Genesis 5 · a question people ask
Can you add up these numbers to find the date of creation?
The chapter gives each father's age when his son was born, so the numbers can be added. Whether that gives a full timeline depends on whether the list skips generations.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
A closed timeline
The list is complete, and adding the ages gives the years from Adam to the flood. Supporters point out that, unlike most genealogies, each entry gives the father's age when the son was born, which reads like a timeline. This is how some older chronologies, like James Ussher's in the 1600s, dated creation.
Genesis 5:3-32 · Genesis 7:6
An open list
"Became the father of" can mean became the ancestor of. Matthew's genealogy says "Joram became the father of Uzziah", passing over three kings (Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah) whom 1 Chronicles lists between them; 1 Chronicles calls Uzziah by his other name, Azariah, as 2 Kings 15 does. If Genesis 5 also skips names, the numbers don't add up to a total.
Matthew 1:8 · 1 Chronicles 3:11-12 · 2 Kings 15:1 · 2 Kings 15:13
The verses
“Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.”
“Seth lived one hundred five years, then became the father of Enosh.”