For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Who was Salah’s father?
Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:
Salah’s father was Arphaxad
“Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber.” (Genesis 10:24)
“Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and became the father of Shelah” (Genesis 11:12)
Salah’s father was Cainan.
“the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,” (Luke 3:35-36)
(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)
Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:
- When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction. A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time. To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
- One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible. See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions. Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do. But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
- The skeptic tries to pit Genesis 10:24 and Genesis 11:12 as affirming the claim “Salah’s father was Arphaxad” against Luke 3:35-36 as affirming “Salah’s father was Cainan.”
- All the passage does mention Arphaxad and Salah.
- For Luke 3:35-36 it does mentioned “Salah’s father was Cainan.” Cainan is between Salah and Arphaxad. So according to Luke 3:35-36 Arphaxad is the grandfather of Salah.
- While the skeptic cited Genesis 11:12 as affirming the claim “Salah’s father was Arphaxad” but looking at it more closely it does provide clue that it is compatible with Luke 3:35-36’s claim that “Salah’s father was Cainan.” In Genesis 11:12 Arphaxad was”thirty-five years” when he “became the father of Shelah.” If people in the past got married more younger in the past, thirty five years is quite old to start being a father. This is true even today in certain rural area of the world I have ministered to or been overseas when I was in the Marines. So it might be reasonable that Arphaxad was actually the grandfather of Salah even according to the hint within Genesis 11:12 itself. In light of Genesis 10:24 being in proximity of Genesis 11:12 it seems that Genesis 10:24 should be understood in light of Genesis 11:12 in light of the fact that it appears in the next chapter.
- What it comes down to is whether “became the father of” can be understood as possible of having the meaning of being “grandfathered” too.
- I think the grandfather meaning is possible in light of what I have to say about Genesis 11:12.
- Another example is found here: Was Enoch the sixth or the seventh from Adam?
- See also an instance where we do see “became the father of” can mean “became the GRANDfather of” here: Was Jeconiah the son or grandson of Josiah?
- Thus there is no contradiction here if we understand that the lexical range
- Some might object that the possible range of meaning for the verb “became the father of” should only have one meaning with the word. But that’s a terrible objection. Terms can have more than one meaning in many languages and not just with Hebrew. For instance consider the lexical range of meaning for the English word Whoppers and the Word “Left”.
- We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity. The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible. In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview. Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”
World view, indeed, is at play. Thank you for the explanation and debunking the alleged contradiction, Jim! GOD bless you and your family!
You are welcome! Thanks for the blessing to my family. Speaking about family how is your family doing with the storm/typhoon?
They also monitored the developments of the storm at that time.
Wow, very helpful brother!
Thanks for thoroughly debunking another one of Steve/Stephen Wells alleged contradictions. I’ve observed that Wells cherry picks primarily from two tress (1) the lineage issue with grandsons COMMONLY referred to as sons in ancient culture and (2) the “either this or that” false dilemma.
I don’t what number this is but there are far too many of these easy mistakes about sons and fathers “contradictions” in his lists. Superficial and ignorant of the original language if you ask me…but he got to go for quantity than quality. Terrible isn’t it? Shameful too. How is your day going?
Sunny and 73F in ROC just like San Diego! Went with my wife to the grocery and then to Home Depot to buy a few flowers for outside. Too nice to be inside. 10K steps. How is your day going?
I think even if it is a “problem” (and its not) its such a minor one. But your point about lexical range undermine the atheist saying this is a contradiction. I also learned from this post what is lexical range
Thank you Shruti for emailing me this. The skeptics’ twisting of Scripture shows they are a son of the devil.
Thank you.
You’re welcome! The skeptics attack on the Bible here is pretty lame huh?
Very much so.
Excellent work debunking this supposed contradiction
Thank you! I pray that God uses these posts responding to alleged Bible contradictions for those looking for answers,, and there seem to be a steady stream of people googling for answers finding our blog posts. Have a blessed Friday sister!
That’s great!
Praise God
[…] « Bible Contradiction? Who was Salah’s father? […]
In his family tree of Jesus, Matthew skips a few generations to make his three sets of fourteen match. Many Bible scholars suggest that, in Genesis, Moses also skipped a generation here or there–not expanding human history to millions of years, but perhaps stretching it a bit beyond the numbers Moses used to mark ages and paternity. If Luke knew of an omission Moses made (and I believe that Cainan is named in some copies of the Septuagint), there’s nothing wrong with adding the additional name. J.
Like someone commented in your other Bible contradiction posts, some of these atheists need to get out of their mom’s basement and enter into the real world. If they think this is a problem (which it is not) these guys have it privileged.
[…] Who was Salah’s father? […]
Whoever buys the Skeptic Annotated Bible is a fool
Thank you for your perspective I enjoy your answer using sound reasoning and contextual reading
Who can say this is a contradiction after reading this
Refuted nicely
You post on Jeconiah’s relations to Josiah also is helpful to answer the question concerning the Hebrew word
[…] CHRISTIAN: We don’t have a contradiction here at all. <Insert response> […]
[…] Who was Salah’s father? […]
Jesus died for our sins to save us; yet some reject that message with extreme hate. As if that’s not enough they have to resort to attacking the Word. The wickedness is great
I like your use of cultural studies and experiences to answer this question
Do these skeptics ever meet someone who knows their Bible? It would be quite a beating they get
[…] CHRISTIAN: We don’t have a contradiction here at all. <Insert response> […]
[…] As an example see Who was Salah’s father? […]
[…] Who was Salah’s father? […]
[…] of point 2 can be seen from the skeptic being unfamiliar with the verb יָלַד; see Who was Salah’s father?, Was Jeconiah the son or grandson of Josiah? and Was Enoch the sixth or the seventh […]