Who Knew Who?

Published: Tue, 04/17/18

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth!

Hi ,

Sometimes, when we read the Bible, it helps to have a picture, or image, perhaps a map, to understand certain truths. These can help us put things into perspective. So, look at the chart below. This is a time line, based mainly on Genesis 5, showing the biblical patriarchs and when they lived. The vertical black lines each represent a century, with the number at the top in the blue bar. Each horizontal bar is a patriarch. At the end of the bar is a number that represents his total lifespan. Each bar (patriarch) begins at the appropriate age of his father.

Looking over the chart, there are some interesting things we can learn...

1. Adam perhaps knew Methuselah.

2. Methuselah died at age 969, the very year his grandson turned 600 (Gen. 7:6).

3. Adam died just over 100 years before Noah was born.

4. The great flood took place 1,656 years after creation.

5. Noah lived another 350 years after the flood ended, so he probably was present at Babel when the events of Genesis 11 took place.

6. Noah probably knew Terah, but perhaps just missed Abraham's birth!

7. Shem, who lived through the flood, outlived Terah. He probably also knew Abraham.

8. Shem hadn't been dead very long when his great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandson, Jacob, returned to the area to get a wife!

What other interesting observations can you make?

In Christ,