Biblical Genealogies and the Young Age of the Earth
William Diehl


There certainly are genealogies in scripture which are not complete genealogies. Mathew's genealogy is certainly an incomplete genealogy and is intended mostly to show his Jewish readers that their national history revolved around three great national eras: the era from the call of Abraham to David's reign; from David's reign to the Babylonish exile; and from the exile to the Messiah. He only mentions 14 individuals in each era and obviously leaves out some of the lineage to make his point that the birth of our Lord is the ultimate fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham that his "seed" would bless all nations.

In the minds of God's people, David's kingdom was the golden age of their history and they all longed to see that glorious age which was lost at the Exile return with the ushering in of the even more glorious Messianic Age. Mathew through the use of the 3 eras shows that the Messianic era and the end of the age had arrived in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus we see the wise men of Matt 2 ask "Where is the baby born to be king of the Jews?" The theme of the Davidic Kingship of Jesus is the dominant theme throughout the synoptic (common viewpoint) gospels. The "Kingdom of God" phrase is everywhere and in almost every parable and encounter with the Jewish leaders. Yes these genealogies are incomplete genealogies to enable the gospel writers to make a theological point. However it is well understood that the word "son" (ben) in Hebrew can mean also grandson or descendant. So one is not concerned if certain individuals are left out of the genealogies of the gospel accounts and the genealogies of Ezra 7:1-5 1Chron 6:7-9 and Ezra 3:2.

The genealogies of Gen 1-11 are unique from Matthew though. These genealogies give the ages of the patriarchs when their male children are born and they give the ages of when the patriarchs die. The Genesis account gives therefore not only a genealogy but also a chronology for the number of years from the flood to the Exodus. Depending on the date which one ascribes to the Exodus, one can give a relatively dependable number for an approximate age of the Earth from the birth of Cain to the present time.

Regardless of the date one ascribes to the Exodus, one can say that the age of the Earth is approximately 6,000 years old and not much older than that. Regardless of when one places the Exodus, the Genesis reckoning of the Masoretic text for the time from the Adam to the Exodus is 2513 years. If one accepts the date of 1445 BC as the date of the Exodus we can give an approximate date for the beginning of the populating of the Earth as 3957 B.C. These computations depend upon the fact that Genesis gives the ages of the patriarchs. The fact that these ages are recorded means that one cannot say that there are links missing to the account. It is within these observations of the Genesis account that I made the statement that the Earth is young and less than 6000 years old.

One must be very careful when one makes statements that the Bible is merely a history of the covenants and not necessarily an accurate history of the world. The Judeo-Christian religion is not primarily a religion of experience, it is a religion based on historical acts in history in which God has intervened in history in His saving acts. Therefore one ought to say that the history of the world recorded in the Bible is an inerrant historical record of God's covenantal dealings with Man from the fall to the present day.

The reason that Christians must be insistent upon the use of the term "innerant" historical record is that if the history recorded in the scriptures is in error then we have no way to know which part is erroneous and which is true history. We have to begin to pick and choose what is true and thus open the flood gate to denying whatever "facts" rub us the wrong way and one can then disregard those which do so. Make no mistake about it, the first step to eventual complete denial of the Christian faith is to take a compromising position in the matter of the reliability of the historical record of the Genesis account. I say this while being fully aware of the so called problems with the presumed length of the Egyptian dynasties and the claims made for ages of recorded history.

Present Truth Magazine Home Page

Article List

Next Article