9. Terah fathered Abraham when he was 70 years of age. He lived an additional 75 years, until the 75th year of Abraham.
10. Year one of Abraham. From the flood to the first year [g146] of Abraham totals 942 years, the same figure that the Septuagint provides.
Our [Septuagint] text and this Samaritan Hebrew text are in harmony regarding the number of years each man lived prior to fathering a son. They [both] diverge from the Jewish Hebrew version by 650 years, because, according to the latter, 292 years transpired from the flood until the first year of Abraham. The most ancient Hebrew text, which has been preserved in the Samaritan version, agrees with the Septuagint translation that these men from [the time of the] flood until [the time of] Abraham fathered sons when they were at least a hundred years of age. Then who would suggest that their descendants, who lived longer, had fathered children any sooner than [g147] the period provided in the Septuagint? Consequently, the rational conclusion is that the [figures provided in the] Jewish version from Adam to Abraham are in error, except for the three generations beginning with Jared, and that the Samaritan version is also in error, but only from Adam to the flood, because from the flood to Abraham [the Samaritan version] is in agreement with the Septuagint translation.
[30] Moreover it is obvious that the Hebrew Jewish version is incorrect from the fact that by its calculations Adam and Noah were alive at the same time--something [g148] which no other account proposes. If, according to the Jewish scriptures, there were 292 years from the flood until Abraham, and Noah lived an additional 350 years after the flood, it is clear that Noah was alive until the 58th year of Abraham. Furthermore it is possible to show that the Jewish version is unreliable in another way, because it says that the generations before Abraham were about 30 years old when they fathered sons, while it makes the generations after Abraham considerably older when they fathered sons.
Thus it is patently clear that the Septuagint was translated from old and accurate Hebrew copies [g149], and is the most appropriate text for us to use in our present Chronicle , especially [g150] since the church of Christ, which has spread throughout the world, supports only this version and since the apostles and disciples of Christ used and transmitted this version.
In the Septuagint [version], 2,242 years transpired from Adam until the flood, and 942 years transpired from the flood until the first year of Abraham, making a total of 3,184 years.
In the Jewish Hebrew [version], 1,656 years transpired from Adam until the flood, and 292 years transpired from the flood until the first year of Abraham, making a total of 1,948 years.
In the Samaritan Hebrew [version], 1,307 years transpired from Adam until the flood, and 942 years transpired from the flood until the [g151] first year of Abraham, making a total of 2,249 years.
All versions agree that 505 years transpired from Abraham until Moses and the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. It is calculated as follows. When Abraham was 75 years of age, God appeared to him and said that He would give the promised land to his descendants. For it is written [in Genesis, 12.4-5]: "Abraham was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abraham took Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother's son." In the same passage, further on [Genesis, 12. 7] it states: "Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said: 'To your descendants I will give this land.'" Thus [we calculate] 75 years [in the life] of Abraham plus 430 years [from God's promise] until the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. The Apostle Paul confirms this [in Galatians, 3.17-18]: "The law, which came [g152] four hundred and thirty years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void." Then he adds: "God gave it to Abraham by a promise." When Abraham was 100 years of age his son Isaac was born, 25 years after God's promise. Four hundred and five years transpired from that event until the exodus from Egypt. Consequently, from the promise [until the exodus] 430 years elapsed.
Now God appeared to Abraham a second time and said [Genesis, 15.13]: "Know of a surety that your descendants will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be slaves there, and they will be oppressed for four hundred years." The word descendant s is used deliberately so that we not allocate [g153] the entire period [solely] to Isaac. Moreover the period of 430 years is mentioned again at the time of the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, [Exodus, 12.40-41]: "They and their forefathers dwelled in Egypt and the land of Canaan for 430 years. And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt at night." Since the period from God's God's promise in the 75th year of Abraham is 430 years, it is clear that 505 years elapsed from the first year of Abraham to the time of Moses and the exodus from Egypt. Some [authors] have presented [this material] in detail, [g154] as follows: Abraham fathered Isaac at the age of 100. Isaac fathered Jacob at the age of 60. Jacob fathered Levi at the age of 86. Levi fathered Kohath at the age of 46. Kohath fathered Amran at the age of 63. Amran fathered Moses at the age of 70. Moses led his people out of Egypt when he was 80 years old. Thus from the first year of Abraham until the exodus from Egypt, a total of 505 years transpired. According to the Septuagint, [g155] the total from Adam to the exodus from Egypt is 3,689 years; according to the Jewish [Hebrew version], 2,453 years; and according to the Samaritan [Hebrew version], 2,753 years.
[31] [The chronology] from the death of Moses to the time of Solomon's construction of the temple is described differently [by the available sources]. The book of Judges, as well as the blessed Apostle Paul in Acts of the Apostles calculate it one way, while the book of Kings and Hebrew tradition calculate it another way. It will be best to describe both and then select [the account] which proves truest.
First, however, we must pause to criticize Africanus, who wrote a five-book Chronology . It seems to me that he is greatly in error regarding the matter before us. From the exodus of Moses to [the time of] Solomon and the building of the temple [Africanus], through his own unique calculations assigns 744 years, mostly without any citations, and not only contrary to what is recorded in Scripture, but even audaciously [g156] adding an extra hundred years on his own. [Africanus] inserts an additional 30 years after Joshua, for the elders. Then, after Samson, he adds 40 years of anarchy and another 30 years of peace. By adding these additional years without any proof, he [g157] creates an inflated total of more than 740 years for the period between Moses and the reign of Solomon.
To see the fanciful nature of his calculations, we have to observe the preceding generations and their lengths. From Abraham to David there were 14 generations, and the eleventh generation had already ended at the time of Moses, when Nahshon the son of Aminadab was recognized as the prince of the nation of Judah. Nahshon died in the desert after leaving Egypt, and he was present when the people were first counted. It is clear that there were five generations from Nahshon to David: David was the son of Jesse, who was the son of Obed, who was the son of Boaz, who was the son of Salmon, who was the son of Nahshon. So on what grounds can it be claimed that the five generations after Moses endured for more than 700 years? If the years for men of each generation are evenly divided, we find that each one lived for 140 years before fathering a son, something that no rational person would accept as probable. For Moses himself died at 120 years of age, and his successor, Joshua, died at 110 years of age. Before them Joseph lived a total of 110 years, and earlier still Jacob, who was also called Israel, the patriarch of all the Jews, lived [g158] for 147 years.
Consequently, how could anyone claim that in the period after Moses anyone could have lived as long as we mentioned above? This is the error that Africanus made. Clemens, however, calculated 574 years from Moses' successor Joshua until the building of the temple, in his first book [ Stromata 1.21]. The blessed Apostle Paul in his speech to the Jews in the Acts of the Apostles [13.19-22] states: "Joshua destroyed seven nations in the land of the Canaanites, and he gave them their land as an inheritance. And after 450 years he gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and [God] gave them Saul the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for 40 years. Afterwards [God] removed Saul and gave them David in his place.[g159]"
That is what the Apostle says. He calculated 534 years after Joshua in addition to the 450 years for the judges until Samuel. Add to this 40 years for Saul, another 40 years for David, and the four years of Solomon's reign before the building of the temple, which makes a total of 534 years from Joshua the successor of Moses until Solomon. According to the Apostle by adding the 40 years Moses spent in the wilderness, and the 27 years of Joshua the son of Nun, the total for the entire period will be 600 years. The book of Judges is in agreement with his account, and calculates 450 years to the judges until Samuel, which are divided up as follows:
[32] From the Book of Judges
After Joshua, rule by foreigners, 8 years
Othniel, 40 years [g160]
foreigners, 18 years
Ehud and Shamgar, 80 years
foreigners, 20 years
Barak and Deborah, 40 years
foreigners, 7 years
Gideon, 40 years
Abimelech, 3 years