Bishop James Ussher and the Chronology of the Biblical Age of the Earth

In 1650 AD/CE, James Ussher, Bishop of Amargh and Primate of all Ireland, published the scholarly “Annals of the Old Testament, deduced from the first origins of the world” where he concluded that the universe, and everything in it, began at noon, October 23, 4004 BC. To many modern scholars of the earth, this seems outlandish, even ridiculous; however, creationists though still attest to its veracity. It is easy to fall into the trap of judging old ideas with modern concepts and proofs, rather than judging them according to the precepts and traditions of their day.

Contemporary Perspectives on the Age of the Earth

The age of the earth is a controversial subject in the modern church. While the secular scientific academy estimates the earth to be 4.543 billion years old, there are two common positions regarding the earth’s age among Bible-believing Christians today. The first is known as young earth creationism (YEC), which holds that the days of Genesis 1 are literal, 24-hour days and that the earth was created roughly 6,000 years ago. The other position is what may be termed an agnostic approach; adherents usually do not claim to know the age of the earth but they reject the young earth position and its literal day interpretation.

The Genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11

Regardless of which view one takes of Genesis 1, the genealogies of Genesis 5 & 11 teach a young humanity. These genealogies provide two sets of 10 names and give the ages for when each man died, as well as his age when he fathered the named son. If you add up the genealogies of Genesis 5 & 11, this comes to 2,008 years from the creation of Adam to the birth of Abraham.

Data from the Genealogies

As listed below, the biblical text provides specific ages for the patriarchs:

Patriarch Name	Age when fathered son	Total age at death
Adam	130 (Seth)	930
Abraham	-	175
Isaac	-	180
Jacob	-	147
Joseph	-	110

Analysis of Lifespans and the Flood

There is a clear contrast between the ages of the men pre-flood (with most living to around age 900) with the ages of those post-flood. Genesis 7:6 tells us that Noah was 600 years old when the flood happened, and thus his first son was 100 years old at the time of the flood. Adding all this up, Noah must have been 502 when Shem was born. Genesis 11:10 then says Shem was 100 years old when he fathered Arpachshad, “two years after the flood.” The lifespans of the patriarchs gradually decreased over time, continuing the trend from Genesis 11, where Shem only lived to 600 and subsequent generations only into the 400s.