quote:
Originally posted by Martin J. Koszegi:
Let's use the figure of 367 years. Just to be absolutely clear, are you saying that beginning with three couples (Noah's three sons and their wives), and given their "multiple hundreds of years" life spans, amid their commission from God to begin another "be fruitful and multiply" epoch, that the multiplication possibilities implied could not produce a sufficient population for "a Pharaoh culture" within the suggested time frame?
Just a little bit of extra information on this topic:
According to Genesis 12, there is a Pharaoh in Egypt during Abraham's sojourn there. Abraham was born approximately 250 years after the flood (Genesis 11). Genesis 9:28 tells us that Noah lived 350 years after the flood, so he was still alive at the time of Abraham's sojourn in Egypt (Abraham was still under 100 at that time - Genesis 21:5). According to Genesis 11, Shem lived 502 years after the flood. In fact, all the firstborn sons from Shem to Abraham were still alive at the time of Abraham's birth. This statement is limited to the firstborn only because they are the only ones for whom the Bible gives us the length of their lives. It is therefore not improbable to conclude that most of the other sons enjoyed similar lifespans, nor is there any reason to assume that this length of life was limited to the generations of Shem. Japheth, Ham, and their sons most likely were alive at the time of Abraham as well. There are 70 descendents of Japheth, Shem, and Ham mentioned by name in Genesis 10. Arphaxad and Salah each have only one of their sons mentioned, but we know from Genesis 11 that they each bore at least two giving us a minimum listing of 72 sons in Genesis 10. There are 14 fathers listed in this chapter which would give us an average of 5.14 sons per father. There are 9 generations listed in Genesis 11. Each of these generations is said to produce at least two sons other than the son through which the lineage is recorded. This gives us a minimum of 27 males. Taking our previously attained average of 5.14 sons per male, we arrive at a minimum average of 138.78 male descendents of Shem at the time of Abraham. Assuming that the descendents of Japheth and Ham were equally productive, we arrive at a minimum estimate of 416 males on Earth at the time of Abraham's sojourn in Egypt. Assuming a 1;1 ratio of males to females we receive an estimated population of 832 people. Please note that this is just an estimate. The actual population could have been either lower or higher. Given the lack of data and the nature of that data, I would conclude that the actual population was much higher than the stated estimate.
Hope this is helpful.
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