894-1595 BC), ruling Mesopotamia.  (Later, after Israel exited Egypt, two Amorite kings in NE Canaan c 1575 BC were Sihon and Og. ref De.31:4.)

While in Egypt, the descendants of Jacob/Israel became slaves and learned Middle Egyptian.  Ac.7:22 “Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians; he was mighty in words and deeds.”  Ex.2:16-19 Reuél’s daughters (1600s BC) in the land of Midián thought Moses was Egyptian, from his speech & dress.  Moses spent years in Midian near Mt Sinai, where he was called by God (Ex.3:1-ff).

Ex.31:18 after the Israelite exodus from Egypt, the Decalogue at Mt Sinai was written by the finger of God.  In Canaano-Akkadian, Proto-Sinaitic/Canaanite script, Eblaite, hieroglyphic or hieratic scripts?  The Lord’s Old Covenant too.  F.F. Bruce Who Wrote Genesis? “A man [Moses] ‘learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians’ would have been conversant with the Egyptian hieroglyphic and hieratic.”

John C Lennox Seven Days That Divide the World, p.126 “The scribal use of cuneiform script spread from Mesopotamia as far as Canaan, Hazor [in Upper Galilee], and even Hebron [between Jerusalem and Beershéba] by the 17^th century BC.”

In the Land of Canaan after 215 years in Egypt, the Israelites/‘mixed multitude’ (Ex.12:37-38) of 1550 BC likely took on Proto-Canaanite.

Andre H. Roosma The Written Language of Abraham, Moses and David “The Paleo-Hebrew script developed from a script that was used in the W Semitic area during the 2^nd millennium BC. It is often referred to as Proto-Canaanite or Proto-Sinaitic script.”  The Israelites would then use the developing Old/Paleo Hebrew (and Phoenician) in the Land of Canaan.

The Amarna Letters (1360-1332 BC) are 382 tablets found in Upper Egypt, but written in Akkadian cuneiform script (not in Egyptian).  They’re correspondence between the kings of Canaanite cities and Pharaoh.  Wikipedia: Amarna Letters “The letters, though written in Akkadian, are heavily colored by the mother tongue of their writers, who probably spoke an early form of Proto-Canaanite.”  Not long before the time of Gideon in the book of Judges (6:11-ff).  see “Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel”.

There’s no indication that Paleo-Hebrew was spoken in Mesopotamia.  Cambridge Bible Ge.11:1 “That Hebrew was the primitive language….has been disproved by the scientific comparative study of languages, and of Hebrew and the Semitic languages in particular.”  Wikipedia: Canaanite Languages “Hebrew, Phoenician…derived from the Proto-Canaanite alphabet to record their writings.”

That brings us to the approaching end of the ANE Bronze Age, c 1200 BC.  Further archaeological findings may bring to light other ancient dialects and/or revisions to those discussed here in this topic.

The Paleo-Hebrew (Old Hebrew alphabet) script would become the language of south Canaan.  Is.19:18 “language of Canaan”.  Language historians say the Phoenician language was spoken in NW Canaan.  Old Hebrew and Phoenician were very similar; both contained the same 22 letters.  (Aramaic too has 22.)  Wikipedia: Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet “Like the Phoenician alphabet, it is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite script, which was used throughout Canaan in the Late Bronze Age. There is no difference in Paleo-Hebrew vs Phoenician letter shapes.”

For more on Aramaic & Hebrew in the ensuing centuries of the Iron Age, see “Aramaic in the Bible”.

Levites and the Exodus Multitude (2)

This Part 2 is the continuation and conclusion of “Levites and the Exodus Multitude (1)”.  Part 1 should be read first.  Little of the background material in (1) will be repeated here in (2).

In Part 1, three questions were posed:

#1. How did the lineage branch of Levi’s son Koháth (Jacob’s grandson), reckoned from that 1 man, become 8,600 male descendants early in the wilderness…after only 4 generations?!  Nu.3:27-28 “Of Kohath…the numbering of all the males from one month old and upwards, was 8,600.”  That’s an astounding increase in so few generations!  cf. 1Ch.6:1-3.  The lineage was traced in (1).

Levi and his 3 sons Kohath, Gershón, Merarí and their families moved with Jacob/Israel from the Land of Canáan to Egypt (Ge.46:6, 11) circa/c 1827 BC.

#2. How did the tribe of Levi, grown from his 3 sons, become 22,000 or 22,300 males from age one month and up…during that same period (215 years)?!  Nu.3:39 “All the numbered men of the Levites, from a month old and upward, were 22,000.”  An astounding increase!

Furthermore, during that same period, the initial 75-85 males (Ge.46:27 Septúagint/LXX) with Jacob & Joseph in Egypt increased to 603,550 non-Levite warriors age 20 and up, early in the wilderness (Nu.1:45-47)!  Exiting Egypt, Ex.12:37-38 “The sons of Israel journeyed…600,000 men on foot. And a mixed multitude went with them.”  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 2:15:1 “The entire multitude of those who went out, including the women and children, that were of a fit age for war, were 600,000.”  Philo On the Life of Moses 1:27:147 “The men of age to bear arms were more than 600,000 men.”

#3. How did the 75-85 males become 600,000 after only 4 generations?!  Another astounding increase in only 215 years!  (ref Part 1 for the timeline.)  Could near 600,000 be accurate?  also see the topics “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus” and “Israelites Identification”.

Following Jacob’s move into Egypt, Ge.47:27 “Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the Góshen region, and became very numerous”.  Egypt’s Pharaoh said in Ex.1:7-9, “The people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we”.  ref Ps.105:23-24.  Perhaps they really did outnumber the Egyptians!?  Ex.1:22 so Pharaoh commanded for all Hebrew male babies to be cast into the Nile River.  Ex.2:2-3, 10 when Moses was three months old, his mother placed him in a basket and put him in the Nile.  Ac.7:19-21 confirms the infants were put out to die.  (Infanticide reduced somewhat the Hebrew population.)

Ex.18:21 Moses, early on the way to the Promised Land, was advised by his father-in-law Jethró  to divide all the departees according to thousands of people, or clans.

Yet in Ex.23:29-30 the Lord told Moses that He would drive out the wicked inhabitants of the Land of Canaan little by little, so the Land wouldn’t become desolate and wild animals be too numerous.  Apparently the approximately 2 million people (including women & children) coming in from Egypt to replace the wicked occupants wouldn’t fill the Land area.  Comparatively, in 2020 AD the population of modern Israel was 8.5 million…6 million more than the total exodus population approaching that Land.  Though ‘Hebrews’ had outnumbered Egyptians, the Canaanites outnumbered the exodus population.

Prior to entering the Land, in De.11:23 Moses told the next two generations, “The Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you”.  In those days, a force of 600,000 men would itself be a great army!  But others had greater renown.  The combined armies/peoples of the seven “nations” were greater (De.7:1).  Nu.13:31 the Israelite spies said, “We can’t attack those people, for they are stronger than we”.  So they feared the Land occupants.

In Nu.20:17 & 21:22, it seems unrealistic that 2 million people (including women & children) could’ve traveled on the King’s Highway en masse.  Even if they walked on the road plain in ‘rows’ of seventy, the line of people would have stretched for miles!

Nu.3:16-20, Ex.6:16-25 and 1Ch.6:1-4 attest to the same number of few Levite generations, beginning with Levi.  There’s no indication that any generations were omitted/skipped.  see Part 1.

So, in light of the above passages (and those referenced in Part 1)…were there really 600,000 Israelite warriors, 22,000 Levite and 8,600 Kohathite males early in the wilderness?  That many?!  It is somewhat disconcerting that to date little or no evidence of a mass exodus totaling 2 million people in the wilderness has been found.  Perhaps continued archaeological efforts will unearth more evidence?

Following are three possible explanations for the large population numbers in the exodus/wilderness:

1.) Biblical numbers could’ve been misread or misunderstood by translators.  If so, there weren’t really as many as 8,600 Kohathites, 22,000 Levites, plus 600,000 soldiers then.  The Hebrew term for thousand is éleph (Strongs h505).  Eleph is also translated family in Jg.6:15 KJV.  But Jg.6:15 LXX, “Gideon said to Him, ‘My thousand [family KJV] is weakened in Manasseh”.  Did eleph really refer to a troop/family (instead of 1,000)?  For detailed analyses of this possibility, ref: John W. Wenham Large Numbers in the Old Testament, Colin J. Humphreys The Number of People in the Exodus From Egypt, Jim Snapp The Quest for the Historical Census, Clark Morledge Did An Army of 600,000 Israelites Conquer the Land of Canaan?, David M. Fouts A Defense of the Hyperbolic Interpretation of Numbers in the Old Testament, Ben-Zion Katz Recounting the Census.  It’s possible the numbers 600,000, 22,000, 8,600 were mistakes in translation from the ancient Hebrew.  However, 2,000 years ago the Jewish historians Josephus & Philo both said the number of exodus soldiers was 600,000.

2.) There were brothers or half-brothers in the generations, not listed by Moses in the Péntateuch.  For example, the later 1Ch.23:20 listing of Issiáh as a son of Moses’ uncle Uzziél may indicate that was the case.  Ge.5:3-30 said the ancient antediluvians had other unidentified sons & daughters.  Abraham had at least 6 additional identified sons not born to Sarah (Ge.25:1-2).  Some Bible historians and yeshíva teaching think the large population in the exodus resulted from polygyny.  e.g. c 1300 BC, Jg.8:30-32 “Gideon had seventy sons, for he had many wives. His concubine in Shechém also bore him a son, Abimélech. Gideon died at a good old age.”  (see “Polygyny – Lawful in God’s Eyes?”.)

3.) There were others besides Israelites in the exodus.  Included with the approximately 600,000 fighting men leaving Egypt (Nu.11:21) was a mixed multitude of people.  Adding women & children would’ve brought the total to 2,000,000 or so!  Nu.1:45-47 “All the numbered men were 603,550. The Levites weren’t numbered among them.”  Who all comprised this mixed multitude?

Ex.12:37-38 “A mixed multitude of people went up with them, along with flocks and herds.”  Others also left Egypt with biological Israelites.  JFB Commentary Ex.12:38 “A great rabble’ (see also Nu 11:4; De 29:11); slaves, persons in the lowest grades of society, partly natives and partly foreigners, bound close to them as companions in misery, and gladly availing themselves of the opportunity to escape.”  Ellicott Commentary “Some may have been Egyptians, impressed by the recent miracles; some foreigners held to servitude, like the Israelites, and glad to escape their masters.”  LXX NETS “A great mixed crowd went up with them.”  So many non-Israelites also left Egypt in the exodus.

Cambridge Bible Note “Non-Israelites of various kinds are meant; e.g. Egyptians who had intermarried with Israelites.”  Since Israelite newborn males were thrown into the Nile River, there’d be a surplus of Israelite females to marry Egyptians or others.  In Le.24:10, Moses wrote of a man in the camp whose mother was an Israelite but whose father was an Egyptian.  So, Egyptian blood was present in Israelites.

The Bible uses patrilineal reckoning from the fathers (not the traditional Jewish matrilineal reckoning from mothers).  Nu.1:18 “They registered by ancestry in their families, by their father’s households, according to the number of names.”  Not according to the mothers.  Philo op.cit. “Among the mixed multitude were those born to Hebrew fathers by Egyptian mothers, who were enrolled as members of their father’s race. And some, also, who had come over to them by reason of the magnitude of the incessant punishments which had been inflicted on their own countrymen [Egyptians].”

Also, we read of intermarriage by Joseph c 1837 BC, 225 years prior to the exodus.  Ge.41:45 Pharaoh had given Joseph an Egyptian wife named Asenáth, the daughter of the priest of On (LXX Heliópolis).  So Joseph’s sons Ephráim & Manasséh were both half Egyptian (Ge.46:20).

Did Ephraim & Manasseh likewise take Egyptian wives?  If so, then Joseph’s grandchildren had mostly Egyptian blood!  (Ephraim & Manasseh were first cousins of Kohath, the son of Levi.)  Ge.46:27 LXX says Joseph had nine sons.  Jacob prophesied that the names of Joseph’s other (half-Egyptian) sons would be attached to the inheritances of Ephraim & Manasseh (Ge.48:5-6).  Early in the wilderness, the soldiers of Ephraim & Manasseh numbered 72,700 men (Nu.2:18-21).  Although they became two of the twelve tribes of Israel in the Land of Canaan, there was (much) Egyptian blood in their ancestry.

Note: Ge.50:23 Manasseh’s son was Machír.  Machir’s son Gilead (Joseph’s great-grandson) was of the same generation as Moses & Aaron.  Nun, the father of Joshua, was the same generation as Gilead.  Zelophehád (son of Hépher) was Gilead’s grandson. (see 1Ch.7:14-27, Nu.26:28-37, 27:1, Jsh.17:3.)

Ex.30:11-16 Moses was to levy a poll tax on the men of military age.  (This became the basis for the later temple tax.  cf. Mt.17:24-27.)   Ex.38:25-26 “The silver from those of the community who were numbered was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels. A half-shekel a head for those who were numbered from age 20 and up, for 603,550 men.”  This half-shekel tax for the tabernacle was taken from all non-Levite soldiers. (A shekel weighed approximately ½ ounce.)  Barnes Notes “The talent contained 3,000 shekels.”  So 100 talents of silver = 300,000 shekels.  Add the 1,775 shekels, and the total = 301,775 shekels.  This amount is exactly 603,550 half-shekels (békahs)!  It matches the population figure of Nu.1:45-47.  The amount of silver taken as tax appears to confirm the number of Israelite/mixed multitude fighting men.

{Sidelight: However, the 1,000,000 talents in 1Ch.22:14 would equal 3 billion shekels (at the rate used in Ex.38:25-26)!  But 1½ billion ounces of silver is unrealistic…it would be enough to build Solomon’s temple of solid silver!  Also, the 10,000 talents of silver in Est.3:8-9 would equal 30 million shekels!  That’s 15 million ounces or nearly 1 million lbs. of silver personally owned by Hamán!  An unrealistic amount.  It’s likely the weight of the shekel or talent had changed since Moses wrote Exodus.}

Early in the wilderness is Nu.3:39-43. “All the Levites from one month old and upward were 22,000….All the firstborn males from one month old and up were 22,273.”  The difference was only 273 males.  v.44-45 “The Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘Take the Levites instead of the firstborn among the sons of Israel.”  The firstborn, who had belonged to the Lord (Ex.13:1-2), were redeemed…replaced by the 22,000 Levites.

But Nu.1:46 says there were 603,550 warriors from their tribes, age 20 and up.  If only 22,273 out of the more than 603,550 were firstborns…those were huge families!  603,550 ÷ 22,273 = 27.  Did each family average more than 27 sons?  Add an equal number of daughters, and that’s over 50 children per family!  But… most of those 603,550 weren’t ‘purely’ Israelites.

In the wilderness 39 years later is Nu.26:57-62. “These are those who were numbered of the Levites….23,000.”  So during 39 years, the number of Levite males increased from an approximate 22,000 to 23,000.  That’s an increase of only 1,000 in that generation.

Note: The male Israelites/mixed multitude age 20 and up (born in Egypt) died in the wilderness, except for Joshua & Caleb (Nu.14:27-30).  Excluded were Levites (Nu.1:47), males under age 20, and women.  Aaron’s grandson Phineás, in the 4^th generation of Kohathites after Kohath, was probably born around the time of the exodus.  Phineas’ bold intervention in Nu.25:7 didn’t occur until the 40^th year of their wanderings.  Phineas’ father Eleazár (Aaron’s son), the high priest, even outlived Joshua in the Land (cf. Nu.20:28 & Jsh.24:29-33).

What about past servants among the mixed multitude in the exodus?  Going back several generations….

In Ge.12:5, 16, 20:14, Abrám had many servants.  Ge.14:14 in Abram’s household (before the birth of Ishmaél) were 318 fighting men.  Plus he had other ‘house’ servants and those watching the livestock!

Ellicott Commentary Ge.14:14 “This large number of servants born in his house…added to the older men left to defend and take care of the cattle, proves that Abram was the chieftain of a powerful tribe.”  Barnes Notes “Abram had now a company of 318 trained men, born in his own house; which implies a following of more than 1,000 men, women and children.”  Pulpit Commentary “The children of his own patriarchal family, neither purchased nor taken in war, 318, implied a household of probably more than 1,000 souls.”  Abraham’s household was very large!  Ge.17:26-27 all the males were circumcised.

Ge.26:12-14 Isaac’s great substance.  Cambridge Bible Ge.26:14 “A large number of slaves and attendants.”  Ge.32:5-6 Jacob’s large household.  (Ge.34:13-15 indicates they’re circumcised.)  Ge.36:7 Jacob and Esau’s property was too great for them to dwell together.  Barnes Notes Ge.36:7 “What remained in the hands of Isaac was virtually Jacob’s, though he had not yet entered into formal possession of it.”

Ge.45:9-10 & 46:5-7, 26 “All the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt with him were 66 in number; this does not include the wives of Jacob’s sons.”  Gill Exposition Ge.46:7 “No mention is made of servants, though no doubt many came along with him.”  James B. Jordan The Moses Connection “Abraham had 318 trained fighting men in his sheikdom. Estimates range up to 3,000 or more for his complete household. These servants multiplied and became those of Isaac and Jacob. It might have been 10,000 people who moved to Goshen.”  So…numerous servants also went to Egypt c 1827 BC.

Francis Peloubet Select Notes, v.27, p.319 “Also the servants, ‘Who were reckoned as part of the household, and were admitted to the covenant [of circumcision, Ac.7:8], and recognized as Israelites.”

William R. Harper The Old Testament Student, v.6, p.248 “Jacob took to Egypt the whole body of his servants and retainers. These dependents…were all included in the covenant of circumcision, gradually blended while in Egypt, with the blood-kindred of Jacob, so that all alike were reckoned Israelites.”

Jacob’s entire household, including circumcised descendants and servants, had numbered perhaps 7,000 to 10,000 souls.  They too went with Jacob to his son Joseph in Egypt (Ge.47:11-12) c 1827 BC.  There they intermarried with Egyptians & other peoples, and “multiplied exceedingly” (Ge.47:27 KJV).

Jacob died 17 years after moving to Egypt (see Part 1 timeline).  A great funeral cavalcade, including Egyptian dignitaries, then traveled 300 miles to bury him east of the Jordan River (Ge.50:7-10).

The people multiplied in Egypt (Ex.1:5-9, 12, 20).  They became a great mixed nation (De.26:5).  The exodus “nation” of ancient Israel/mixed multitude was comprised of a motley group of people, not one pure race.  They’d increased to 603,550 soldiers, excluding Levites, early in the wilderness (Nu.1:46).

As for question #3 posed at the beginning: With mixed marriages, the assimilation of servants, concubines to bear children, Egyptians and others who left Egypt in the exodus…the 603,550 number of males early in the wilderness seems feasible.

The apostle Paul wrote in 1Co.10:1-5, “All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea”.  The entire mixed multitude, and their children, were symbolically “baptized” in the Reed Sea.  They ate the manna in the wilderness.  (Nu.11:4 is the last direct reference in the Pentateuch to the mixed group.)

There were 601,730 males 39 years later (Nu.26:51), after those over age 20 had died in the wilderness.

That younger generation of motley peoples (children of the mixed multitude) born during the 40 years in the wilderness, weren’t circumcised.  So after crossing the Jordan River, Joshua had all the males circumcised at Gilgál (Jsh.5:2-8).  Whatever their ancestry, the 601,730 males all became circumcised!  cf. Ge.17:26-27 Abraham’s large household of servants, etc., not of his ancestry, had all become circumcised.  (see the topic “Circumcision in the Bible”.)

The children of the circumcised mixed multitude then received tribal territory when Joshua apportioned the Land of Canaan for the tribes of Israel (Jsh.13–19).  There, more intermarriage ensued among tribes.

As for questions #2 and #1 about the number of Levites and Kohathites: With past servants and other peoples having been assimilated into Levite and Kohathite households (in Egypt)…it seems feasible the males among them could total approximately 22,000 and 8,600 respectively (Nu.3:27-28, 39).

In the Land of Canaan, the Levites/Kohathites (including Aaronide priests) would live within the various tribal areas (Jsh.21).  There, Levites intermarried with those tribes.  Samuel was a Kohathite (fostered or ‘adopted’ by the high priest Eli) who lived in Ephraim c 1100 BC (1Sm.1:1, 25-28, 1Ch.6:22, 26-28).  When the Lord split the united monarchy (1Ki.12:20-24) in the 900s BC, most Levites joined with Judah & Benjamin as the southern kingdom of Judah…the Jews.

Ro.3:29-30 Paul said that God is the God of both Jews and gentiles, circumcised and uncircumcised.  Again, Israel with the mixed multitude were all “baptized” in the Sea, and they all ate the manna (1Co.10:1-3).  The Lord didn’t discriminate in that regard.  Ga.3:27-29 “There is neither Jew nor Greek…you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed.”

Today Jewish Christians and gentile Christians are to be as one, all baptized in the name of Jesus.

As was the large ancestral mixture of peoples who exited Egypt, Christians today are a racial mixture. (see “Gentiles in the Bible”.)  And our numbers are increasing.

Re.7:9-12 “I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, and tribe, people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”  A mixed multitude from all nations cries out loudly, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. Amen.”

The mixed multitude with ancient Israel was a historical type of the great mixed multitude of humanity to whom our God is giving salvation.  Praise God!

Levites and the Exodus Multitude (1)

This topic traces the ancient Israelites – starting with Jacob’s relocation from the Land of Canáan to Egypt, their population growth…into the exodus & wilderness with the mixed multitude.  My focus here is on the growth of the Levites and, in detail, the descendants of Levi’s son Koháth, the Kohathites.

The Bible characters in this topic lived far back in history.  Dating for their births & deaths is inexact.  The dates used are approximate, to place the Levite lineage in historical perspective.  The chronological framework is taken from Dr. Martin Anstey The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2.

The patriarch Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel (Ge.32:28), had 12 sons (Ge.35:23-26).  Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, etc…Joseph, Benjamin.  The descendants of those 12 became the 12 tribes of Israel.  (also see the topics “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus” and “Israelites Identification”.)

Jacob’s 3^rd son was Levi.  Levi himself had 3 sons.  Ge.46:11 “The sons of Levi: Gershón, Kohath and Merarí.”  These 3 sons and their descendants became the Levites, descended from Levi.

Moses and his brother Aaron descended from Levi & Kohath.  They were Kohathites.  Moses was a priest (Ex.24:6, 29:26, Nu.7:1, Ps.99:6).  Later, only Aaron and his descendants among the Levites were priests.  Not all Levites or Kohathites became priests (Nu.4:17-20, 16:1-3); only the clan of Aaron did.

Ge.41:41 Jacob’s 11^th son Joseph became ruler of Egypt under Pharaoh.  Ge.46:5-27 Jacob, his sons and their families, went to join Joseph in Egypt circa (c) 1827 BC.  Ge.41:27 Septúagint/LXX “The sons of Joseph, born to him in Egypt, were 9; all the souls of the house of Jacob who came with Joseph into Egypt, were 75.”  Ac.7:14 has “75 souls”.  (Males, not counting wives.)  Ge.47:9 Jacob was 130 years old then.  His son Joseph was 39 or 40 (cf. Ge.41:46-47 with Ge.45:6), having been born c 1867 BC.

Ge.46:8, 11 Levi’s young 2^nd son Kohath and his two brothers (Gershon & Merari) went to Egypt with their father Levi & grandfather Jacob.  Joseph, age 40, would live on for 70 more years, until age 110 (Ge.50:26), until c 1757 BC.  Kohath was in Egypt during those 70 years that Joseph was still alive.

Nu.26:57-59 “Kohath became the father of Amrám…Jochébed bore to Amram: Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriám.”  Kohath was Moses’ grandfather!  Kohath wasn’t a distant ancestor.  So Moses wasn’t born all that long after Joseph’s death.

Ex.2:1 “A man [Amram] from the house of Levi married a daughter of Levi.”  This may reflect the line of Levi as ancestral, not Levi as her immediate father.  Ellicott Commentary “A descendant of Levi, not a daughter in the literal sense.”  However, cf. Zec.1:1 “Zecharíah, the prophet, the son of Berechíah, the son of Iddó”, versus Ezr.5:1 “Zechariah the son of Iddo”.  Ezra’s account skipped one generation.  Moses’ Exodus account could’ve skipped generations, but it seems unlikely (as we’ll see below).

In scripture, Moses & Aaron were the great-great grandsons of Jacob.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 2:9:6 “Moses….Abraham was his ancestor, of the 7^th generation.”  Philo On the Life of Moses 1:2:7 “Moses is the 7^th generation from the original settler in the country [Abraham].”

Abraham–Isaac–Jacob–Levi/Joseph–Kohath–Amram–Moses/Aaron…the 7 generations.  No skips.

1Ch.23:15 Moses had 2 sons, Gershóm (not Gershon) and Eliézer.  Ex.6:23 Moses’ brother Aaron had 4 sons: Nadáb, Abihú, Eleazár, Ithamár.  When Aaron later died in the wilderness, Eleazar replaced him as the high priest (Nu.20:28).  Eleazar’s son was Phinehás (Ex.6:25).

(Kohath)–Amram–Aaron/Moses–Eleazar–Phinehas…that’s only 4 generations of Kohathites, born after Jacob or Israel moved to Egypt.  Ex.18:1-6 soon after the exodus, Moses’ Midianite wife Zipporáh and their 2 sons rejoined Moses in the wilderness.  Moses’ sons Gershom & Eliezer were half-Midianite.

After the exodus, Nu.3:27-28 is early in the wilderness. “Of Kohath…the number of all the males from one month old and upwards, was 8,600.”  What!?  That’s an astounding increase in so few generations!

Here’s a question: How could the branch of Kohath (Levi’s son), reckoned from that 1 man, increase to 8,600 male descendants…after only 4 generations?!  Continuing with the Levite Kohathites….

Ex.6:18, 20 “The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhár, Hebrón, Uzziél. The years of Kohath’s life were 133 years….Amram married Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses.”  Moses’ mother Jochebed was a relative (LXX 1^st cousin) of her husband Amram.  “The years of Amram’s life were 137 years [LXX NETS 136].”  Levi/Joseph–Kohath–Amram–Moses…that’s 4 generations.  1Ch.6:1-3 confirms those 4.

Humans were longer-lived in those days than now.  Of Kohath’s 133 years, again, 70 of them were spent with Joseph in Egypt (c 1827–1757 BC).  The traditional (supposed) Book of Jasher 68:29 indicates that elderly Kohath was still alive in the 1690s BC (when Moses was named)!  So perhaps Kohath was born c 1830 BC.  If so, he would’ve been age 3 when they went from Canaan to Egypt c 1827 BC.  That would make Kohath age 73 when his uncle Joseph died c 1757 BC.

Kohath’s firstborn son Amram (Moses’ father) may have been born c 1811 BC, when Kohath was 19.  If so, Amram’s death at age 136 or 137 was c 1675 BC (still decades prior to the exodus).  Amram would’ve been age 54 when Joseph died c 1757 BC.  Pulpit Commentary Ex.6:18 “Amram would have been contemporary with Joseph for above 50 years.”

Dead Sea Scrolls 4Q545 “The writing of the words of the vision of Amram, son of Qahat [Kohath], son of Levi, all that he has explained to his sons…on the day of his death in the year 136 – the year of his death [Amram’s]. In the year 152 of the exile of Israel in Egypt. Also it came to him to call Uzziel, his younger brother, and gave him Miriam his 30-year-old daughter for wife. He sent to call Aaron his 20-year-old son [3 years older than Moses]…I will explain to you your names that he wrote for Moses.”  Accordingly, 152 years after the 1827 BC relocation from Canaan to Egypt was 1675 BC.

The birth of Moses, Amram’s youngest child, c 1692 BC, was only 65 years after Joseph died (c 1757 BC)!  Philip Mauro The Wonders of Bible Chronology, p.40 “The interval between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses was 64 years.”  Calculating the above 4Q545 elapsed time, Amram would’ve been age 106 when Miriam was born, 116 at Aaron’s birth, 119 at Moses’ birth!  Miriam was around 13 when she spoke with Pharaoh’s daughter at the Nile River regarding baby Moses, Ex.2:1-10.

For those ancient Levites to father children at such advanced ages seems too old by today’s standards.  But people lived longer in those days, and could maintain their life force.  Jacob died at age 147, Levi at age 137 (Ex.6:16), Kohath at age 133, Amram at 136 or 137, Aaron at 123 (Nu.33:39).  De.34:7 “Moses was 120 years old when he died; his eye was not dim nor his vigor abated.”  Even at age 120, Moses didn’t experience the infirmities of age that are prevalent today.  He maintained his vigor!  For that matter, Isaac was 60 when his twins Jacob & Esau were born (Ge.25:26).  Jacob was 90 when he fathered Joseph, and near 100 when he fathered Benjamin!  (ref Ge.47:9 Joseph was near 40 when his father Jacob, at age 130, came to Egypt.)

Ex.12:40 LXX “The children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, was 430 years.”  The Masoretic text omits “and the land of Canaan”.  But the accounts in the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Talmud and Josephus all agree with the LXX.  Josephus op. cit. 2:15:2 “They left Egypt 430 years after Abraham came into Canaan, but 215 years only after Jacob removed into Egypt. It [the exodus] was the 80^th year of Moses.”  They stayed 215 years in Canaan and 215 years in Egypt.

Gill Exposition “Certain it is, that Israel did not dwell in Egypt 430 years.”  JFB Commentary “The period of sojourn in Egypt did not exceed 215 years.”  Mauro op. cit., p.34 “The 430 years began with God’s promise to Abram, made at the time he entered into Canaan at the age of 75 (Gen.12:1-4).”

Since lives were longer back then, producing 4 generations over 215 years may be believable.  But producing only 4 generations over 430 years is unbelievable!

If Abrám was born c 2117 BC, he arrived in Canaan in 2042 BC at age 75 (Ge.12:4-5).  At age 100, Abraham fathered Isaac (Ge.21:5), c 2017 BC.  At age 60, Isaac fathered Jacob & Esau (Ge.25:26), c 1957 BC.  When Jacob was 130 (Ge.47:9), he and his moved from Canaan to Egypt, c 1827 BC.

Abram’s arrival in Canaan (c 2042 BC) until Jacob’s departure from Canaan (c 1827 BC) = 215 years in Canaan.  And Jacob/Israel’s arrival in Egypt (c 1827 BC) until the exodus (c 1612 BC) = 215 years in Egypt.  The total of both = 430 years…2042–1612 BC.  (see “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.)

Also, 4 generations of Kohathites lived during the 215 years in Egypt.  Kohath–Amram–Aaron/Moses–Eleazar (and into the wilderness).  Returning to the Levite/Kohathites….

Nu.3:19 “The sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.”  Besides Amram (the father of Moses & Aaron), Kohath had 3 other sons.  Kohath’s 2^nd son was Izhar (uncle to Moses & Aaron).

Nu.16:1-4 also confirms 4 generations.  (No skips.)  “Now Kórah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi…incited rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and said, ‘Why do you exalt yourselves?”  Izhar’s son Korah was Moses’ 1^st cousin!  Korah, being a near relative, thought he should have more input or authority.  But because of his insurrection, Korah died in an earthquake or sinkhole (Nu.16:32).

Nu.3:27-29 “Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, the family of the Izharites, the family of the Hebronites and the family of the Uzzielites.”  To repeat, Kohath’s 4 sons (born in Egypt) were: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, Uzziel.  Kohath’s grandsons, which include Moses & Aaron, were also born in Egypt.  Kohath’s great-grandsons, which include the 6 sons of Moses/Aaron, also were born before the exodus.

Again, the (priestly) line in 1Ch.6:1-3 confirms the generations of descent from Levi & Kohath. “The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath and Merari.  The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. The children of Amram were Aaron, Moses and Miriam. And the sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.”  The Kohathite Aaron and his descendants became the priests in Israel.

So these genealogies in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, 1Chronicles agree.  It appears that no generations were skipped in those scriptural accounts.

Early in the wilderness, the Kohathites from the ages of 30 to 50 totaled 2,750 men (Nu.4:34-37).  And Kohathites from the age of one month and up totaled 8,600 men (Nu.3:27-28).  Again, Kohath’s branch (which included Aaron & the priests) had increased from 1 to 8,600 males after only 4 generations!

Tracing further the Levite Kohath’s descendants…Ex.6:20-21 Moses/Aaron’s uncle Izhar had 3 sons; Korah (Nu.16:1), Népheg, Zichrí.  Ex.6:22 & Le.10:4 Moses/Aaron’s uncle Uzziel had 3 sons; Mishaél or Micháh, Elzaphán, Sithrí.  Perhaps a 4^th son of Uzziel was Issiáh (1Ch.23:20)?  I’ll include him in the count.  1Ch.23:19 Moses/Aaron’s uncle Hebron had 4 sons; Jeriáh, Amariáh, Jahaziél, Jekámeam.

So Moses & Aaron had 11 male paternal first cousins, most or all of whom lived into the exodus.

Including Moses & Aaron, this would result in only 13 male Kohathites in Moses/Aaron’s generation!  Kohath was their grandfather.  The 13 male first cousins were: Moses, Aaron, Korah, Nepheg, Zichri, Mishael or Michah, Elzaphan, Sithri, Issiah (possibly), Jeriah, Amariah, Jahaziel, Jekameam.

Female paternal cousins, daughters of one’s father’s siblings, would become part of whatever clan they married into (unless she married her own cousin, a grandson of Kohath).  Female maternal cousins, daughters of one’s mother’s siblings, wouldn’t be Kohathites (unless an aunt married one of Kohath’s four sons).

The Bible uses patrilineal reckoning from the fathers (not the traditional Jewish matrilineal reckoning from mothers).  Nu.1:18 “They registered by ancestry in their families, by their father’s households, according to the number of names.”  Not according to the mothers.

Again, the Kohathite generation previous to Moses/Aaron consisted of Amram, Izhar, Uzziel, Hebron.  Those 4 brothers most likely died in Egypt; none of them living into the exodus & wilderness.

The 13 male Kohathites in Moses & Aaron’s generation had sons.  1Ch.23:15 Moses had 2 sons; Gershom, Eliezer.  Ex.6:23 Aaron had 4 sons; Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar.  Ex.6:24 cousin Korah had 3 sons; Assír, Elkanáh, Abiasáph.

The cousins Moses, Aaron, Korah had 9 sons between them.  Scripture doesn’t tell us the number of sons had by the other 10 first cousins.  We can speculate or estimate that 10 other cousins had maybe 40 sons between them?  If so, there were close to 50 males in the next generation of Kohathites.

Possibly the 13 males in Moses/Aaron’s generation all lived into the wilderness.  (Nu.16:32 Korah died in the wilderness earthquake or sinkhole.)  Add to the 13 the perhaps 50 sons they had…the males still alive from 3 generations of Kohathites then totaled only 63.  Amram’s generation = 0; Aaron/Moses’ generation = 13; Eleazar/Gershom’s generation = est. 50.  Total = est. 63.

We don’t know how many grandsons Moses, Aaron and the other 11 first cousins had.  Ex.6:25 Aaron’s son Eleazar had a son named Phinehas.  Nu.25:7 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest.”  Only a few grandsons of the 13 Kohathite cousins are identified in scripture.

Even if the 13 first cousins had 50 sons who had 350 sons of their own (7 sons each!)…that’s only 413 total Kohathites.  413 = 8,187 less than the 8,600 male Kohathites of Nu.3:28, early in the wilderness!

Let’s now look at the other two Levite branches, besides the Kohathites.  Again, Ge.46:11 Kohath had two brothers…Gershon (not Gershom) and Merari, sons of Levi.  There were 3 branches of Levites.

{Sidelight: The 3 branches of Levites later had specific duties in the wilderness.  The Gershonites were on the west side of the tabernacle and carried its tapestry (Nu.3:23-26).  The Merarites camped on the north side and transported the tabernacle frames & support system (Nu.3:35-37).  The Kohathites were on the south side and transported the holy furnishings (Nu.3:29-31).  Moses and the priests (Aaron and his sons) camped to the east and served the sanctuary (Nu.3:38).}

Nu.3:18 “These were the names of the sons of Gershon by their clans, Libní and Shiméi.”  Gershon had  2 sons.  Nu.3:20 “The sons of Merari by their clans, Mahlí and Mushí.”  Merari also had only 2 sons.  Nu.3:19 again, Kohath had 4 sons.  All the Levites named here in Nu.3:17-20 died prior to the exodus.

I won’t trace the lesser lineages of Gershon and Merari.  (ref e.g. 1Ch.23:6-24.)  Yet early in the wilderness the total male Gershonites were 7,500 (Nu.3:21-22).  And the total male Merarites were 6,200 (Nu.3:33-34).  Adding in the 8,600 Kohathite males…there were 22,000 (or 22,300) total Levite males.  Nu.3:39 “All the numbered men of the Levites…from a month old and upward, were 22,000.”

Another question: How did the tribe of Levi, tracking from his 3 sons, become 22,000 or 22,300 males from age one month and up, during that same period (215 years)?!  What an increase from only 3 men!

Furthermore, during the same period of time, the 75-85 males (Ge.46:27 LXX) who were in Egypt with Jacob/Joseph increased to 603,550 non-Levite warriors age 20 and up, early in the wilderness (Nu.1:45-47)!  Josephus op. cit. 2:15:1 “The entire multitude of those who went out [from Egypt], including the women and children, that were of a fit age for war, were 600,000.”  Philo On the Life of Moses 1:27:147 “The men of age to bear arms were more than 600,000 men.”

So a related third question: How could the 75-85 males increase to more than 600,000 after only 4 generations?!

Were there strong aphrodisiacs in Egypt to heighten libido?!  Did each woman have dozens of children?

This topic about the Levites/Kohathites and the number of mixed multitude who comprised the exodus from Egypt is continued in “Levites and the Exodus Multitude (2)”.

 

Aramaic in the Bible (1) – Old Testament

Our Bible books were written in (at least) three ancient languages; Hebrew, Aramáic, koine Greek.  This two-part topic is about Aramaic.  Part 1 discusses Aramaic in Old Testament (OT) times, BC. 

Noah and his family survived the Flood (Ge.7:13, 8:15-16).  Ge.9:18 “The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Jápheth; and Ham was the father of Canáan.”  Ge.10:22, “The sons of Shem were Elám, Asshúr, Arphaxad, Lud and Arám.”  Aram and Canaan were grandsons of Noah.

Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Asshur lived at the city of Nineveh, and named his subjects Assyrians. Arphaxad named…the Chaldéans. Aram…called Syrians.” 

Semític languages are named from Shem.  The Aramaic language is named from Shem’s son Aram.  Cambridge Bible “The people denoted by Aram were destined to exercise great influence. The Araméan language gradually prevailed over the other Semitic dialects, even Hebrew.”

Ge.10:24 Septúagint/LXX “Arphaxad begot Kaínan [not Canaan], Kainan begot Shélah; Shelah begot Éber.”  The Hebrew people were named after Eber.  Josephus ibid “Eber, from whom they originally called the Jews, Hebrews.”  Eber was the great-grandson (or grandson) of Aram’s brother Arphaxad.

Much later, a language in the “Land of Canáan” Holy Land would be called Hebrew.  Tel Aviv’s Bar-Ilan Univ: Daf Parashat Hashavua (No.112) “It’s clear from extant epigraphic material that Hebrew is a Canaaníte language.”  Aramaic and Canaanite are classed as NW Semitic languages.  Hebrew and Phoenícian are sub-classed as NW Semitic Canaanite languages.  All four are primary-classed as Áfro-Asiátic languages.  Aramaic would become widely used geographically in the Near East.

Wikipedia: Aramaic “Ancient Aram, now called Syria, is considered the linguistic epicenter of Aramaic, the [later] language of the Arameans who settled the area during the Bronze Age. Aramaic is a Semitic language. By around 1000 BC, the Arameans had a string of kingdoms in what is now part of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the fringes of southern Mesopotamia [Ac.2:9, 7:2] and Anatólia [Turkey]. Aramaic rose to prominence under the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC), under whose influence Aramaic became a prestige language after being adopted as the língua fránca [common tongue] of the empire. Its use spread throughout Mesopotamia, the Levánt and parts of Asia Minor. At its height, Aramaic, having gradually replaced earlier Semitic languages, was spoken in several variants all over what is today Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, E. Arabia, Bahrain, Sinai, parts of SE and south central Turkey, and parts of NW Iran.”  Aramaic became the language of Mesopotamia.

Wikipedia: History of Mesopotamia “Mesopotamia literally means ‘between the rivers’ in ancient Greek. The oldest known occurrence of the name Mesopotamia dates to the 4^th century BC, when it was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria. Later it was more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris, thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria but also almost all of Iraq and SE Turkey. The neighboring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the western part of the Zágros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is usually made between Upper or N. Mesopotamia and Lower or S. Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazíra, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad. Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf.”

Prior to Aramaic, the main language of the ancient Near East was Akkádian, an East Semitic Afro-Asiatic language, now extinct.  Holman Bible Dictionary: Akkadian “Akkadian was the international language of diplomacy & commerce in the Near East before 1000 BC.”  Wikipedia: Akkadian Language “Its gradual replacement by Akkadian-influenced Old Aramaic among Mesopotamians.”  The ancient Old Aramaic period was c 1000–700 BC.  (Historians differ some in their period designations/dates.)

The OT term for “Aramaic language”, Aramíth Strongs h762 Hebrew (rendered “Syrian language” in the LXX), occurs 4 times: 2Ki.18:26, Is.36:11, Da.2:4, Ezr.4:7.  The term for a Syrian/Aramean person is Arammíy h761, 11 occurrences.  Aram h758 is both a man’s name and the Syrian region, occurring over 100 times.  Mesopotamia/Arám Naharáyim h763 (Aram-of-the-two-rivers, rendered Mesopotamia in the LXX), occurs 6 times: Ge.24:10, De.23:4, Jdg.3:8, 10, 1Ch.19:6, Ps.60:1.

Ge.12:5 Abrám (born c 2100 BC) migrated to the land of Canaan from Harrán (Akkadian “Harránu”), which was in the region of Aram.  Harran is in far south Turkey, 10 miles from the north Syrian border.

Abraham told his servant in Ge.24:2-4, “Don’t take a wife for my son from the Canaanites, among whom I live; but go to my country to my relatives and take a wife for Isaac”.  v.10 “He went to Aram-of-the-two-rivers, the city of Nahór.”  The city of Abraham’s brother Nahor was in N. Mesopotamian Syria, 400 miles distant.  The servant brought back Rebekah for Isaac.  Ge.25:20 “Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuél the Aramean of Paddán-Arám, the sister of Labán the Aramean [Arammiy h761].”  Bethuel, the son of Nahor, was Abraham’s nephew (Ge.22:20-23).  Then Ge.28:5 “Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-Aram,to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean.”  Jacob later brought back his wives, daughters of Laban on the Syrian “plain of Aram”…to the land of Canaan.

Of the Israelites’ ancestor, De.26:5 “My father was a wandering Aramean”.  Referring to the semi-nomad Abraham, or Jacob.  Abraham and grandson Jacob (born c 1950 BC) had spent several years in Aram/Syria.  Ge.14:13 Abram the “Hebrew” (Ibríy h5680) descended from Eber.  The term “Hebrew”, Ibriy h5680, occurs 34 times in the OT.  But that OT term always meant a people, not a language!

Circa 1865 BC, Laban and Jacob made a “heap of witness” at Mizpáh of Gilead, E. of the Jordan River (Jephtháh later lived there, Jg.11:34).  Ge.31:44-47 “They took stones and made a heap, and ate there. Laban called it Jegár–sahaduthá, but Jacob called it Galéed.”  Laban the Aramean called the memorial by a pre-Aramaic word, but Jacob called it by a pre-Hebrew word.  Jacob had learned both developing dialects growing up in Canaan, pre-Hebrew and his mother Rebekah’s pre-Aramaic.

Later, God’s nation of ancient Israel knew the developing Old Hebrew dialect (and Phoenician) in the Land of Canaan.  In 1954 AD, Solomon Birnbaum coined the term “Paleo-Hebrew alphabet” for the Old Hebrew.  The Old Hebrew script would be used from c 1000–500 BC to record Biblical texts.

There’s no evidence that Old/Paleo Hebrew was spoken in Mesopotamia.  Cambridge Bible Ge.11:1 “That Hebrew was the primitive language….has been disproved by the scientific comparative study of languages, and of Hebrew and the Semitic languages in particular.”  The ‘Old Hebrew’ alphabet script became a Canaanite language of (south) Canaan.  Is.19:18 “language of Canaan”, Israel’s language. 

Historians say the Phoenician language was spoken in north Canaan.  Phoenícia was a 150-mile coastal region.  (cf. Mk.7:26 “the woman was a Syrian-Phoenician”.)  Phoenicia included the cities of Tyre, Byblos, Sidón .  Ge.10:15 Sidon was the firstborn son of Canaan.  Old Hebrew and Phoenician were very similar; both contained the same 22 (consonantal) letters.  Aramaic too has 22.  Wikipedia: Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet “There is no difference between Paleo-Hebrew vs Phoenician letter shapes.”

Wikipedia: Old Aramaic “Emerging as the language of the city-states of the Arameans in the Levant in the early Iron Age [c 1000 BC]. From the 10^th century BC, the alphabet seems to be based on the Phoenician alphabet. From 700 BC, different dialects emerged in Assyria, Babylonia, the Levant and Egypt. The Akkadian-influenced Aramaic of Assyria, and then Babylon, started to come to the fore.”  Circa 800 BC, Aramaic was becoming the trade language of the Near East.  It generally was spoken by Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, etc., E. of the Euphrates.  (cf. “Patriarchs’ Bronze Age Languages”.)

encyclopedia.com aramaic-language “Aramaic is the general name for various dialects often difficult to classify.” 

Canaanite is the general name/class for the Hebrew, Phoenician, Moabite, Edomite, Ammonite dialects; these developed gradually and were ‘mutually intelligible’. 

Presently, no Old Aramaic or Old Hebrew inscriptions have been discovered that predate 1000 BC; all are more recent!  No evidence has been found yet as proof either script existed prior to 1000 BC.

Ancient Jews called their language Judahite (Jehudíth h3066), not “Hebrew” (Ibriy h5680).  Jehudith occurs 6 times in the OT: 2Ki.18:26-28, Is.36:11-13, 2Ch.32:18, Ne.13:24.  2Ki.18:26-28 Jewish officials in Jerusalem wanted the threatening Assyrian commander Rabshakéh to speak to them in Aramaic (Aramith h762), not Judahite/Judean, so as not to frighten people on the wall.  In King Hezekiah’s day, 700 BC, common Jews in Judah didn’t speak Aramaic.  However, the Jewish officials understood Aramaic, the language of diplomacy in the Near East from c 800 BC (after Akkadian).

Nowhere in the OT is the language of Israelites/Jews called the ‘Hebrew language’!  James F. Driscoll Hebrew Language and Literature “The name Hebrew [Hebraistí g1447, Greek] as applied to the language is quite recent in Biblical usage, occurring for the first time in the Greek Prologue of Ecclesiásticus [Wisdom of Sirách], about 130 BC.”  Not occurring until that book in the Apócrypha.

In 721 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel was deported to Assyria.  2Ki.17:23-24 “Israel was exiled from their land to Assyria.”  Aramaic-speaking foreigners from Babylon etc. were brought into north Israel.  They’d assimilate as the “Samaritans”.  (see the topic “Israelite Deportations By Assyria”.)

In 597 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah was taken captive to Babylon, the next empire.  Je.10:11 is in Aramaic…Jeremiah was telling his Jewish people what to say to their Aramaic-speaking captors. 

Aramaic was the lingua franca of both the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) empires.  Israelites and Jews learned to speak Aramaic in their places of captivity beyond the Euphrates.  The Aramaic language was also called Cháldee (a misnomer?).  Easton’s Bible Dictionary “Chaldee is the Aramaic dialect, as it is sometimes called, as distinguished from the Hebrew dialect.”  Aramaic was also the official language of the Persian/Achaeménid Empire (559–333 BC), which followed.  The period of Old Aramaic (c 1000–700 BC) evolved into the period of Imperial/Official Aramaic (c 700–300 BC).

Wikipedia: Biblical Aramaic “King Darius the Great declared Imperial Aramaic to be the official language of the western half of his empire in 500 BC, and it forms the basis of Biblical Aramaic.”   

God inspired some scriptures of the OT from this time to be written in Aramaic.  The following chapters were written in Aramaic: Da.2:4b-7:28, Ezr.4:8-6:18, 7:12-26.

Of the total verses comprising Daniel & Ezra, 56% are written in Hebrew, 44% in Aramaic.  Jews then knew Aramaic.  Da.2:4 “The Chaldeans spoke to King Nebuchadnézzar in Aramaic [Aramith h762].”  Ezr.4:7 “The text of the letter was written in Aramaic [Aramith].”  To Artaxérxes, king of Persia.

{Sidelight: The Divine Name or Tetragrámmaton YHVH (h3068) occurs 6,500 times in the OT.  But the Name never occurs in any of the OT Aramaic chapters.  It seems that Daniel and Ezra weren’t ‘sacred name’ advocates who thought that God’s (Old Hebrew) Name must be commonly used!}

The hand from God even wrote in Aramaic the “handwriting on the wall” (539 BC)!  Da.5:24-28 “This is the written inscription: ‘MÉNE, MÉNE, TÉKEL, UPHÁRSIN.”  The words are monetary weights.  The wise men of Babylon spoke Aramaic, but Daniel could decipher the writing.  Wikipedia: Belshazzar’s Feast “The Chaldean wise men are unable to…interpret it. As Aramaic was written with consonants alone, they may have lacked any context in which to make sense of them.” 

Jews began returning to the Land of Canaan from captivity in 538 BC.  They returned with Zerubabbél, Ezra, Nehemiah.  These returnees brought the Aramaic language with them to the Land of Canaan. 

By the time of Nehemiah (450 BC), many Israelites and Jews no longer knew Judahite.  Ne.13:24  “As for their children…none of them was able to speak in the language of Judah [Jehudith h3066].”

The Holman Christian Standard Bible indicates they “could not speak Hebrew”.  Benson Commentary Ne.13:24 “The language which the Jews then spoke was Chaldee; this language they learned in their captivity, and after their return never assumed their ancient Hebrew tongue.”  Commoners didn’t resume the lip of Canaan or Judahite in Judea.  Pulpit Commentary Ne.13:24 “All the children [450 BC] spoke a jargon half Ashdódite and half Aramaic.”  (Áshdod was on the old Philistine coast.)

Ne.8:1-8 Ezra the priest-scribe read publically the Hebrew scriptures in Jerusalem on Rosh Hashánah.  v.8 “They read from the book of the law of God, translating so the people could understand.”  The returnees no longer could read the Judahite scriptures.  Pulpit Commentary Ne.8:8 “They translated the Hebrew words into the popular Aramaic or Chaldee.”  Ellicott Commentary “They naturally translated into the vernacular Aramaic dialect.”  Aramaic was the trade language of the then Persian Empire.

Some Bible scholars think that Ezra translated (or redacted) OT books into Aramaic/Chaldee.  Talmud: Sanhedrin 21b “In the times of Ezra, the Torah was given in Áshuri [Neo-Assyrian] script and Aramaic language.”  Juanjo Gabina How Similar Was the Phoenician Language to the Hebrew Language? “The ‘Paleo-Hebrew’ language is a Canaanite Phoenician language with writing. As evidenced by the Samaritan Torah that preserves these ancient [Old Hebrew] texts. According to tradition, Ezra adopted the square script of the Aramaic alphabet instead of the Canaanite Phoenician, nicknamed the Paleo-Hebrew [1954 AD], during the post-exile restoration of Israel in the 5^th century BC. When the Aramaic alphabet became the Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew parchments were written mainly in Aramaic characters.”

{{Sidelight: The Jewish philosopher Philo (c 20 BC – 50 AD) lived in Alexandria, Egypt.  Philo On the Life of Moses 2:5:26 “In olden time [450 BC?] the laws were written in the Chaldean language, and for a long time they remained in the same condition as at first, not changing their language.”  Then prior to 132 BC, Jewish scholars translated the OT into the old Greek version.  ibid 2:7:38-40 “In the case of this translation of the law, exactly corresponding Greek words were employed to translate literally the appropriate Chaldáic words, being adapted with exceeding propriety to the matters which were to be explained. If Chaldeans were to learn the Greek language, and if Greeks were to learn Chaldean, and if each were to meet with those scriptures in both languages, namely, the Chaldaic and the translated version, they would admire and reverence them both as sisters, or rather as one and the same….to go along with the most pure spirit of Moses.”  ibid 2:41:224 “The Passover is celebrated, which in the Chaldaic language is called páscha.”  Philo On the Embassy to Gaius 1:4 “This nation of the suppliants is in the Chaldaic language called Israel.”  Marg Mowczko The Septuagint “Philo refers to the original language of the Old Testament as Chaldean rather than Hebrew.”  Ezra had translated the OT into Chaldee?  (And Philo didn’t use the Greek term Hebraís, “Hebrew” g1446 noun, to refer to Aramaic.)}}

Omniglot: Paleo-Hebrew “By the 6^th century BC the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet was gradually replaced by the Imperial Aramaic alphabet, which developed into the Hebrew square script.”  The Ashuri script.

In 330 BC, Greece conquered the Persian Empire.  Greek became the trade language for the Grecian Empire.  No longer was it the Aramaic of the Persian Empire.  Koine/common Greek, a (Hellénic) Indo-European language, was now spoken.  Many Jews in the diáspora (dispersion) accepted Greek culture, becoming Héllenized and speaking Greek.  Some continued to speak Aramaic.  Most Jews in Judea kept speaking Aramaic.  During this period, regional dialects of Imperial Aramaic began to emerge.

Most Jews everywhere no longer knew the lip of Canaan, Old Hebrew Judahite.  So Jews translated all the OT scriptures into koine Greek.  This old Greek version was completed before 132 BC.  Literate Greek-speaking Jews in the diaspora could then read the OT text!  The old Greek version later became our Septuagint/LXX.  The LXX wouldn’t have been so needed if most Jews still knew Judahite.

The Grecian Empire lasted until the 1^st century BC.  The Roman Empire followed. The Greek language continued as the commercial language of the Roman Empire too.  (Latin would become the language of the Roman army and higher administration.)  Many Jews, Hellenists, spoke Greek.

This topic is continued and concluded in “Aramaic in the Bible (2) – New Testament”.  It notes the Aramaic Tárgums, Aramaic words seen in the gospel accounts, and traces Aramaic to the present day.

Polygyny – Lawful in God’s Eyes? (2)

This Part 2 concludes the topic “Polygyny – Lawful in God’s Eyes? (1)”.  Before continuing, I urge you to first read Part 1; it contains the foundational verses.  Please be advised…the subject is controversial!  

This topic is highlighting Bible characters and God’s laws concerning plural wives & concubines.  It doesn’t discuss the morals or differing marital laws of modern nations.  (Western customs fall short.)

Regardless of cultures, God defines true morality in His word.  He determines what is and isn’t sexual sin.  Laws of human governments, customary practices, beliefs of churches…may or may not reflect God’s morality.  (see the topic “Sexual Sins, Harlotry, Rape” for more about sexual immorality.)

Part 1 identified relative terms.  Our English word polygamy includes polygyny, one man cohabiting with plural wives; polyandry, one woman cohabiting with plural husbands.  The terms derive from the Greek poly/many, gamos/marriage, gyne/wife.  Polygyny was seen as a lawful option in God’s eyes; polyandry wasn’t!  (That’s not to say practicing polygyny is advised in modern Western nations.) 

Many men in the Bible were monogamous, one man cohabiting with one wife (at a time).  Divorce & remarriage is a form of sequential monogamy, otherwise called consecutive polygyny/polyandry.

Concubinage, from the Latin word concubina, was a respected polygynous marital option in the Old Testament (OT) and the ancient world.  It resembles heterosexual civil union, or having a mistress, as done in some countries today.  A mistress doesn’t have sex with plural partners (unlike a prostitute).

Godly and ungodly men of the Bible had plural wives.  In Part 1, we saw that Abraham, his brother Nahór, Abimélech, Pharoah, Job…cohabited with plural wives & concubines!  Jacob did too.  Those men were born prior to the OT nation of Israel. 

Christ was the God of OT Israel.  (ref the topic “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.)  During Moses’ time, Christ gave codified laws/regulations to His theocratic nation.  Christ’s laws define His morality and marriage in God’s sight, adultery, and prescribe consequences for violations.

Part 1 noted: Christ’s law of concubines, war brides, levirate law so-called, and some Israelites who cohabited with plural wives/concubines…Manásseh, Caleb, Saul, Gideon, Samuel’s father, King Joásh.

John Milton (1608–1674) was an English theologian, statesman and poet.  His best-known work is the epic poem Paradise Lost.  Milton was a Puritan; they generally held very strict morals.  But some of his personal Bible beliefs were ‘unconventional’.  To quote from the manuscript of Milton’s theological treatise De Doctrina Christiana: “Either polygamy [polygyny] is a true marriage, or all children born in that state are spurious; which would include the whole race of Jacob [Israel], the twelve holy tribes chosen by God.”  Ancient Israel, the people Christ loved, didn’t come from a progenitor living in sin!

Here in Part 2, we’ll note a few other polygynists in scripture, and look at New Testament (NT) verses. 

Moses had more than one wife.  Ex.2:21 he married Zipporáh, daughter of the priest of Midián (Ex.3:1).  Midianites descended from Abraham and his concubine wife Keturáh (Ge.25:1-2, 1Ch.1:32).  Nu.12:1 “Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite (Strongs h3571) woman he had married.”  Zipporah and Miriam both came from Shem→Abraham…whereas the Cushite/Ethiopian wife was from Ham (Ge.10:6).  Moses was mighty and learned in the ways of Egypt (Ac.7:22).  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 2:10:2 “Tharbis was daughter of the king of the Ethiopians; she saw Moses as he led the army [of Egypt]. She fell deeply in love. Moses consummated his marriage.”  She was his Cushite wife.     

Jer.13:23 “Can an Ethiopian (h3569) change his skin, or a leopard his spots?”  Leopard spots are black.  Black-skinned Ethiopians.  Miriam sounded racist in Nu.12:1.  In return, the Lord struck her skin with leprosy, as white as snow (Nu.12:10)!  John Milton op. cit. “It is not likely that the wife of Moses, who had been so often spoken of before by her proper name of Zipporah, should now be called by the new title of a Cushite; or that the anger of Aaron and Miriam should at this time be suddenly kindled.” 

Samuel Dennis Marriage from the Bible Alone “Moses [had] at least 3 wives: Zipporah (Ex.2:21); an Ethiopian woman (Nu.12:1); another…daughter of a man called Hobáb who wasn’t Zipporah’s father (Nu.10:29, Jg.4:11).”  The names aren’t completely certain.  However, Kenites preceded Abraham’s son Midian/Midianites (Ge.15:19, 25:2).  And Moses also had a Kenite father-in-law & wife (Jg.1:16, 4:11).

David was a great hero, Israel’s most famous king.  He had God’s Holy Spirit (HS).  ref 1Sm.16:13, 2Sm.23:1-2, Ps.51:11, Mk.12:36, Ac.1:16, 4:24-25.  This enabled David to walk in Christ’s statutes & commandments (1Ki.3:14).  1Ki.15:5 “David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and hadn’t turned aside from anything He commanded him, except in the matter of Uriáh the Hittite.”  David habitually obeyed the Lord (except in that one serious matter).     

Yet King David had many wives/concubines (2Sm.5:13, 1Ch.3:1-9).  His cohabiting with plural wives didn’t violate God’s morality!  It wasn’t sin in God’s eyes.  And Christ blessed David!  2Sm.12:7-9 the Lord gave David the wives of the deceased King Saul…the Lord would’ve even given David a larger palace and more wives!  And when David was old & weak, a beautiful girl warmed him at night (1Ki.1:1-4).  David loved the Lord (Ps.18:1); he was “a man after God’s own heart” (Ac.13:22).

John Milton op. cit. “The very argument which is used toward David [2Sm.12:8], is of more force when applied to the gift of wives, than to any other – you ought to have abstained from the wife of another person [Uriah].”  Christ’s gift of wives to David.

David’s son Solomon also had wives/concubines (Ec.2:8 NASB, JPS Tanakh, etc.).  1Ki.11:1-4 but King Solomon multiplied heathen wives through political marriages.  De.17:15-17 the king of Israel wasn’t to maintain a large harem of heathen women!  John Milton ibid “Deut.17:16-17 is so far from condemning polygamy [polygyny]… and only imposes the same restraints upon this condition which are laid upon the multiplication of horses, or the accumulation of treasure.”  A king was expected to have more than one horse, more than one ring/bar of gold…or wife!  Parallelism.  Solomon erred by marrying ungodly foreign women.  As a result, his heart later sought pagan gods.  Whereas the heart of his father David remained devoted to the Lord (1Ki.11:33-34), even though David had several Israelite wives.

Esther the Jewess was the king of Persia’s favorite wife, in the 400s BC.  Est.2:8-17 she became queen of Persia.  v.14 he also made many concubines of the virgins.  Polygyny was an accepted legal practice in the ancient Near East.  In scripture, neither the Persian king nor Esther committed adultery.

Christ, the God of OT Israel, Himself had two wives!  What?!  The Lord declared of Israel and Judah in Je.3:11-14 KJV, “I Am married to you”.  God Himself became figuratively married to two nations.  Is.54:5 “Your Maker is your Husband…the Holy One of Israel.”  The word of the Lord came in Ezk.23:  v.1-4 “There were two women. Their [allegorical] names were Oholáh the elder and Oholibáh her sister. And they became Mine, and bore sons and daughters.”  But God’s two OT wives became adulteresses (v.36-37).  So the Lord gave Israel a bill of divorce (Je.3:8, De.24:1), and later sent away Judah captive.

Daniel I. Block wrote in his OT Commentary, p.736 “Yahweh’s bigamy is all the more striking.”  Maurice Nelson The Monogamy Lie! “God’s polygyny is figurative, not literal…The church finds itself in a bit of a quandary, when God claims, in the Bible, that He is engaging in a supposedly ‘sinful’ act [polygyny]. It is ludicrous to believe that God would portray Himself participating in a sin as a method to teach us not to sin. God [was] the polygynous husband of two women who have cheated [Ezk.23:36-37] on their Husband (God) by pursuing other gods.”  Christ Himself is a figurative polygynist!

Moody Bible Institute Professor of Theology William F. Luck The Morality of Biblical Polygyny, p.51 “If it is a sin to be a polygamist, then God has referred to Himself as a Being with a character flaw.”

Ps.45:6-15 is a Messianic psalm (v.6-7 is quoted in He.1:8-9), and types Christ and His church.  Ps.45:14 relates to Est.2:8-17, virgins going in to the king.  Cambridge Bible Ps.45:9 “One of the wives takes precedence of the rest.”  Benson Commentary “As the queen is the church in general, so these honorable women are particular believers, added daily to the church.”  Jesus is figuratively betrothed to each believer!  2Co.11:2 Paul the apostle wrote to the church, “I betrothed you to one husband, Christ”.

Many theologians view the Song of Solomon not only as a human love story but also as a type of the spiritual love Christ has for His Bride, the church.  SSol.6:8-9 “There are 60 queens and 80 concubines, but my dove is unique.”  Christ marrying His Bride(s) was here typified by Solomon and his 141 wives!  John Milton op. cit. “In Canticles 6:8-10 [SSol.6:8-10], the queens and concubines are evidently mentioned with honor.”  This minimally prefigures 2Co.11:2.  Eventually Christ ‘marries’ way more than 141 Christians!  (Note: Again, Solomon later wrongly engaged in political marriages with pagan women who drew him to other gods; 1Ki.11:1-4 indicates 1,000 total women, not just 141 Israelitesses.)

Paul wrote in Ep.5:30-32, “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”  The Greek term for church is ekklésia (g1577), a feminine compound noun which means a group or gathering or assembly of people.  cf. a ‘flock of sheep’.  Christ doesn’t marry only one person.  Each Christian becomes His figurative Bride, each spiritually becoming “one flesh” with Him.   

“One flesh” refers to unseparated or organic union.  Paul wrote in 1Co.6:16-17, “Don’t you know that a man who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For God says [Ge.2:24], ‘The two will become one flesh.”  In regards to a harlot even, who has many partners!  As a harlot has plural partners, a man could have plural wives.  Samuel Dennis op.cit. “So the married man who sleeps with a harlot is now ‘one flesh’ with his wife, and ‘one flesh’ with the harlot. He is ‘one flesh’ with two women. The ‘one flesh’ relationship isn’t limited to a monogamous couple only.”  It’s not exclusive. 

It is apparent “one flesh” in scripture isn’t only confined to ‘a man with only one woman’.  That was a sham restriction of pagan Roman culture (which in actuality was licentious).  Paul and Jesus referred to Ge.2:24 LXX, Adam & Eve as “one flesh”.  Jesus said in Mt.19:5 Good News, “A man…will remain united with his wife, and the two shall be one flesh”.  Ge.2:23 Adam said Eve is “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.”  Ge.29:14 Laban said his nephew Jacob is “my bone and my flesh.”  Yet Esau too is Laban’s nephew!  Jg.9:2 Abimelech said via his mother’s relatives (plural), “I am your bone and your flesh”.  The (idiomatic) expression “my/your bone and flesh” didn’t mean a monogamous marriage.       

Mt.19:3-ff is about divorce, about remaining united, not about monogamy.  Lauren Heiligenthal Evaluating Western Christianity’s Interpretation of Biblical Polygamy, p.49 “Ultimately, Mat.19:3-9 does not explicitly emphasize the monogamist ideal nor does it exclude polygamy.”  (However, Jesus’ words in v.5 also indicate that for a marriage, plural wives aren’t mandatory; one wife is enough.) 

Moses wrote Ge.2:24.  He knew what God meant by “one flesh”.  Christ chose Moses to record His laws which authorized & regulated polygyny!  (see Part 1.)  And Moses himself had more than one wife.

1Co.12:27 “You [the church] are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.”  Each believer is His Bride, a spiritually chaste virgin to be one with Christ (2Co.11:2).  Mt.25:1-13 is Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins.  Five were wise.  Jesus is the Groom/ Bridegroom, and they are His Brides (plural)!  v.10-12 “The door was shut” refers to the entrance to the bridal chamber where a marriage was consummated.  (also see “Wedding Pattern in Bible Holydays”.)  In Mt.25 too, Christ depicts Himself as a polygynist.

Re.19:9 “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”  Christ figuratively marries virgins.  The typology corresponds to OT plural marriages (SSol.6:8-9).  Perhaps this makes more understandable 2Sm.12:7-8 where the prophet Nathan said the Lord would have given King David even more wives.  The King of kings, Christ Himself…had two OT wives, plus numerous NT Brides!    

Clyde L. Pilkington The Great Omission, p.62 “The [Bible] text speaks of the relationship between God and Israel, and later between Christ and the church, in polygamous terms.”  (Some writers use the terms ‘polygyny’ and ‘polygamy’ interchangeably, though there’s a difference in today’s English.)

The ancient Near East was polygynous.  Pagan Greco-Roman society marriages were monogamous.  But Rome allowed 1^st century Jews (and Persians?) to continue the (OT) laws & customs of their traditional marriages.  David I. Brewer writes, “Polygamy [polygyny] was undoubtedly part of life in 1^st century Judaism. It is now known that the middle classes also practiced polygamy. It is likely that there were few polygamous marriages outside Israel, because they wouldn’t be recognized in Roman law.”

The NT epistles were written to gentile areas which were under Roman law.  Paul was a Roman citizen (Ac.22:27-28).  As such, he didn’t put himself at risk by faulting Roman law or its ostensible marital monogamy.  And faulting might have increased division between Jewish & gentile Christians in areas.

Nathan Braun The History & Philosophy of Marriage, p.71 “The first Christians, while they themselves were scarcely tolerated, were not inclined to attempt a social revolution by opposing the established [Roman] system of monogamy; but they attempted to oppose only its vices, and to remove them.”

{Note: The NT repudiates religious prostitution, incest, homosexuality/lesbianism, adultery, polyandry, some consecutive polygyny (divorce & remarriage), pornéia or sexual immorality in general.}

Paul wrote in 1Ti.3:2, 12, Ti.1:6 that church leaders (Jewish & gentile) should be the “husband of one wife”.  This advice wouldn’t put leaders at odds with Roman monogamy laws for gentiles.  David Brewer “There would have been a few converts with more than one wife. These were allowed to keep their wives, but could not serve as leaders.”  It’s not that polygyny is immoral according to God’s laws.

William Luck op. cit., p.46 “If we cannot find a prohibition of polygyny up to this point of the inspired text, we are in trouble (hermeneutically speaking) finding it here [1Ti.3:2, Ti.1:6]. Second, we should remember that polygyny was considered barbaric by the Greeks and had not been practiced in Ephesus or Crete (where Timothy and Titus lived) [1Ti.1:3, Ti.1:5]….”  Paul wrote to the Greco-Roman world.

However, the way many churches interpret “one wife” in 1Ti.3:12…Abraham the father of the faithful, and David “a man after God’s own heart”, couldn’t even serve as deacons today!  The Christian Bible distributor Gideon’s International is named after a polygynist (Jg.8:30) who couldn’t even be a deacon?  

Polygyny is a moral marital option of God, a choice; but He didn’t explicitly command it.  However, in 1Co.7 we glimpse the allowance for its practice among Christians (laymen only?).  1Co.7:10-11 the Lord said a wife who’d separated from her husband should reconcile with him, or else remain unmarried.  And a man shouldn’t divorce his wife.  Then Paul said in v.27-28, a man who was released from a wife and had remarried, wasn’t in sin.  And if his 1^st wife was to later reconcile with him, as the Lord said in v.11, this man would then be cohabiting with two wives.

The historian Josephus (37–100 AD) wrote of his Jewish people in Antiquities of the Jews 17:1:2. “It is the ancient practice among us to have many wives at the same time.”  1Co.7:39 & Ro.7:2-3 pertain to wives, not husbands.  Because God allowed a man to add a 2^nd wife while his 1^st was alive with him.    

George Joyce Christian Marriage “Justin Martyr [100–165 AD, a gentile] makes it a reproach to Trypho [a Jew] that the Jewish teachers permitted a man to have several wives. When in 212 AD, the lex Antoniana de civitate gave the rights of Roman citizenship to great numbers of Jews, it was found to tolerate polygamy among them. On the other hand, the Romans were strictly monogamous.”  Augustine (354–430 AD) later wrote in Treatises on Marriage and Other Subjects, “According to Roman law it is not permissible to marry a 2^nd wife as long as he has another wife living”.  In 1563 AD, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) made polygyny anathema at the Council of Trent.  Polygamy was condemned.

Maurice Nelson op. cit. “Polygyny was prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church, not by God. A monogamous society criminally punishes men for relationships allowed by God.”

The society of pagan Rome was morally corrupt.  Juno, the wife of Jupiter, was the Roman goddess of love & marriage.  The 6^th month of Caesar’s Julian calendar (46 BC) was Iunius, the ‘month of Juno’.  Our present Gregorian calendar comes from the Julian calendar.  Western society today resembles decadent Roman society in some respects.  And our ‘June’ is the most popular month for weddings.

Our modern society too is corrupt…illicit sex, licentiousness, abortion, is commonplace.  Prostitution and divorce rates are high in Western nations which have marriage laws based upon the Greco-Roman model and proliferated by the RCC.

Wikipedia: Marriage in Ancient Rome “Marriage was a strictly monogamous institution. It is one aspect of ancient Roman culture that was embraced by early Christianity, which in turn perpetuated it as an ideal in later Western culture.”

“Polygamy is not forbidden in the OT. The NT is largely silent on polygamy. Polygyny is legal in 58 out of nearly 200 sovereign states. Polyandry is illegal in virtually every country.” (Wikipedia)  In the Bible, polyandry is adultery.  William Luck op. cit., p.56 “The husband functions as the head [1Co.11:3], while the woman functions, let us say, as the arm. The head may control more than one arm at a time. But to have two heads [husbands] attempting to control the same arm would be monstrous.”

Many nations today don’t adhere to the Western practice of solely monogamous marriages.  Polygyny is legal in much of Africa.  It’s been said that some peoples there have no vocabulary term for ‘prostitution’!  And African plural wives generally have high social status.  Some Christians too practice polygyny in nations where it’s legal (African & Asian).

Wikipedia: Polygamy in Christianity “Although the Old Testament describes numerous examples of polygamy among devotees to God, most Christian groups have historically rejected the practice of polygamy and have upheld monogamy alone as normative. Nevertheless, some Christian groups in different periods have practiced, or currently do practice, polygamy.”

There are African pastors who resent Western church attempts to compel African churches to disallow what God showed was lawful in the OT!  A lead pastor in Ghana, Stephen Boateng, says, “There’s no single quotation in the Bible that forbids polygamy, even God favors it”.  His colleague, Daniel Eshun, said rhetorically, “At what point did polygamy become a sin?”  1Ti.3 & Ti.1, not written before the 60s AD, would be late for God to somehow change His mind and suddenly rule that polygyny is sin!       

John Milton op. cit. “I argue as follows from Heb.13:4: Polygamy is either marriage, or fornication, or adultery; the apostle recognizes no fourth state…so many patriarchs were polygamists…whoremongers and adulterers God will judge, whereas the patriarchs were the objects of His especial favor.”

It is possible for a man to simultaneously love more than one woman.  Adriana Blake Women Can Win the Marriage Lottery “Why should we think that it is possible to love only one person as a mate? We acknowledge that we can love more than one child and more than one parent.”

The premise that monogamous families produce better-adjusted children is disputable.  Yes, contention did develop between polygynous Abraham’s sons Ishmael & Isaac and between the two wives of Samuel’s father Elkanáh.  But many monogamous families too are contentious.  For example, the twins Jacob versus Esau!  Adam & Eve was a monogamous couple…yet their firstborn son Cain became a murderer, killing his brother Abel (Ge.4:8)!

God the Father is a monogamist.  He’s not a single parent; single parenthood isn’t God’s ideal! ref “Godhead in Prehistory”.  Christ, the Husband of two OT nations and of Christians…is a polygynist.

However, Jesus the man didn’t come to be made physical king (Jn.6:15) or lead a rebellion against Rome and its laws.  His purpose wasn’t to enact Roman legislation regarding morality, to meet His higher standards.  It wasn’t time for His laws to be implemented in their government (Jn.18:37, Re.19:16).

Marrying someone while still legally married to another is bigamy.  Christian men shouldn’t break laws prohibiting bigamy and risk imprisonment.  (Yet polygyny may be viable in some circumstances.)

God made men with more testosterone, whereas wives may not want to be bothered with sex.  A wife shouldn’t feel compelled to have sex!  In the OT, God authorized a solution to satisfy the realistic needs of both sexes and extend the family lineage & wealth. 

The content of the NT, with the words of Jesus, shouldn’t be separated from the OT roots of Christ’s words to His nation Israel.  Christ’s morality isn’t a double standard!  Mal.3:6 “I, the Lord, do not change.”  His laws regulate, not prohibit, polygyny.  And it should go without saying that the 1^st century laws & customs of men in pagan Rome, which we glimpse in the NT, are inferior to Christ’s OT laws!  Beware self-righteousness, based on the customs/traditions of (religious) men.

Modern society can glean true concepts and standards of God’s morality from Christ’s OT guidelines!  He, His character and morality, is “The same yesterday, today, and forever” (He.13:8).

The ultimate and highest determinant of morality is God’s word, not mans’ customs.  Jesus & Paul affirmed God’s word, saying, “It is written”.  And 1Pe.1:25, “The word of the Lord abides forever.”

Polygyny – Lawful in God’s Eyes? (1)

This is a subject related to Biblical morality that most Christians and Western churches haven’t examined in-depth.  Before proceeding with it, please be advised…the subject is very controversial!  

This topic examines Christ’s Old Testament (OT) regulations concerning plural wives & concubines.  You may be shocked to read lesser-known marriage laws of Christ from the OT!  The topic may be hard to hear for those living in modern Western culture.

Our English term polygamy (from ca 1600 AD) includes polygyny (1780 AD), one man cohabiting with plural wives; polyandry (1780), one woman cohabiting with plural husbands.  Are these lawful options in God’s eyes?  The terms are derived from the Greek poly/many, gamos/marriage, gyne/wife.  Some today don’t differentiate between polygamy and polygyny, as if they’re interchangeable terms.

Our modern society is decadent.  Illicit sex, licentiousness, abortion, divorce are rampant.  Divorce & remarriage is a form of serial monogamy, called consecutive polygyny and consecutive polyandry.  

Greco-Roman society was monogamous on the surface.  Yet it had widespread prostitution, pederasty, sexual perversion, divorce, as we today.  A. Isaksson wrote, “In Rome divorces were so numerous, they constituted a serious social problem.”  The divorce problem wasn’t quite as bad in 1^st century Palestine.

Anciently, concubinage was a recognized arrangement; it loosely compares to a ‘mistress staying in the house’.  Concubinage was also present in the Mediterranean world, especially within the military.  S.M. Baugh Marriage and Family in Ancient Greek Society “Concubinage was widespread and commonly accepted among the Greeks and Romans.”  But it wasn’t legally fully marriage in Roman society.  Wikipedia: Concubinage “Concubinage was an institution of quási-marriage between Roman citizens who for various reasons did not want to enter into a full marriage.”

Roman Empire law didn’t include all the OT guidelines for marriage that Christ had revealed to His people ancient Israel.  However, 1^st century Jews (and Persians?) were allowed by Rome to continue practicing the OT laws & principles of their traditional marriages.  The Jewish historian Josephus (37-100 AD) wrote, Wars of the Jews 1:24:2, “It being of old permitted to the Jews to marry many wives”.

But regardless of cultural influences, God defines true morality.  He defines what is and isn’t sexual sin.  Laws of human governments and customs of nations may or may not reflect God’s morality! 

First, a blanket statement…scripture indicates that irresponsible casual sex isn’t God’s way.

Christ commanded in Ex.20:14 and Mt.5:27, “You shall not commit adultery”.  It’s a form of sexual sin.  Adultery is committed when a man has sex with a woman who is married or betrothed to another man.  Betrothal was a legal commitment, prior to consummation.  The adulterous man can be married or single; his marital status isn’t a factor.  Her marital status is the key!  The scriptures reveal that adultery always involves a wife or betrothed woman who broke wedlock; another man stole her, in a sense.  Moody Bible Institute Professor of Theology William F. Luck The Morality of Biblical Polygyny, p.14 “Adultery was always defined by the woman’s marital status, never the man’s.”  Thus it was impossible for an OT widow, divorcee, or otherwise single woman to commit adultery!

We’ll see that a man lawfully could live with plural wives.  It is authorized in scripture (if practiced responsibly).  That is, if he didn’t steal a wife from her husband.  Ex.20:15 “You shall not steal.”

Ex.20:17 LXX “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, you shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor his field, his servant, his maid, his cattle…nor whatever belongs to your neighbor.”  Wrong coveting can occur regarding another’s wife, his male and female servants, etc.  But nothing is said about singles coveting another’s husband!  A man was allowed simultaneous wives in Christ’s theocracy.  So a single woman could rightly desire a married man.  (This indulgence is strange to our Western minds.)

Going back even prior to ancient Israel…Ge.20 King Abimélech of Gerár had a (free) wife and maid concubine wives (v.17).  v.2-3 then he took Sarah from Abraham her husband, thinking she was only his “sister”.  But God quickly revealed to him in a dream that she’s married.  v.4-ff Abimelech said, “Lord…in the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this thing.’ God said, ‘I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this. Therefore I did not let you touch her. Restore the man’s wife.”  Abimelech had acted with integrity.  His sin wasn’t him having plural wives.  His sin was…the woman he took, Sarah, was another man’s wife.  Abraham and Abimelech both were gentiles/non-Jews.  (Note: Later, 1450 BC Núzi tablets found in northern Iraq evidence a man’s wife legally could be considered his sister.  Ge.13:8 also Abrám had called his nephew Lot his “brother”.)

Ge.12:10-20 the gentile/non-Jew Pharaoh of Egypt too mistakenly took Sarah for ritual purification, so she could become his wife.  After the Lord caused him to realize his mistake, Pharaoh even blessed Abram (Sarah’s husband) with livestock and male & female servants/maids!

Ge.16:1-9 the Egyptian maid Hagár became wife to Abram (v.3).  Their tie constituted marriage.  She was his concubine or secondary wife.  That isn’t immoral.  But strife arose…Sarah treated Hagar harshly, v.6; Ishmaél (son of Abraham-Hagar) lacked proper respect for Isaac (son of Abraham-Sarah), Ge.21:9-10.  Lack of respect resulted in…divorce (garásh Strongs h1644, Hebrew) the bondwoman wife!  (ref divorce/drive out h1644 in: Pr.22:10, Nu.30:9, Le.21:7, 22:13, Ezk.44:22, Ga.4:30.)

Ge.25:1-2 Abraham also took a concubine wife named Keturáh (1Ch.1:32), who bore him six sons.  Ge.25:6 “To the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living.”  Concubinage isn’t sin.  And according to the apostle Paul, Abraham is the father of the faithful (Ro.4:16; cf. He.11:8, 13).  Also Abraham’s brother Nahór had a concubine named Reumáh (Ge.22:23-24).

The OT Hebrew loan word translated concubine is peléhgesh h6370, occurring 37 times.  The Aramaic is h3904 (Da.5:2, 3, 23).  The corresponding term in the OT Greek LXX, g3825.1, occurs 41 times.

Jb.1:8 God said His servant Job (a gentile) was a blameless, upright man.  Yet in his trials, Job’s wife and surviving offspring didn’t console him.  Jb.19:17-18 LXX Job lamented, “I besought my wife, and earnestly entreated the sons of my concubines. But they rejected me.”  Righteous Job had concubines.

The earlier (gentile) Lámech, the first man in scripture with two wives, killed a man (Ge.4:19-24).  Therefore, some presume that all polygyny is wrong.  Tom Shipley Man and Woman in Biblical Law “The fact that Lamech was evil does not, and cannot, prove that his polygamy was evil, as well. The above syllogism [premise] is ‘reductio ad absurdum.”  (Good men too, in scripture, were polygynous.)

Ge.30:1-24 Israel’s 12 tribes descended from the patriarch Jacob and his four wives.  Leah & Rachel were his free wives, Bilháh & Zilpah his ‘secondary’ bond wives.  v.4 “Rachel gave Jacob her maid Bilhah as a wife.”  Jacob, whose name God changed (Ge.32:28) to “Israel”, wasn’t an adulterer! (cf. De.23:2)  Cohabiting with four wives, he was ‘one flesh’ with each.  The OT people Christ loved above all others, the 12 tribes of ancient Israel, weren’t illegitimately fathered by an adulterer!  (Note: A wife’s maid being given to the wife’s husband is also evident in the ancient Code of Hammurabi #146.)

So far, we see that having plural wives was morally acceptable to gentiles/non-Jews and Jacob/Israel!  Godly and ungodly men of the Bible had plural wives.  Later, during Moses’ time, Christ gave codified laws/regulations to His theocratic nation Israel.  (see the topic “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.)  His laws define marriage in God’s sight, adultery, and prescribe consequences for violations.

De.22:22-27 shows the joint penalty for adultery, consensual sex with a woman married or betrothed to another man.  If the offender raped her, only he is guilty.  Le.19:20 the penalty for having sex with a bondmaid acquired for another man was less than that for a free woman.  (Less station & limited loyalty effected less penalty/fine for the bondmaid, not yet fully espoused.)  If a man, single or married, had sex with a virgin residing with her father, he’s to marry her, De.22:28-29 & Ex.22:16-17…not ignore her.

De.21:15-17 “If a man has two wives…”  Polygyny wasn’t unlawful.  This passage shows that (among free wives) the double-portion inheritance right of the eldest son was protected.  Pulpit Commentary De.21:15 “He mustn’t allow his love for the other [wife] to prejudice the right of the son.”  De.17:15-17 though plural wives & horses wasn’t sin, the king wasn’t to multiply to himself horses or pagan wives.  (Horses were used mostly for war.)  No large pagan harems!  Solomon later violated this, 1Ki.11:1-4.

But Christ/God forbad incestual polygyny.  Le.18:7-8 a man mustn’t have sex with his mother, nor with any other of his father’s wives (Ge.35:22, 49:4; 1Co.5:1).  Nor with his own daughter (Le.18:17, 20:14).

Jesus the Man didn’t repeat all these His commands.  Yet they still define His morality.  He said, “It is written!” Mt.4:4, 7, 10.  Polygyny is authorized, but polyandry is adultery.  Married prostitutes too are adulteresses.  (The topic “Sexual Sins, Harlotry, Rape” examines sexual immorality more in-depth.)

Ex.21:7-11 describes God’s law of concubines.  “If a man takes another wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing or conjugal dues of his first wife.”  Ellicott Commentary Ex.21:10 “Polygamy is viewed as lawful in this passage.”  That is, polygyny; it isn’t immoral in Christ’s theocracy.  Cambridge Bible Ex.21:10 “The case contemplated is that of a well-to-do Israelite who could have several concubines.”

Is.4:1 this prophecy too shows that polygyny isn’t adultery. “Seven women will take hold of one man in that day, saying, ‘We will eat our own food and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”  Many men had died in warfare, Is.3:25 (cf. Je.15:8).  Is.4:1 women were even willing to relinquish two of the supports the Lord designated in Ex.21:10, so long as her husband gives her conjugal dues!  JFB Commentary Is.4:1 “Foregoing the privileges, which the law (Ex.21:10) gives to wives, when a man has more than one. ‘Reproach’ – being unmarried and childless.”  An unmarried and childless woman later might lack sustenance in her old age.    

De.21:10-15 describes God’s law of war brides, so-called. “When you go to war against your enemies and God delivers them into your hands, and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and would take her as a wife for yourself….If a man has two wives….”  A war bride wasn’t to be raped.  The Israelite was to bring her to his house; she must renounce her heathen customs, and be allowed to mourn her mother & father for a month.  The month delay would reveal if she was already pregnant before her capture.  Only after the month would she become the Israelite’s concubine wife, and sexual relations then ensue.  Married into God’s theocracy, she could learn the ways of the true God.  If the man wasn’t pleased with her, she was to be given her complete freedom; he wasn’t to sell his concubine for money.     

Nu.31:18-ff virgins were among the spoils taken from the slaughter of God’s vengeance against Midián.  The Lord said in v.18, “All the girls who have never had sexual relations, keep for yourselves”.  v.27, 32-47 the total of virgins taken was divided into two halves, for the Israelite warriors and non-warriors.  A small % of the girls (0.2%) were for the priests, v.40.  (But the high priest could only marry a virgin Israelitess, not foreigners, Le.21:10-14.)  Gill Exposition Le.21:13 “Polygamy [polygyny] was practiced by the Israelites, even by the common priests.”  Christ’s OT Levitical priests weren’t celibate!

De.25:5-10 was Christ’s levirate law, so-called.  A brother-in-law or near relative, even if he’s already married, was to marry a deceased Israelite’s widow who had no son.  The Latin word levir meant ‘husband’s brother’.  Without children, a man’s family name was “blotted out of Israel”.  Widowhood could result in poverty for an aging woman with no son to help provide for her!  Maurice Nelson The Monogamy Lie! “Levirate marriage could be seen as a type of Life Insurance for a widow.”

Ruth’s Jewish husband had died.  Ru.4:1-10 Bóaz and the closer relative possibly were both married.  William Luck op. cit., p.21 “Polygyny was not immoral, per se; widow-neglect based on commitment to monogamy was.”  A widow was even authorized to spit in the face of a brother-in-law, single or married, who refused to marry her (De.25:9)!  Boaz married Ruth, and fathered a son for her (Ru.4:13).

Several godly men of faith had plural wives/concubines.  Joshua & Caleb were the two faithful spies, and survived into the Promised Land.  They were guided by the Holy Spirit (Nu.14:24, 30, 27:18; Jsh.14:13).  1Ch.2:46-49 Caleb had two concubines.  (Caleb’s daughter was Áchsah, cf. Jsh.15:16.)

Manásseh was the firstborn son of Joseph, and grandson of Jacob.  Of the 12 tribes, God allotted his tribe the largest area in the Land! (cf. Jsh.17.)  1Ch.7:14 Manasseh had an Aramean/Syrian concubine.

Wikipedia: Concubinage “Among the Israelites, men commonly acknowledged their concubines, and such women enjoyed the same rights in the house as legitimate wives.  2Sm.3:7 NASB footnote “A concubine was much more than a mistress. In a sense, she was a ‘secondary wife’ (Ex.21:8-10, De.21:11-13). She was considered a member of the household, by an official ceremony of appointment, and she had the rights of a married woman. Concubines were usually acquired by purchase or were captives taken in war. She could be ‘divorced’ summarily, but never as a slave.”  2Sm.3:7 King Saul had a concubine named Rízpah (and other wives – 1Sm.14:50, 2Sm.12:7-8).  A concubine lead-servant was to courteously submit to the first (free) wife, so she wouldn’t be jealous.

Most men were monogamous, having one wife in marriage (at a time).  Yet concubinage was a respected marital option in the OT and ancient world.  It resembles heterosexual civil union, as done in some nations today.  Our English word concubine comes from the Latin word concubina, meaning ‘to lie together’.  But our word concubine means more than that.  The meanings and customary practice of concubinage in various nations may differ from what God authorized millennia ago in scripture.

Jg.8:30-32 “Gideon had 70 sons, for he had many wives. His concubine in Shechém also bore him a son, Abimélech. Gideon died at a good old age.”  (The concubine is called his “maidservant” in Jg.9:18.)  Gill Exposition Jg.8:31 “His concubine, a secondary or half wife; generally taken from handmaids.”  Concubinage & plural wives isn’t adultery…Gideon wasn’t living in sin!  The warrior-judge Gideon was chosen and empowered by God to save Israel out of Midianite oppression (Jg.6:14, 34).  Gideon, who had “many wives”, is listed in He.11:32-33 among the faithful.  The Christian association Gideon’s International, which freely distributes Bibles, is named after this polygynist.

1Sm.1:1-3 Samuel’s father Elkanáh cohabited with two wives, Peninnáh and Hannáh.  Every year he took his family to sacrifice at the Lord’s tabernacle, at Shilóh.  Elkanah was a devout man; he wasn’t living in sin!  Samuel was the eldest son of Elkanah’s second wife Hannah.  Samuel was then fostered by Eli the high priest (1Sm.1:28, 2:11), and became a renowned prophet-judge.  Samuel was born in lawful wedlock, he wasn’t illegitimate!  De.23:2 none illegitimate shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

King Joásh of Judah had two wives.  2Ch.24:1-3 “Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiadá the priest. And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.”  The chief priest selected two wives for Joash!  Joash’s cohabitation with two wives didn’t contradict his doing “right in the eyes of the Lord”.  v.15-16 and Jehoiada the priest did well to Israel and to God; he was buried with honor.  Jehoiada hadn’t sinned by giving two wives to the king.

The scriptures reveal that monogamy and polygyny are both lawful marital options, according to Christ’s morality, in His theocracy.  Where He set the rules & regulations.  And Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever! (He.13:8)  He’s not fickle and His moral principles don’t flip-flop!

Lauren Heiligenthal writes in her book Evaluating Western Christianity’s Interpretation of Biblical Polygamy, p.17 “While scholars and missiologists [studiers of missions] may suggest that monogamy is God’s ideal, Scripture is neither forthcoming with this claim nor does it prohibit polygamy.”

Later, polygamy was legal throughout the Persian Empire (559–331 BC) of the Intertestamental Period.

But when Jesus the man incarnated, He didn’t set the rules in Roman Empire provinces of the 1^st century AD.  His followers too were and are subject to the (marital) laws of our various nations.  So normally God’s moral option of polygyny isn’t advised in nations where it’s disallowed legally.

Other polygynists are seen in the Bible.  But little is in view in the pagan Greco-Roman culture of the New Testament epistles, where most gentiles legally were to be monogamous.

This topic is continued and concluded in “Polygyny – Lawful in God’s Eyes? (2)”.

 

Skins Made For Adam Were Passed Down?

This topic tells, according to tradition, the history of those original animal skins God made for Adam.  There are two versions of the legend; they differ in regards to who those skins were passed down through.

Adam & Eve’s first sin and its ramifications are discussed in the topic “Tree Symbolism in Scripture”.  Ge.3:1-7 after the first humans sinned they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves.  v.7 “Their [Adam & Eve’s] eyes were opened and they knew they were naked; they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings.”  Nakedness can be physical, being unclothed…and/or symbolic of sin and shame.  Their sin also brought guilt and shame to their psyche.

But the fig leaves they sewed, indicative of human devices/ways, are inadequate to cover sin.  So….

Ge.3:21 “The Lord God made garments of skin [owr Strongs h5785, Hebrew] for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.”  God Himself covered them with animal skins, perhaps leather garments of kidskin or calfskin.  (In so doing, the Lord showed that to cover the nakedness symbolic of sin and their fallen condition, humans must be “clothed” by means of the death of another.  see the topic “Sacrifices and Burnt Offerings”.)  Ge.3:22-24 the Lord cast them out of the garden of Eden.

Adam died at age 930 years (Ge.5:5).  But what happened to the skins the Lord made for him?

Presumably, those skins were passed down through succeeding generations…to eventually come into the possession of Isaac’s son Esau!

Isaac’s sons Esau and Jacob were twins.  Ge.25:21-26 is the account of Esau and Jacob striving together while in the womb of Isaac’s wife Rebekah.  They were rivals even before birth.  Benson Commentary Ge.25:22 “The children struggled within her’ – in an unusual and painful manner; a presage of these two sons and their posterities.”  The firstborn son customarily inherited the birthright.  (cf. Ge.43:33 “The firstborn according to his birthright.”)  Esau and Jacob striving in the womb preluded the twins vying for the birthright (and the blessing).

Esau came out first.  Then Jacob came out, with his little hand holding onto the heel of brother Esau the firstborn.  Jacob’s name means ‘supplanter’ (Ge.27:36).  And Jacob would supplant or supersede Esau.

Ge.25:27-34 Isaac loved Esau more, but Rebekah loved Jacob.  Esau sold his birthright to Jacob.  JFB Commentary Ge.25:31 “Jacob said, ‘Sell me your birthright’. That is, the rights and privileges of the firstborn, which were very important, the chief being that they were the family priests [cf. Ex.24:5] and had a double portion of the inheritance (De.21:17).”  Esau disrespected his birthright.

Ge.27:1-7 Isaac had become nearly blind.  Before dying, Isaac wants to eat and bless his firstborn son Esau in the presence of the Lord (v.7 NASB).  Ge.27:8-17 but while Esau was out hunting game for Isaac…v.15 “Rebekah took the desirable [chemdáw h2532] garments of Esau her elder son, which were in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.”  v.16 garments of skins (owr h5785).  She wants her favorite son Jacob (not Esau) to receive Isaac’s blessing.  Rebekah hopes that Jacob wearing the skin garments of Esau will cause blind Isaac (age 120?) to think he’s Esau…and bless him/Jacob.

The Hebrew term chemdaw h2532 is used in v.15 to describe those particular skins.  It means desirable, choice, goodly, precious, valuable, beloved!  The root term is chamád h2530, desire or covet.

Let’s compare the use of chemdaw h2532 in other Old Testament (OT) verses:  Da.10:19 “O Daniel, a man greatly beloved [h2532 chemdaw].”  2Ch.32:27 NASB “Hezekiah had immense riches…and all kinds of valuable [h2532 chemdaw] articles.”  2Ch.36:10 ESV “King Nebuchadnézzar brought him [King Jehoiachín] to Babylon, with the precious [h2532 chemdaw] vessels of the house of the Lord.”  The term chemdaw h2532 was even used here to describe the holy vessels of God’s temple!  Ezr.8:25-27 utensils for the house of the Lord, were as “precious [h2532 chemdaw] as gold”.

Book of Jubilees 26:11 (written pre-100 BC) reads, “Rebecca took the goodly raiment of Esau, her elder son, which was with her in the house, and she clothed Jacob, her younger son, (with them)….”

So Isaac thought Jacob was Esau (Ge.27:21-24).  Ellicott Commentary Ge.27:15 “Evidently the clothing was something special, and such as was peculiar to Esau. For ordinary raiment, however handsome, would not have been kept in the mother’s tent.”  Cambridge Bible Ge.27:15 “Goodly,’ lit. ‘choice, desirable.’ By this is meant the clothes worn by Esau on festivals and solemn occasions.”  Poole Commentary Ge.27:15 “Either the sacerdótal garments which the eldest son wore in the administration of that office which belonged to him; or rather some other suit better than ordinary.”  Not Esau’s usual attire.  As the firstborn son, Esau might have later assumed the role of family priest, after the death of his father Isaac.  Pulpit Commentary Ge.27:15 “The firstborn didn’t serve in the priesthood while his father lived.”

But how had Esau come into the possession of those desirable special garments or vestments?

According to traditional sources, those skin garments were passed down from Adam to his descendants!  Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (Palestinian), sec.6 “Rebekah took the pleasant vestments of Esau her elder son which had formerly been Adam’s; but which that day Esau had not worn, but they remained with her in the house, and (with them) she dressed Jacob her younger son. And the skins of the kids she laid upon his hands and the smooth parts of his neck.”  Benson Commentary Ge.27:16 “Goats’ hair is very like the human.”  It resembled human hair.

Antiquities scholar Louis H. Feldman of Yeshiva University wrote, “Even the fact that Rebekah took the special garments of Esau (which he had inherited from Adam by virtue of his being the eldest son) and gave them to Jacob was justified by the rabbis”.  They excused the deception.

Louis Ginzberg Legends of the Jews, v.2, pp.96-97 “She [Rebekah] dressed him [Jacob] in them, for those garments were the garb of the priesthood, and the Holy One, blessed be He, had clothed Adam in them, for he was the glory of the world; and prior to the construction of the Tabernacle, sacrificial worship was performed by firstborns. Primordial Man bequeathed them to his firstborn, and so they passed from firstborn to firstborn until they reached Noah. Noah gave them to his son Shem [Shem the firstborn?], Shem passed them on to Abraham [the firstborn?]; Abraham to Isaac, and Isaac to Esau, who was his firstborn. Since Esau had sold his birthright to Jacob, Rebekah considered that henceforth it was proper for Jacob to wear these garments, because he now had the status of firstborn.”

The above version of the skins legend is…Esau inherited those skins, Adam’s original garments, by line of descent.  But there’s a second version, which follows:

Louis Ginzberg adds op. cit., “These were the garments that Esau coveted from Nimrod, and killed him and took them.”  Midrash Rabbah 65:15 “Rebekah then took the best [Heb. ha-hamudot] clothes of her older son Esau, which he had coveted [chamad] from Nimrod.”  In this second version, Esau got Adam’s garments of skin…from Nimrod.

Gill Exposition Ge.27:15 “They were, as some Jewish writers say (Targum Jonathán), the garments of Adam the first man, which Esau seeing on Nimrod, greatly desired them, and slew him for them; and hence called desirable garments.”  Esau’s wrong covetousness resulted in murder.

But how had the skins come into Nimrod’s possession?  Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer, Higger ed., ch.24 (written ca 833 AD) “Rabbi Hakhinai says Nimrod was mighty in strength, as it is said, ‘Cush also begot Nimrod’. Rabbi Judah says the garment that the Holy One, blessed be He, made for Adam and his wife were taken by Noah and his sons into the ark. When they came out of the ark, Noah’s son Ham took it with him [cf. Ge.9:20-23] and passed it on to Nimrod; when he wore them, any beast or animal that saw the writing would prostrate themselves before him. Human beings believed it was due to his might and therefore they made him king over them. Hence the saying, ‘Like Nimrod a mighty hunter by the grace of the Lord [cf. Ge.10:9].”  Earlier, Nimrod’s ancestor Ham had those skins.

Ge.9:22 “Ham, the father of Canáan, saw the nakedness of his father [Noah], and told his two brothers [Jápheth and Shem] outside.”  According to this second version of the legend, Ham stole the skins from the sleeping Noah (the priest).  Adam’s (priestly) garments then came into the possession of the line of Hamites…Ham → Cush → Nimrod.  Traditionally, that’s how Nimrod got his power and might.

Ge.10:8 “Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on earth.”  Nimrod’s kingdom was in ancient Mesopotámia.  (In Mic.5:6, Assyria is called the “land of Nimrod.”)

Jewish Encyclopedia: Nimrod “His great success in hunting was due to the fact that he wore the coat of skin which God had made for Adam and Eve (Ge.3:21). They were stolen by Ham.”

Supposedly the desirable skin garment (which became Nimrod’s and Esau’s) contained special powers!  Targum Neofití Ge.3:21 “The Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of glory, for the skin of their flesh, and He clothed them.”  Those (glorious) leather garments were unlike any coats made since!

Our Bibles mention the Book of Jasher in Josh.10:13 and 2Sa.1:18 (LXX “Book of Right”).  The (supposed) Book of Jasher today contains this second version of the skins legend regarding Nimrod and Esau:

Jash.7:23-32 “Cush the son of Ham, the son of Noah, took a [another] wife in his old age, and she bare a son, and they called his name Nimrod. And the garments of skin which God had made for Adam and his wife [Eve] were given to Cush. For after the death of Adam, the garments were given to Enoch; he gave them to Methusélah his son. And at the death of Methuselah, Noah brought them to the ark. And in their going out, Ham stole those garments from Noah his father, and hid them from his brothers [Japheth and Shem]. And when Ham begot his firstborn Cush, he gave him the garments in secret. When Cush had begotten Nimrod, he gave him those garments, and when he was 20 years old he put on those garments. Nimrod became strong when he put on the garments, God gave him might and strength….And he reigned upon earth.”  In the Book of Jasher, Nimrod is contemporary with Esau.

Jash.27:3-14 “Jealousy was formed in the heart of Nimrod against Esau [both were hunters]. On a certain day Esau went in the field to hunt, and he found Nimrod walking in the wilderness. Esau concealed himself from Nimrod. Esau started suddenly from his lurking place, drew his sword, ran to Nimrod and cut off his head….And Esau took the valuable garments of Nimrod, which Nimrod’s father [Cush] had bequeathed to Nimrod, and with which Nimrod prevailed over the whole land. And he [Esau] ran and concealed them in his house. He came into his father’s [Isaac’s] house exhausted and was ready to die through grief. He approached his brother Jacob and said, ‘Behold I shall die this day, and why then do I want this birthright?’ Jacob acted wisely in this matter, and Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, for it was so brought about by the Lord. And Jacob wrote the whole of this in a book, and sealed it.”  Jash.27:15-16, “All the days that Nimrod lived were 215 years and he died. Nimrod reigned upon the people 185 years.”

Traditionally, Nimrod was empowered by those skins of Adam’s!  Esau took the skins from Nimrod.

Isaac was deceived by Esau’s garments, worn by Jacob (Ge.27:18-end).  Isaac blessed Jacob.  Those weren’t just any skins smelling of leather…God’s Presence was there (Ge.27:7)!  They were unique.

Book of Jasher says Nimrod was the son of Cush’s old age.  But there may be chronological problems with this second version of the skins legend.  Again, in Jasher, Nimrod and Esau are contemporaries.

Noah had three sons, born prior to the Flood…Japheth, Shem, Ham.  Ge.10:6-9 LXX Nimrod was the 3^rd generation after Noah.  Noah → Ham → Cush → Nimrod.  But Esau was the 12^th/13^th generation after Noah (Ge.11:10-26, 21:3, 25:21-25)!  Noah → Shem → Arphaxad → Cainán (cf. Lk.3:36) → Shélah → Éber → Péleg → Reú → Serúg → Nahór → Térah → Abraham → Isaac → Esau.  Quite a disparity!

{Sidelight: According to the LXX chronology, the Flood occurred ca 3189 BC.  Noah lived on after the Flood for 350 years, until ca 2839 BC.  Shem lived for 600 years; 502 of his years were after the Flood.  Correspondingly, Shem lived ca 3287–2687 BC.  And Shem’s son Arphaxad lived for 565 years.  Arphaxad (born 2 years after the Flood) lived ca 3187–2622 BC.  ref Ge.11:10-13 LXX NETS.  Perhaps Ham’s son Cush lived a much longer life than Shem’s son Arphaxad’s 565 years?  (Seems doubtful.)  And Ham’s son Cush fathered Nimrod very late in life? ref Jash.7:23, 9:21.  Genesis doesn’t say.  Noah, Japheth, Shem, Ham, and Ham’s son Canaan (Cush’s younger brother) are all alive in Ge.9:18-28.

Later, Esau, born ca 1957 BC, at age 40 married two Hittite wives (Ge.26:34), ca 1917 BC.  Esau sold his birthright prior to marrying (Ge.25:27-34).  If Esau was age 16 when he killed Nimrod and took the skins, it occurred ca 1942 BC.  Jash.27:15 Nimrod lived for 215 years.  That would place his birth ca 2157 BC, 215 years before his death in 1942 BC.  For the LXX chronology to fit, Cush lived a very long life (living past 2157 BC), and Nimrod was born late in Cush’s life.  The Hebrew OT Masoretic Text chronology fits this more easily.)  Or, Moses’ account in Ge.10:1-20 skips some of Ham’s generations.  see “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”, “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.}

Gill Exposition Ge.10:8 “Probably this [Nimrod] was his [Cush’s] youngest son.”  Pulpit Commentary Ge.10:8 “Cush begot’ – not necessarily as immediate progenitor.”  Ellicott Commentary Ge.10:8 “This does not mean that Nimrod was the son of Cush, but only that Cush was his ancestor.”  So there may have been more generations, not recorded in Genesis, between Cush and Nimrod.

Moses’ Genesis narrative summarizes thousands of years.  His compilation shows historical highlights.  Other ancient writings, e.g. Jasher, Jubilees, Targums… add details and convey traditional beliefs.

The New Testament (NT) too refers to earlier traditions, some not recorded in the OT.  Such as….

In 2Ti.3:8, Paul wrote of a Jannes and Jambres tradition.  Jánnes and Jambrés aren’t mentioned in the OT.  Perhaps Paul was referencing Jash.79:27; it notes Jannes and Jambres, and Pharaoh.  Jewish Encyclopedia: Jannes and Jambres “According to rabbinical tradition they were the two chiefs of the magicians at the court of Pharaoh who foretold the birth of Moses, ‘the destroyer of the land of Egypt,’ thereby causing the cruel edicts of Pharaoh (Soṭah 11a; Sanh. 106a).”

Jude 1:9 tells of Michael the archangel having disputed about the body of Moses.  That dispute isn’t recorded in the OT.  Life Application Bible Jude 1:9 “Here Jude may have been making use of an ancient book called the Assumption of Moses.”  The dispute was a traditional belief in the 1^st century.

In He.11:37, “They were sawn asunder” refers to the Martyrdom of Isaiah tradition.  Jewish Encyclopedia: Isaiah “Isaiah, fearing Manasséh, hid himself in a cedar-tree, but his presence was betrayed by the fringes of his garment, and Manasseh caused the tree to be sawn in half (Jerusalem Talmud Sanh. X).”  Also see the Ascension of Isaiah 5:1-ff, dating from the early 1^st century AD.

The above three ancient historical incidents, recorded in traditional sources, but not in our OT…are nonetheless incidents mentioned in our NT.  (Needless to say, the OT doesn’t show every single incident regarding God’s people that occurred between the creation of Adam and Jesus’ birth!)

However, several dozen miracles are recorded in the OT.  For example: Ex.4:1-5, 17 the Lord did miracles through Moses’ rod/staff.  Ex.34:28-35 Moses’ face shined after he’d been in God’s presence to receive the Decalogue.  2Ki.13:20-21 a dead man revived and stood up when his corpse came into contact with the bones of the prophet Elisha.  2Ki.2:7-8 the Jordan River parted when the prophet Elijah struck the waters with his mantle garment.  Also, in the NT, God performed healing miracles through cloths touched by the apostle Paul, Ac.19:11-12.

From the beginning, the Lord has done amazing things… sometimes even through garments and cloths!

The skins legend may not seem credible enough for us to believe?  However, the Biblical truth of all the wonders God has done…perhaps adds feasibility and credence to the legend that the skins God made for Adam were empowered, desired, and passed down to Adam’s descendants.

Job and the Land Of Uz (3)

This topic was begun in “Job and the Land of Uz (1)”, and continued in “Job and the Land of Uz (2)”.  In Part 1, the probable location of the land of Uz, where Job lived, was discussed.  In Part 2, Job’s four visitors were identified.  From both parts, the time period in which Job lived is being determined.  Most of the material presented in (1) and (2) won’t be repeated here in the concluding Part 3.

Jb.1:1-3 Job dwelt in the land of Uz (Ausítis LXX), and was the greatest of the “men of the East”.  Barnes Notes Jb.1:3 “East – The country which lies east of Palestine.”  Old Testament (OT) scripture shows that the general area of the “East” wasn’t the lands of: Canáan, Egypt, the Philistines, Edom, the Midianites, the Amalekites.  Egypt and Philistines were to the West; Edom and Midian to the South.

In the OT, the name Job (Strongs h347, Hebrew) appears only in the book of Job and in Ezk.14:14, 20.  In no other verses.  The name Jobáb (h3103) is a different name from Job (h347).  Jobab is seen in Ge.10:29, 36:33-34, Jsh.11:1, 1Ch.1:23, 44-45, 8:9, 18.  The name Iob (h3102) in Ge.46:13, also is a different name from Job (h347).  This Iob is Jashúb in Nu.26:24 & 1Ch.7:1.   (see Part 2 of this topic.)

The (supposed) Book of Jasher refers to the Jobab of Ge.10:29, and to the Iob of Ge.46:13.  Jasher 45:5-7 “Jobab the son of Yoktan [Joktán, Ge.10:29] had two daughters…Adinah and Aridah….Issachár took Aridah and came to the land of Canaan…And Aridah bore unto Issachar four sons, Tolá, Puváh, Job [Iob or Jashub, Ge.46:13, Nu.26:24, 1Ch.7:1], and Shomrón.”

However, the Job in the book of Job had three daughters, Jb.1:2…not two.  All Job’s children died, Jb.1:19.  JFB Commentary Jb.1:19 “Including the daughters.”  Later after his ordeal, Job had three more daughters, named: Jemimáh, Keziáh, Karenhappúch, Jb.42:13.  The Jobab (h3103) of Ge.10:29, traditionally having only two daughters (as per Jasher), is a different man from the Job (h347) in Job.

The Iob/Jashub/Job of Ge.46:13 & Jasher lived in the land of Canaan and then in Egypt.  That wasn’t the “East”.  But the Job in the book of Job was the greatest of the men of the “East” (Jb.1:3).  So Iob/Jashub (Nu.26:24 & 1Ch.7:1), the son of Issachar in Ge.46:13, isn’t the Job of the book of Job.

A postscript based on the Syriac version was added later to the Septúagint version of the book of Job.  This postscript appears immediately after Jb.42:17 in our Septuagint/LXX book of Job.  The postscript states that the Jobab (h3103) of Ge.36:33-34 was an Edomite and he was the Job (h347) of the book of Job.  The postscript to the LXX Jb.42:17 follows (scripture references are inserted by me [in brackets]):

“It is written that he [Job] will rise with those whom the Lord resurrects.  This man is described in the Syriac book as living in the land of Ausitis, on the borders of Edom and Arabia.  Previously his name was Jobab.  He took an Arabian wife and begot a son named Ennon.  But he [Job] himself was the son of his father Zare [LXX Ge.36:13, 17.  Zara v.33 name differs], one of the sons [or grandsons] of Esau [Ge.36:10, 13], and of his mother Bosorra.  Thus, he was the 5^th son from Abraham.  Now these were the kings who reigned in Edom, over which country he [Job] also ruled.  First, there was Balak the son of Beor [Ge.36:32], and the name of his city was Dennaba.  After Balak, there was Jobab, who is called Job [Ge.36:33].  After him, there was Asom [Ge.36:34], ruler out of the country of Teman.  After him, there was Adad the son of Barad [Ge.36:35], who destroyed Midian in the plain of Moab; the name of his city was Gethaim.  Now his [Job’s] friends who came to him were: Eliphaz, of the children of Esau, king of the Temanites [Ge.25:15]; Bildad, ruler of the Shuhites [Ge.25:2]; and Zophar [LXX Ge.36:15], king of the Mineans.”  That concludes the postscript/appendix and our LXX book of Job.

There are problems with this additional paragraph to the LXX book of Job…it ignores or contradicts other verses of the OT.  For example, in Ge.36:33 & 1Ch.1:44, Zara from Bozrah (LXX Bosorrha) was Jobab’s father.  Bozrah/Buzrah was east of Bashan near the Hauran and edge of the Syrian desert, 60-80 miles S of Damascus (People’s Dictionary of the Bible).  Another Bozrah became the capital city of Edom (ca 1000 BC?).  But in the LXX postscript to Jb.42:17, Bosorrha is Job’s mother, not a place!

Barry Setterfield Job and Jobab: “About the ending of the Book of Job in the Septuagint…we note that the LXX ends with chapter 42 verses 16 and 17 where we are given Job’s age. This is part of the Alexándrian Septuagint. However, there is a rather lengthy paragraph which is NOT numbered that appears separately after the close of verse 17. This is an addition, and we are plainly told where this addition came from. The opening of this additional paragraph reads ‘This man [Job] is described in the Syriac book as living in the land of Aúsis on the borders of Iduméa and Arabia…’ This, and all that follows, is clearly an editorial comment about the Syriac version of Job.”

Setterfield continues: “The first Syriac version of the Old Testament originated about 180 AD, which is well after the Council of Jamnia in 100 AD where the Masoretic Text originated. It therefore has nothing to do with the Alexandrian Septuagint Text which originated about 280 BC or over 450 years earlier. This inclusion therefore originates with the later Septuagints. This term Septuagint has come to mean any Hebrew to Greek translation. That is why we specify the Alexandrian LXX which was the most ancient. The time of 180 AD was about the time of Origen when he produced a number of Greek versions that conformed to the Masoretic Text of 100 AD.”

Setterfield indicates that the postscript to Jb.42:17 LXX is an insertion based on what the 180 AD Syriac version contained about Job.  The postscript wasn’t in the previous old Greek version (or Alexandrian) of the OT.  It was added over 400 years later to the Septuagint.

The Jobab of Ge.36:33 wasn’t the Job of the book of Job (neither was the Jobab of Ge.10:29).  This understanding also can be ascertained from internal evidence of the actual text.

In the text of LXX Ge.36:13, 17, the name of Esau’s grandson is Zare.  But in the LXX Ge.36:33 the name of Jobab’s father is Zara…not Zare.  Similarly, LXX 1Ch.1:37 Zare vs LXX 1Ch.1:44 Zara shows the same discrepancy.  Zare and Zara were two different individuals!  The LXX postscript addition to Jb.42:17 confuses the names found in the actual LXX text.

In the Book of Jasher: Jasher 36:23 “The sons of Eliphaz the son of Esau were Teman, Omar, Zepho…and the sons of Reuel [son of Esau] were Nachath, Zerach.”  Jasher 58:29 “Jobab the son of Zarach died.”  In Jasher, the name of Esau’s grandson is Zerach, but the name of Jobab’s father is Zarach…not Zerach.  Again, Zerach/Zera and Zarach/Zara were two different individuals.

Ellicott Commentary Ge.36:33 “Jobab – The LXX identifies him with Job, but on no probable grounds.”  Gill Exposition Ge.36:33 “Jobab…this king some have thought to be the same with Job, but neither their names, nor age, nor country agree.”  Pulpit Commentary Ge.36:33 “Jobab – identified with Job, an opinion which Michaelis declares to be insinis error.”

Catholic Encyclopedia: Characters of the Poem “The appendix to the book of Job in the Septuagint identifies Job with King Jobab of Edom (Gen.36:33). Nothing in the book shows that Job was ruler of Edom; in Hebrew the two names have nothing in common.”  King Jobab wasn’t Esau’s grandson.

The postscript which was added to the LXX Job has errors.  Gerard Gertoux The Book of Job, p.10 “This late comment (c. 160-150 AD) has many errors….Jobab died many years before Job’s death.”

And 1,000 years later, Ezekiel still referred to Job as Job, h347 (Ezk.14:14, 20)…not as Jobab, h3103.

Jasher 58:26-29 “The children of Esau took a man from the people of the east; Jobab the son of Zarach from the land of Botzrah. Jobab reigned in Edom over all the children of Esau ten years. At the end of ten years, Jobab died.”  The King Jobab from Bozrah (Ge.36:33) died.  That was circa 1767 BC.

{Sidelight: Here’s a brief chronology of the (foreign) kings of Edom from Ge.36:31-39 and the Book of Jasher:  Bela ruled ca 1807–1777 BC (Jash.57:41-45).  Jobab ruled ten years, ca 1777–1767 BC (Jash.58:26-28).  Hushám/Chushám ruled ca 1767–1747 BC (Jash.58:29).  Hadád the son of Bedád ruled ca 1747–1712 BC (Jash.62:3).  Samláh ruled ca 1712–1690 BC (Jash.66:1-2).  Shaúl ruled ca 1690–1640’s BC (Jash.69:1-3).  BáalHanán ruled ca 1640’s–1614 BC (Jash.74:1-2).  Hadár/Hadad (an Edomite) ruled ca 1614–1567 BC (Jash.78:1-3, 90:6-9).  Moses sent messengers to this Hadar in the 40^th year after the exodus, Nu.20:14-21; Moses died during his rule (ca 1572 BC).  Joshua allotted the land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel ca 1567 BC.  Dates are approximate.  also ref my topics “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus” and “Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel.”}

Annette Yoshiko Reed Job As Jobab “In one of his letters, Jerome states that, in contrast to the Christians, the Jews of his time denied that Job was “of the descendants of Esau” (Letter 73; ca 398 CE). Arguing explicitly against the LXX Job appendix, Jerome then asserts that Job’s lineage should be traced through Uz, the son of Abraham’s brother Nahór (Quaest. In Gen. ad Ge.22:20-22) – apparently following a rabbinic tradition about Job’s identity (see Gen. Rab. 57:4).”  See Part 1 for Nahor detail.

Time elapsed after the death of the Jobab of Ge.36:33-34 & Jash.58:26-28.  Later in Jasher 66:15, Job is a counsellor to Pharoah. “Job, from Mesopotámia, in the land of Uz.”  This was ca 1702 BC, or 65 years after the death of Jobab king of Edom.  Then Jasher 67:24 “The king [pharaoh] sent and called his two counsellors, Reuél the Midianite and Job the Uzite.”  That was ca the 1690s BC.

This Job the Uzite from Mesopotamia, summoned by Pharaoh, isn’t the Jobab who’d ruled in Edom and died 70 years earlier!  (The man Reuel/Jethró later became Moses’ father-in-law, cf. Jasher 67:41.)

Approximately 1,000 years later, Jeremiah wrote of the “kings of the land of Uz” in Je.25:20 (not in LXX).  Also Lam.4:21 (not in LXX), “Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, who dwells in the land of Uz”.  Cambridge Bible Jb.1:1 “These words do not imply that Uz is identical with Edom, but they imply that Edomites had possession of Uz….”  Jeremiah indicated that Edomites, Esau’s descendants, dwelt in the land of Uz ca 600 BC.

Again, Jasher 66:15, the land of Uz in Mesopotamia was Job’s home.  Mesopotamia was in the East.  “Men of the East” dwelt there.  Jb.1:3 Job was in the “East”.  But Edom wasn’t in Mesopotamia nor part of the “East”.  Jasher 67:24 Job is called a Uzite.  see Part 1 about Mesopotamia.

ISBE: Uz “A kingdom of some importance somewhere in Southern Syria and not far from Judea.”  Ancient Syria/Arám was in upper Mesopotamia.

Cambridge Bible Ge.22:21 “Uz as a locality in the Syrian region. It may denote a branch of an Aramean tribe. It appears as the birthplace of Job.”  Catholic Encyclopedia: op. cit. “Job seems to have been an Araméan.”  Pulpit Commentary Jb.1:1 “Arabian tradition regards the region of the Hauran, northeast of Palestine, as Job’s country.”  The plain of ancient Hauran, towards SW Syria.

R.N. Coleman The Poem of Job “Josephus identifies the land of Uz with the territory of Damascus [Syria] and Trachonitis. The habitual residence of Job was in some portion of ancient Bashán.”

The book of Job refers to the Jordan River!  Jb.40:23 “The Jordan rushes to his mouth.”  So the land of Uz probably wasn’t all that far from the Jordan.  Ancient Bashan was NE of the Jordan River.

Og was an Amorite king of Bashan after the time of Job.  Moses recounted in De.3:13-14, “The rest of Gileád, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasséh. Jaír the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argób as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites”.  Gill Exposition De.3:13 “The region of Trachonitis, in Bashan.”  Pulpit Commentary De.3:14 “Geshuri and Maachathi were small Syrian tribes located to the east of [Mount] Hermon.”

It was ca 1572 BC when Moses/Israel conquered Og king of Bashan.  Job was probably dead by then.  R.N. Coleman op. cit. “The patriarch Job resided in Bashan, having been the predecessor of Og.”

In Job, there’s no mention of the nation of Israel dwelling in Canaan.  Jewish Encyclopedia: Job “Jose b. Ḥalafta said that Job was born when Jacob and his children entered Egypt and that he died when the Israelites left that country.”  Jacob and his descendants went down to Egypt ca 1827 BC.  The exodus was 215 years later ca 1612 BC.  Chuck Swindoll: Job “Though we cannot be certain, Job may have lived during the time of Jacob or shortly thereafter.”  Jb.42:16 Job’s lifespan was 200 years or so.

The book of Job refers to the Temanites, Shuhites (Jb.2:11), Buzites (Jb.32:2), Sabeans (Jb.6:19b LXX).  Temá was a son of Ishmaél (Ge.25:13-16), son of Abraham.  Shúah was the son of Abraham by his concubine wife Keturáh (Ge.25:1-2).  Uz & Buz were sons of Abraham’s brother Nahor (Ge.22:20-22).  Shebá, from whom the Sabeans probably descended, was a grandson of Abraham & Keturah (Ge.25:3).

From Dr. Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, p.8, Ishmael lived from 2031–1894 BC.  Uz & Buz, Shuah, and Ishmael were all four of the same generation.  These four would’ve been alive in the 1900s BC.  Tema and Sheba were of the next generation (as was Jacob & Esau).  Ishmael’s son Tema, progenitor of the Temanites, would’ve been alive in the 1900s BC.  So would Abraham’s grandson Sheba, progenitor of the Sabeans.  The Temanite and Sabean tribes also grew in the 1800s BC.  They had become peoples by the time Job lived.  So Job’s trials wouldn’t have been prior to the 1800s BC (before the Temanite, Shuhite, Buzite, and Sabean clans emerged as tribes).

Hyksos, Kings of Egypt and the Land of Edom: “Job speaks of ‘the troops of Tema’ (Jb.6:l9). Assuming that Tema is one of the tribes descended from Ishmael (Gen. 25:l5), we would then have positive proof that Job also lived after the time of Ishmael. At the same time Job speaks also of ‘the companies of Sheba’ [Jb.6:19] who would be descendants of Sheba, a half-brother to Ishmael. The orthodox view has been that the Book of Job belongs to the era before the Exodus.”  So the patriarch Job lived sometime between the time of Ishmael (died ca 1894 BC) and Israel’s exodus from Egypt (ca 1612 BC).

Stephen Vicchio Job in the Modern World, p 202 “Mugir el-Hambeli says, ‘Job came from the Damascan province of Batanea.’ [Batanea was the ancient land of Bashan, which lay NE of the Jordan River.] Moslem tradition suggests that after the death of his father, Job journeyed to Egypt to marry Rahme, the daughter of Ephráim [or Manasseh?], who had inherited from her grandfather Joseph his beautiful robe. Later, Job brought her back to his native Hauran.”

Joseph’s sons Ephraim & Manasseh were born in Egypt ca 1833 BC (cf. Jash.50:15).  Their children would’ve been born in the (early) 1700s BC.  Jasher recorded that Job spent time in Egypt as counselor to Pharaoh as late as the 1690s BC (Jash.66:15, 67:24).  So Job and the daughter of Ephraim (or Manasseh) feasibly could’ve met in Egypt during the 1700s BC, and married.

Conclusion: Considering the several sources…they indicate that Job lived from approximately 1800–1600 BC.  His land of Uz was most likely located NE of the Jordan River in Bashan, towards the Hauran of Mesopotamia and the Syrian desert.

 

 

Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus

Knowing the time when Biblical events occurred and the chronology of Bible characters helps us see the word of God in its historical context.  Also we learn the time frame of His ancient people in their generations.  My basic position is the so-called maximalist view, that Bible history is correct unless archaeology clearly proves it wrong.  This topic traces Bible chronology from Abraham to the exodus of ancient Israel from Egypt.  (For pre-Abraham, see “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.)

Exact dates for the births and deaths of the Bible patriarchs are unknown.  The dates for the birth of Abrám/Abraham and the exodus from Egypt are taken in part from Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2.  His chart placed the birth of Abram in 2117 BC, the exodus in 1612 BC.

If Abram was born in 2117 BC, he moved from Harrán to Canáan at age 75 (Ge.12:4-5) in 2042 BC.  Ex.12:40 LXX “The children of Israel sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan for 430 years.”  The Masorétic text omits “and the land of Canaan”.  But the accounts in the Samaritan Péntateuch, the Talmud and Josephus agree with the LXX.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 2:15:2 “They left Egypt 430 years after Abraham came into Canaan, but 215 years only after Jacob removed into Egypt. It was the 80^th year of Moses.”  They stayed 215 years in Canaan and 215 years in Egypt.

John Gill Exposition “Certain it is, that Israel did not dwell in Egypt 430 years.”  JFB Commentary “The period of sojourn in Egypt did not exceed 215 years.”  Philip Mauro The Wonders of Bible Chronology, p.34 “The 430 years began with God’s promise to Abram, made at the time he entered into Canaan at the age of 75 (Gen.12:1-4).”  And the apostle Paul confirms a period of 430 years (Ga.3:16-17).

A date of 1612 BC for the exodus…that’s 430 years after 2042 BC (when Abram was age 75).

He.11:8-9 “By faith he [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country.”  Ge.15:1-7 after Abram had sojourned in Canaan for around 10 years to age 85, God promised him a son, Isaac.

But before Isaac, Abram’s son Ishmaél was born when Abram was 86 (Ge.16:16), around 2031 BC.

Ge.17:24-25 around (circa or c) 2018 BC, Abraham is circumcised at age 99, Ishmael at age 13.

Ge.21:5 Abraham is 100 years old when his promised son Isaac is born, c 2017 BC.  Ge.17:17 Isaac’s mother Sarah is 90 (born c 2107 BC).  Ishmael is 14.

The Lord said to Abram in Ge.15:13, “Your seed will be sojourners in a land not their own; and they shall afflict them 400 years”.  Ge.21:8-9 after Isaac was weaned, he was mocked by Ishmael.  If Isaac was around 5 years old at the time of the mocking, it’s 2012 BC (Ishmael was 19).  The exodus from bondage in Egypt was 400 years later, c 1612 BC.  Benson Commentary Ge.15:13 “This persecution began with mocking, when Ishmael, the son of an Egyptian [Hagár, Ge.16:3], persecuted Isaac.”

This 400–year period doesn’t contradict the 430 years of Ex.12:40.

Again, if Abram was born c 2117 BC, he arrived in Canaan at age 75 in 2042 BC.  Isaac was born when Abraham was 100, c 2017 BC.  At age 60, Isaac fathered the twins Jacob & Esau (Ge.25:26) c 1957 BC.  Then when Jacob was age 130 (Ge.47:9), he and his moved from Canaan to Egypt c 1827 BC.

Abram’s sojourn in Canaan (c 2042 BC) until Jacob’s move from Canaan (c 1827 BC) = 215 years in Canaan.  And Jacob’s move to Egypt (c 1827 BC) until the exodus (c 1612 BC) = 215 years in Egypt.  The total of both = 430 years…2042–1612 BC.  As per the LXX/Septúagint, Josephus, Eusebius, etc.

Following is the chronology from Abraham and the persecution of Isaac (c 2012 BC), in more detail:

Ge.23:1-2 Abraham’s wife Sarah dies c 1980 BC at age 127.  Abraham is 137, Isaac is 37, Ishmael 51.

Ge.25:20 Isaac marries his cousin Rebekah c 1977 BC.  Isaac is 40, Abraham is 140, Ishmael 54.

Ge.25:25-26 Isaac is 60 when his sons Jacob & Esau are born c 1957 BC.  Abraham is 160, Ishmael 74.

Ge.25:7 Abraham dies at age 175, c 1942 BC.  Ishmael is 89, Isaac is 75, Jacob & Esau are 15.

Ge.26:34 Esau marries two Hittite wives c 1917 BC.  He and Jacob are age 40, Isaac is 100.

Ge.25:17 Ishmael died at age 137, c 1894 BC.  Isaac was age 123, Jacob & Esau were 63.

Ge.28:5 Isaac sends Jacob to Padán-Arám in Mesopotámia, to escape from Jacob’s twin brother Esau.  This was sometime around 1886 BC.  Jacob & Esau are age 70 or 71, Isaac is 131.

It is uncertain at exactly what age Jacob left the land of Canaan for Padan-Aram, fleeing from Esau.  There, Jacob would marry his first cousins Leáh & Rachél, daughters of his uncle Labán (Rebekah’s brother).  Jacob served Laban for at least 20 years (Ge.31:38-41), part of which was the bride price for Leah & Rachel (Ge.29:16-ff).  Initially, Jacob contracted to work only 7 years…for Rachel (Ge.29:18).

Jacob worked for Laban for 7 years, and in return was given…Leah, not Rachel!  Jacob then agreed to work 7 more years for Rachel.  Ancient sources differ in regards to when Rachel actually became his wife.  Josephus op. cit. 1:19:7, Philo The Works of Philo p.211, the Orthodox Bible LXX Ge.29:27 Note…they indicate that Rachel became Jacob’s wife after he’d worked the entire second 7-year period.  But the more recent Hebrew Masoretic text Ge.29:27-28, the (supposed) Book of Jasher 31:12-13, the traditional Book of Jubilees (Jub) 28:8-9…they indicate that Rachel became Jacob’s wife only one week following Leah, before he worked the second 7-year period.  The historical sources differ.

Jacob fathered 12 sons (11 born in Padan-Aram), Ge.35:23-26.  Their descendants would become the 12 tribes of Israel.  God changed Jacob’s name to Israel (Ge.32:28).

Ge.29:31-35 Jacob/Israel’s first 4 sons…Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah…were born to Leah.  see the topic “Levites and the Exodus Multitude (1)” for the lineage chronology of Jacob’s 3^rd son Levi.

Ge.30:4-8 Dan and Naphtalí are born to Rachel’s maidservant Bilháh (Jacob’s concubine wife).

Ge.30:9-13 Gad and Ashér are then born to Leah’s maidservant Zilpah (Jacob’s other concubine wife).

Ge.30:16-20 Leah resumes childbearing; she gives birth to Issachár, then Zebulún.

Ge.30:21 a daughter, Dinah, was also born to Leah.  Some think Zebulun and Dinah were twins (the scripture doesn’t say Leah ‘conceived’ for Dinah’s birth).  Written c 150 BC, Jub.28:23 “She [Leah] conceived, and bare two children, a son and a daughter. Zebulun and Dinah in the 7^th of the 7^th month.”

Ge.30:22-24 Rachel finally gives birth to her first child, Joseph, c 1867 BC.  Jacob (and Esau) was 90, Isaac 150.  Joseph is called the son of Jacob’s old age (Ge.37:3), and Jacob loved him the most.

Ge.30:25, 31:20-21 Jacob & family flee Laban/Padan-Aram, having been there 20 years or more.

Ge.33:1-16 while returning to Canaan, Jacob meets his twin Esau en route.  They’re in their early 90s.  Isaac is over 150.  v.17-20 Jacob journeys to Succóth, and afterwards settles in the town of Shechém.

Ge.34:1-31 Dinah, near age 12 (ref Jub.30:3), is taken by Shechém the son of Hamór.  Her brothers Levi, age 18 (ref Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (T12P) Levi 12:5), and Simeon, age 20, kill every male in the town and loot it.  Jacob is near age 100.

Ge.35:1-15 as a result, Jacob must then depart Shechem.  He goes to Bethél and elsewhere.

The time frame in which Jacob’s 13 children were born (12 in Padan-Aram) is a narrow fit.  Having returned to Canaan c 1865 BC, Jacob’s daughter Dinah wasn’t taken at age 3 or 4!  Enough years must have elapsed for her to be at least 10–12.  And her brothers Levi & Simeon weren’t only age 8 or 10 when they killed the men of Shechem!

Ge.35:16-20 Rachel dies near Ephráth (Bethlehem) while giving birth to Jacob’s 12^th son, Benjamin, c 1857 BC.  Jacob is 100 or so, his son Judah is 16, Joseph is close to 10, Isaac is near 160.

Ge.37:1-2, 26-36 Joseph’s older brothers sell him into slavery at age 17, c 1850 BC.  Joseph is taken to Egypt.  Judah is near age 23, Jacob age 107, Isaac 167.

Ge.35:28-29 Isaac will die at age 180, c 1837 BC.  Jacob & Esau are 120, Judah is 36, Joseph 30.

Ge.38:1-30 after Jacob had returned to Canaan c 1865 BC, Judah at age 20 married Shúa c 1853 BC.  (ref T12P Judah 7:10, 8:1-2, 9:1-3.)  Judah fathered 3 sons – Er, Onán, Sheláh.  Er and Onan (successively) married Tamár, and each died shortly thereafter.  Then Judah fathered the twins Pérez & Zérah (v.29-30) by his daughter-in-law Tamar.  Ge.46:12 Perez later fathered Hezrón & Hamúl, probably in Egypt, near 1827 BC.  Barnes Notes Ge.46:12 “Hezron and Hamul may have been born at the arrival of Jacob’s household in Egypt.”  Poole Commentary “Hezron and Hamul seem to have born in Egypt.”  Jacob and his descendants go to Egypt c 1827 BC.

Only 40 years elapsed from the birth of Judah’s brother Joseph (Jacob’s 11^th son) in Padan-Aram, c 1867 BC, until Judah went to Egypt with Jacob c 1827 BC.  Judah must have been close to 6 years older than Joseph.  And Jacob had fathered 3 sons prior to Judah (in Padan-Aram)!  Benson Commentary Ge.38:1 “This chapter must here be placed out of the order of time.”  JFB Commentary Ge.38:1-30 “Judah was married some years before the selling of Joseph. Judah was now about 20 years old when he married, and the 3 first years he hath 3 sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah. The two first marry each when they were about 17 years old. Three years after both their deaths, and when Shelah had been marriageable a year or two, and was not [levirate marriage] given to Tamar, Judah lies with Tamar and begets upon her Pharez.”  T12P Judah 12:1 she conceived Pharez two years after she became a widow.

Ge.41:38-46 in the year Isaac died, c 1837 BC, Pharaoh made Joseph prime minister of Egypt at age 30 (cf. Jub.40:12).

Ge.41:47 for the first 7 years that Joseph was prime minister, Egypt experienced great abundance.  This period would be followed by 7 years of famine (Ge.41:29-30).  Ge.45:6 by this time, 2 years of famine had elapsed.  Joseph is now age 39, Jacob is 129.

Ge.47:9 then Jacob/Israel, at age 130, goes to Egypt to join Joseph c 1827 BC.  Levi was age 48 (T12P Levi 12:5), Judah age 46 (T12P Judah 12:11-12).  Ge.41:46-47 & 45:6 Joseph was age 39 or 40.  That places Joseph’s birth c 1867 BC, when Jacob (and Esau) was age 90 or 91.

Jacob’s move to Egypt culminates the 215 years he and his ancestors spent in the Land of Canaan.

Recap: Ge.12:4 Abram is age 75; Ge.21:5 he’s age 100 when Isaac is born…25 years had elapsed.  Ge.25:26 Isaac is age 60 when Jacob and Esau are born…60 years more.  Ge.47:1, 9 Jacob is age 130 when he and the family all went to Egypt…130 years more.  25 + 60 + 130 = 215 years in Canaan.

Now follows the 215-year period during which the Israelites dwelt in Egypt, until the exodus:

Again, when Jacob moved to Egypt at age 130, c 1827 BC, Joseph is 40 (Ge.41:46-47, 45:6, 47:1, 9).

Ge.46:1-34 lists Jacob’s seed who went with him to Egypt.  v.8-12 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah are age 46–51.  Levi’s son Koháth (Jacob’s grandson) had been born.  (Kohath is Moses’ grandfather!)  v.21-22 Benjamin must be at least 30 (John Gill “10 sons are in his loins”).  All go to join Joseph in Egypt.

Ge.47:28 Jacob lived 17 years in Egypt.  Jacob dies in Egypt at age 147, c 1810 BC.  Joseph is age 57.

Twin Esau was slain in Canaan at the time of Jacob’s burial there, traditionally (Jasher 57:64-66)!

Amrám, the son of Kohath and the father of Moses & Aaron, is born in Egypt sometime between c 1827 and c 1757 BC (1Ch.6:1-3); perhaps around 1811 BC.  cf. Ex.6:18-20.

Ge.50:26 Joseph dies in Egypt at age 110, c 1757 BC, 70 years after Jacob & family moved to Egypt.

Ex.1:8 “A new king [pharaoh] arose who didn’t know Joseph.”  Joseph had been dead for some years.

Aaron, the son of Amram and elder brother of Moses (Nu.26:57-59), is born in Egypt c 1695 BC.

Moses is born c 1692 BC.  P.J. Wiseman Ancient Records and the Structure of Genesis, p.99 “He was born 64 years after Joseph had died.”  Moses is the son of Amram and grandson of Kohath (young Kohath had gone to Egypt with Jacob).  Amram was born in Egypt, while Joseph was still alive!

Moses fled to Midian (at age 40, c 1652 BC; ref Ex.2:15, Ac.7:23-29).  Josephus ibid 2:10-11 adds an account of Moses as general of the Egyptian army against Ethiopia/Cush, and his marriage to a Cushite princess.  Jasher 73:1-2 traditionally says that Moses even then reigned for a few decades in Cush.

Caleb was born in Egypt c 1651 BC…cf. Nu.13:26-30 (the 2^nd year of the exodus) with Josh.14:7-10.

Moses is age 80 when he returns to Egypt from Midian, c 1612 BC.  The exodus from Egypt occurs then.  Ex.7:7 “Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron 83, at the time they spoke to Pharaoh.”

Ex.12:40 LXX “The children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, was 430 years.”  Breakdown of the 430 years: 215 years in Canaan til Jacob’s move (with Moses’ grandfather Kohath) to Egypt, 70 years til Joseph’s death, Moses’ age of 80 at the exodus…65 years remain.  So Moses was born nearly 65 years after Joseph died.  Mauro op. cit., p.40, “The interval between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses was 64 years.”  70 + 65 + 80 = 215 years in Egypt.

{Sidelight: The original Ípuwer Papýrus recorded calamities that were occurring in ancient Egypt.  In it, Ipuwer was speaking to the Lord of All, ‘a term used for the king and the creator god’.  Free-online-bible-study.org “The Ipuwer Papyrus is a single papyrus holding an ancient Egyptian poem, called The Admonitions of Ipuwer. It describes the affliction of Egypt by natural disasters and by a state of chaos in which the poor have become rich, and the rich poor; violence, famine and death are everywhere. A symptom of this chaos is the lament that servants are leaving their servitude and acting rebelliously. The probable date of the composition of the Papyrus, 1850 BCE and 1600 BCE.”  Egyptology.org.uk “The date for the Ipuwer Papyrus is not certain. Van Seeter dated it to around the end of the Middle Kingdom (c 1600 BCE). Most scholars generally agree to this dating.”

The enormous Minoan volcano eruption of Thera (now called Santorini) anciently happened 120 miles SE of Greece in the southern Aegean Sea.  Some geologists think it was the most powerful explosion on earth.  It altered the course of the Mediterranean Sea.  Wikipedia “Radiocarbon dates, including analysis of an olive branch buried beneath a lava flow from the volcano gave a date between 1627 BCE and 1600 BCE (95% confidence interval).”  Live Science: How the Eruption of Thera Changed the World “The eruption has also been loosely linked with the Biblical story of Moses and the exodus from Egypt. The effects of Thera’s eruption could have explained many of the plagues described in the Old Testament, including the days of darkness and polluting of the rivers, according to some theories.”

Whether or not the Ipuwer Papyrus and the Santorini eruption do directly relate to Israel’s exodus from Egypt, is beyond the scope here.}

Eusébius (265–340 AD) was a bishop and church historian. Chronicle [30] “All versions agree that 505 years transpired from Abraham until Moses and the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. It is calculated as follows. When Abraham was 75 years of age, God appeared to him and said that He would give the promised land to his descendants. For it is written [Ge.12:4-5]: ‘Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Harran.’ In the same passage, further on [Ge.12:7] it states: ‘Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ Thus 75 years of Abraham plus 430 years [from God’s promise] until the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. The Apostle Paul confirms this [Ga.3.17-18]: ‘The law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.’ Then he adds: ‘God gave it to Abraham by a promise.’ When Abraham was 100 years of age his son Isaac was born, 25 years after God’s promise.  405 years transpired from that event until the exodus from Egypt. Consequently, from the promise [until the exodus] 430 years elapsed.”  75 + 430 = 505 years.

Placing the birth of Abram in 2117 BC…505 years later is 1612 BC for the exodus from Egypt.

In this topic, the ages of the patriarchs and the sequence of their lives are according to scripture.  The chronological dates are approximate.  Exact dates cannot be proven as of now.

My other topics about the timeline are “Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel”, “Chronology: Samuel to Rehoboam”, “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.

 

Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text

This topic shows approximate BC dates for the Old Testament (OT) Patriarchs.  It compares the Greek Septúagint/LXX timeline with the Hebrew Masorétic Text (MT) timeline.  Their timelines aren’t the same.  This topic, with the TABLE below, reflects the BCE period from Adam to Moses.

The MT is the Hebrew OT text in use today.  It was copied by Jewish scribes/Masorétes in Jerusalem and Tibérius between 500–1000 AD.  Masórah basically means ‘tradition’.  Wikipedia: Masoretes “The ben Ashér family was largely responsible for the production of the Masoretic Text, although there existed an alternative Masoretic Text of the ben Naphtalí Masoretes.”  The ben Asher version became authoritative, though some Jewish scholars (Saádia Gáon) preferred the ben Naphtali version.  Toráh scholar Rámbam (1135-1204 AD) approved the ben Asher codexes (bound handwritten manuscript volumes of scriptures).  The oldest complete MT manuscript (ms) is the Leningrad Codex of 1008 AD.

The OT in most of our English Bibles is the MT.  Such as: King James Version (KJV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), English Standard Version (ESV), Jewish Publication Society Tanákh (TNK), etc.

Wikipedia: Septuagint “It is the oldest and most important complete translation of the Hebrew Bible made by the Jews.”  The translation of the Hebrew OT into the Koiné old Greek version was done in stages by Jewish scholars in Alexandria, Egypt.  It was begun circa (c) 270 BC and completed by 132 BC.  S. Douglas Woodward Rebooting the Bible, Part 1, p.28 “The Alexandrian Septuagint, also known as the ‘Old Greek’.”  It has morphed into the LXXs of today.  The Codex Alexándrinus (Alex) of 400 AD is the oldest complete LXX ms we have.  The near complete Codex Vaticánus (Vat) dates from the 300s AD.  However, missing from Vat are the pertinent patriarchal genealogies shown in Ge.5 & Ge.11.

The LXX Alex and LXX Vat codexes both date 600 years (yrs) before the oldest MT codex of 1008 AD.

LXX manuscripts (mss) have differences too (so did MT families).  Today’s Septuagint editions use various old mss.  Following are four English editions of the LXX and Bibles that today contain the LXX:

1 A New English Translation of the Septuagint (Nets), edited by Pietersma & Wright, 2007.  Nets uses the German Gottingen Septuagint and Rahlf’s Septuagínta (1935), whose lead ms is Vat.

2 The Septuagint With Apocrypha: Greek and English (Bre), translated by Sir Lancelot Brenton, 1851.  Bre mainly used Vat, secondarily Alex, and other old mss.

3 The Apostolic Bible Pólyglot (Abp), by Charles Vanderpool, 1996, is a Greek interlinear LXX & New Testament with Strongs numbers.  Abp uses Vat, along with the Compluténsian Polyglot Bible (Madrid), the 1709 Greek OT edited by Lambert Bos (Dutch), the Áldine (Venice) text and Síxtine (Roman) text.

4 The Orthodox Study Bible (Ort), by the St. Athanásius Academy, 2008.  This Bible’s OT is the LXX.  Ort uses Rahlf’s Septuaginta (whose lead ms was Vat) and Bre.

Examining the timeline of the OT patriarchs helps us see God’s word in its historical context.  But LXX versus MT discrepancies are evident in verses which relate to the dating of those ancient patriarchs!  Exact dates for the births & deaths of the patriarchs are unknown.  The LXX dates in the following TABLE are approximated from the ancient Alexándrine codex.  All dates in the TABLE are BC.

TABLE:
	LXX	LXX Age	LXX		MT	MT Age	MT
Patriarch	Born	Begetting	Died	Lifespan	Born	Begetting	Died
Adam	5451	230	4521	930	4065	130	3135
Seth	5221	205	4309	912	3935	105	3023
Enosh	5016	190	4111	905	3830	90	2925
Cainan 1	4826	170	3916	910	3740	70	2830
Mahalalel	4656	165	3761	895	3670	65	2775
Jared	4491	162	3529	962	3605	162	2643
Enoch	4329	165	3964	365	3443	65	3078
Methuselah	4164	187	3195	969	3378	187	2409
Lamech 2	3977	188	3224	753/777	3191	182	2414
Noah	3789	500	2839	950	3009	500	2059
Japheth	3289		?	?	2509		?
Shem	3287	100	2687	600	2507	100	1907
Ham	3285		?	?	2505		?
Flood	3189		3189		2409		2409
Arphaxad	3187	135	2622	565/438	2407	35	1969
Cainan 2	3052	130	2592	460	absent	absent	absent
Shelah	2922	130	2462	460/433	2372	30	1939
Eber	2792	134	2288	504/464	2342	34	1878
Peleg	2658	130	2319	339/239	2308	30	2069
Reu	2528	132	2189	339/239	2278	32	2039
Serug	2396	130	2066	330/230	2246	30	2016
Nahor 1	2266	79	2058	208/148	2216	29	2068
Terah	2187	70	1982	205	2187	70	1982
Abraham	2117	100	1942	175	2117	100	1942
Sarah	2107		1980	127	2107		1980
Ishmael	2031		1894	137	2031		1894
Isaac	2017	60	1837	180	2017	60	1837
Esau	1957		?	?	1957		?
Jacob	1957		1810	147	1957		1810
Reuben	1878		1753	125	1878		1753
Simeon	1877		1757	120	1877		1757
Levi	1875		1738	137	1875		1738
Judah	1873		1754	119	1873		1754
Dan	1872		1747	125	1872		1747
Naphtali	1871		1739	132	1871		1739
Gad	1870		1745	125	1870		1745
Asher	1869		1744	125	1869		1744
Issachar	1870		1748	122	1870		1748
Zebulun	1869		1755	114	1869		1755
Dinah	1869		?	?	1869		?
Joseph	1867		1757	110	1867		1757
Benjamin	1857		1732	125	1857		1732
Kohath	1830		1697	133	1830		1697
Amram	1811		1675	136/137	1811		1674
Manasseh	1833		?	?	1833		?
Ephraim	1833		?	?	1833		?
Moses	1692		1572	120	1692		1572

As seen in the TABLE, the LXX Alex timeline shows that Adám was created c 5451 BC; whereas the MT shows Adam was created c 4065 BC.  That’s a difference of 1,386 yrs!  The difference is due to the patriarchs’ Begetting Ages and (post-Food) Lifespans…in the LXX versus the MT.

According to the LXX, Adam was age 230 when he begat Seth, c 5221 BC.  But according to the MT, Adam was age 130 when he begat Seth, c 3935 BC.  The difference in Adam’s begetting age is 100 yrs!

A 100-year discrepancy in Begetting age in the LXX versus the MT continues with each patriarch until Methusélah, the 8^th patriarch.  Both the LXX and MT show that he begat Lámech 2 at age 187.

However, the Lifespans of the pre-Flood patriarchs (all but Lamech 2) are the same in the LXX and MT.

Methuselah lived 969 yrs; he died before the Flood.  LXX mss differ in regards to the number of yrs Methuselah lived before and after he begat Lamech 2.  (Lamech 1 was a descendant of Cain, Ge.4:18-24.)  Alex, Abp, Ort say Methuselah begat Lamech 2 at age 187 and then lived 782 yrs afterwards (as does the MT).  Nets & Bre say Methuselah begat Lamech 2 at age 167 and lived 802 yrs afterwards.  A 20-yr difference.  But 167 yrs plus 802 yrs would have Methuselah living 14 yrs past a 3209 BC Flood!

Henry B. Smith Methuselah’s Begetting Age in Gen.5:25 and the Primeval Chronology of the Septuagint “We can firmly claim that the 167 reading for Methuselah’s begetting age in some LXX MSS of Gen.5:25 is an early scribal error, and was not part of the original [Alex] LXX translation.”

St. Augústine (354–430 AD) City of God 15:13 “There are three Greek manuscripts, one Latin and one Syriac…in all of these [five mss] Methuselah is said to have died 6 years before the Deluge.”

My TABLE reflects 187 yrs & 782 yrs (total = 969); its date of 3195 BC for Methuselah’s death is 6 yrs before the Flood of c 3189 BC.  But if Lamech 2 had begat Noah 20 yrs earlier…the Flood is 3209 BC.

Also the Lifespan of the pre-Flood Lamech 2, son of Methuselah, differs in the LXX versus the MT.  The LXX says his lifespan is 753 yrs, whereas the MT says his lifespan is 777 yrs.

Concerning the Begetting ages of patriarchs born after the Flood, there is a 100-yr discrepancy in the LXX versus the MT for all patriarchs from Arphaxad/Arpachshad down through Serúg.  John van Tuyl A New Chronology for Old Testament Times, p.117 “The LXX numbers (Alex and Sistine) for fatherhood of the patriarchs after the Flood are always the same as the MT numbers, plus exactly 100 years…until Nahór is reached.”  Nahor 1, that is, Ge.11:22.  (Nahor 2 was one of Abraham’s brothers, Ge.11:26.)

The LXX says Nahor 1 was age 79 when he begat Térah; the MT says Nahor 1 was age 29 when he begat Terah…that’s only a 50-yr discrepancy, not a 100-yr.  (Among the LXXs referenced, Bre alone says the begetting age of Nahor 1 was 179 and his lifespan was 304 yrs, not 79 and 208 yrs.)

Another discrepancy is in Ge.11:12-13.  The LXX shows Arphaxad begat Cainán 2 his firstborn at age 135, and Cainan 2 then begat Sheláh.  Luke too says Cainan 2 was the son of Arphaxad (Lk.3:35-36).  But the Ge.11:12 MT says Arphaxad (not Cainan 2) fathered Shelah.  Cainan 2 is absent in the MT.

Ge.11:26, 31-32 Terah begat Abraham (his younger son) at age 70, and Terah’s lifespan was 205 yrs.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:5 “Terah begat Abrám in his 70^th year. Terah died when he had lived to be 205 years old.”  Ac.7:2-4 after Terah died, God removed Abraham into the land of Canáan.  Andrew Sibley Was Terah Dead When Abraham Left Harran?: “There is a chronological difficulty regarding the date of Abraham’s birth in relation to the age of Terah. If the period recorded in the Old Testament from Terah’s birth to Abram’s birth (70 years) is integrated with the time Abram left Harrán [at age 75, ref Ge.12:4], a period of only 145 years for the life of Terah would be established. But Terah died at age 205, leaving a gap of 60 years.”  How may this ‘60-yr gap’ (205 – 145 = 60) be resolved?

Abraham legally obtained land in Canaan “when his father was dead” (Ac.7:4).  Ge.23:1 Abraham’s wife Sarah died at age 127.  Ge.23:17-20 for her burial, Abraham purchased land in Canaan.  He’d lived nearly 30 yrs in the land of the Philistines, prior to Beershéba (Ge.21:34, 22:19).  ISBE: Abraham “The death of Sarah became the occasion for Abraham’s first acquisition of the first permanent holding of Palestine soil, the nucleus of his promised inheritance.”  He purchased the land from Hittites.  Diana Edelman TheTorah.com “The field and cave are Abraham’s first acquired land rights in Canaan.”  In the year Sarah died and Abraham acquired the field, he was age 137.  cf. Ge.17:17.  Terah had died two yrs before, at age 205, when Abraham was 135.  (Terah preceded his son by 70 yrs.)  Augustine op. cit. 31, 35 “His [Abraham’s] settlement in the land of Canaan, not his going from Harran, took place after his father’s death….He was settled in that land, entering then on actual possession of it; that is, after the death of his father, who died two years before.”  That rationale resolves the seeming ‘60-yr gap’.

{Sidelight: The individual saints who wrote the books of the Bible didn’t always order their writings chronologically.  (Had they always wrote chronologically, it sometimes would’ve interrupted the story flow.)  For example, Ge.25:7-8 notes that Abraham died at age 175.  v.26 says his son Isaac begat the twins Jacob & Esau at age 60.  But when Isaac was 60, Abraham was still alive at age 160!  Yet several verses previous it noted that Abraham died at age 175.  Similarly, Ge.11:32 notes that Terah died at age 205, yet he was still alive while the story of events in Abraham’s life unfolded in Ge.12–Ge.21.}

The timeline for the patriarchs Abraham down through Moses is addressed with detail in the topic “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.  See that topic; I won’t address its particulars here in this topic.

Source material for this topic is taken primarily from the book of Genesis, especially chapters 5, 10-11 (also Ge.25, 29-30).  Besides Genesis, a source for the lifespans of Jacob’s sons is Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (T12P).  It was written in Aramaic and finalized between 140 BC and 150 AD.  Ref in T12P: Reuben 1:1; Simeon 1:1; Judah 12:12, 26:2; Dan 1:1; Naphtali 1:1; Gad 1:1; Asher 1:1; Issachár 7:1; Zebulún 1:1; Benjamin 12:2.  Another Jewish extra-Biblical source is the Book of Jubilees (or ‘Little Genesis’), written in Hebrew c 150 BC.  Jub.28:23, 30:2 refers to Jacob’s daughter Dinah, and Zebulun as her twin brother.  The Dead Sea Scrolls 4Q543-5 tells of Moses’ father Amrám.

Again, exact dates for the OT patriarchs are uncertain/unknown.  Some historians think it’s conceivable that the pre-Flood patriarch years may represent (old earth) unknown extended periods of time.

Jeremy Sexton Primeval Chronology Restored “According to the MT, God created Adam c 4000 BC; according to the LXX c 5500 BC. Jewish scribes in Egypt translated the Torah into Greek (c 280 BC).”

Demétrius (Jewish chronologer c 220 BC) calculated the creation of Adam at 5500, 5484, or 5451 BC.

Jewish Library: Eupólemus – This Jewish historian said 158 BC is “5,149 yrs from Adam” (5307 BC).

Wikipedia: Dating Creation “Early Christians calculated Creation…Clément of Alexandria [200 AD] 5592 BC, Theóphilus [180 AD] 5529 BC, Sextus Julius Africánus [230 AD] 5501 BC, Hippólytus [230 AD] 5500 BC, Pánodorus [412 AD] 5493 BC, Sevérus [403 AD] 5469 BC, Býzantine calendar [600s AD] 5509 BC.”

Irish Archbishop James Ussher (in 1654 AD) dated Adam at 4004 BC.  Jewish rabbis say 3761 BC.

Another relevant book sourced for the TABLE timeline was Dr. Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2.

My other topics on OT chronology: “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”, “Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel”, “Chronology: Samuel to Rehoboam”, “Skins Made For Adam Were Passed Down?”.