by Anti-Christ 30 Replies latest watchtower bible
Thank you oldhippie, can you explaine this one
GE 11:26 Terah was 70 years old when his son Abram was born.
GE 11:32 Terah was 205 years old when he died (making Abram 135 at the time).
GE 12:4, AC 7:4 Abram was 75 when he left Haran. This was after Terah died. Thus, Terah could have been no more than 145 when he died; or Abram was only 75 years old after he had lived 135 years.
So let me ask the question again. Can anybody explain the verses on my last post?
So let me ask the question again. Can anybody explain the verses on my last post?
Thank you oldhippie, can you explaine this oneGE 11:26 Terah was 70 years old when his son Abram was born.
GE 11:32 Terah was 205 years old when he died (making Abram 135 at the time).
GE 12:4, AC 7:4 Abram was 75 when he left Haran. This was after Terah died. Thus, Terah could have been no more than 145 when he died; or Abram was only 75 years old after he had lived 135 years.
Here is a practical explanation. Not the one we really want, but; an accurate one I believe.
The Jews spoke Hebrew and wrote Hebrew up until a certain point when they were absorbed by other cultures.
The Hebrew language, alphabet and ethos did nothave digits, numerals or characters for numbers specifically. Imagine trying to write about quantities without have numbers to do so!
What did they do? They put their hebrew alphabet to work doing double duty!
The Greeks, by the way, had the same "problem", but, made a lot more progress. (I digress....)
When the superstitious Hebrews wrote certain number combinations (really using their alphabet and not numerals) they often inadvertantly spelled out words.
This fascinated them the way shiny objects fascinate small children!
Three things resulted:
1. Correcting for "spelling" errors which weren't really spelling a word at all caused the substitute "numbers" to be changed. In correcting a perceived error a real error resulted.
2.Superstitious ideas, concepts and schemas developed around words that portray numbers and numbers that portray words. (i.e. GEMATRIA)
3.The addition and subtraction aspects of holy writings and mythos (i.e. "history) were committed to parchment and never checked for math accuracy; only spelling accuracy.
The silly preoccupations of the Greek Pythagoreans turning numbers into a religion had a similar mindset among the Hebrews as well.
There are a great many Rubik's cube/Da Vinci Code-like passages in the Hebrew scriptures which deliberately focus on the "eerie" significance (so they thought) of numbers/words.
Bottom line?
The sense of quantity suffered and the math does not add up!
Here is a fascinating (I kid myself) speculation.
If you take every instance (except one!) in the Hebrew scriptures where a person's age is given in yearsand deliberately change it to months you have a far more reasonable, believable and comprehensible idea of a real human age.
Example:
Adam lived 930 years. Omit years. Substitute months.
How old was Adam when he died? (Hint: divide by 12).
This works in every instance except one.
Thank you Terry, you often give an unexpected explanation and that's what I like about you. Your right it is not quite the explanation I was looking for but it is something to think about wile I wait for a bible believer to explain it.
26
And Te´rah lived on for seventy years, after which he became father to A´bram, Na´hor and Ha´ran.Terah began having children at 70. While Abraham is listed first, this appears to be because he is the most famous of Terah’s sons rather than the firstborn. When Terah died at 205, Abraham was only 75, so Terah must have been 130 when Abraham was born.
Simple as that. ;-)
TOH
How
long did the Israelites dwell in the land of Egypt?The 430 years mentioned here includes the time the sons of Israel spent "in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan." (ReferenceBible, footnote) Seventy-five-year-old Abraham crossed the Euphrates River in 1943 B.C.E. on his way to Canaan. (Genesis 12:4) From then until the time 130-year-old Jacob entered Egypt was 215 years. (Genesis 21:5; 25:26; 47:9) This means that the Israelites thereafter spent an equal period of 215 years in EgyptPlease see my link: http://members.fortunecity.com/tututu42/Chronologie%20v.d.%20menselijke%20geschiedenis.htm
(it is in Dutch BUT you can "see" the "time-line" with the verses mentioned ...... if you want to know more ask JW's .... or d/l the watchtower library mentioned in this forum...
Thank you oldhippie
While Abraham is listed first, this appears to be because he is the most famous of Terah’s sons rather than the firstborn.
do you have any proof to support your claim or is this just speculation?
There are many issues on Bible chronology another is that the septuagint and masoretic texts give very different dates for the creation of man, the flood and much of early post flood history. The JWs utilise the masoretic text chronology though it is by no means certain that it is the more reliable of the two.
