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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Assumptions about ANE ages that just don't work
  • Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 09:17:01 EDT


Yaakov (J) Stein:
You need to do the math right, and then you will see that all the numbers
make perfect sense.
You wrote: “Terah could die at the old age of 205/2 = 102,
and Abraham at 75/2 = 35 took off from Haran.”
But if you do the math right, everything becomes clear.
75/2 = 37½
Now we’re ready to see the peculiar number 17½ writ large in the Patriarchal
narratives, and thereby figure out the historical time period of the
Patriarchal Age.
1. We know that each of Isaac and Esau marries at age 20 regular years
(stated age 40 “years”, in 6-month “years”). By analogy, Abraham probably
married at age 20. That means that when Abraham and Sarah take off from
Harran, Sarah has been barren for 17½ regular years.
1. Abraham dies at state age 175 “years”. That’s age 17½, tenfold.
Are you starting to catch it? The one and only fraction in the Patriarchal
narratives is 1/10, as the Hebrew word for tithe means 1/10. Abraham tithes
a
tenth to Melchizedek, and in the Jacob’s Ladder scene, Jacob promises to
tithe
a tenth.
1. Abraham’s actual age at death is 87½ regular years. His father
sired him at age 70 “years”, Jacob leads 70 Hebrews into Egypt, and the
Egyptians mourn Jacob’s death for 70 days. So 87½ suggests 87½ - 70 = 17½..
1. You are right that Terakh dies at age 102½. Now do the math. Isaac
is born when Abraham is age 50 regular years. 17½ years later, Terakh
dies.
Terakh was age 35 when he sired Abraham. Terakh dies 67½ regular years
later, at age 102½. Abraham is age 67½ at Terakh’s death, meaning that
Terakh
died 17½ regular years after the Covenant was fulfilled with Isaac’s birth.
(By the way, Terakh’s death is what causes Abraham to find out about the
existence of Rebekah. 2½ regular years later, when Abraham is age 70
regular
years, Isaac and Rebekah wed.)
1. If you get serious about counting years, you can figure out that
Judah is born 117½ years after Abraham’s birth. (Abraham had already died 30
years earlier, at age 87½.)
1. Joseph is born 2½ regular years after Judah, in Year 120. (120
regular years after Abraham’s birth.) Joseph dies at stated age 110
“years”,
which is age 55 regular years. So the Patriarchal narratives end with
Joseph’
s death, 55 years after Year 120, which is Year 175. I’m sure you see by
now:
Year 175 is 17½, tenfold. Everything is based on the peculiar number 17½.
1. No other composition in mankind’s 5,000-year history has focused on
the peculiar number 17½. Only the Patriarchal narratives. The author is
trying to tell us something. The author is telling us the exact historical
time period of the Patriarchal narratives. We need to look for a famous king
who
died more than ½-way through his 17th regnal year. That could be
represented in the ancient world (which did not have a zero) by the number
17½. That’
s the king whose reign coincides with the historical Patriarchal Age, in my
controversial view.
The text as is is perfect. We just need to understand what the text is
telling us.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois



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