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21 7/1/2000
IS THE EARTH 6000 YEARS OLD EXACTLY?
IS THE EARTH 6000 YEARS OLD EXACTLY?
There has been much debate as to whether or not the earth was millions of years old or only a few thousand years old. However, it may not be enough just to accept a few thousand as "good enough." Scientifically speaking we have shown in earlier newsletters that the earth is indeed young and certainly no more than 15 thousand years old. However, Scripturally speaking, God clearly tells us that the earth is only 6000 years old. It is easy to follow the Biblical ages all the way up to Jacob's birth first. To begin we read, "When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth" (Gen 5:3). Then, "When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh" (Gen 5:6). From this we can see that the world was 130 years old when Seth was born. 105 years later Seth had Enosh and, therefore, the world was 235 years old. In verse nine we read, "When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan." Therefore, the world is now 325 years old when Kenan is born. This exact same pattern is given all the way up to the flood. To save space and time I will give a quick summary from Kenan to the Flood without quoting the verses. If you would like to check them out simply follow the same rules as given with Seth, Enosh and Kenan. The World was 395 years old with Mahalalel (5:12); 460 with Jared (5:15); 622 with Enoch (5:18); 687 with Methusaleh (5:21); 874 with Lamech (5:25); 1056 with Noah (Gen 5:28); and 1656 when the Flood came (Gen 7:11). In Genesis 11:10 we see that the Flood will encompass exactly one year. However, because the dates are given we see that it counts as two years. For example, if your child is a junior during the 1999/2000 school year, only one year has passed, yet it counts as being two numbered years. The flood starts around the middle of 1656 (after creation) and ends in the middle of 1657. Now we read, "Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad (Gen 11:10). Knowing the flood ends in 1657, two years AFTER the flood means 1658 and 1659 (2 complete years) went by and then in 1660 Arphaxad was born. Now we continue with the same pattern as we began with. The earth would have been 1695 years old when Shelah was born (Gen 11:12); 1725 with Heber (11:14); 1759 with Peleg (11:16); 1789 with Reu (11:18); 1821 with Serug (11:20); 1851 with Nahor (11:22); 1880 with Terah (11:24); 1950 with Abram (11:26); 2050 with Isaac (21:5); 2110 with Jacob (25:26). So now we know without a doubt that the earth was 2110 years old when Jacob was born. The next step in the process is a little different. In Genesis we see that God predicted that the Israelites would be oppressed in Egypt: "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" (Gen 15:13 RSV). Typically it is thought that the Israelites were therefore slaves in Egypt for 400 years, however, this does not necessarily have to be the case. Note that it says the Israelites were going to be 1) slaves in a foreign country and 2) oppressed for 400 years. Not necessarily slaves for 400 years, only oppressed. The next thing we need to look at is who is Israel? Because this is so important to understand we will look at a number of verses to make this point. In Isaiah we read, "Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children" (Isa 66:7-8) The nation of Israel was born in just one day, through just one person, Jacob. Jacob was the father of the Israelites, which is why his name is later turned to Israel. Next we see that God viewed Jacob as his first-born son, yet all of Israel was called Jacob, "Then say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the LORD says: Israel is my first-born son, and I told you, Let my son go, so he may worship me. But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your first-born son.'" (Exo 4:22-23). We see that all of Israel is called God's servant (singular): "But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend" (Isa 41:8). Finally, we see that when Jacob goes into Egypt the Bible gives us a list of people that went with him. The problem is, some of them had not yet been born: "All those who went to Egypt with Jacob--those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons' wives--numbered sixty-six persons" (Gen 46:26) (Compare 42:37 and 46:9 to see those that have not yet been born). From all of this we can see that Israel, or the descendants God was referring to when He gave the covenant to Abraham in Genesis 15 could be viewed as Jacob. With this understanding let us look at the next step. In Exodus we see not 400 years, but 430: "Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years" (Exo 12:40) Why the seeming contradiction? There is no contradiction, just a common misunderstanding of Bible commentators. We know how old Joseph was when he became the 2nd most powerful man in Egypt, "Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt" (Gen 41:46). Then, according to Pharaoh's dream, there were 7 good years for the crops and 7 poor years of famine. After two years of famine had passed Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and Jacob was brought to Egypt DURING the 3rd year of the famine (Gen 45:6). Therefore, Joseph being 30 when he was exalted, plus 7 years of good, plus 2 years of famine, make him 40 years old during the 3rd year of the famine. This is important because we also know that Joseph died at the age of 110 (Gen 50:26). After Joseph died, the Israelites became slaves (Ex 1:8). That means from Joseph's 40th year when Jacob came to Egypt to his 110th year there were a total of 70 years of peace for JACOB in Egypt. How old was Jacob when he came to Egypt? Jacob told Pharaoh, "The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult" (Gen 47:9) The Hebrew word for difficult is literally "evil." It is almost as if Jacob is saying that so far in his 130 years of life, he has been oppressed, life has been bad. Therefore, from Jacob's birth (beginning of Israel) to being delivered to Joseph for peace was 130 years. Then there were 70 years of peace until Joseph died. After that, slavery began. (Note: Israel clearly was not in slavery the whole time they were in Egypt). 130 70 = 200 years. According to Exodus 12:40 the Israelites were in Egypt 430 years regardless of hardship or peace and therefore, 430 - 200 accountable years = 230 years the Israelites must have been slaves. Because Exodus states that Israel was in Egypt exactly 430 years to the day, that must be true. It is important to realize that historically Egypt captured Canaan the same time Jacob was born. Secondly, and more Biblically defendable, the Septuagint, (Greek translation of the Old Testament quoted by Stephen in Acts 7 and by other Biblical authors in various places) states that Israel was in "Egypt and Canaan" exactly 430 years when they crossed the Red Sea. Therefore, 130 years from Jacobs Birth to entering Egypt 70 years under Joseph in Egypt 230 years of slavery = exactly 430 years in Egypt. This may sound strange so far, but it will become more clear. What do we do with the 400 years of oppression God told Abraham about? Well we know Jacob had 130 years of oppression. Then there were 230 years of slavery. Then after that, 40 years of desert wandering during the time of the Exodus. 130 230 40=400. There were exactly 400 years of oppression for Israel before they entered the promised land. Let's get back to the age of the earth. Jacob was born 2110 years after creation. From his birth to Egypt was 130 plus 70 years of peace under Joseph, plus 230 years of slavery plus 40 years of desert wandering equals 2580 years after Creation that Israel entered the promised land (1461 B.C.). Next we read, "In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the LORD" (1 Ki 6:1). That means we need to subtract 40 years for the desert wandering because here we are given the date from the Exodus. 2580 - 40 = 2540. Now 2540 480 until the 4th year of Solomon is 3020 years after Creation. According to Ezekiel 4 Jerusalem would last a total of 430 years. "I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel. After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year" (Ezek 4:5-6). 390 40 =430 years that Jerusalem existed before its destruction. We stopped at 3020 years after creation up to the 4th year of Solomon who was reigning in Jerusalem. Because Solomon had already reigned 4 years and before him David reigned 33 years in Jerusalem (1 Kings 2:10-11) that leaves 37 years we need to subtract to get to the point that Jerusalem was first occupied by Israel. (David captured the city of Jerusalem so it wasn't Israel's before that). So 3020 - 37 to get us back to the beginning of Jerusalem = 2983 years after Creation. 2983 430 years that Jerusalem was to exist =3413 years after creation until the first temple was destroyed in 588 B.C. as documented by historical and astrological records by the Babylonians. The next temple was destroyed in 70 AD as documented by historical records and therefore there were a total of 657 years between 588 B.C. and 70 A.D. 3413 657=1930 years after creation. Therefore, from 70 A.D. to the year 2000 is 6000 years after Creation. We will explain further significances of this in later newsletters, but for now you may check out the web at the following site: http://www.ncn.net/~chri/index.html