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How old was Abraham when Ishmael was born? · Apolog

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ContradictionsReading order 397Bible context 3 min read

How old was Abraham when Ishmael was born?

The explicit birth age conflicts with a calculation from Terah's lifespan only if Abram was born in Terah's seventieth year.

Textual conflict: Weak tension; The alleged conflict needs substantial assumptions, such as treating an omission as a denial or figurative language as literal.
Importance: Minor; A local detail in a story, chronology, or inventory.

The competing age calculation assumes Abram individually was born when Terah was seventy, which the grouped birth notice does not specify.

An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.

PreviousHow old was Terah when he died? NextWas Keturah Abraham's wife or concubine?

Abram is eighty six when Ishmael is born

And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

Genesis 16:16

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Genesis 16

A departure calculation would make Abram at least one hundred thirty five

And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Genesis 11:26

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Genesis 11

PreviousHow old was Terah when he died? NextWas Keturah Abraham's wife or concubine?

And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.

Acts 7:2-4

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Acts 7

And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

Genesis 11:32

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Genesis 11

And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? Wherefore the well was called Beer–lahai–roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.

Genesis 16:4-15

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Genesis 16

Understanding the contradiction

Genesis 16:16 directly states that Abram was eighty six when Hagar bore Ishmael. The alternative calculation combines Genesis 11:26, which lists Terah's three sons after age seventy, with Genesis 11:32, which gives Terah two hundred five years. Acts 7:2-4 places Abram's departure after Terah's death.

Subtracting seventy from two hundred five produces one hundred thirty five before the later Hagar story. But that subtraction assigns Abram's individual birth to the age attached to the grouped sons. The quotation does not separately date all three births. Genesis 16:4-15 supplies the conception and birth without a competing age. The case is therefore a chronological tension dependent on a particular reading of the grouped birth notice, rather than two explicit ages for Ishmael's birth.

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contradictionGenesisActs

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