Nice write-up Ben.
I place certainty in the genealogy of Moses and many people in the Bible. Genealogy was so important because the mothers ancestry dictated the tribe and the father dictated one's station in life. And the names of the children often reflected the father's vocation which the son would follow. I like to listen to a priest on the radio who is a linguist (I teach dead languages to Comatose seminarians.
). He teaches that numbers in the Bible have much greater meaning than their numerical value. The number 40 is a reoccurring theme and is loaded with meaning.
For example the number 7 in Genesis is related to a covenant, which is a Blood Oath, between God and man. 12 representing a governing body of an organization.
This is also found in church architecture. I was putting together a proposal for an enormous church that I wound up painting. The raw numbers taken from my measurements were Illuminating to say the least.
The church was even oriented on its lot in relationship to where the sun would be at certain times of the year. On a sunny day near Christmas time I was three stories in the air. The sun shone through a stained glass window and concentrated a blue beam of light that cast upon a statue of the Holy Family. The shaft of light was minimum 60 yards long and it just dawned on me right now that nobody has probably ever seen that light show from my perspective.
Okay I'm rambling and I need to go eat some breakfast.