Dear Gramps,

I love your column and your approach to the facts. What do we know about the prophet Peleg? Where is a source to learn more? Thanks so much.

Paula, from Arizona

Dear Paula,

Little is known about Peleg. He is mentioned only in Genesis and Chronicles. In Genesis 10:25 we read:

unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.

The Hebrew word, Peleg, actually means division.

His immediate lineage in given in Genesis 11:16-19

And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters (Genesis 11:16-19).

A more extensive lineage account, showing him to have descended from Noah through Shem and to be an ancestor of Abraham, is given in 1 Chronicles, Chapter 1.

From those accounts we learn that Peleg was born in 2247 b.c., lived for 239 years and died in 2008 b.c. Since it was in his days that the earth was divided, we may deduce that when the universal flood came the land masses of the earth were all connected in one, and so the topography of the earth was undoubtedly much different than it is today. We read in Genesis that during the flood

the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered (Genesis 7:19-20).

We don’t know from where the 15 cubits was measured, but it certainly was not from the lowest point on the earth, but very probably from where Noah was building the ark, which could have been on one of the higher mountains of the time-not less than 15 cubits below the top of the highest mountain.

A logical place for the earth to have been divided was between the European and African continents and the American continents. The abysmal trench in the Atlantic Ocean roughly parallels the western coast of Europe and Africa, as well as the Eastern coast of North and South America, and could have been where the split occurred..

Gramps