Abstract
Many modern scholars believe that the Genesis 5 and 11 genealogies contain gaps due to fluidity, and thus cannot be used to help date creation or the Flood. Their case is threefold. First, the Genesis 4 and 5 genealogies are so alike they must have come from a single original genealogy that developed into two. Second, the symmetrical ten-generation form of Genesis 5 and 11 indicates schematization. Third, science has proven that mankind is older than a no-gap reading of Genesis 5 and 11 will allow. This paper negates the first two of these arguments by showing that conflation of two original genealogies better accounts for the similarity of the Genesis 4 and 5 names, and by demonstrating that at least three lines of evidence argue against schematization of Genesis 5 and 11. Thus, as far as the biblical evidence is concerned, the arguments for fluidity lack a firm basis. One might reasonably conclude that the Genesis 5 and 11 genealogies do not contain gaps.