Lampe on Church History: The Church from the Flood to Abraham

I.  From the Flood to the calling of Abraham flowed four hundred and twenty-seven years, according to the calculation of the Hebrew text, which we safely follow, with the Greek Interpreters, the Samaritan Text, and Josephus sent away, who determine that this Epoch was seven hundred and eighty, or eight hundred and eighty, years longer.  We do not need this hypothesis, to find the time of the confusion at Babel, suitable for the multiplication of mankind; and thus do we order the time of this interval:  Years from the flood to the birth:

Of Arphaxad        2

Of Salah               35

Of Eber                30

Of Peleg               34

Of Reu                 30

Of Serug              32

Of Nahor              30

Of Terah              39

Of Abraham         130[1]

To his Calling      75

                             427

II.  That Cainan, whom the Greeks set froth in the Genealogy of the Patriarchs as the Son of Arphaxad, and assign to him one hundred and thirty years before τεκνογονίαν/child-bearing,[2] we do not acknowledge:  although he does appear in the very text of Luke,[3] into which perhaps it crept out of the excessive reverence of the first Church Fathers for the Alexandrian Interpreters.

III.  But, that Abraham was born to Terah, not in the seventieth year of his age, but in the one hundred and thirtieth, is evident from this, that Abraham in the seventy-fifth year of his age, after the death of his father Terah, when he met his death, was two hundred and five years old, migrated from Haran into the land of Canaan, Genesis 12:4 in comparison with 11:32; Acts 7:4.

IV.  The Church of this age in the family of Noah, filling the whole earth, not according to the division of Noah, but by the leading of divine providence, and giving to a great many celebrated nation name and origin, was reduced by degrees into narrower bounds.  For it was propagated, not as much through Ham, as through Japheth, but especially through Shem and his posterity,[4] among whom Eber is prominent,[5] from whom the whole family of the Hebrews is thought to have obtained its name.

V.  God established the Church, when He made a covenant with Noah and his seed, in which He promised that the world would never again be destroyed by a flood, with the seal of the rainbow also added.  He also restored to the Noachides dominion over the creation, and granted permission to eat the flesh of living things, yet with the eating of blood and murder prohibited.[6]  Those things that the Teachers of the Jews commemorate concerning the seven precepts of the Noachides are uncertain.

VI.  Nevertheless, the beginnings of corruption appeared suddenly in the impiety of Ham’s mockery, which together with the curse devolved unto his son Canaan.  The affair burst forth in strength, when the tower of Babel began to be built, contrary to the counsel of God.  For, when the efforts of the Noachides were rendered useless by their dispersion,[7] Asshur laid the foundations of the Ninevite monarchy, and Nimrod those of the Babylonian monarchy.[8]  Doubtlessly also a Kingdom was in time erected in Egypt by Mizraim,[9] whom some maintain to be Menes,[10] others with more probability Mestrius, Father of the Demigods in Egypt.  A certain one of the most ancient Kings of the Egyptians appears to have borne the title of Pharaoh, perhaps from פרעה,[11] from some notable vengeance taken on enemies, whence in subsequent times this title adhered to the Kings of the Egyptians.  Now, with the confusion of tongues unto dispersion approaching, the tradition of saving doctrine began to be forgotten for a while, and the beginnings of idolatry to be introduced, which was strengthened to such an extent that the very family of Eber was contaminated with it.  But the first worship of idols appears, for the author of which Serug[12] is held by certain Fathers and other Eastern writers, arose in Chaldea and concerned the Sun and the Moon.  But what things are related concerning the incredibly ancient tradition of the Zabians,[13] we leave to its place.

VII.  Neither was this field of forging a great many fable barren.  To this I refer Saturn dividing the kingdom among his three sons,[14] Japetus,[15] the Giant-war,[16] and similar things.

[1] See Genesis 11.

[2] Genesis 11:12, 13 in the Septuagint:  Καὶ ἔζησεν Ἀρφαξὰδ ἑκατὸν τριάκοντα πέντε ἔτη, καὶ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Καϊνᾶν.  Καὶ ἔζησεν Ἀρφαξὰδ, μετὰ τὸ γεννῆσαι αὐτὸν τὸν Καϊνᾶν, ἔτη τετρακόσια τριάκοντα, καὶ ἐγέννησεν υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας, καὶ ἀπέθανεν.  Καὶ ἔζησεν Καϊνᾶν ἑκατὸν τριάκοντα ἔτη, καὶ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Σαλὰ·  καὶ ἔζησεν Καϊνᾶν, μετὰ τὸ γεννῆσαι αὐτὸν τὸν Σαλὰ, ἔτη τριακόσια τριάκοντα, καὶ ἐγέννησεν υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας, καὶ ἀπέθανεν, and Arphaxad lived one hundred and thirty-five years, and begat Cainan:  And Arphaxad lived, after he begat Cainan, four hundred and thirty years, and he begat sons and daughters, and he died:  And Cainan lived one hundred and thirty years, and he begat Salah:  And Cainan lived, after he begat Salah, three hundred and thirty years, and he begat sons and daughters, and he died.

[3] Luke 3:36, 37.

[4] See Genesis 9:25-27.

[5] Genesis 10:21, 24, 25; 11:14-17; Numbers 24:24; 1 Chronicles 1:18, 19, 25.

[6] See Genesis 8:20-9:17.

[7] Genesis 11:1-9.

[8] Genesis 10:8-12.

[9] Genesis 10:6, 13, 14; 1 Chronicles 1:8, 11, 12.

[10] The classical tradition ascribed the founding of the First Egyptian Dynasty, uniting Upper and Lower Egypt, to King Menes.

[11] פרע signifies to destroy, to tear, or to settle with or punish.

[12] Genesis 11:20-23

[13] The Zabians are said to have been an ancient sect of astrologers and star-worshippers in Chaldea.  Their name appears to be derived from צבד/hosts.

[14] See Genesis 10:1.

[15] Japetus was a Titan, one of the sons of Uranus and Gaia.

[16] In Greek mythology, the Giantomachy was fought between the Olympian gods and the rebel Giants.