THE HORROR OF THE GENESIS NUMBERS
“And all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered” (Gen.7).
----------------------------
How did Moses know about the “fifteen cubits?” Did Noah chart the depths with weighted string at the high point of the Flood? He could not have traversed the entire globe to know that it was all covered. “Fifteen cubits,” then, unless Moses simply pulled a number out of his head to make the story believable, must have been given by revelation. And “fifteen cubits” (23 feet) is a very reasonable number. But is it accurate? Are any of the numbers in Genesis accurate? If not, how do we choose? And why did Moses use so many numbers throughout Genesis, except to either lend credibility to his fantastical tale (as in “lies, more lies, and statistics”), or to actually put his own credibility on the line. Numbers are easily checked, and they never lie. This has been known throughout history. And Genesis is saturated with numbers, and one chapter (5) consists of little more. Which means that the oldest atom in the Universe is no more than 6000 years old, and no human artifact found to date is more than 4448 years old. (If you’re not scared yet, read on). Because 99.999999 percent of modern science and research assumes that the Universe is 13.8 billion years old. Put 4448 on your resume when you apply for that plumb teaching post and watch everyone do one huge eye roll. They would sooner have ten worse editions of any other superstitions. But 4448 it is, or Genesis is out the window. In other words, unless you’re prepared to become an atheist, don’t forget your plowing skills. The numbers of Genesis are the most unbelievable portion of the Bible, because they leave zero wiggle room. You will never trust Genesis if you doubt these numbers, and you cannot trust the Bible if you cannot trust Genesis.
The Flood occurred in the years 1656 AC (After Creation), which would correspond to 2348 BC (using Usher’s calculations which puts 4004 BC as the year of Creation). Now consider the fact that no one to date claims to have uncovered any human activity that predates the Flood, which means that we know absolutely nothing about human activity on earth (outside of the Bible) beyond the year 2348 BC (not even yesterday in Archaeology), the year of the Flood, because the Flood obliterated all signs of human activity. So how accurate are Usher’s calculations, and how do we know that there is not a million year gap somewhere in the Bible? Because Genesis provides all the numbers you need to get to 2384 AC (1695 BC, Usher) as the year of Joseph’s death. Numbers get less precise after Genesis, and the 400 year stay in Egypt is calculated in various ways. Solomon begins his temple 480 years after the Exodus (1 Kings 6:1), at which date it is possible to match his reign with kings listed in extra-biblical records. The 480 years leave no wiggle room. It is either fact or fiction. The dates from the death of Joseph to the Exodus are less precise, but even at the maximum would add only a few years to Usher’s calendar. Which means that the oldest human record can be no more than 4448 years old (2348 BC). As an archeologist then, you are forced to arrange all your relics into what amounts to a blink of an eye in the 13.8 billion years that the Big Bang Theory gives as the age of the Universe. You could just as well be a Bible thumper in the scientific world.
Add to that the medical quandary posed by preflood longevity (chapter 5), when evolutionary models scoff at the notion that primitive man would have exceeded the age of sixty. If the age of the Universe is too young and abrupt (everything in 6 days) to accommodate modern geology and physics, these near-millinaists are as miraculous as the VIrgin Birth. But no one has yet found a way to tweak the numbers to make them mean other than what they do literally. Now if you accept these ages as true records, you are then forced to conceive of the pre-flood environment as radically different from what comes after. Given that Genesis indicates that pre-Food man was vegetarian, and that the first rain fell the year of the Flood, modern scientific models become worthless in pre-Flood history. Something in the environment obviously made man long-lived, vegetation would have had to accommodate post-Flood meateaters (lion and lamb would have nibbled on the same head of lettuce in the ark, unless trees grew t-bone like fruit), and the atmosphere would have been such that moisture did not accumulate in the heavens. In essence, the atomic structure underwent a fundamental transformation.
Then there is the problem of Adam’s scientific age, for both he and Cain would have started collecting Social Security in the same year. Adam and Eve did not have birthdays. Adam’s cells at Cain’s birth should have indicated the same age, contradicting the obvious fact that he was a baby and his father an adult. Adam may not have had a belly button, or God could have created him with one. Day old trees would have shown rings indicating they were hundreds of years old, because, as any instrument builder will tell you, no tree could stand upright without rings. How do you do science here? Now add the radical transformation that must have occurred during the Flood, which reduced longevity to modern day levels almost immediately. By the time of Joseph, 727 years after the Flood, we are at modern levels. This is the problem of Methuselah in science.
The manner in which Moses uses numbers invites the reader to investigate further, undoubtedly as a spur to generate interest. They all add up precisely, but you often have to backtrack to pick up the clue once again (it’s the most fruitful puzzle you’ll ever do, and it’s very simple--Acts 7:4 puts Abraham’s birth in the 130 year of Terah’s life, because he left Haran only after Terah’s death, on account of which we have to conclude that the of the three births mentioned in chapter 11, Abraham would not have been the oldest [as in Shem/Ham/Japhet--Shem was not the oldest--the difference in the different calculations being 75 years, and Abraham would have been born in the 130 year of Terah]. In other words, Acts 7:4 makes it necessary to have Abraham remain Haran until Terah’s death, and since he was 75 when he left, Terah would have been 130 when Abraham was born). These were not just numbers thrown out haphazardly around the campfire, because they add up perfectly. Moses wants you to get to 2384 AC in the last verse of Genesis. Of course, you might say, copyists over the centuries would have had ample opportunity to correct mistakes Moses might have made. But this is not the issue here. Evolutionists say worse than that. The issue here is purely among people who profess to believe the Bible as a trustworthy account of history. In other words, the people who dispute about the numbers accept the fact that the Bible was written by Moses, but, unwilling to jump on the bandwagon with the sceptics, try to find loopholes to counter the damage done by these numbers, which allow for a timeframe of only 4448 years to do archaeology. But the numbers are so precise and frequent that nothing remains of Genesis if they are not allowed to mean what they say.
For instance, Moses uses numbers to reveal a very startling fact: that Jacob was 77 years old when he met Rachel, 84 when he married her, and 91 when Joseph was born. But his attitude toward Rachel makes him come across as a relatively young man. He was married to Rachel a brief 13 years when she died in 2382 AC giving birth to Benjamin while he was enroute to Canaan at age 99 after a 20 year absence. He arrived penniless in Haran at age 77 and began a period of strenuous activity. His birth was auspicious enough and his zeal for the birthright, which he bartered from Esau, would indicate a man of great industry. But unlike Esau, who married at 40, the numbers show Jacob unmarried until age 84. This is a stunning revelation. What was Isaac thinking? The problem may well be that he knew that Laban’s daughters were as yet not of marriageable age. At any event, few readers see Rebecca as dressing a 77 year old in the deception of Isaac, or the young man, whose “rest was a stone,” as a 77 year old man.
Shem knew his great grandfather Methuselah (who knew Adam 243 years) for 100 years. Abraham was a contemporary of Shem for 150 years. Adam, Methuselah, Shem, Abraham. “What was life like in Eden,” Methuselah would have asked Adam? “Let me tell you what Adam said,” Methuselah would say to Shem, who was contemporary with Abraham. This is enough for most people to break out in claustrophobic hives. If the earth is that young, then God can’t be that far off. This is the tyranny of these numbers. God feels much safer 13.8 billion years away.