"Generations of Adam" is a genealogical concept recorded in in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" '' Adam's line of descent going through Seth. Another view equates the generations of Adam with material about a second line of descent starting with Cain in Genesis 4, while Genesis 5 is taken as the "generations of Noah".
Seth and Cain
Both the Cainite and the Sethite lines begin with Adam. The Sethite line in Genesis 5 extends to Noah and his three sons. The Cainite line in Genesis 4 runs to Naamah. The seventh generation Lamech descended from Cain is described as the father of Jabal and Jubal (from his first wife Adah) and
Tubal-cain
Tubal-cain or Tubalcain ( he, תּוּבַל קַיִן – ''Tūḇal Qayīn'') is a person mentioned in the Bible, in , known for being the first blacksmith. He is stated as the "forger of all instruments of bronze and iron". A descendant of C ...
and Naamah (from his second wife, Zillah).().
The Sethite line also gives ages at fatherhood and at death. In the
Masoretic
The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...
text, ages at death range from 777 (Lamech) to 969 (Methuselah) (with
being "taken by God" at age 365 ), placing the text in the category of
longevity narratives
Longevity myths are traditions about long-lived people (generally supercentenarians), either as individuals or groups of people, and practices that have been believed to confer longevity, but for which current scientific evidence does not suppo ...
. The
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...
and
Samaritan Pentateuch
The Samaritan Torah ( Samaritan Hebrew: , ''Tōrāʾ''), also called the Samaritan Pentateuch, is a text of the Torah written in the Samaritan script and used as sacred scripture by the Samaritans. It dates back to one of the ancient versio ...
differ somewhat in the ages given; in the
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...
, the age at fatherhood is often 100 years later than that in the Masoretic text, extending the genealogy by several centuries.
The 2nd-century BC
Book of Jubilees
The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient Jewish religious work of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews), where it is ...
Form critic
Form criticism as a method of biblical criticism classifies units of scripture by literary pattern and then attempts to trace each type to its period of oral transmission."form criticism." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica ...
s consider the two lines as corruptions of one tradition. Both the similarities and the differences between lines are significant and do not admit simple explanation. Still, there is a general consensus that the Cainite list was from the Jahwist source, while the Sethite was added in from the Priestly source.''The Collegeville Bible Commentary: Old Testament'', "Genesis" by Pauline A. Viviano, ed. Dianne Bergant and Robert J. Karris, Liturgical Press, 1992, p 46-47 /ref>''The new Schaff-Herzog encyclopedia of religious knowledge, Volume X'', edited by Johann Jakob Herzog and Philip Schaff; Funk and Wagnalls company, 1911, p 375-377 /ref>''Encyclopædia biblica: a critical dictionary of the literary, political and religious history, the archæology, geography, and natural history of the Bible, Volume 4'', edited by Thomas Kelly Cheyne and John Sutherland Black; A. and C. Black, 1903, p 4411-4414 /ref>''The Purpose of the Biblical Genealogies with Special Reference to the Setting of the Genealogies of Jesus'', by Marshall D. Johnson, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 12 Jul 2002, p 7-14 /ref>
The Sethite genealogy may also be connected to the Sumerian King List.''Misunderstood Stories: Theological Commentary on Genesis 1-11'' by Robert Gnuse, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 20 Mar 2014, 172-176 /ref> Evidence for this include the solar symbolism of the seventh figure on each list (the Sumerian king Enmeduranna sharing his name with the city where worship of the sun god was focused, Enoch living 365 years). Like Enoch, Enmeduranna's advisor Utuabzu ascended to heaven.
Fritz Hommel
Fritz Hommel (31 July 1854 – 17 April 1936) was a German Orientalist.
Biography
Hommel was born in Ansbach. He studied in Leipzig and was habilitated in 1877 in Munich, where in 1885, he became an extraordinary professor of Semitic languag ...
further argued that Amelon was Enosh (both third in the list with names meaning "mankind"), that Ammenon was Cainan/Cain (both fourth and connected to craftsmanship), and so on; noting that the tenth in each line was a hero who survived a world flood. Still, this position is argued against due to linguistic incompatibilities in half the names. Similarities between Irad and
Eridu
Eridu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , NUN.KI/eridugki; Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''irîtu''; modern Arabic language, Arabic: Tell Abu Shahrain) is an archaeological site in southern Mesopotamia (modern Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq). Eridu was l ...
have also been pointed out.
Thomas Kelly Cheyne
Thomas Kelly Cheyne, (18 September 18411915) was an English divine and Biblical critic.
Biography
He was born in London and educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London, and Oxford University. Subsequently, he studied German theological methods ...
argued that the two genealogies may also be connected to a North Arabian genealogy, one reproducing the other. Cheyne claimed that Mahalalel was a corruption of Jerahmeel, and Methuselah was a corruption of Ishmael. Cheyne's theories are now rejected, however.Jewish Encyclopedia "Jerahmeel" /ref>
The following table displays the most common line of comparison between the Sethite and Cainite lines (which reverses much of the Cainite list),R.M. Best, ''Noah's Ark and the Ziusudra Epic'', page 154 as well as North Arabian genealogy (per Cheyne), and the Sumerian king list.
Additional chronology
Post-biblical Jewish chronicles, surviving primarily in Syriac and Geez, elaborate on the genealogies in Genesis.
* ''The Book of Enoch''
* ''The
Book of Jubilees
The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient Jewish religious work of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews), where it is ...
''
See also
*
Generations of Noah
The Generations of Noah, also called the Table of Nations or Origines Gentium, is a genealogy of the sons of Noah, according to the Hebrew Bible (Genesis ), and their dispersion into many lands after the Flood, focusing on the major known socie ...