The Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism (2018)

have been familiar with the shorter antediluvian chronology (1307 years) found in it. However, he did not use any of the begetting ages in Jubilees that match the MT/SP, he used the longer chronology found in his Hebrew text of Genesis instead. Summary of the External Witnesses to Gen 5/11 A text–critical analysis of the extant MSS of Antiquities debunks the claim that Josephus was confused, or that he had both the longer and shorter chronologies in his possession simultaneously, or that his original chronology matched the MT. While Josephus also utilized the LXX at times, his endorsement of the longer primeval chronology shows there was no conflict between his Hebrew and Greek texts of Gen 5/11. Josephus’ hellenizing of names in Gen 5/11 directly from the Hebrew, the manuscript evidence for Antiquities , detailed studies by Josephus scholars, Lamech’s 182 and 707/777, the absence of Kainan, and the 5000–year statements all converge to demonstrate that Josephus possessed a Genesis Hebrew text with the longer chronology. The other external witnesses to Gen 5/11– LAB , Eupolemus, and Demetrius–affirm the existence of the longer chronology in both Hebrew and Greek texts in the 1 st century AD and earlier. Before the destruction of the Temple, only one witness contains begetting ages unique to the short chronology of the MT (and Gen 5 SP): the chronologically fabricated Book of Jubilees . TEXT CRITICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF GENESIS 5 AND 11 We will now briefly summarize five main areas of textual reconstruction for Genesis 5 and 11. The proposed original numbers appear in Table 4. 1. The Genesis 5 Lifespans These figures serve as the foundational entry point for the textual reconstruction of Gen 5/11. We first note the significance of the unified witness for the lifespans of Adam through Mahalalel, then Enoch, in MT/LXX/SP (Table 1). Jared and Methuselah’s lifespans match in LXX/MT. Lamech’s 777 is found in the MT, Josephus, and LAB . Josephus provides external attestation for the correct lifespans, while LAB does so indirectly with the addition of its ba and ry (Table 3). Combined together, these lifespan witnesses serve to establish a singular textual origin for Genesis 5. 2. The Matching Begetting Ages in the LXX– LAB –Josephus of Genesis 5 Table 3 presents the triple witness to the original ba for Gen 5. LAB ’s ry match the LXX and are consistent with the ba and lifespans found in LXX/Josephus. The SP has been deliberately and severely deflated down to 1307 years, matching the artificial chronology of Jubilees (Appendix, n. 3; Smith, Jr. 2018). The MT’s chronology has been deflated by the rabbis by exactly 600 years (2256 to 1656). The epochal summation figure of 2256 years is affirmed by Antiquities 1.82 and the manual addition of LAB ’s ba figures. 3. Unanimously Attested, Original Numbers Noah’s age at the Flood (600, 601), ba (500), ry (350) and lifespan (950) are unanimously attested in LXX/MT/SP. Josephus notes Noah’s 600 th year when the Flood began, and his lifespan ( Ant . 1:80, 87). LAB 5:8 records his lifespan ( Jub . 10:16) and years after the Flood (350). Shem’s ba (100), ry (500), the phrase “two years after the Flood” (Gen. 11:10), and Terah’s ba of 70 ( Ant . 1.149; LAB 4:17) are all attested in the LXX/MT/SP. Like the Gen 5 lifespans, these numbers strongly anchor all three textual witnesses back to one original source. These numbers (and those for Methuselah and Lamech) were left unaltered by the rabbis in the proto–MT because of the chronological problems that would have resulted from deflating them. 4. The Matching Begetting Ages in the LXX–SP–Josephus of Genesis 11 Apart from Kainan (Appendix, n. 11), the ba in the LXX/SP match each other exactly from Arpachshad to Terah (Table 1). They are affirmed in detail and in summary by a third, independent external witness: Josephus’ Hebrew text of Genesis. The primeval chronologies of Eupolemus (Greek/Hebrew) and Demetrius (Greek) must necessarily include the higher ba as well. The rabbis deflated the post–Flood chronology in the proto–MT by exactly 650 years. 5. The Dual Witness of the Remaining Years in Gen 11 LXX/ MT When the rabbis deflated selected ba in Gen 5, they had to inflate each corresponding ry by 100 years to keep the original lifespans intact (Table 1). However, there were no lifespans in the original, Smith ◀ The case for the Septuagint’s chronology in Genesis 5 and 11 ▶ 2018 ICC 127 Table 4. The Proposed Original Numbers in Genesis 5 and 11 (See Appendix for notes).