Bible Chronology
Part 'B'
III) Flood Date
The NT variants are, the (LXX) '130' yrs of Luke 3:36, the '60' yrs of Acts 7:4, and the (LXX, SP) '215' yrs of Gal. 3:17, a total possible span of 405 yrs.[4]
THE 60-YR VARIANT:
Having looked at the 215-yr variant in the section on 'Abraham,' we now look at the '60' and '130' that, along with the '215,' effects the dating of the flood and creation. The '60' variant is solely the result of a NT reference by Steven, recorded in the book of Acts:
"The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. ' ...So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living." (Acts 7: 2-4)
Steven says that Abraham left Haran "after the death of his father." The OT does not tell us this directly, however. This adds an extra 60 yrs to the flood date because Gen 11:26 says Abram was born when his father, Terah, was "70 yrs old" and that at "75 yrs," Abram left Haran and entered Canaan. This would make Terah 145 yrs old at the time of Abram’s entry into Canaan (70 + 75 = 145). However, since Gen 11:32 says that Terah died at 205 yrs, it follows that Terah must have been 130 and not 70 yrs (according to NT) at the time of Abram’s birth (130 + 75 = 205), contradicting Gen 11:26. Why this discrepancy?
Evidently, in those days it was customary for the chronologist to list all ones male children at the same point in the genealogical table as the first-born. The three sons born to Noah when compared with the three sons born to Terah aptly illustrate this. ---They are literarily and theologically in parallel:
"After Noah was 500 yrs old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth."
(Gen 5:32)"After Terah had lived 70 yrs, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran."
(Gen 11:26)"This is the account of Shem. Two yrs after the flood, when Shem was 100 yrs old, he became the father of Arphaxad." (Gen 11:10)
Notice that Gen 11:10 says that Shem’s son was born "2 yrs after the flood." Therefore, since Noah was exactly 600 yrs at the flood, and hence 602 yrs old at the birth of Arphaxad, it follows that Noah was 502 yrs old at Shem’s birth and not '500' as it says in Gen 5:32. Consequently, we have the same phenomenon repeated here with Noah as we did with Terah who was 130 yrs old at Abram's birth and not '70' as the text says, Gen 11:26.[5]
{For this reason there is the minor option of viewing Shem as 100 yrs at Arphaxad's birth rather than 102 (and Noah as 600, rather than 602), as significant in the numbers, similar to Terah as 130 (NT) rather than 70 at Abraham's birth.}
THE 130-YR VARIANT:
The LXX adds an extra name "Cainan," to the chronology between the flood and the birth of Abram thus effecting the date of the flood. If we include it, we must add another 130 yrs. Furthermore, the gospel of Luke uses this same LXX reading by listing 'Cainan' in his genealogy (Luke 3:36), consequently adding considerable weight to an otherwise weak reason for including this 130 yrs.
The three genealogical NT variants produce a possibility of 8 different dates for the flood and for the creation. Which of them do we use? There are three sensible ways of solving this problem.
1.) Accept all 8 dates as is.
2.) Follow the two lines of authorities ('MT;' or, 'MT' with 'LXX and NT') and take your choice (or use both).
3.) Use the maximum and minimum possible dates and produce two creation and flood dates.
Personally, I favor the third option because it takes into consideration both lines of authority while retaining simplicity, and because the total gap of 405 yrs proves self-evident in two ways: By the patterns it produces, and secondly,
as an interlocking meaningful Bible number in and of itself.[4] I rarely work with the other options.[3] However, to show that all three choices are valid (but with preference to the third), we will sample all three categories now ---for all '8' dates have the same simple pattern!
Next, the "Chronology of the Creation".