Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Ynjiun Paul Wang" <ypw AT att.net>]

There are few verses which help to establish the total time elapse from
Jacob went to Egypt to Solomon began to build the temple:

Exodus 12:40-41 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in
Egypt, [was] four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end
of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass,
that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

1Kings 6:1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after
the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth
year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which [is] the second
month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.

According to the above three verses, the time elapse is 430 + 480 = 910
years.
Since David died on the age 70 years old (2Samuel 5:4) and plus the temple
began to be built on the fourth year of Solomon's reign, therefore, the the
time elapse from Jacob entering Egypt to the year of David's birth shall be:
910 - 70 - 4 = 836 years.

There are two lines of genealogy filling this 836 years in the Bible.
Interesting, both lines have the same "problem" of extended generation life
expand as you raised in your email:
(1) The first 430 years: from Jacob at age of 130 years old (the year Jacob
entering Egypt Genesis 47:9) to Moses and Amram: Exodus 6:16-20.
(2) The next 406 years: from Salmon to David: Ruth 4:21-22, Mathtew 1:5-6.

So far the only way I know of to understand these two genealogy lines is
exactly you pointed out that "father" can also mean the "ancestor" and "son"
can also mean "descendant" in Hebrew. Therefore one possible genealogy of
(1) shall look like:
Jacob at age of 130 entering Egypt, 147 died in Egypt (Genesis 47:28)
  |
  | father
  v
Levi at age around 60 entering Egypt with Jacob, at age 137 died in Egypt
(Exo 6:16), therefore around 77 years in Egypt
  |
  | ancestor
  v
Kohath 133 died in Egypt (Exo 6:18), 133 years in Egypt
  |
  | ancestor
  v
Amram 137 died in Egypt (Exo 6:20), 137 years in Egypt
  |
  | ancestor
  v
Aaron 83 years old when spoke to Pharaoh (Exo 7:7), 83 years in Egypt

If we total up the all the years in Egypt in (1): 77+133+137+83=430! This
exactly matches with Exo 12:40-41.

Therefore, applying the same methodology, the most likely genealogy (2) of
David from Salmon shall look like:
Salmon with Rahab
  |
  | ancestor
  v
Boaz with Ruth
  |
  | father
  v
Obed
  |
  | ancestor
  v
Jesse
  |
  | father
  v
King David

The above genealogy can easily expands more than 300 years. Or more
precisely 406 years.

-Paul

>Hi all
>
>In Ruth 4:20-22 we find that Boaz' father was Salmon, and Boaz' grandson
was
>Jesse (David's father).  In Mathew 1:5 we learn that Salmon's wife was
>Rahab.
>This means that this part of the chain begins before the period of the
>judges. Too few links for more than 300 years.
>Of course, the Hebrew word for "father" also means "grandfather",
>"great-grandfather", and so on, and one can assume that some names in the
>genealogy are not mentioned for some reason.
>But is there any indication of where should those lacking links be? I mean,
>is there a way (or at least a theory) to know if Rahab was really Boaz'
>mother, or if Ruth was really David great-grandmother? Is there a way to
set
>the story by the beginning of the period of the judges or by the end?
>
>Thanks!
>
>Sergio