Biblical-Historical Light and Law

1536 Noah begins his preaching of repentance 120 years before the Flood and announces its coming. See Genesis 6, 3.

1556 Japheth is born to Noah when Noah is 500 years old. See Genesis 5, 32; compare chapter 10, 21.

1558 Shem is born to Noah when Noah is 502 years old. Therefore, Shem was 100 years old after the Flood. See Genesis 5, 32; compare 7, 6 and 11, 10. Ham was born after this as the youngest son of Noah Genesis 9, 24, and his birth year cannot be precisely determined.

1651 Lamech dies at the age of 777 years. He is the faithful Lamech, to be distinguished from the Lamech in the line of Cain. See Genesis 5, 31.

From this time onward, Noah built the ark. Genesis 6, 15. 11-22.

1656 Methuselah dies. Genesis 5, 27. Regarding him, it should be noted:

1. That he became the oldest among the primary members of Adam's descendants recorded in the genealogy ancestral line of the Messiah, living 969 years.

2. That he died shortly before the Flood.

3. That he had many years of fellowship with Adam and also with Enoch. He had an even longer fellowship with Noah, lasting nearly six hundred years, and a nearly hundred-year fellowship with Noah's three sons: Japheth, Shem, and Ham.

4. Because Noah and his sons had such long fellowship with Methuselah, and Methuselah previously with Adam, the history of the times of Adam was easily passed down through Noah and his sons. This information reached into the third millennium from the creation of the world. It was as simple as a report brought from a father to a grandson, or a grandson hearing it from his grandfather. For the lives of Noah and his sons reached back into the life of Methuselah, and Methuselah's life reached back into the life of Adam.

1657 In this year the Flood began. Specifically, on the tenth day of the second month, Noah entered the ark with his family. The Flood came on the seventeenth day. Genesis 7, 1. 4. 7. 10. 11. It lasted until the first day of the first month in the following year, 1658. Genesis 8, 13.

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The Second Period.

the Flood until Abraham's journey from Mesopotamia to Canaan, consisting of 427 years.

1658 Noah leaves the ark and brings his sacrifice of thanks to God. He is 601 years old. This occurs on the 27th day of the second month Genesis 8, 14, after the earth had already begun to dry on the first day of the first month. Genesis 7, 13 and following.

Elam and Asshur, Shem's oldest sons, were presumably born as twins in this year. Genesis 10, 22; 1 Chronicles 1, 17. This is because Arphaxad was born in the hundredth year of his father Shem, which was two years after the Flood. Genesis 11, 10; compare 10, 22. In this year, Cush, the father of Nimrod, was also born to Ham. Genesis 10, 6.

1659 Arphaxad, the third son of Shem, is born when Shem was one hundred years old. Genesis 10, 11. Through him, the Messianic line of descent is continued.

1660 Canaan, the youngest son of Ham, is born. Genesis 10, 6.

Between 1660 and 1670, Noah began viticulture. He was overcome by the untested strength of the first wine and lay uncovered. He was mocked by his son Ham and grandson Canaan to their curse, but he was covered by Japheth and Shem to their blessing. Genesis 9, 21-27.

1694 Shelah is born to Arphaxad when he was 35 years old. Genesis 11, 12. Around this

time, Nimrod, the sixth son of Cush, is also born. Genesis 10, 7-8.

1724 Eber is born to Shelah when he was 30 years old. Genesis 10, 21. 24; chapter 11, 14.

Around this time, Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, begins to abuse hunting as a means to overpower many others. He lays the foundation for the first kingdom by building several cities in the land of Shinar, or Chaldea. Genesis 10, 8. Therefore, Chaldea is called the land of Nimrod in Micah 5, 5. From this Nimrodian kingdom arises serfdom enforced servitude, which results from such conquests and conflicts with the law of nature.

1758 After people had already begun for some time to make a name for themselves—presumably under Nimrod's leadership—by building a city and a great tower within it, they were prevented by the confusion of languages. They were scattered from one another into various regions of the world. Because of this confusion, the building that had been started was called Babel. Genesis 11, 1 and following.

Peleg was born to Eber around this time, when Eber was 34 years old. He received the name Peleg from this scattering. Genesis 10, 25; chapter 11, 16. The name Peleg relates to the Hebrew word for "division."

After this time, people gradually fell into idolatry.