Unlike most people I have come across, I am someone who finds the genealogies and chronology of the Bible utterly fascinating. One of my main leisure pursuits, for many years, has been family history research and, building on a great deal of careful work done my mother – all without the aid of a computer, it has to be said! – I have accumulated a database of more than 12,000 people stretching back some 1500 years.
I have also done quite a lot of work over the years working out dates and lifespans etc of as many Bible characters as I can and the work yields all sorts of lessons – some, undoubtedly, more significant than others.
Did you know, for example:
- that Noah was still alive when Abraham was born and that he was born while Enosh, Adam’s grandson was still alive?
- that when Esau and Jacob has their famous fallout, recorded in Genesis 27, they were not two squabbling adolescents but would have been in their early 70s?
- that when Daniel was put in the lions’ den he was an old man, probably in his early 80s?
I mention this because one of my study projects for 2023 is to collate all the biblical genealogical data I can find into an extensive Bible Family Tree. I have just started this project, combining it with my systematic Bible reading, and today have filled in the relevant and available information we have in the first 5 chapters of Genesis.
I also plan to produce a chronological outline of each book of the Bible and an overview timeline of as many of the main Bible characters as I can.
I’ll keep you posted as I make progress, and especially draw your attention to significant discoveries I make. I would also welcome questions you might have about various pieces of genealogical data in the Bible – either because I may have an answer already, or because it will open up a new search for me.
You might also be interested in my Concise Chronology of the Bible
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