The Step-down to Two Hundred in Genesis 11,10–25
Abstract
The expansive life-spans of Gen 5 and 11 were in the main organized in MT around the numbers 900, 600, 400 and 200. The first three of these figures were apparently adapted from foundational algebraic exercises in the sexagesimal mathematics of Babylonia, in which they are products of 30 and 20. That the author's inspiration for the scheme came from this mathematics is suggested also by the step-down from a 400-group to a 200-group. The strongest evidence that 200 has a special affinity with the larger figures comes from a mathematical problem devised in the Old Babylonian period, wherein the core number is sexagesimal 3,20, the equivalent of decimal 200. The threefold application of 3,20 in the problem raises the possibility that the biblical chronologist may have been induced thereby to create a triadic arrangement for both the 400-group and the 200-group.
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- Authors
- Young, D. W.
- Corresponding author
- Young, Dwight Wayne
- Venue
- Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 2004-01-06
- Volume
- 116
- Issue
- 3
- ISSN
- 0044-2526 (ISSN-L)
- 1613-0103
- OpenAlex
- W2081081124
- Semantic Scholar
- cbc421278b9aae375ee9b5a9fe20eeeb6a9fac86
- Cited by
- 0
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- de
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Near East History
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Theoretical Computer Science › History and Theory of Mathematics
- Keywords
- Genesis 5, lifespan, number symbolism, Old Babylonian mathematics, biblical chronology
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