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The Contradiction Desk
Claimed Bible contradictions, stated the way they circulate, each with one diagnosis and the evidence for it: the Hebrew, the Greek, the manuscripts.
Cainan, son of Arphaxad
Luke's genealogy puts a Cainan between Arphaxad and Shelah. Genesis does not. The Septuagint of Genesis does.
Luke 3:36, in every translation this tool compares.
The real question: did Luke add a name, or copy one that some texts of Genesis had? Two copies of the family tree, and one has a great-uncle the other leaves out. Which copy is missing someone?
Genesis 10:24 and 11:12 say Arphaxad fathered Shelah. Luke 3:35-36 has Shelah the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad. Luke adds a generation Genesis does not have.
The CSB's textual notes on Genesis 10:24 and 11:12-13 say the Septuagint reads fathered Cainan, and Cainan fathered, and give the Septuagint's years for Cainan, 130 before Shelah and 330 after, each note pointing to Luke 3:35-36. The CSB Study Bible's note on 11:12 says both Luke and the Septuagint name Cainan as Arphaxad's son. Luke's list matches the Greek Genesis.
Which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech,
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible asks "Who was Salah's father?" and sets Arphaxad, at Genesis 10:24 and 11:12, against Cainan, at Luke 3:35-36, with the comment "Salah's grandfather was Arphaxad." At full strength: Luke's genealogy rests on a Greek translation where it departs from the Hebrew, so its accuracy is only as good as that translation.
The CSB Study Bible accepts Cainan as Arphaxad's son because, in its words, the inspired New Testament author confirms the Septuagint's reading, and treats the Hebrew list as a stylized genealogy shaped for thematic purposes, as Matthew's is.
The variant explains where Luke's Cainan came from. It does not say which text of Genesis is older. The CSB note settles the question by Luke's authority, which is a theological argument rather than a textual one; that observation is made here, not by the CSB. The sources read here do not discuss whether every manuscript of Luke has the name.
Not a claim that Luke made up an ancestor. The name was in the Greek Genesis before Luke used it.
- CSB Study Bible, textual notes on Genesis 10:24 and 11:12-13, note on Genesis 11:12
- The Skeptic's Annotated Bible, Who was Salah's father?, https://skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/salah.html
- King James Version, Genesis 11:12 and Luke 3:36
