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{"id":1447,"date":"2019-03-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/?p=1447"},"modified":"2019-03-05T02:38:54","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T10:38:54","slug":"understanding-genealogies-in-the-bible-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/05\/understanding-genealogies-in-the-bible-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Genealogies in the Bible (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toledot, or Hebrew genealogies<\/a>, often operate under slightly different rules than Western genealogies.\u00a0 Two weeks ago we discussed a bit about how genealogies work in the Bible.\u00a0 However, we can say more, which is why a part 2 is necessary.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rules of the Toledot<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Unlike what is commonly found in western genealogies, toledot often exclude intermediaries.\u00a0 These intermediaries were descendants that either did not reproduce or weren’t significant to the overall outcomes.\u00a0 Let’s take for example the toledot of Moses in Exodus 6:<\/p>\n

And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari; and the length of Levi’s life was one hundred and thirty-seven years.\u00a0 The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families.\u00a0 The sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel; and the length of Kohath’s life was one hundred and thirty-three years.\u00a0 And the sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi.\u00a0 These are the families of the Levites according to their generations.\u00a0 And Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses; and the length of Amram’s life was one hundred and thirty-seven years.\u00a0 [Exod 6:16-20]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Exod 1:5 states that 70 men entered Egypt who descended from Jacob.\u00a0 When the Israelites left Egypt, those 20 years or older were counted to number at least 603,550 according to the weight of the half-shekel redemption offering [Exod 38:26].\u00a0 If we look at the generations of the toledot of Moses, we see three generations being born in Egypt.\u00a0 Levi begat Kohath, Kohath begat Amram, and Amram begat Moses.\u00a0 Many of the toledot from this period in the book of 1 Chronicles are quite short, usually three or four generations.\u00a0 The text makes it clear that Exodus 6 is naming the “families of Levites” or clans and not specifically the individuals involved per se<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Unconventional Lifespans
\n<\/strong><\/h4>\n

If we took the toledot at face value, this becomes a demography problem.\u00a0 According to the CIA World Factbook<\/em> 2016-2017 edition, the country with the highest fertility is Niger with 6.76 children\/woman.\u00a0 So assuming that each person of the seventy original descendants of Jacob had both a wife and children, then it would take between 6 and 7 generations to produce a population of around 500,000.<\/p>\n

The other thing one might notice is the unconventional length of the lifespan of the Moses’ ancestors.\u00a0 Levi lived to 137, Kohath to 133, and Amran to 137 years.\u00a0 There does not appear to be anything symbolic about these numbers.\u00a0 These numbers are not numerologically significant factors; such as 7, 12, or 40.<\/p>\n

Now, I wouldn’t say that people living to 137 years is out of the question.\u00a0 Early calendar systems had idiosyncrasies that could account for some extended dating.\u00a0 Not to mention that the wages of sin could have accelerated death by diminishing potential lifespans.<\/p>\n

But I think that a simpler solution is also possible.\u00a0 In many toledot, the chronicler may not be using the length that the person was alive.\u00a0 For example, in Exod 6:20, the chronicler says that the “years of the life of Amran were seven and thirty and a hundred.”\u00a0 The “years of the life of” may refer to living memory<\/a>, which is the years that others have a living memory of the person.\u00a0 This would abbreviate the genealogy for the authors while using a definition for life that is part of the repertoire of the ancient Near East.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toledot, or Hebrew genealogies, often operate under slightly different rules than Western genealogies.\u00a0 Two weeks ago we discussed a bit about how genealogies work in the Bible.\u00a0 However, we can say more, which is why a part 2 is necessary.   Rules of the Toledot Unlike what is commonly found in western genealogies, toledot often…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[188,187,186,170,182],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dra_Abd_el_Naga.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nUnderstanding Genealogies in the Bible (part 2) - Egypt and the Bible<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Toledot, or Hebrew genealogies, often operate under slightly different rules than Western genealogies.\u00a0 We can say more, which is why a part 2 is necessary.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"bingbot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/05\/understanding-genealogies-in-the-bible-part-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Understanding Genealogies in the Bible (part 2) - Egypt and the Bible\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Toledot, or Hebrew genealogies, often operate under slightly different rules than Western genealogies.\u00a0 We can say more, which is why a part 2 is necessary.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/05\/understanding-genealogies-in-the-bible-part-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Egypt and the Bible\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zdfalk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zdfalk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-05T16:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-05T10:38:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dra_Abd_el_Naga.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"665\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DrDavidAFalk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DrDavidAFalk\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.egyptandthebible.com\/\",\"name\":\"Egypt and the Bible\",\"description\":\"David A. 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