the Old Testament people lived to be several hundred years old?

Question

Why did people live to be so old in those days?

Answer 1

Pure gene pool created with Adam and Eve that was not damaged by generations of disease, radiation, drugs, etc.

Pure environment without polution.

Possibly because of God's help, letting people live longer to populate the Earth.

Answer 2

The world was pure, no pollution, no insecticides, no poisons. Fresh air, fresh food, no sugar, no disease. No one knows what that combo of fresh and pure could do, we've never encountered a world like that. Also, before the flood, men did not eat meat. God gave Noah permission to eat meat after finding no produce after the flood.

Oh, and Charlotte, the Book of Enoch is very old, older than much of the old testament, and in it, he laid out the years at 364 days in each, so if the Romans may have messed with the days of the months, like February, and they most likely renamed the months, but they certainly didn't add any real time.

Answer 3

I think they counted years in weeks, months or calendar quarters.

For example, someone who lived to be 900 years old would be 300 years old in quarters, or 75 years old in months. And 75 years old seems awfully old to people who lead short, brutish lives unimpeded by such advancements as flush toilets or gel handcleaners.

The same goes for someone living 150 years or whatever. There's no accounting in the bible for how long the timeframe 'a year' is, so there's certainly no reason to assume it means 365.25 days on the Gregorian/Julian calendar system which certainly came much, much later after a lot more astronomy and general civilization.

Answer 4

actually before the flood there was a canopy (thick water cloud around the earth. the canopy would filter out uv rays, which degenerate the human body. God dropped the canopy on earth because of sin, causing the flood, exposing all human and plant life to uv rays. and that's your answer

Answer 5

God did not limit the years until the time of Moses (to 120 years)

this is because men were doing evil in the world

Answer 6

Man lived the longest before the flood took place. Notice Genesis chapter 5. Verse 5, "And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died." Verse 8, "And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died." Verse 11, "And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died." Verse 14, "And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died." Verse 17 "And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died." Verse 27, "And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died." Verse 31, "And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died." Noah went on to live to be 950 years old, Genesis 9:29 tells us. "And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died." The flood is described in Genesis chapters 6-9.

Then notice after the flood takes place, how the ages drop off rapidly. Genesis 11:32 tells us that Terah (Abraham’s father) only lived to be 205 years old. "And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran." We then notice that Abraham and Sarah are considered to be "old" at close to 100 years of age. Genesis 17:17 says, "Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is AN HUNDRED YEARS OLD? and shall Sarah, that is NINETY YEARS OLD, bear?" Genesis 18:11-14 refers to them being "old." "NOW ABRAHAM AND SARAH WERE OLD and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." Abraham did go on to live to be 175 years old, and Sarah 127 (check out Genesis 25:7, and Genesis 23:1). Isaac died at 180 years old (Genesis 35:28); Jacob at 147 years old (Genesis 47:28); and Joseph to 110 years old (Genesis 50:22). In David’s day, it was diminished even further, Psalms 90:10 tells us it was down to 70 to 80 years old: "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." So we can see that the length of life diminishes rapidly after the flood comes upon the earth.

The question is, "Why does the life-span of people go down so quickly after the flood?" The Bible does not say why, but some creation scientists think that it happened because they believe the atmosphere had a canopy of water before the flood came. When the Bible says in Genesis 7:11-13, "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, AND THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark." They believe that "the windows of heaven" being opened allowed this water to come down upon the earth at the time of the flood. Those creation scientists say that that canopy would have blocked a great deal of the ultraviolet rays that bombard people today. Also, they believe that canopy would have been like a "greenhouse", keeping the climates of the world much more tropical-like. And also, they say that the oxygen pressure would have been greater upon earth under such conditions, causing everything to grow much faster, and cuts and wounds to heal very quickly. If you want to do some exciting study on this subject, I would encourage you to order a set of videos from Dr. Kent Hovind on "Creation Science Evangelism." (you can find his Web Site at "http://www.drdino.com" If you have any trouble finding his site, please write back, and I will give you a mailing address) It is a set of 7 tapes that will excite your heart to see the proofs right from science that the world was created by God, and that evolution is absolutely foolish and without any proof whatsoever. In those videos, Dr. Hovind deals with why man lived longer before the flood.



Be Blessed and Blessed Be

Answer 7

It was a blessingto live hundreds of years that God gave them. But through out His experience, the longer they lived, the more selfish they become and more sinful. So God decided to cut the amount of years a person could live.

Psalms 90:7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Answer 8

Don't believe everything you read.

If you divide the "years" by twelve, you get reasonable lifetimes. Have you ever thought that it might be a translation problem and the numbers are actually the months lived?

Answer 9

Insert typical banter from christians below:
"The Bible is 100% accurate, except the important stuff, we just ad lib that stuff. Stuff like time, events, and interpretations of the events is left up to the reader to decide. Like a choose your own adventure book. But you should totally obey the stuff."

There you go.

Answer 10

Sin is a corruption that destroys the flesh.Moses brought the law the law revealed sin and the days of man were numbered.