Genealogies of Genesis
The genealogies of Genesis provide the framework around which the Book of Genesis is structured.[1] Beginning with Adam, genealogical material in Genesis 4, 5, 10, 11, 22, 25, 29–30, 35–36, and 46 moves the narrative forward from the creation to the beginnings of the Israelites' existence as a people.
Adam's lineage in Genesis contains two branches: Chapter 4 giving the descendants of Cain, and Chapter 5 that for Seth that is then continued in later chapters. Chapter 10 gives the Generations of Noah (also called the Table of Nations) that records the populating of the Earth by Noah's descendants, and is not strictly a genealogy but an ethnography.
Genesis 5 and Genesis 11 include the age at which each patriarch had the progeny named as well as the number of years he lived thereafter. Many of the ages given in the text are long, but could have been considered modest in comparison to the ages given in other works (for instance, the Sumerian King List).[2]
The ages include patterns surrounding the numbers five and seven, for instance the 365 year life of Enoch (the same as the number of full calendar days in a solar year) and the 777 year life of Lamech (repetitional emphasis of the number seven).[3] Overall, the ages display clear mathematical patterns, leading some people to conclude that number symbolism was used to construct them.[4] Nevertheless, since Genesis 5 and 11 provide the age of each patriarch at the birth of his named descendant, it also appears to present a gapless chronology from Adam to Abraham, even if the named descendant is not always a first-generation son.[5]
Priestly source[edit]
The Priestly source illustrates history in Genesis by compiling the genealogy beginning with the "generations of the heavens and the earth" and continuing through Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac to the descendants of Jacob and Esau. Jacob's descendants are listed in Genesis 46:8-27, beginning with the phrase "these are the names."[74]
Similar Mesopotamian traditions[edit]
The genealogies of Genesis have been likened to the Sumerian King List.[75] Some versions of the latter (not including the oldest known version, where no flood is mentioned)[76] consist of a list of implausibly long-lived figures, followed by a flood, followed by a list of figures with long but gradually shortening lifespans that move into normal historical lengths. Attempts at finding a correlation between the ages presented in the two lists have been made.[77]