Another "generation" thread....I know!
When Splane wanted a scripture that demonstrated the Bible's use of the word he went all the way back to Moses and used Ex. 1.6. He could have stayed in the same book and used Matthew chapter 1,written by the same hand. In 17 verses he lists the genealogy of Jesus Christ, from Abraham to Jesus. In the interests of brevity I will just quote the last part .
11 Jo·siʹah became father to Jec·o·niʹah and to his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 After the deportation to Babylon, Jec·o·niʹah became father to She·alʹti·el;
She·alʹti·el became father to Ze·rubʹba·bel;
13 Ze·rubʹba·bel became father to A·biʹud;
A·biʹud became father to E·liʹa·kim;
E·liʹa·kim became father to Aʹzor;
14 Aʹzor became father to Zaʹdok;
Zaʹdok became father to Aʹchim;
Aʹchim became father to E·liʹud;
15 E·liʹud became father to El·e·aʹzar;
El·e·aʹzar became father to Matʹthan;
Matʹthan became father to Jacob;
16 Jacob became father to Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
17 All the generations, then, from Abraham until David were 14 generations; from David until the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations; from the deportation to Babylon until the Christ, 14 generations."
Now there can be issues with the counting here, as The Insight Book acknowledges :
Insight bk1 pp 915/916
Problems in Matthew’s Genealogy of Jesus. Matthew divides the genealogy from Abraham to Jesus into three sections of 14 generations each. (Mt 1:17) This division may have been made as a memory aid. However, in counting the names we find that they total 41, rather than 42. One suggestion as to how they may be counted is as follows: By taking Abraham to David, 14 names, then using David as the starting name for the second 14, with Josiah as the last; finally, by heading the third series of 14 names with Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) and ending with Jesus. Notice that Matthew repeats the name David as the last of the first 14 names and as the first of the next 14. Then he repeats the expression “the deportation to Babylon,” which he links with Josiah and his sons"
Despite the quibbles about the count, it is absolutely clear that Matthew counted a father and son as two generations. No overlap even though they were contemporaries.
Can you imagine a disciple raising his hand and asking "Excuse me Jesus, but when you say a generation do you mean what we think you mean or is this some kind of new play on the word"? ....No ! they knew exactly what he meant . BTW they could not have thought anything about "anointing " since that had not happened yet !
When I raised this with the family they just said "That is the family meaning, a generation of mankind is different" .....In which case my selected scripture might have been Numbers 32.11-13 (which other board members have referred to)
"11 ‘The men who came up out of Egypt from 20 years old and up will not see the land of which I have sworn to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not followed me wholeheartedly— 12 except Caʹleb the son of Je·phunʹneh the Kenʹiz·zite and Joshua the son of Nun, because they have followed Jehovah wholeheartedly.’ 13 So Jehovah’s anger blazed against Israel and he made them wander about in the wilderness for 40 years, until all the generation that was doing evil in the eyes of Jehovah came to its end. "