Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>]

On 13/07/2006 03:24, JAMES CHRISTIAN READ wrote:
> ...
> I believe it would be impossible to claim that Shem 
> was the author of the Babel account as he only lived 
> 100 years and would not have witnessed the events. 
> Now I could accept it if the account were posed in 
> prophetic style but it isn't.
>
>   
James, you seem confused here. According to Genesis 11:10-11 Shem lived 
for 502 years after the flood. In fact the numbers in Genesis taken at 
face value have him dying later than Abraham, in fact 2160 years after 
the Creation, 210 years after the birth of Abraham, and two years after 
Jacob married Leah and Rachel. Of the ancestors of Abraham, only Eber 
survived after Shem died, for another 29 years, according to Genesis. 
But these calculations are based on rather naive counting of years and 
may have to be revised by up to a decade or two. Of course we will have 
different positions on how seriously to take any of these figures.

--
Peter Kirk
E-mail:  peter AT qaya.org
Blog:    http://speakertruth.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.qaya.org/