YALAD
The authority of Scripture is a key issue for the Christian church. Inerrancy of Holy Scripture – its total truth and trustworthiness – is essential to a full grasp and adequate confession of its authority. Consider some excerpts taken from the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy:
Article VII “We affirm that the whole of Scripture and all its parts, down to the very words of the original, were given by divine inspiration.”
Article VIII “We affirm that God in His work of inspiration utilized the distinctive personalities and literary styles of the writers whom He had chosen and prepared.”
Article XVIII “We affirm that the text of Scripture is to be interpreted by grammatico-historical exegesis, taking account of its literary forms and devices, and that Scripture is to interpret Scripture.”
It’s no secret, I’m an “old-earther”; that means I believe the Creator has been active, intervening in the affairs of the earth, for billions of years. Thus, I struggle with the Young Earth Creationist (YEC) viewpoint of an earth creation date somewhere between 6200 to 15,000 years ago. The roots of young-earth rationale extend back into the 17th century.
In AD 1654, Archbishop of Armagh, James Ussher, of the Church-of-Ireland, published his famous calculation for the precise date when God began creating: 22 October 4004 BC at around 6 pm. Counting back from 2018, and using Ussher’s math, God would have created the earth just 6021 years ago. That would make the earth very young indeed! Naturally, Ussher’s age-date strongly supports a Young Earth Creationist narrative.
So how did the Irish bishop arrive at his very precise date? Critical to Ussher’s math is YALAD, an ancient “original” Hebrew word that has been debated by linguistic scholars for over 3400 years. Moses would have known exactly what it meant; after all, he’s the one who often used it.
Here are some possible meanings; unfortunately, we can’t go back in time and ask Moses for clarification.
Begat / begotten: grandfather - father – son – grandson; direct lineage with no gaps in the generations; “became the father of”; to bare
Progeny: a descendant of the descendants of a person; offspring; a general familial relationship
Ancestor: one more remote than a grandparent, from whom one is descended
Nation: a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture or language; “two nations are in your (Rebekah’s) womb (Gen. 25:23)
Ussher chose a “no gap” between generations – begat, became the father of – definition for his calculations; using this literal approach, he skillfully made the case for an October 4004 BC creation date. Does scripture, in proper context, support a literal, “begat” interpretation where there is no break or gap in the geneology?
Consider Amran and Jochebed, the couple often referred to as Moses’ “parents”. Exodus 6 records the family genealogy of Moses and Aaron, making use of the word “yalad”. “These were the names of the sons of Levi…Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (v16); the sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar...(v18); Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses” (v20). But later, in I Chronicles 6:3 and 23:13, Moses is described as the son or child of Amram. This is problematic since Amram would have been between 216 and 362 years old at the time of Moses’ birth. According to Exodus 6:20, Amram died at the ripe old age of 137!
To support the position that there had to be a gap in Moses’ genealogy, the census recorded in Numbers 3:27-28 states: “to Kohath (a son of Levi) belonged the clans of Amramites, Izharites, etc. The number of all the (Kohathite) males a month old or more (during the days of Moses) was 8600 descendants.” If Moses were Kohath’s grandson, as would be understood in a literal translation if there were no gaps in the genealogy, it is then highly unlikely Kohath could have had 8600 male descendants at the time of the Exodus! Clearly Moses is a descendant, but not a grandson, of Amram and Jochebed. The Moses – Amram account is but one of many similar examples of genealogical “gaps” occur in scripture. Note, seventeen verses in the New Testament describe Jesus as the “son of David.” But the question arises, how could Jesus be the son of David if David lived approximately 1000 years before Jesus? Here Yalad = progeny. Luke Ch. 3 refers to Adam, son of God; Exodus 4:22 refers to Jacob (Israel) as the son (firstborn) of God. Here Yalad = nation.
The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy should be taken seriously, but that doesn’t mean Ussher, when making his creation-calculations, correctly interpreted those guidelines. He assumed a specific literal meaning of ‘yalad’ to fit his calculation narrative; he didn’t necessarily follow grammatico-historical exegesis; had he let ‘Scripture interpret Scripture’ for the word ‘yalad’, and considered its other meanings – progeny, ancestor, nation - he might have concluded that his genealogical arithmetic didn’t add up.
So one can support an old earth position, even billions of years, and still be in full accord with the authority and inerrancy of scripture.
