If you will read a little further, you will see that in later times (Genesis 6), God reduced the human lifespan, and then reduced it again. By Abraham’s time, it was unusual for a man to live as long as he did; and by Moses’ time, it was unusual for a man to live as long as he did. Apparently, we were originally supposed to live a thousand years (maybe more) but once we became sinful, we caused more misery living a long time than we would otherwise have done.
When God speaks of his Spirit not ‘striving’ or trying to ‘contend’ with man forever, what that is generally understood to mean is “I am not going to keep on trying to persuade them to repent forever.”
God’s mercy may cause His justice to hold back for a while, but if people do not repent of their sin God knows, and he will not allow the unrepentant to live longer. It would endanger those around them, and they themselves will suffer less intensely for eternity if God judges them early, rather than allowing them to commit more sins for which they would then have to suffer more deeply for eternity.
(If God were to allow the unrepentant to keep living, they would sin more, requiring God to punish them more strictly, forcing Him to be responsible for their sin. God will not allow Himself to be manipulated this way. So, due to both His justice and His mercy, He must set a cutoff limit.)
It is believed that the ‘canopy’, the ‘waters above the heavens’ which rained out during the Flood, had protected Earth from increased solar radiation, and that the resulting increase of solar radiation was what permitted more cancers, mutations, and a general decrease in health and longevity. So, not only was the Flood a general judgement on all people, but the means used to produce the Flood were calculated to have specific desired aftereffects on us.
12 FEB 07, 1709 hrs, GMT.
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2007-02-12 13:35:56
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answer #1
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answered by cdf-rom 7
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Assuming that you're talking about the biblical text, it's because the ancient Hebrew people who wrote it didn't use numbers the way we do today. By saying that someone was 900 years old when he/she died, they didn't literally mean that the person was 900 years old, just that he/she was very old.
2007-02-12 02:27:50
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answer #2
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answered by angel s 4
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