GeoCreationism.com

Noah > Shem > Arphaxad.

Arphaxad is part of the Messianic line (Luke 3:36). In total there are 9 references to Arphaxad or his line. There are no verses about any region associated with him, and no references to anything he did, other than being born, having Shelah as a son, then dying 403 years later. The following verses pertain to his lineage and life spans…

• Genesis 10:22, 1 Chronicles 1:17 - Son of Shem
• Genesis 10:24, 1 Chronicles 1:18 - Father of Shelah at 35
• Genesis 11:10 - Born when Shem was 100
• Genesis 11:11 - Shem lived another 500 years
• Genesis 11:12 - Father of Shelah
• Genesis 11:13 - Lived another 403 years after Shelah was born
• 1 Chronicles 1:24, Luke 3:36 - Part of the Messianic line

Interestingly, in Luke 3:36, it says that Canaan came between Arphaxad and Shelah, while Genesis 10:24 says Arphaxad was the father of Shelah… no mention of Canaan. What’s the deal? Well, the Septuagint translates Genesis 10:24 as follows…

 24 And Arphaxad begot Canaan, and Canaan begot Sala. And Sala begot Heber.

Is this a confirmation of what I have often read, that the word father can also simply mean ancestor? No, what his confirms is that Luke and the other New Testament writers spoke Greek, and thus used the Septuagint as their translation. Skeptics love things like this, because they get to point out “yet another” contradiction in scripture. “How can you seriously continue calling such a flawed book ‘God’s Word’?” they ask. Unfortunately, raising our nose at them and yelling, “God’s Word, God’s Word, God’s Word, God’s Word…” is not an argument. In fact, this particular example is quite remarkable, because it’s more than simply the insertion of a name in Jesus’ ancestry.  Let’s look at what Genesis 11 has to say about Arphaxad in the NIV vs. the Septuagint (referred to as LXX):

According to the NIV translation, Genesis 11:12-15 tells us that…

 ¹² When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. ¹³ And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

 ¹⁴ When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. ¹⁵ And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. The Septuagint says…

Now LXX…

¹² And Arphaxad lived 135 years, and begot Canaan. ¹³ And Arphaxad lived after he had begotten Canaan, 400 years, and begot sons and daughters, and died. And Canaan lived 130 years and begot Sala; and Canaan lived after he had begotten Sala 330 years, and begot sons and daughters, and died.

¹⁴ And Sala lived 130 years, and begot Heber. ¹⁵ And Sala lived after he had begotten Heber, 330 years, and begot sons and daughters, and died.

See anything odd? Notice the ages. Not only is Canaan added to the lineage, but all the ages are ridiculously different.  I highly recommend reading all of Genesis 11 in the LXX for yourself.  I also recommend reading this excellent analysis of it here: http://www.creation-science-prophecy.com/compare.htm. Basically, for those who are not familiar, the Septuagint has intentionally-inserted mistranslations, and the ages of most everyone before Abram appear to be examples of that.

Now I had previously written that the total years from the flood to Abram add up to 427 years; according to the Septuagint, it adds up to 1232 years… an additional 805 years! So, which is true? Well, article above notwithstanding, the duration of 427 years reconciles history, science, and scripture together to within in a year. That is consistent with the fact that the NIV’s lineage traces back (in theory) to the original Hebrew manuscripts; it was not translated from the Septuagint. Given the NIV’s lineage, and the fact that 427 years jives precisely with known secular sources, I choose to  accept it.

Before I move on to other historical evidence regarding Arphaxad, this brings up the issue of scriptural inerrancy. Clearly, the LXX has errors, and these were clearly inserted by men.  But here’s the thing. Luke, when writing his letter, an accepted canonical book of the the Christian scripture, he quoted the LXX, including its errors! What does that say of the inerrancy of scripture? Well for some people, it is enough to wreck their faith, and that is why this website exists… for them to see that God uses all things. You just have to look for them.

If you are one of those people who has lost or is losing their faith because of bonafide errors in scripture such as this, then consider Revelation 22:6…

The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”

Which words does this verse refer to? The words of scripture? No! The words spoken! Those are the words that are without error. Once the prophet writes them, he inserts his own error into the flawless words of God. It cannot be helped, because God has allowed His prophets to write within their imperfections. Then God chose to use what was written to achieve His will… a relationship with us. If people end up misinterpreting the scriptures, and the end is that they love God, well at least they love God.  Of someone else understands what actually happened, and the end is that they love God, it’s the same result.  However, there are other people who see the error in man’s recording of God’s word, and attribute that flaw to God. What a travesty! As you study this blog, notice how I take each verse, take each at the writers word, take the science at scientist’s word, and then show how they are difference bird’s eye views of what God did. Looked at that way, God’s actions light up like a Christmas tree, even through the flaws or inaccuracies inserted by man into the scriptures.  Only God could do that. The more flaws I find, the more amazing it is that God speaks through them.

To summarize…

• Whatever is spoken to the prophet is inerrant
• Whatever is written in scripture is accurate to within the prophet’s own abilities
• The mere committal to paper necessarily adds some amount of corruption to the message
• The message is no less from God
• The ability of God to relate His perfect message through imperfect people is a miracle worthy of marvel

This is why we study the Bible. By comparing scripture to scripture, we can determine what God has said… if not in word, then in meaning.  It is why, I marvel so at the concurrence of scripture with science and history. Like a scientist of faith, I started with the theory that scripture concurs with science and history. Based on that theory, I then ask myself what then the scripture might be saying, and I look for it. In Day 1 of Genesis, I looked for the time when the earth was formless, void, and covered in water, and found it 3.9-4.4 billion years ago.  It was awesome.  For Genesis 2:4-6, I looked for a time when there was dust, no plants, and water gassed out of the earth… and I found it 4.4-4.5 billion years ago.  When looking at the word day, I looked it up to see if it actually means 24-hours, and found that in Hebrew it is marked by sundown, from the perspective of whoever is experiencing it, which could be a hovering God (Gen. 1:2) letting the earth rotate beneath Him.  I could go on, but in the end, I found that Genesis 1 ended up concurring with science in a much more literal sense than anybody ever led me to believe… it was just so literal that the meaning was lost on the early Christians who had no scientific basis for answering most of these questions. My conclusion? Just as God inspired John to write Revelation, He inspired Moses to write Genesis 1 and 2.  Moses may have had no realization for how his writings concord with reality, but God knew.  Sure, Moses would get a detail wrong here and there, but there is just too much concurrence to dismiss.  Far too much. And then the fact that I could start with the a date for the flood based on science, a date for Solomon’s temple based on history, and only then begin working out the years from the bible… just to find that they match precisely? That is just too awesome to ignore.  So, that is why I accept the Bible as man’s recording of God’s word. Even with mankind’s foibles, it is simply the most awesome book I’ve ever read.

Before I leave Arphaxad, let us see what Wikipedia has to say about him…

Other ancient Jewish sources, particularly the Book of Jubilees, point to Arpachshad as the immediate progenitor of Ura and Kesed, who allegedly founded the city of Ur Kesdim (Ur of the Chaldees) on the west bank of the Euphrates (Jub. 9:4; 11:1-7) — the same bank where Ur, identified by Leonard Woolley in 1927 as Ur of the Chaldees, is located.

It is interesting, because Abram came from Ur. From we’ve already seen, Ashur and Eber appear to have been located in Syria, between the Euphrates River and the shores opposite Cyprus.  In other words, they were west of the Euphrates. With Arphaxad being Ashur’s brother and Eber’s grandfather (with no geographical information available for Shelah), locating Arphaxad on the west back of the Euphrates makes complete sense.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 11th, 2010 at 10:13 am and is filed under Bible Commentary, Ashur, Eber, Shelah, Arphaxad. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.