Biblical Hebrew Forum

[dwashbur AT nyx.net]

On 19 May 2009 at 22:46, Yitzhak Sapir wrote:

> Incidentally, Karl, how do you explain the following:
> Gen 11:17 Eber lived 430 years after giving birth to Peleg
> 
> Gen 11:18 Peleg gave birth to Reu at 30 years of age
> Gen 11:20 Reu gave birth to Serug at 32 years of age
> Gen 11:22 Serug gave birth to Nahor at 30 years of age
> Gen 11:24 Nahor gave birth to Terah at 29 years of age
> Gen 11:32 Terah lived to be 205 years before he died.
> 
> So, Terah died 205 + 29 + 30 + 32 + 30 years after Peleg
> was born.  That comes out to 326 years.
> But Eber lived 430 years more after Peleg was born.
> 
> Terah died 360 years after Eber was born.
> But Shelah lived 403 years more after Eber was born.
> 
> Terah died 390 years after Shelah was born.
> But Arpachshad lived 403 years more after Shelah was born.
> 
> Terah died 425 years after Arpachshad was born.
> But Shem lived 500 years more after Arpachshad was born.
> 
> So when Terah died, Eber, Shelah, Arpachshad, and Shem
> were all supposedly still alive.
> 
> How would Terah know their ages at their death to write
> about them in his hypothetical book when he died while
> they were still alive?

One aspect of the Wiseman theory is that these tablets were essentially 
family records that 
the nomadic families carried with them on their journeys and updated as 
needed.  AFAIK, 
Wiseman didn't actually posit that Terah was the author of this tablet, or 
that any of these 
tablets were created out of whole cloth.  Rather, they were accumulations of 
family history 
that were passed from one generation to another, much like the family Bibles 
one used to 
see that contained extensive genealogies and such (a poor comparison, purely 
for the sake 
of convenience).  Where Karl goes with that I don't know; I would also like 
to clarify that 
when I talk about the theory, I'm talking about Wiseman's, not necessarily 
Karl's.  The only 
reason I chimed in originally was to provide a reference/background for the 
idea being 
tossed around.

Dave Washburn

Ibuprofen, Hebuprofen, Shebuprofen, Theybuprofen, wouldn't you like to be a 
profen too?