Top 10 Oldest Men In The Bible
So, as you see the title of the oldest man in the Bible belongs to Methuselah, son of Enoch and grandson of Jared. According to the Bible, he lived 969 and it is more than any other man in the Holy book.
Questions of longevity concern modern people. There is a separate science – gerontology, which studies various aspects of human aging, its causes and how to deal with it. People who are seriously concerned with the issue of aging apply achievements of practical gerontology and anti-aging medicine. It should be noted that the scientists conducted quite serious studies necessary to create an effective anti-aging medicine.
What Accounts For These Long Lives
One suggestion is that the earths climate changed as a result of the flood. Perhaps a canopy of water vapor surrounded the earth before the flood , providing the massive volume of water required for a global flood. If so, this continual blanket of clouds could have shielded the earth from the effects of harmful cosmic radiation, creating ideal living conditions and resulting in longer lives. This protective effect would have been lost after the flood.
Another suggestion is that in the first few generations after creation, the human gene pool had accumulated few defects. As the genetic code deteriorated over time, human beings became more susceptible to disease and aging. Of course, these theories are impossible to prove or disprove.
Did Ancient People Really Have Lifespans Longer Than 200 Years
By Tara MacIsaac , Epoch Times
It isnt only biblical figures who lived to well-seasoned ages of 900 years or more. Ancient texts from many cultures have listed life spans most modern people find simply and literally unbelievable. Some say its due to misunderstandings in the translation process, or that the numbers have symbolic meaningbut against the many explanations are also counterarguments that leave the historian wondering whether the human lifespan has actually decreased so significantly over thousands of years.
For example, one explanation is that the ancient Near East understanding of a year could be different than our concept of a year today. Perhaps a year meant an orbit of the moon instead of an orbit of the sun .
But if we make the changes accordingly, while it brings the age of the biblical figure Adam down from 930 to a more reasonable 77 at the time of his death, it also means he would have fathered his son Seth at the age of 11. And Enoch would have only been 5 years old when he fathered Methuselah.
Similar inconsistencies arise when we adjust the year figures to represent seasons instead of solar orbits, noted Carol A. Hill in her article Making Sense of the Numbers of Genesis, published in the journal Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith in December 2003.
Similar problems have arisen when adjusting ages in ancient texts with the assumption that authors used a certain pattern for skewing the actual ages .
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Why Did People Live So Long In The Bible
A human being currently living in the wealthiest nation in the world has an average lifespan of about 79 years. In contrast, the book of Genesis tells us that Methuselah lived to be 969. His grandson, Jared, was 962 when he died, and Noah’s odometer hit 950 before he kicked the Antediluvian bucket. What was their secret? Was it Paleo? It was probably Paleo.
Genesis : 5how Could People Live Over 900 Years
Problem: Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years , Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years , and the average age of those who lived out their normal life span was over 900 years of age. Yet even the Bible recognizes that most people live only 70 or 80 years before natural death occurs .
Solution: First of all, the reference in Psalm 90 is to Moses time and later, when longevity had decreased to 70 or 80 years for most, though Moses himself lived 120 years .
Some have suggested that these years are really only months, which would reduce 900 years to the normal life span of 80 years. However, this is implausible for two reasons. First, there is no precedent in the Hebrew OT for taking the word year to mean month. Second, since Mahalalel had children when he was only 65 , and Cainan had children when he was 70 , this would mean they were less than six years oldwhich is not biologically possible.
Others suggest that these names represent family lines or clans that went on for generations before they died out. However, this does not make sense for a number of reasons. First, some of these names are definitely individuals whose lives are narrated in the text . Second, family lines do not beget family lines by different names. Third, neither do family lines die, as each of these individuals did . Fourth, the reference to having sons and daughters does not fit the clan theory.
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Shem: An Intriguing Clue
Another interesting clue comes from Shem. The bottleneck at the Flood would not have affected Noah, as his genetics were not bound by that event. And he lived 350 years after the Flood and died at 950 years.
Ham and Japheths ages are not recorded in Scripture. But Shem was 600 years when he died. Either of the above bottlenecks, the Flood or the Tower, would not have affected Shems longevity.
And yet, his age was significantly reduced from his fathers. The Bible does not record the cause of death so, it is possible that something caused a premature death. However, it seems likely that he died of old age. And this is a clue that there may have been a genetic problem that passed through Noah to Shem to trigger a drop in ages.
It is possible that there was a genetic mistake hidden within Lamech.
Lamech, Noahs father, only lived to 777. In the reality of his day, he was young pup! Methuselah, Lamechs father, lived nearly 200 years longer than Lamech! So, it is possible that there was a genetic mistake hidden within Lamech that occurred between Methuselah and his son Lamech.
After the Flood in Genesis 9 , righteous Noah became rather drunkso drunk in fact, that he lay naked in his tent and failed to recognize that his son Ham had gazed into the tent and observed him and then proceeded to spread the word about his father .
Biblical Longevity Of The First Humans
The biblical description of mans approximately 1,700 years of existence before the great Flood is brief, primarily occupying the first seven chapters of the Bible. One of the particularly curious features about the antediluvian world is the immense ages to which the population lived. Adam lived 930 years. His son Seth lived 912 years. Noah lived 950 years. His son Shem, who was born before the Flood but lived the majority of his life afterward, lived to be 600 years old.
The oldest person born before the Flood was Methuselah, at 969 years. The oldest person in the Bible born after the Flood? Eber, at 464 years.
But is it really?
An Ancient King List
The Sumerian King List is an ancient listing of the first kings of Sumer and related dynasties. The list is preserved in varying forms on several different ancient tablets dating back as far as 2000 b.c.e. Perhaps the most famous is Weld-Blundell 444, a cuboid prism dating to c. 1817 b.c. There are a couple of fascinating facts about the Sumerian King List.
It mentions a listing of eight kings and then a massive deluge, destroying everything. This is similar to the biblical account, which mentions a total of 10 full generations before the Great Flood. Later Sumerian lists add two extra names to the list, bringing the total number of antediluvian rulers to 10just like the Bible.
Sumerian King List: The Following Kings
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Examples Of Genetic Determinants Affecting Aging And Life Span
Although many genetic factors are suggested to affect aging and life span,these processes largely remain a mystery. Aging can be thought of as increasedsusceptibility to internal and external stressors because of a decrease in the maintenance,repair, and defensive systems of the body.
For example, DNA repair systems are needed to protect the genome from mutation. Xeroderma pigmentosum is a genetic disorder causedby a deficient DNA repair system that normally repairs mutationscaused by ultraviolet light. Individuals with this disease must severely limittheir exposure to sunlight. Outer surfaces of the body, such as skin and lips, commonlyshow signs of premature aging.7 While this is an extreme example, anymutation that decreases the efficiency of our maintenance, repair, and defensivesystems will likely lead to more rapid aging and decreased life span.
Evolution And The Genetics Of Aging And Life Span
Evolution has a difficult time explaining aging and life span. Aging is oftenviewed as a default. Genes are selected on the basis of how they benefit an individualin their young reproductive years, or the warranty period isthe time required to fulfill the Darwinian purpose of life in terms of successfulreproduction for the continuation of generations.10 However, these same genesmay be harmful overall, leading to aging and eventually death.
The problem for evolution is that longevity genes are selected for. To dealwith this seeming dichotomy, some evolutionists have suggested that selectionof longevity genes serves a purpose in that long-lived individuals can care formore of their descendants, known as the grandmother effect.11 The problemis that any theory that is so flexible it can account for everything isnt a verygood theory.
Genes associated with aging and life span have been affected as a result ofthe fall either directly through mutations or indirectly through genetic bottlenecks.Modern medicine and anti-aging therapies may slow the process of agingand extend our life span, but they will never eradicate the ultimate enddeath.Only Jesus Christ, who was victorious over death, can promise eternallife with Him to all who believe .
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What Does The Bible Say About How Long People Should Live On Earth
The psalmist said that our days on earth “are seventy years and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow” . So man, according to the Psalms, has seventy years, and sometimes by reason of strength, eighty years or more. Now that is the average for modern man. But if you go back to the days of the patriarchs in Israel, one hundred thirty, one hundred forty or one hundred fifty years was not uncommon. If you go all the way back to the days just following creation, men lived nine hundred years or more. I wonder if, when the Millennium comes and there is no more sin on earth, people will once again live two hundred or three hundred years, or even longer.
Excerpt taken from Answers to 200 of Life’s Most Probing Questions, Copyright 1984 by Pat Robertson.
How To Lengthen Life
The way to lengthen life is to eat a balanced diet, dont smoke, dont drink excessive amounts of alcohol, avoid drugs, particularly illicit drugs, and to exercise at least three times a week. A proper day of rest is also of supreme importance. Most people in Western Civilizations have at least one day of rest. For most of Western society it is Sunday. God commanded a Sabbath-rest in the Old Testament and there still remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God today . God created us. He knows our bodies better than we do. He knows we need to rest and this is part of the reason He commanded the Sabbath day to rest. Most Christians rest on Sunday. In fact, as a former manager, I understood that most people can get more done on six days than in seven. This is because of the simple fact that a rest worker is a more productive and capable worker than if they work seven days a week, week after week.
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Oldest Men In The Bible
One of the greatest mysteries of the Bible is life span of its characters. And in fact, is a person able to live more than nine hundred years, like Adam or Sif? If you want to know about the oldest man in the Bible and who it is, read on. It will be interesting to know the names of 10 oldest men in the Bible.
Why Did People Live So Long Before The Flood
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The book of Genesis reports that people lived for hundreds of years. The most famous is Methuselah, who reportedly lived 969 years. This is very different from ordinary human experience today, as most people live into their 70s or 80s. How do we make sense of the long life-spans reported in Genesis?
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Lifespan Of Earliest Man
The chapters of Genesis 5 and 9 reveal that early man lived to almost one thousand years. After the worldwide flood , that is also referred to as Noahs flood, men and women did not live as long. The universal flood changed environmental conditions on the planet and consequently people could not live as long.
When we come to Genesis 25:7, we discover that Abraham lived 175 years. Isaac lived 180 years and Jacob lived 147 years . When we reach Moses, the life expectancy was about 120 years .
That is, the maximum life expectancy of mankind dropped after the flood to a maximum of about 120 years by the time of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Scripture does not give us the averagelife expectancy of mankind. It only mentions the ages of certain individuals.
Biological Causes Of Aging
What exactly causes this process of aging in our body? Although themechanism of aging has long been an object of biomedicalresearch, science still has no definitive answer to this question. Around the turnof the century, it was believed that aging didnt directly involve the living cells ofour body but rather was an extracellular phenomenon. It was believed that ournormal living cells, if properly nourished, could grow and divide indefinitelyoutside our body. In 1961, this idea was refuted by Leonard Hayflick, who grewhuman cells outside the body in covered glass dishes containing the necessarynutrients. Hayflick discovered that cells cultured in this way normally died afterabout 50 cell divisions . This suggests that even the individualcells of our body are mortal, apart from any other bodily influence.
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Lifespans Before The Flood: How Did People Live To Be 900 Years Old Before The Flood
Many Bible readers feel puzzled when reading the genealogies in Genesis. They describe patriarchs living for hundreds and hundreds of years. Adam lived to be 930. His son Seth, 912. Methuselah 969. Noah 950. Whats going on here? Did ancient Bible writers just imagine these incredibly long lifespans? This would seem to be the case since people today only live into their 70s or 80s often with the help of modern medicine. These long lifespans must be mythical, right? Well maybe not. Certain compelling reasons to believe that the biblical authors were recording the actual long lifespans of these patriarchs have persuaded trained geneticists to take these Genesis numbers at face value.
Whats going with these lifespans? They systematically decline along a familiar-looking pattern that statisticians call an exponential power curve. Plotting their ages does not reveal a straight-line slope, but a curved one. They dont suddenly bottom out right after the Flood, nor do they decline evenly. Rather, the lifespans decline along a nonlinear, exponential curve over time. And this curve literally passes every test for statistical significance. Whatever is going on here is not some chance occurrence. Their pattern breaks every possibility of being some fluke.
The Bible also promises that Christ would be our Kinsman Redeemer, and breaking apart these genealogies would undermine the Gospel itself. Christ the Redeemer had to map back to Adam as the Bible promised.
Lot And His Daughters
Lot and His DaughtersJoachim WtewaelLot and His daughtersHendrick de Somer
The account of Lot and his daughters is in Genesis 19:3038.
Genesis 19:30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.31 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.35 And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
The older daughter conceived Moab , father of the Moabites the younger conceived Ben-Ammi , father of the Ammonites.
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