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Notice that Adam had only just died when Noah was born, and Noah was alive when Abram was born. This means that we should not think that the prehistoric stories had been handed down as oral tradition through several generations, because cynics often treat them as if they are myths. As such Abram was able to get first-hand/eye-witness accounts of the flood from Noah and Shem, who indeed outlived Abram. In fact the Talmud says that Abram spent most of his early life being taught by Noah and Shem, which might well be true.
Although I am a BibleBasher, I don't believe in assassinating the intellect on the altar of faith, although if the Bible said Jonah swallowed the whale I would believe it. As archeaologists we should regard what the Bible says as a source of information just as any ancient text, yet I find it interesting to see how many Christian academics/scholars pander to assumptions made by non-Christians. For example the idea that man has developed from ape to caveman and finally to modern man goes hand-in-hand with the idea that civilisation has developed gradually fom primitive to sophisticated. Therefore writing has developed from crude pictures into symbols and finally letters, as indeed language must have developed from grunts to speech. As a Bible believer I see that man started sophisticated, able to speak and in the 9th generation (while Adam was still alive) was able to work bronze and iron (4v22), a skill that must have then been lost in the flood. Most important of all is the ability to write. I see in Genesis 6v9 "This is the account of Noah" which I understand to mean that Noah wrote it (as indeed 37v2 can't mean that it is a story about Jacob, because it is about Joseph, so it must be a story by Jacob). It stands to reason that Adam would have made a permanent record of his life, as became the custom in subsequent generations. However, I have just read a book, written by a Bible believing Christian, that panders to the notion that writing developed gadually so we could not have eye-witness accounts from prehistory - I would assert that apart from the first 6 days of Creation, we have texts that are reliable even from a historical/archaeological point of view.
I wanted to share this because it underlines our faith in the scriptures, and actually makes better academic sense. Click COMMENTS below.
