Posted on 02/17/2017 7:30:35 AM PST by Salvation
I occasionally get questions about the remarkably long lives of the patriarchs who lived before the great flood. Consider the ages at which these figures purportedly died:
How should we understand these references? Many theories have been proposed to explain the claimed longevity. Some use a mathematical corrective, but this leads to other pitfalls such as certain patriarchs apparently begetting children while still children themselves. Another theory proposes that the purported life spans of the patriarchs are just indications of their influence or family line, but then things don’t add up chronologically with eras and family trees.
Personally, I think we need to take the stated life spans of the patriarchs at face value and just accept it as a mystery: for some reason, the ancient patriarchs lived far longer than we do in the modern era. I cannot prove that they actually lived that long, but neither is there strong evidence that they did not. Frankly, I have little stake in insisting that they did in fact live to be that old. But if you ask me, I think it is best just to accept that they did.
This solution, when I articulate it, causes many to scoff. They almost seem to be offended. The reply usually sounds something like this: “That’s crazy. There’s no way they lived that long. The texts must be wrong.” To which I generally reply, “Why do you think it’s crazy or impossible?” The answers usually range from the glib to the more serious, but here are some common replies:
So I think we’re back to where we started: just taking the long life spans of the early patriarchs at face value.
There is perhaps a theological truth hidden in the shrinking lifespans of the Old Testament. The Scriptures link sin and death. Adam and Eve were warned that the day they ate of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would die (Gen 2:17), but they did not drop dead immediately. Although they died spiritually in an instant, the clock of death for their bodies wound down much later. As the age listing above shows, as sin increased, lifespans dropped precipitously, especially after the flood.
Prior to the flood, lifespans remained in the vicinity of 900 years, but right afterward they dropped by about a third (Shem only lived to 600), and then the numbers plummeted even further. Neither Abraham nor Moses even reached 200, and by the time of King David, he would write, Our years are seventy, or eighty for those who are strong (Ps 90:10).
Scripture says, For the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). Indeed they are, especially in terms of lifespan. Perhaps that is why I am not too anxious to try to disprove the long life spans of the patriarchs, for what we know theologically is borne out in our human experience: sin is life-destroying. This truth is surely made clear by the declining lifespan of the human family.
Does this prove that Adam actually lived to be more than 900 years old? No, it only shows that declining life spans are something we fittingly discover in a world of sin. God teaches that sin brings death, so why should we be shocked that our life span has decreased from 900 years to about 85? It is what it is. It’s a sad truth about which God warned us. Thanks be to God our Father, who in Jesus now offers us eternal life, if we will have faith and obey His Son!
How or even whether the patriarchs lived to such advanced ages is not clear, but what is theologically clear is that we don’t live that long today because of the collective effect of sin upon us.
maybe those were dog years?
Monsignor Pope Ping!
A lot of cultures when the Bible was written had stories about people with multi-century life spans.
I usually enjoy reading Pope’s stuff, but this - not so much...
He really got his money’s worth out of social security :)
Did Noah really live to be 950?Yes he did. And Methuselah really lived to be 969. The Masoretic text is not in error; to say it is is to call God a liar.
ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sadly, many do not see or hear “spiritually.”
God’s a liar.
This is an absurd article reasoning that somehow cell life spans and the rate at which they split was different only several thousand years ago to an ASTOUNDING level.
It’s a silly article and makes it harder for folk to take our religion seriously.
Why worry about it. Notice how the lifespan kept getting shorter and shorter, and shorter till now it is “three score and ten”. And most didn’t even make it that long till the invention of antibiotics.
Now those antibiotics are not working as they used to.
If God was not allowing antediluvian man such long lifespans, then Genesis 6:3 would have no context whatsoever.
Maybe it’s just a translation error.
Did Harry Potter really have a scar on his forhead? No. It's a story. It's not real.
Maybe they went from a lunar calendar (monthly) to a season calendar (solar, annual). I know the Jewish calendar is both lunar and solar. Maybe there was a switchover.
And, you have different authors over many centuries,
And, also, who would change the work of a prior written Scripture?
So let’s give Moses his 120 years, and Adam 930 months, which is 77 1/2 years.
Some people believe the change in the moisture levels in the atmosphere may have contributed to radiation damage to the chromosomes. Errors in the DNA code over time... except that the dramatic change occurs in the aftermath of the flood.
The implication is that 900 years is our natural lifespan were it not for whatever change was introduced into the genetic code at the time of the flood. Post flood, about eighty to a hundred.
Interesting article, Salvation. Thanks for the ping!
Msgr. Pope has, again, written a good think piece for us. Some will want to get ‘lost’ in the ‘literal’ vs ‘metaphor or allegory’ in believing the scripture he discusses, but that is not for me.
I think his closing sentence is excellent:
“How or even whether the patriarchs lived to such advanced ages is not clear, but what is theologically clear is that we don’t live that long today because of the collective effect of sin upon us.”
I sure am grateful YOU’RE around to give us the truth.
I mean, who else would think that God is wrong and call Him out on it to His face?
Tell me. What’s your source?
How do you know this?
Why should we trust YOU?
I’m guessing you aren’t even using your real name as a handle.
And we should trust for other information as well?
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