תולדת

Toldot means “ancestry”

Often translated as “family”, but crucially one must consider the time and causality aspects inherent in the word.

As an example, examine the account of Noah.

“This is the account of Noah and his family” — in Hebrew is אֵ֚לֶּה (eleh) תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת (toldot) Noah. There are only three words here, two of which are completely obvious; his name, and ‘eleh’ which is consistently translated ‘these’. This leaves only the word ‘toldot’ in question.

The original translators attempted to pack a lot into this one word: “the account of … and his family”. They are not completely barking up the wrong tree. ‘Toldot’ does carry these connotations. However, there is a subtle discrepancy.

Specifically, the word seems to combine two concepts. Firstly, there is certainly a familial or genealogical aspect. This word ‘toldot’ appears thirty nine times in the Bible, and each time it either precedes a listing of a family tree, or it is used to refer to the records of a previously written family tree. It is all about the records of one’s ancestry. This aspect is indisputable.

This brings us to the second concept inherent in ‘toldot’; it is always used in reference to the past, never the future. Just as in English we differentiate between our past ancestors and our future descendents, so it is in Hebrew. Yahweh speaks to Abraham about his descendents, but when it comes to Noah, he speaks only of Noah’s ancestry.

It is misleading to insert the phrase “and his family” into this context. Noah’s wife and sons and daughters are Noah’s descendents, not his ancestors. They are not mentioned here. Certainly, they play a critical role in the overall story of Noah — his story would go nowhere without them, but in terms of why Noah was chosen, they had nothing to do with the matter.

The deciding factor here was in Noah’s DNA. Rather than the phrase, “This is the account of Noah and his family”, we should interpret the phrase as “This is Noah’s ancestry”.