When was Shem born?

Rei writes:

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I have. The problem is, Shem doesn't add up.

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It would help if you would stop trying to play a game of gotcha and just come out with it.Genesis 5:32: And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.We then compare this to the later passage:Genesis 11:10: These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:Thus, if Shem was 100 two years after the flood, then he was 98 when the flood was over, and 97 when the flood started. Since Noah was 600 when the flood started, that would mean that Shem was born when Noah was 503.Now, the question then becomes: What does Gen 5:32 means? Does it mean Noah had his kids before, after, or right when he turned 500?There's only a problem if Gen 5:32 means that Noah had his kids before or right when he turned 500 since later passages state that Shem was born when Noah was 503.But if it means Noah didn't have Shem, Ham, and Japheth until after he was 500, then there is no problem.Or are you getting at something else?------------------
Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!

Rei responds to me:

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First off, Rrhain, it's much better if they have to read their own Bible and run into things themselves.

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I know.But we both know they're not going to do that. After all, look at the response you were given: Read Genesis 5. But the problem is, it isn't Genesis 5 that is the issue...it's the relationship of Genesis 5 to Genesis 11 that causes the problem. They'll never get it because they aren't looking for it.

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The problem of reading it as Noah begat Shem several years after he was 500 years old is that you have to invalidate the accuracy of all of the other chronologies, which use the same wording.

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But that's a separate issue. It makes the chronology a little fuzzy and little bit longer, but it is completely insurmountable since we can derive worst case scenarios. That is, while the claims of age of the sire may be a bit nebulous, there is nothing nebulous about saying so-and-so was X years old when he died. Since we know the kids had to have been born within that time period, we can generate a timeline.Of course, that timeline will have nothing to do with what the Bible says it is when read in any sort of reasonable manner. It's inconsistent and can't be trusted.

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The issue is, the dates don't reconcile.

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Most definitely.But playing gotcha doesn't help show that.------------------
Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!