There are 10 “Toledoths” which unite Genesis and
demonstrate that the entire book is consecutive history. Toledoth
means “this is the history of.”
Archaeologist P.J. Wiseman wrote New Discoveries in Babylonia about Genesis in 1936. Wiseman found certain characteristics of ANE (Ancient
Near Eastern) literature:
- Records begins abruptly with no heading
- Each tablet ends with a toledoth statement referring to what has been written before
- The name in the toledoth statement refers to the writer or owner of the tablet
Donald Wiseman has edited an updated version of his
father’s work, Clues to Creation in
Genesis, and has provided more evidence that the toledoths are at the end
of each section and denote the author. Here
are the 10 toledoths:
Heavens & Earth (2.4) Adam (5.1)
Noah (6:9) Noah’s
sons (10.1)
Shem (11:10) Terah
(11:27)
Ishmael (25:12) Isaac
(25:19)
Esau (36:1) [1] Jacob
(37:2)
Charles Taylor provides a helpful insight on the first
toledoth, “Who, then, was the writer of the first record? Was it Adam, instructed by God, or could it
even be God himself, writing as he wrote the ten commandments?” In Exodus 31:18 we learn that the Ten
Commandments were written by the finger of God.
How does this apply?
Consider the account of Abraham offering up Isaac:
Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” (Gen. 22:2-5)
Abraham started off toward Mount Moriah on the next
morning – not millions of years later.
On the third day (3 normal 24 hour days) of Abraham’s journey he
separated from his servants. These days
were not periods of undefined length where events may have been out of
sequence. According to advocates of Old Earth Fallacies (OEF’s)
Genesis gives an order of events contra Big Science:
Earth before the sun Light before the sun
Plants before the sun Man
before thorns
Fruit trees before plants Trees before land animals
Flowers before bees Birds before dinosaurs
So we must take Genesis 1-11 as real history and not
inject millions or billions of years into the text. Creation Week tells of the Lord making the heavens
and earth with its plants and animals, including mankind, in 6 earth-rotation
days. Before Day1 there was no light and
prior to Day4 the sun did not exist.
Stand up for Genesis – Truth Matters.
“I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not
believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” (Jn. 3:12)
Note:
1) There is a repetition in Gen. 36:9.
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