Consider:
"He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand
generations of those who love him and keep his commands." Deut. 7:9b
This idea is also stated in several other places.
Now I ask, are these "thousand generations" to be taken literally? Or are
they just a figure of speech? I would say that the number 1000 is a figure
of speech implying something much greater (like God owns the cattle on a
1000 hills - surely, He owns many more than that). Anyway, how can anyone
say that the entire human history contains only a few hundred generations in
light of this, and similar verses? I want to speculate that this verse has
in mind the fact that God's original covenant with Adam and Eve is still in
force at the time of Moses - thus placing at least, and probably many more
than 1000 generations between Adam and Moses.
This reasoning may not get me back to the millions of years Glenn wants for
human history, but it does help get me over the 10,000 year hump.
Jim
Jim Blake
Associate Professor
Department of Electrical Engineering
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843