The great ages reached by biblical characters

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PennEd

Senior Member
Apr 22, 2013
13,614
9,127
113
#41
Couple of points on the longevity of the early patriarchs.

At least 2 places in Scripture make mention that 1000 yrs is like a day in the Lord's Sight.

God told Adam on the day he ate of the fruit he would die. Adam, and ALL humans, never made it to 1000 yrs. They, and we, all die sometime in that 1st day from God's perspective.

As for the hundreds of years lived by the early guys?

1. There was likely a water canopy that shielded life on earth from harmful solar radiation, that burst during the Flood.

2. Those beings were very close to God's original creation. They had few, or none, genetically inherited defects, outside of inherited sin nature. The evolution lie teaches man is evolving better, when the exact opposite is true. We are getting weaker, and MORE disease prone.

3. Everything in the environment was MUCH less polluted and corrupted. Air, water, food.
 

sawdust

Active member
Feb 12, 2024
980
198
43
68
Australia
#42
So are you saying the Son of God is not eternal? or the Holy Spirit is not eternal?
Huh? Are either of them created? He did not "bring them into existence", they are God and have always existed just as the Father has always existed.

You were talking about man being created eternal so please don't change the subject with God's nature.

It seems to me you have assumed mortality is evil and therefore you reason God would not create man mortal. But being mortal means one has the capacity for death, it doesn't necessarily follow that one must die. The Lord God gave the one reason why death would be inevitable and it had nothing to do with being created mortal but by disobeying God's law.

That doesn't hold water since it was revealed after men began to multiply upon the face of the earth in the beginning and before the next generation was born.
I suggest you read Genesis 11. Shem (Noah's son) lived 500 years. Shem's son Arphaxad, lived 403 years and on it goes. Men lived beyond 120 years after the flood because the 120 years mentioned in Genesis 6:3 is not about making men mortal as they were already mortal which is why God refused to continue striving with them. He set a time limit of 120 years for their repentance before sending the flood.

Gen.6:3
Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

Nobody was going to live forever with or without the flood because all have sinned and we all are bound to death and there is nothing we (of ourselves) can do about it.

Besides, after the LORD brought the cloud over the earth that covers it like a garment, being the firmament, that he made from the waters that covered the face of the earth that he said the waters would never cover the earth again.

And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: Gen 9:14

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
Job 38:4&9

And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. Gen 9:15

I have no idea what any of this has to do with giving men 120 years before passing judgement.
 

Webers.Home

Well-known member
May 28, 2018
5,891
1,084
113
Oregon
#43
.
According to John 1:1-3, the Word is an eternal spirit being; whereas according
to John 1:14 the flesh that the Word became was a temporal mortal being. I'm
pretty sure that's true because Jesus' human origin can be easily traced to Adam's
construction back in Gen 2:7.

How is Jesus' human origin relative to the OP? It isn't, but I figured if we're
going off-topic we might as well go off on something important instead of trivial.
_
 

Omegatime

Well-known member
Apr 29, 2023
1,192
433
83
Pennsylvania
#44
Have you considered why no months or days were given in the time of the patriarchs concerning their births or deaths??
 

UnoiAmarah

Junior Member
Jul 28, 2017
908
142
43
#45
At least 2 places in Scripture make mention that 1000 yrs is like a day in the Lord's Sight.
Actually one scripture suggests that the light and darkness of a day are as thousand years in the sight of the LORD.
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night .Ps 90:4​
Which by implication infers that the light of yesterday and darkness of the night were given for the measure of a day.
And the LORD said, Let there be lights in the firmament ..... and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:​

The other scripture simply suggests that one should not be ignorant of the measure of a day, since two lights that were given for the measure of a day are the same that give the measure of a year.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2 Peter 3:8

So one can say a day with the LORD is as a thousand years, but how many days are everlasting to everlasting.
LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Ps 90:1-2​

God told Adam on the day he ate of the fruit he would die. Adam, and ALL humans, never made it to 1000 yrs.
The LORD didn't tell Adam that in the day he ate of the tree that he would end his life , he simply told him that in the day he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that he would know that he would die.
  • But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Gen 2:17
  • Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. Gen 5:2
If 'in the day' is as thousand years with the LORD, then a thousand years is a day with the LORD.
  • Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place? Eccl 6:6
  • Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. Rev 20:6
The end of the animated flesh is not the end of life, but the end of life is death.

"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life,...:" Gen 1:20​
 

Burn1986

Active member
Mar 4, 2024
918
212
43
#46
I was just reading in Genesis chapter 47 verse 28 about how Jacob, Israel, lived to age 147.
I wondered about how human lifespan at some point became a maximum of 120 years? So many of the Old Testament earliest figures lived to incredible ages.
Deep
 
May 25, 2024
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#47
The ages of people in the Old Testament really do make you wonder. Personally, I find comfort in Bible verses during different stages of life, especially as a mom. One verse that comes to mind when I think about https://www.christianpure.com/learn/mothers-day-bible-verse is Proverbs 31:25: "She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come." It reminds me that even in the midst of challenges, God equips us with strength and grace.