Genesis 11,12, age of Abram

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Hello, Farrell, J. Michael et al!

At 11:55 PM 2/26/98 -0800, Farrell Till wrote:

>At 06:38 PM 2/26/98 -0000, J. Michael McGill wrote:

>>MICHAEL MCGILL(2/26)                                                      

>>                                     Would somebody, anybody please 

>>comment on the following:

>>

>>Genesis 11:26 Terah was 70 years old when his son Abram was born.

>>

>>Genesis 11:32 Terah was 205 years old when he died (making Abram 135 at 

>>the time).

>>

>>Genesis 12:4 Abram was 75 when he left Haran. This was after Terah died. 

>>So was Abram

>>135 at the time of Terah's death or was he 75?

>

>TILL

>I'll tell you what some problems are in the way that you have presented this

>contradiction.  First, Genesis 11:26 says that Terah lived 70 years and

>begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran, so unless you know that these three were

>triplets, you can't successfully argue that Terah was 70 when Abram was

>born.  Although Abram is listed first, It would be possible that he was not

>the first of Terah sons. An inerrantist could argue that Terah was 70 when

>his first son was born and that this was, say, Haran; then some time later,

>Nahor was born, and at still a later date, Abram was born.  The fact that

>Abram was listed first would not necessarily mean that he was the eldest

>son, because sons weren't always listed in the order of their birth.  We can

>see this in the case of Noah's sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  They are

>consistently listed in this order (Gen. 5:32; 6:10; 8:18), yet Genesis 9:24

>identifies Ham as the "youngest son" of Noah.  So an inerrantist could argue

>that just because Abram was listed first in Genesis 11:26 cannot be seen as

>proof that he was actually the firstborn son of Terah.  You should be aware

>that this is how that an informed inerrantist will reply to this

>"contradiction."



CREA
    Actually, from where I sit, the "contradiction" over Abram's age is
small potatoes compared to the major gaff recorded in Gen 12:1-5, where God
tells Abram to (Gen. 12:1) "...leave your country, your relatives, and your
father's home, and go to a land that I am going to show you."  So what does
Abram do but drag along his nephew Lot: (Gen 12:5) "Abram took his wife
Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the wealth and all the slaves they had
acquired in Haran..." , thus disobeying God's unambiguous directions to
leave his relatives.  Somehow God doesn't seem to notice this lapse, for it
is never mentioned again, nor does Abram ever seem to have confessed,
repented and atoned for his disobedience.


With Mettaa,

Joseph Crea
<Joseph.Crea@worldnet.att.net>

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