So.. how did people live to be like 800 in biblical times?

Question

Just a random thought. How is it possible that people lived to be like 800 in biblical times?! i mean its amazing now-a-days if someone lives to be 100 and 800 is out of the question.

So HOW is that possible? Would they have been really decreped and old looking? We have all the fancy medicine and stuff today so how is it they had long life spams and not us?!

I had to google this because I havent read the bible in years..

but Methuselah from Gen. 5: 21-27 lived to be 969

http://www.biblequestions.org/Archives/BQAR235.htm

Answer 1

Well, when God created us He intended for us to be eternal. WHen Adam sinned we became cursed. Death, disease, and suffering just began and entered earth/human beings. (I hope you understand Chrisitan terms). Anyways, we initially lived longer because their was not an abundant of diseases, at the time the earth was new. However, as us stupid, wicked humans lived we became more and more corrupt. God actually regretted creating us as He looked down and seen man, He was discusted! Noah being the only righteous family that existed on earth, God decided to have mercy and gave us a chance and called us to repent and be saved (thru the Ark). But, no one would listen and they mocked the righteous man Noah. Well, you know the rest of the story. But, after the flood God said He couldn't put up with man for that long anymore and shortened our days to about as old as 120's. It is the book of Genesis if you want to study it. This was a skimmed way of answering it but I tried to keep it short. Hope it helped! Email me if your interested in more.

Answer 2

It could be because their method of keeping cycles of the months were more like years to them. May be they counted every time there was a full Moon as a yearly event. Each cycle equaling our months, where a full Moon emerged, equaled one year of their age.

That's just a guess, like the guesses I heard on Science Channel.

Answer 3

This was before the flood in Noah's time, when the Earth's climate was entirely different. A perfect ecological environment, with the lack of many of the diseases that are around today. Also, I'm sure their food wasn't loaded down with chemical additives and junk like we have now.
But let us not forget that during the time the Bible was written, they most likely went by the Babylonian calendar of 360 days in a year. Still, mighty old.

Answer 4

Adam lived to be age 930 years, Methusaleh was age 243 when Adam died and Methusaleh lived another 726 years to the flood year, then the life sustaining earth was lost in the flood year.

With the promise of salvation to the eternal life that was lost for us, John 3: 16; 2Pet.3:13; from the promise Isa.45:18; 65:17; 66:1,22,23; there has got to be a new heavens and a new earth [ God sacrificed the life sustaining earth to give [ offsprings of Adam born in sin, so imperfect that any deliberate sin may come to be ], the chance for as much of Psm.90:10; old age at age 70 and we can have so much less, as we die at any age ], THE PROMISE OF SALVATION AND ALL MADE AS NEW AS BEFORE EDEN REMAINS Rev.21:1-5; ALL MADE NEW.

Answer 5

the wonders of fiction. god said somewhere that he will limit the number of man's years to 120 but someone still managed 500+ i think.

just imagine.. no birth control, that's at least 1 child every 5 years (the very least) those children would be fertile in 20+ years, i could imagine having 9000 grandchildren at age 500 is not impossible. how are you going to feed that?

the bible mentions several people aged 900+ too they could overtake the world in 1000 years only.

Answer 6

I've always wondered about that myself. Translation issue? Longer lifespans????

Answer 7

well when i first heard it i believed it like most ignorant children would... but now i think... even if it is not made up... the bible is full of so many errors, especially numeric translations, what if 950 was meant to be just 95 and some person accidently added a 0?

Answer 8

I have heard ( this is not scientific) that it was due to the perfect environment. I have also heard that after the earth was flooded that the environment changed permanently and no one after Noah's generation lived that long again. I have no clue, but interesting things to consider.

Answer 9

Back in thee day, people were more active. There were few few few jobs where one could sit around. People had to walk to places and perform arduous work instead of type on a computer. Also their diet was much better than a typical modern urban diet. No high concentration of fat and sugar. The diet mixed with the exercise of living made some people live longer. The average life span though was a lot shorter than it is today. Because their bodies were always working, they tended to wear down sooner. Couple that with hardly any medicine and sanitation and boom you got some dead suckers.

Answer 10

Every heard of crack? weed? alcohol? I have quite an imagination when I get drunk to... You know how you live for 800 years? You convince people your great and they will write and read about you for a loooooong time, at least back then they would. That is how you live forever!