A computer analysis of chronologies in Genesis

Abstract

Biblical Scholars have long been intrigued by the chronology of the Book of Genesis. Most scholars today agree that the unnaturally large ages mentioned do not represent literal numbers. Professor E. A. Speiser 1 suggested, regarding the literalness of the numbers in Genesis, that One can see at a glance that the Masoretic [received] text is transparently schematic. 1 J. Skinner explains the differences between the Biblical versions as follows: These differences [in chronology, between the Masoretic text, the Septuagint and the Samaritan Torah] are certainly not accidental. They are due to carefully constructed artificial systems of chronology.... That problem has never been satisfactorily solved. 2 A search of the literature** did not turn up a satisfactory schematic arrangement; It can be seen that the life-spans are arranged in a pattern such that while the left term decreases by two, the squared term increases by one. This suggested that perhaps the chronologies in Genesis could be arranged into a scheme of factors not dissimilar to this one. Our first problem was to look for additional examples of this kind, taking into account the 64 different numbers in Genesis.