Actual Age of Abraham, Issac, Jaccob, etc

[SD_Catholic]

In Genesis when it gives the life years of men like these… is it meant literal years? Someone claimed that 50 yrs old would have been ancient back then… which I would say yes to if we limit God’s powers to the state of current man, but no to if we assume God was still trying to populate the earth. Was just wondering if anyone new the Church’s view on this. Thanks

SD

 

[DylanO]

In Genesis when it gives the life years of men like these… is it meant literal years? Someone claimed that 50 yrs old would have been ancient back then… which I would say yes to if we limit God’s powers to the state of current man, but no to if we assume God was still trying to populate the earth. Was just wondering if anyone new the Church’s view on this. Thanks

SD

Yes, those were their literal ages in years. The Bible seems to indicate that after the sin of Adam, people’s life-spans began to decrease and I assume to probably age faster than they did before. God progressively shortened man’s life in the “four falls of mankind” — first to less than 1000 years, then to under 500, 200, and eventually 120 years. After those long living people died around the time of the Biblical Flood, God decided that humans would not be permitted to live more than 120 years (Genesis 6:3) However, since later biblical figures (and more recent people) such as Sarah lived for longer than that, 120 years should be considered the “usual” upper limit to man’s lifespan. Some individuals can live slightly longer than that.

 

[SD_Catholic]

Yes, those were their literal ages in years. The Bible seems to indicate that after the sin of Adam, people’s life-spans began to decrease and I assume to probably age faster than they did before. God progressively shortened man’s life in the “four falls of mankind” — first to less than 1000 years, then to under 500, 200, and eventually 120 years. After those long living people died around the time of the Biblical Flood, God decided that humans would not be permitted to live more than 120 years (Genesis 6:3) However, since later biblical figures (and more recent people) such as Sarah lived for longer than that, 120 years should be considered the “usual” upper limit to man’s lifespan. Some individuals can live slightly longer than that.

Thanks…I agree, and this is the only way I ever knew it until this person brought it up. I was just wondering if I missed out on something along the way.

SD

 

[I_like_Mike]

Thanks…I agree, and this is the only way I ever knew it until this person brought it up. I was just wondering if I missed out on something along the way.

SD

Psalm 90 which is credited to Moses is interesting here
It is in Bible tools Time God’s perspective Psalm 90:1-10

Time lived is viewed with a new perspective from the only psalm attributed to Moses.

Moses begins by asserting that God is everlasting and almighty (verses 1-2). He can destroy men’s lives, and a thousand years later, He resurrects them to life with a word (verses 3-4)! Thousands of years can pass, and God can still bring people back from the dead! Man has no power over death, but God can, has, and will overcome time and death by the power of the resurrection. To God, these thousands of years pass swiftly “like yesterday . . . like a watch in the night.”

To be brought back is the resurrection and can happen thousands of years after life is destroyed as God so chooses. To have the Christ member of the blessed Trinity is by God alone but this is also for lesser mortals by the sound of it. The question is if Nero is the 666 and he is brought back, is that the power humanity must once again face in the tribulations and again for a short time?

There is so much not known about the times we live in except for the certainty our children are being taught their science and mathematics by those who in the majority reject God.

Our times are blighted by those who in the name of religious scripture practice hatred, harm, torture and death in the cause of peace. The leaders in the wider world place more value on image, power and money than the value of spirituality. Profit and hidden wealth holds value over justice and relief from poverty.

There are lots of very good people but the times we live in are very much on par with those that had their times shortened to limit the evil of a work of a life time lived too long.

Supposedly there are sixty genes that in bulk regulate the life time of an individual. With DNA mapping it may be reasonable to assume that in some time soon there will be tinkering with yet another of the ways and works our Lord set in place for us.