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The biblical tree is going through the difficult process of being isolated. This involves being taken apart in chunks, and being put back together. This will probably take at least another MONTH (until Mar. 2024).Sorry for the inconvenience. Details can be found in the dedicated project: Biblical Tree - Isolate Tree

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In the beginning G-d created the heaven and the earth.

. . . Thus begins history as told by Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Six "days" later, G-d created Adam & Eve, and the rest, as they say... is history. Likewise, this is probably the very first "merge project" started on Geni, way back in January 2009, by Shmuel-Aharon Kam (who runs it like a Tyrant!).

The goal of this project is to create the single most comprehensive and correct copy of the Biblical-Tree on Geni. Quite a few of the profiles DO have biblical citations and sources, as well as links to Wikipedia entries. We will be adding more such as we go along ( If you are aware of a better NON-denominational source for Biblical figures please let us know. )

• Project Photo

Scope

The scope of this project starts with Adam and goes until the immediate family of Jesus, with the end of the Christian Bible. In the Jewish lines, this project runs as far as the Exilarchs (רשי גלותא), descendants of the last Kings of Judah, who continued this line, as leaders of the Jewish Exile in Babylon. The Exilarchs have a dedicated project of their own.

All together, the present part of the tree covered here, contains profiles for about 3000-4000 different people.

Sources

Calling this project "the Biblical Tree" is somewhat a misnomer and misleading.
It really is so much more than that, and a more appropriate name would be "Ancient Times". Everything is rather interconnected, so it also includes parts of the Assyrian, Summarian, Greeks and Roman pantheons to name only a few.

In this regard the "Biblical" Tree is MUCH more COMPLICATED than later parts of the tree, because there are SO MANY possible sources. How well do we all know the Quran, Christian Bible, Mormon holy-books or even the Dead-Sea Scrolls? How about the NON-canonical writings of ALL of the above faiths? There are about 50 such (ספרים חיצוניים) from Jewish sources, hundreds for Christianity (never mind the different definitions of the Christian Bible (compare list of books in KJV to Eastern Orthodox Bible). There are actual examples for all of the above already IN the tree. There are certainly MANY more sources beyond those. So just because a profile is not in the sources that you are familiar with, doesn't mean it is bogus. We DO strive to find sources for all, but it's a big tree and an even bigger world out there.

It is precisely because this tree is the basis for many different faiths, that we try and keep religious differences and politics OUT of it. Many profiles have the names listed in THREE different languages: English, Hebrew and Arabic, as per the different sources (the KJV, Jewish Bible and Quran) that they are mentioned in. We ask that anyone wanting to work on this tree, respect the standards implemented in it, and the work of hundreds of other people, EVEN if you personally might find some of it offensive to your religion.

Actual References

We have been continually adding links to various sources to each profile:

• Jewish Bible (AKA "Old Testament") The preferred source is the Machon Memre Hebrew-English Bible. This is based on the JPS 1917 Edition, which is a Jewish adaptation of the KJV, certainly with regard to spelling of names. In this way, we have both the English and Hebrew source opposite each other. If the person mentioned is famous and has large tracts of text dedicated to them (e.g. King David), then we generally link ONLY to the actual genealogical references.
• Christian Bible - The preferred version is the KJV, simply because this is the most well known and its spellings of names are the most common. While many such references can be found, they do NOT link to actual online sources. Assistance here would be welcome.
• The Noble Quran - This is the preferred version of the Quran, because it is easy to navigate and also supports direct links to specific Surah. If a Muslim user would like to help by adding Quran references to additional profiles, we'll gladly accept their assistance.
• Other, mostly non-canonical / Biblical apocrypha - very much vary. The problem is that they are spread out on SO MANY sites, with highly variable levels of quality. Authoritative version also very rarely exist for these texts. There are broken links to one such site, that has since been shut-down. If anyone knows of a good reliable site, as comprehensive as possible, we would be most grateful if you sent us a link.
• Book of Jubilees.
• Book of Jasher.

FAQ

1. Please do NOT request to join the Project. There are plenty of ways to help with it, without that. So have a look at the tree, suggest merges, changes or whatever.
2. Whether you believe in the Bible or not, and argue that these people never existed, is besides the point. This project tries to stay consistent with the sources it relies upon.
3. We respect the work that other people have put in, and Do NOT remove any "additions" that you might object to. Sabotage of the tree is punishable by suspension of the user.
4. Many people manage profiles that they did NOT add to the tree. This happens when a profile is transferred to another manager. So it is possible that the manager finds some of "their" profiles just as objectionable as you do.
5. Regarding the "photos" of biblical people, we all know these are merely paintings, done by various artists throughout the ages. As such please don't take them too seriously.
6. As to whether Adam had a belly-button or not (he obviously had no NEED for one). Personally I couldn't care less! Christian theologists debated this for ages (I have no idea what conclusions they may have reached). Jewish theology explains that the human form (i.e. shape and other physical aspects) directly reflect the inner metaphysical structure of Creation (See 'Adam Kadmon' and the 'Tree Of Life' which also has a representation as a human). As such, the belly-button ALSO has meaning. So Adam would have had one too, regardless of his not needing it's function.
7. During the Medieval Period it became very fashionable among the Nobility, and a way to be seen as "more respectable", to claim genealogical lineages back to the Biblical Tree. So they would pay monks to "research" their history for them. Typically these lines went through various descendants of Noah or Judah. Regretfully these lines were complete fabrications. As such the Curator Team and others are constantly cutting these lines whenever they pop up again. There are NO KNOWN valid lines going all the way back to the Bible period. NONE. The simplest way to see this is that these lines skip tens of generations in various places. The longest of them are about 30 generations to short. See next item. In practice what this means is that if Geni tells you "Adam is your 120th great-grandfather", don't get too exited about this, as this line will be found and cut.
8. Generations since Adam - Because of this highly questionable medieval genealogy, many lineages take HUGE short-cuts of dozens of generations and come out with impossibly short lines. The correct number of generations since Adam is ABOUT 150. This is pretty easy to verify through multiple well-established lines, mostly those through King David. We can also accurately date quite a few later Biblical people, such as Zerubbabel and divide the years since then by the number of generations listed, and get a reasonable average age of about 25, for the father when his child was born.

Naming Conventions

Now that Geni supports having separate names in multiple languages managing names becomes much easier. We should have names in English and Hebrew & Arabic where relevant. There is NO need to add surnames in each of these additional languages.

1. Hebrew names are present ONLY when sources IN Hebrew exist (e.g. NOT the "New Testament" or Quran). The English spelling is most often that found in the KJV, as this is the most common in use.
2. The surname field is ALWAYS set to a single period ( . ), unless the person has a very specific title (mostly kings). This helps keep all of the records the same (especially after merges, which might otherwise mess up the name), and enables the name to be found, in the Go To tab at the bottom of the tree (which doesn't work for blank surnames).
3. The maiden-name field is also ALWAYS set to a period. Leaving it blank would cause the various funky stuff that people put in the maiden-name field to be automatically accepted when doing merges (which we want to avoid).
4. The middle-name field is also left blank in the vast majority of courses. There are NO "middle-names" in Hebrew, only a single compound name.
5. Members of royal families did NOT generally have titles. So:
   1. So no "princes" or "princesses". NONE. The exceptions would be the "Dukes of Edom", who in some translations are called "Princes".
   2. A king's wife was NOT a "queen", unless she ruled by herself. There are less than FIVE woman CALLED "Queen" in the Bible: Balkis ., Queen of Sheba (not named in Bible), Athaliah, Queen of Judah, Vashti Amestris, Queen Esther of Persiaץ That is IT!

Central Profiles

The following profiles are a few useful Bible notables. There is also the Bible Tree Cheat Sheet, which lists the entire "main line" line (54 generations) of the Biblical tree from Adam until Zerubbabel.

• Adam and Eve.
• Noah (10 generations later).
• Abraham and Sarah (10 generations later).
• Isaac and Rebecca.
• Jacob. Rachel and Leah (Bilhah and Zilpah).
• Judah.
• Moses
• King David.
• Josiah, one of the final Kings in the House of David.
• Zerubbabel, first of the Exilarchs.
• Jesus.

TO DO

1. Restore descendants of Ishmael (accidentally deleted by someone).
2. Clean-up the tree of Esau.
3. Validate descendants of Korah.
4. Validate descendants of Caleb.
5. The descendants of Aram contain duplicate Muslim lines. At least 2 sets of identical lines from different sons of Aram. Must be sourced and straightened out.

Related Projects

There are MANY more projects about biblical genealogy on Geni, created by other users. The following projects are PART of THIS effort. You could call them sub-projects.

• Biblical Tree - Isolate Tree - The process of isolating the Biblical Tree from the "main" World Family Tree, removing ALL connections to later periods. When complete will only contain list of significant cuts that were made.
• Biblical Tree - Driftwood - Biblical profiles that are presently NOT attached to the main Biblical Tree. This project is not really in use. I SHOULD add more, but there's enough work as is, on the Biblical Tree itself.
• Biblical Tree - Wives of Noah's Ark - Trying to put the record of the wives of the four men on Noah's Ark. Got stopped in the middle.

The following chapters in the bible contain many central or critical biblical genealogies. The purpose of these projects is make order of these chapters, connecting people in each verse to their profiles. As such the projects contain the complete text of the chapters (using the JPS translation, which is related to the Revised KJV), with each name linking to its Geni profile. I need to add footnotes explaining some of the decisions.

• Biblical Tree - 1 Chronicles 3. Have not completed the text.
• Biblical Tree - 1 Chronicles 4. Needs footnotes.

Recognition

• Scott Hibbard was the first to give me access to his biblical profiles, giving me a toe-hold to start from.
• Kris Stewart was also extremely helpful in getting this project started. Thanks Kris! When this project was first begun, Geni did NOT support multiple managers for each profile. The following people let me merge their trees into the one we see today:

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* Joyce Darlene Tharp

* Private User

* Kris Hewitt 🧬

* Private User

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* Ricardo Alejandro Seminario León

* Private User

* Karla Kay Walsh

* Gwyneth Potter McNeil

* Private User

* Torbjørn Nilsen

* Private

* Private User

* Private User

* Private User

* J. Daniel Peardon

* Private

* Private User

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* Malka Mysels

* Private

* Malkitzedek Zirkind

* Private User

* Private User

* Private

* Richard Kostick

* Private User

* Corrine Renae Doxey

* Private

* Jacqueli Charlene Finley

* Kirsten Rose Leman

* Private

* Erin Ishimoticha

* Private User

* Nathan De Graw

* Thomas Nordli Andersen

* Private User

* Dawn Sheree Houck

* Private User

* Private User

* Private User

* Private User

* Private User

* Eric Michael Anderson