Genesis 1:26-31 “ Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." (27) So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (28) Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (29) And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. (30) Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so. (31) Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
Finally the time arrived for God to create man. So just how long ago did God create Adam? The short answer to that question is that we don’t know. The genealogies of Genesis, if read with strict, literal precision, suggest that Adam lived about 6,000 years ago. But scientific data suggest mankind began much longer ago than that, perhaps 20,000 years ago or more. For example, there are cave paintings that have been discovered in numerous parts of the earth that date from roughly 20,000 years ago. These artworks reflect both modern animals and those that have since become extinct, e.g. the Woolly Mammoth which became extinct 4,000 years ago[1]. There are also numerous ancient structures in the earth, such as “Göbekli Tepe” in Turkey for example, that date from over 9,000 years ago[2]. Then there are numerous ancient civilizations that we know about e.g. the Mesopotamian civilization which began 5,500 years ago and ended in 550BC, and also the Egyptian civilization which began 5,000 years ago and also ended in 550BC[3]. These civilizations could have only existed after the flood of Noah, as they continued uninterrupted from their inception to their demise. The genealogies of the bible however, suggest that the flood took place roughly 3500 years ago, which would have therefore destroyed both civilizations, which we know from historical records did not happen. And so, to believe the inerrancy of the Bible, some believe that is it necessary to reject the scientific claim that man is more than 6,000 years old. Bible genealogies were never given to us to determine the age of mankind however, and to use them to for that purpose creates a distorted historical narrative. The reason we can say this is because of the technique used in ancient genealogical reckoning called telescoping. Telescoping is the practice of omitting names from a genealogy.
That telescoping occurs in the Bible is not disputed. There are numerous examples of it in Scripture, of which the following is one from 2 Chronicles 22-26. Jehoram was the father of Ahaziah (22:1), Ahaziah was the father of Joash (22:11), Joash was the father of Amaziah (24:27), and Amaziah was the father of Uzziah (26:1). But Matthew 1:8 simply reads, “Jehoram begot Uzziah.” The omission of three generations of kings in Matthew 1:8 is an example of telescoping. When you read Matthew’s genealogy, it is worthy of notice that there is no hint in the text to indicate such an omission is taking place. In fact, when Matthew emphasizes that there are exactly 14 generations from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, and from the exile to the Messiah, it suggests to readers that there can be no omissions or Matthew’s use of the number 14 is disingenuous. Evangelical scholars struggle mightily to vindicate Matthew and preserve biblical inerrancy. No such scrambling is necessary however, for Matthew simply did not operate by the same rules we use today. Our requirement of technical precision was not shared by the biblical authors. Matthew is not alerting the reader to the precision of inclusion of every generation and using that as proof that Jesus is Messiah. He is simply structuring his genealogy in a way that permits the use of the number 14 throughout. Another example of telescoping is found in the discrepancy between the genealogies of Genesis 11 and Luke’s gospel. In Luke’s genealogical list he records Cainan between Arphaxad and Shelah (Luke 3:35-36). In the Genesis 11 genealogical record however, Cainan is not mentioned (Genesis 11:11-12).
Nevertheless, there is a significant difference between the genealogies in Genesis chapter five and others where telescoping is obvious. The Genesis chapter five genealogies include the age of the patriarch when he became a father. This seems to exclude the possibility of telescoping. For example, when Genesis 5:6 says “Seth lived one hundred and five years and begot Enosh,” it seems there is no option but to believe Enosh was born when Seth was 105 years old. This is where it is important to remember that the purpose of genealogies is not to give precise and complete lineages, but rather to establish ancestry. In other words, the goal of the genealogy here would be to establish that Enosh is a direct descendant of Seth. The Hebrew word for “father” can also mean grandfather or ancestor. Similarly, the word for “son” can mean grandson or descendant. So how can Enosh be born later than Seth’s 105th year of life without the Bible being incorrect? The concept of telescoping focuses on the most important parts of a genealogy. If the complete record had said, for example, Seth was 105 years old when he became the father of John (made up name), who was the father of James (made up name) who was the father of Enosh, telescoping would permit a recorder to shorten the record by eliminating some of the generations without altering the rest of the text. If the only names the recorder wants to focus on are Seth and Enosh, then all the other names would simply be deleted, leaving us with, “Seth was 105 years old when he became the father of Enosh.” The recorder would not feel free to alter the age of Seth; in fact, he might have no idea how old Seth was when Enosh was born, if he was even alive at that time.
If telescoping is taking place between Seth and Enosh, then the text is saying that Seth is the ancestor of Enosh and Seth was 105 when he became a father. Moses is not trying to deceive anyone. He just is not trying to say what we assume he is saying. And so, that is how we can read the Genesis genealogies and still argue for Adam being much older than 6,000 years. Therefore, as we have already stated, we do not really know how old Adam is. But the point is, if scientific discoveries suggest man is 20,000 years old or even older, there is no reason for that to cause stress in the biblical community. The Bible does not rule this out as a possibility. The lack of precision in the biblical accounts means science can get more specific without denying Scripture’s inerrancy, and Christians have no reason to oppose science in this area[4].
There is further biblical evidence of mankind being on the earth far longer than 6,000 years, and that evidence is the flood. Scientific evidence shows that the sun has been growing brighter ever since it was formed. On average it grows 10% brighter every 1 billion years[5]. 2.5 Billion Years ago the sun was 75% as bright as it is today and 500 million years ago that figure had changed to 95%. And so, it is only in the very recent past i.e. over the last 11,000 years, that the earth has experienced the sun at its current brightness. We know that to be the case, because the earth’s average temperature reached its current range for the first time over the last 11,000 years[6]. What that means is that it is only over the last 11,000 years that the sun has been warm enough on the earth to cause water vapour to raise into the atmosphere thus producing rain on the earth. Prior to that time there had been no rain on the earth. We know that to be true because God only placed His rainbow in the earth after the rains of the flood (Genesis 9:13). But since that time the earth has continuously experienced rain. Therefore the flood could have only occurred 11,000 years ago.
Further evidence of the flood taking place roughly 11000 years ago is the earth’s current population of 7.5 billion people. If we were to begin with Noah and his wife (2 people) and assume an average population growth rate of roughly 0.2% over 11,000 years, that would bring us to the current population today of approximately 7.5 billion people (current world population growth rate is approximately 1% and declining). As an aside, if there was no flood and mankind began 22,000 years ago for example, then at a similar population growth rate of 0.2%, beginning with Adam and Eve, the world’s population today would be roughly 2 quintillion people. That means that there would not be enough space on the earth’s surface for everyone to stand shoulder to shoulder. And so, those who would suggest that mankind has lived uninterrupted on the earth for 40,000 years or more can only do so by claiming a highly improbable average population growth of only 0.055% which means that for at least the initial 10,000 years or more, that the human population grew by no more than 1 person every second year, which is an obvious absurdity. For those who would suggest that human beings have been on the earth for even longer (some claim over 100,000 years) the population growth rate estimate has to decrease to an even higher improbability of only 0.022%, which means that for at least the initial 30,000 years or more, that the human population grew by no more than 1 person every second year, which again is an obvious absurdity. The reason some “scientists” propose these foolish numbers is because they are forced to do so in order to accommodate their false narrative of humans having descended from the great apes through evolution.
And so, this brings us to the calculation of the probability of when Adam was created. Prior to 11,000 years ago there is very limited evidence of the presence of humans in the earth, thus indicating to us that there is a high probability that the human population at the time of the flood was relatively small, most probably no greater than 1 million people. It is also highly probable that population growth prior to the flood was relatively low. The reason for that is because, as revealed in the book of Genesis, generations lasted almost 1,000 years, compared to current generations of roughly 70 years. In other words, before the flood God slowed the aging process down. So what does that mean? Men today reach full maturity at the age of 25 years and begin to experience aging from approximately 35 years onwards. Before the flood however, men would have only reached full maturity at the age of roughly 300 years and only began to experience aging from approximately 450 years onwards. And so, if we were to assume a population growth rate of 0.13% with a population of 1 million people at the time of the flood, then that would place Adam’s creation at roughly 10,000 years before the flood, i.e. 21,000 years ago. Although this is only an estimate, this date seems to be supported by the archaeological evidence that is available today.
Genesis 2:2 “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.”
The above quoted passage of scripture clearly teaches us that after God’s creation had ended that God rested on the seventh day. We are still in the seventh day period and God is still resting from His works.
Michael E.B. Maher
[1] Wikipedia
[2] Wikipedia
[3] Wikipedia
[4] David G. Hagopian, revolutingnow.wordpress.com
[5] Wikipedia
[6] Wikipedia
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