The Curse of Cainan ( Jub . 8.1-5): Genealogies in Genesis 5 and Genesis 11 and a Mathematical Pattern

Abstract

This study suggests that Cainan (LXX Gen. 10.24; Gen. 11.12; [LXX A] 1 Chron. 1.18; Jub. 8.1-5; Lk. 3.36-37), the missing thirteenth patriarch from Adam in the genealogical table in Masoretic text (MT) and the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP) was known to the authors of the proto-MT, and the proto-SP. Using textual and chrono-genealogical analysis, it offers evidence to show that the thirteenth generation from the thirteenth generation from Adam had to contend with a curse. An arithmetical test on the variant chrono-genealogical data in Gen. 5 and Gen. 11 in the MT, SP, LXX Vaticanus (B), LXX Alexandrinus (A) and the Peshitta show that the ages and `begetting' ages of the ancestors across the recensions create an integrated mathematical model. It would appear that the variant data in the texts was compiled by the same mathematical school of Jewish scholars, probably in Palestine and Alexandria. The arithmetical paradigm takes into account Cainan's presence in LXX B and LXX A and his absence in the proto-MT, proto-SP and the Peshitta. It is likely that the Gen. 5 and Gen. 11 chrono-genealogies can be dated to between the compilation of the LXX Genesis, in the third century BCE and the schism between the Samaritans and the Jews in the second century BCE.

Keywords

Cainan Curse Genesis Jubilees Genealogies Samaritan.

References

Bork, F. 1929 `Zur Chronologie der biblischen Urgeschichte', ZAW 47: 206-22.

Daube, D. 1968 `The Night of Death', HTR 61: 629-32.

Davila, J. 1994 H. `4QGen ', in E. Ulrich et al. (ed.), Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XII: Qumran Cave IV: Genesis to Numbers (Oxford: Clarendon Press ): 31-38.

Davies, P.R. 1998 Scribes and Schools: The Canonization of the Hebrew Scriptures ( London: SPCK).

Eshel, E. , and H. Eshel 2003 `Dating the Samaritan Pentateuch's Compilation in Light of the Qumran Biblical Scrolls', in Shalom Paul et al. (eds), Emanuel: Studies in the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, and Dead Sea Scrolls in Honor of Emanuel Tov ( Leiden: Brill).

Etz, D.V. 1993 `The Numbers of Genesis V 3-31: A Suggested Conversion and Its Implications', Vetus Testamentum 43: 171-89.

Fry, Virgil R.L. 1992 `Cainan', in ABD : I, 807.

García Martínez, F. , and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar 1997 The Dead Sea Scrolls: Study Edition (2 vols; Leiden : Brill).

Gardner, Bruce K. 2001 The Genesis Calendar: The Synchronistic Tradition in Genesis 1-11 (Maryland: University Press of America).

10.

Fernández Marcos, N. 2000 The Septuagint in Context: Introduction to the Greek Versions of the Bible (Leiden: Brill).

11.

Halpern-Amaru, B. 1994 `The First Woman, Wives and Mothers in Jubilees' , JBL 113: 609-26. 1999 The Empowerment of Women in the Book of Jubilees (SJSJ, 60; Leiden: E.J. Brill).

12.

Hasel, G. 1980 `Genesis 5 and 11: Chronogenealogies in the Biblical History of Beginnings', Origins 7.1: 23-27 (online: http://ldolphin.org/haselgeneal.html [retrieved 29 January 2009).

13.

Hillel, V. 2007 `Naphtali, a Proto-Joseph in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs', JSP 16: 171-201.

14.

Hollander, H.W. , and M. de Jonge 1985 The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs: A Commentary (SVTO, 8; Leiden: Brill).

15.

Jepsen, A. 1929 `Zur Chronologie des Priesterkodex', ZAW 47: 252-55

16.

Jobes, K.H. , and M. Silva 2005 Invitation to the Septuagint ( Grand Rapids: Baker Academic).

17.

Kugler, R.A. 2001 The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press ).

18.

Lamsa, G. 1957 The Holy Bible from Ancient Near Eastern Manuscripts ( Philadelphia: A.J Holman).

19.

Larsson, G. 2002 `Septuagint versus Massoretic Chronology', ZAW 114: 511-21.

20.

Loader, W. 2007 Enoch, Levi and Jubilees on Sexuality: Attitudes towards Sexuality in the Early Enoch Literature, the Aramaic Levi Document, and the Book of Jubilees (Leiden: Brill ).

21.

Lohfink, N. 1994 Theology of the Pentateuch: Themes of the Priestly Narrative and Deuteronomy (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark).

22.

Milik, J.T. 1976 The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumrân Cave 4 ( Oxford: Clarendon Press).

23.

Nickelsburg, G.W.E. , and J.C. VanderKam 2004 1 Enoch: A New Translation ( Minneapolis : Fortress Press).

24.

Northcote, J. 2004 `The Schematic Development of Old Testament Chronography: Towards an Integrated Model', JSOT 29: 3-36.

25.

2007 `The Lifespans of the Patriarchs: Schematic Orderings in the Chronogenealogy', VT 57: 243-57.

26.

Parker, D.C. 1992 `Codex Vaticanus', in ABD : I, 807

27.

Pietersma, A. , and B.G. Wright 2007 A New English Translation of the Septuagint and Other Greek Translations Traditionally Included under that Title ( Oxford: Oxford University Press).

28.

Rook, J. 1990 `The Names of the Wives from Adam to Abraham in the Book of Jubilees', JSP 7: 105-17.

29.

Sasson, J.M. 1978 `A Genealogical "Convention" in Biblical Chronography?' , ZAW 90: 171-85.

30.

Tov, E. 1989 `Proto-Samaritan Texts and the Samaritan Pentateuch' , in A.D. Crown (ed.), The Samaritans: Their Religion, Literature, Society and Culture ( Tübingen : Mohr Siebeck): 397-407.

31.

2001 Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible ( Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2nd edn).

32.

VanderKam, J.C. (trans.) 1989 The Book of Jubilees (2 vols.; Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 511; Scriptores Aethiopici; Leuven: Peeters).

33.

2001 The Book of Jubilees (Guides to the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha ; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press).

34.

Von Gall, A.F. 1918 Der Hebraïsche Pentateuch der Samaritaner ( Giessen: Alfred Töpelmann).

35.

Whiston, W. 2003 The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson).

36.

Westermann, C. 1984 Genesis 1-11: A Commentary (translated by John J. Scullion; London: SPCK).

37.

Wintermute, O.S. 1985 `Jubilees', in OTP : II, 35-142.