In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. Genesis 7:11
Table 1: Dates of biblical events from Creation
Event/Person | Passage | Total Time from Creation (years) |
God created everything. | Genesis 1–2 | 0 |
Adam became the father of Seth at 130. | Genesis 5:3 | 0 + 130 = 130 |
Seth became the father of Enosh at 105. | Genesis 5:6 | 130 + 105 = 235 |
Enosh became the father of Kenan at 90. | Genesis 5:9 | 235 + 90 = 325 |
Cainan became the father of Mahalalel at 70. | Genesis 5:12 | 325 + 70 = 395 |
Mahalalel became the father of Jared at 65. | Genesis 5:15 | 395 + 65 = 460 |
Jared became the father of Enoch at 162. | Genesis 5:18 | 460 + 162 = 622 |
Enoch became the father of Methuselah at 65. | Genesis 5:21 | 622 + 65 = 687 |
Methuselah became the father of Lamech at 187. | Genesis 5:25 | 687 + 187 = 874 |
Lamech became the father of Noah at 182. | Genesis 5:28 | 874 + 182 = 1056 |
The Flood started when Noah was 600. | Genesis 7:6 | 1056 + 600 = 1656 |
As you can see from Table 1, the year in which the Flood came was 1656 AM1 (Anno Mundi – “year of the world”). From the rest of the Old Testament and other well-documented historical events we understand that creation, as calculated by Ussher, was about 4004 BC. So with a little more math we can calculate the second date.
Calculated BC date for creation: | 4004 |
Calculated AM date for the Flood: | - 1656 |
Calculated BC date for the Flood: | 2348 |
Current Year (minus one2): | + 2011 |
Number of years since beginning of Flood: | 4359 |
Using the Bible, well-documented historical events, and some math, we find that the Flood began approximately 4,359 years ago in the year 1656 AM or 2348 BC. Some may look for an exact date (i.e., month and day), but we are not given that sort of precision in Scripture." AIG