The Gospel of Luke references Cainan, the son of Arphaxad and father of Shelach, just as the Septuagint does in Genesis 10:22. Why did the Jewish Masoretes deliberately exclude Cainan from the genealogy of Shem and Arphaxad? Perhaps because, according to the Book of Jubilees, Cainan (called Kainam in Jubilees, possibly his original name) was taught to read by his father, and he found, carved on the rocks by former generations, an inscription preserving the science of astrology as taught by the Watchers, who had rebelled from Elohim before the deluge. (cf. Jubilees 8:1-5)
Jubilees 8:1-5
Between 1947 and 1956 approximately 15 Jubilees scrolls were found in five caves at Qumran, all written in Hebrew. The large number of manuscripts (more than for any biblical books except for Psalms, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Exodus, and Genesis, in descending order) indicates that Jubilees was widely used at Qumran. A comparison of the Qumran texts with the Ethiopic version, performed by James VanderKam, found that the Ethiopic was in most respects an accurate and literalistic translation. Scholars have dated Jubilees to have been written sometime around 160-150 B.C.
8:1 In the twenty-ninth jubilee, in the first week, [1373 A.M.] in the beginning thereof Arpachshad took to himself a wife and her name was Rasu’eja, the daughter of Susan, the daughter of Elam, and she bare him a son in the third year in this week, [1375 A.M.] and he called his name Kainam (Cainan). 2. And the son grew, and his father taught him writing, and he went to seek for himself a place where he might seize for himself a city. 3. And he found a writing which former generations had carved on the rock, and he read what was thereon, and he transcribed it and sinned owing to it; for it contained the teaching of the Watchers in accordance with which they used to observe the omens of the sun and moon and stars in all the signs of heaven. 4. And he wrote it down and said nothing regarding it; for he was afraid to speak to Noaḥ about it lest he should be angry with him on account of it. 5. And in the thirtieth jubilee, [1429 A.M.] in the second week, in the first year thereof, he took to himself a wife, and her name was Melka, the daughter of Madai, the son of Japheth, and in the fourth year [1432 A.M.] he begat a son, and called his name Shelah; for he said: ‘Truly I have been sent.’
In The Patriarchal Age: or, the History and Religion of Mankind (1854), George Smith writes:
It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the omission of the name of Cainan from the Hebrew text, and the consequent general rejection of him by historians, there are more traditions preserved of him than of his son Salah. “The Alexandrine Chronicle derives the Samaritans from Cainan; Eustachius Antiochenus, the Saggodians; George Syncellus, the Gaspheni; Epiphanius the Cajani. Besides the particulars already mentioned, it is said Cainan was the first after the flood who invented astronomy, and that his sons made a god of him, and worshiped his image after his death. The founding of the city of Harran in Mesopotamia is also attributed to him; which, it is pretended, is so called from a son he had of that name.” – Anc. Univ. Hist., vol. i, p. 96, note. Smith, George (18 August 2017)
The Alexandrian World Chronicle or Chronographia Golenischevensis is an anonymous Greek chronicle compiled in Alexandria, recording history from Creation until the year 392 AD. The chronicle survives in the fragments of a c. 6th-century papyrus named the Golenischev papyrus, well known for its examples of early historical illumination. The Alexandrian World Chronicle states this about Cainan:
And Arphaxad begat Cainan, from whom the Samaritans from the east come from. And Cainan begat Salathee, whence the Salathees are made.
(Latin: Et arfaxad genuit cainan, unde fiunt qui ab oriente samaritae. Cainan autem genuit Salathee, unde fiunt Salathii.)
Here’s what Christian scholars erroneously say about Cainan the son of Arpachshad and father of Shelach:
- The son of Arphaxad ( Luke 3:36 ). He is nowhere named in the Old Testament. He is usually called the “second Cainan.” (Easton’s Bible Dictionary – Cainan)
- Son of Arphaxad, and father of Sala, according to (Luke 3:36 Luke 3:37) and usually called the second Cainan. The is nowhere named in the Hebrew MSS. It seems certain that his name was introduced into the genealogies of the Greek Old Testament in order to bring them into harmony with the genealogy of Christ in St. Luke’s Gospel. (Smith’s Bible Dictionary – Cainan)
- A son of Arphaxad (Luke 3:36), omitted in Genesis 10:24; 11:12. (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia – Cainan)