312 Mr Laurie on the different Chronology of' the Delvge. 



each table shews the ages of the antediluvian patriarchs at the 

 births of their eldest sons, and the sum of this column gives the 

 year of the Flood. The second column shews the surplus of 

 their years; and the third shews how old they were when they 

 died. In Noah's case, the number is the year of his age when 

 the Flood came. 



I. Hebrew Text. 



I a 



Septuagint. 



Adam, . . . 



130 









700 



930 



800 



930 



230 



Seth, . . . 



105 



807 



912 



205 



707 



912 



Enos, . . . 



90 



815 



905 



190 



715 



905 



Cainan, . . 



70 



840 



910 



170 



740 



910 



Mahalaleel, . 



65 



830 



895 



165 



730 



895 



Jared, . . 



162 



800 



962 



162 



800 



962 



Enoch, . . 



65 



300 



365 



165 



200 



365 



Methuselah, . 



187 



782 



969 



167 



802 



969 



Lamech, . . 



182 



595 



777 



188 



565 



753 



Noah, . . . 



600 







600 







Total, . 



1656 







2242 







A single glance at these tables is enough to prove the Doctor's 

 hypothesis to be groundless ; for though the sums-total of gene- 

 rations may bear the ratios often and twelve respectively, yet the 

 separate sums cannot be brought under such a rule. For instance, 

 Adam's age, according to the Greek text, at the birth of Seth, 

 was 230 years, which, if only often months each, would make 

 191 solar years, instead of the 130 of the Hebrew Bible ; and so 

 with the others. The last and largest item of both tables finally 

 disposes of the Doctor's hypothesis ; for in both of them Noah's 

 age at the coming of the Flood is the same. What, then, be- 

 comes of his ratio here ? The agreement, besides, of the two 

 tables in the total age of each patriarch, shews beyond dispute, 

 that the years employed in both texts were of the same precise 

 length, and that their different chronology of the Flood is occa- 

 sioned by their different statements of the ages of the patriarchs 

 at the births of their eldest sons. 



A like difference between the Hebrew and the Greek Bibles 

 extends through the generations of the postdiluvian patriarchs : 

 the calculation from the Septuagint making the date of the 

 Flood 3155, and from the Hebrew Bible only 2348, years be- 

 fore the Christian era. 



The real cause of these differences is unknown. The only 



