Noah's death @ 950 years old

[Nurse_Joy]

Looking for a good discussion of how this works, need a good answer for my 9 year old.

Any links?

 

[Benadam]

Looking for a good discussion of how this works, need a good answer for my 9 year old.

Any links?

Gen 7-6 And he was six hundred years old, when the waters of the flood overflowed the earth.

• Gen7-11* In the six hundredth year of the life of Noe, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the flood gates of heaven were opened: 12 And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
• Gen 9-28* And Noe lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years: 29 And all his days were in the whole nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

600 plus 350 = 950

 

[stringbeanduck]

It does seem hard to comprehend and the answer is not very clear. But if God can have a women become pregnant and still be a virgin, surely a man can live 950 years.

 

[strngrnrth]

Some possibilities:
A. 950 is a symbolic number to be interpreted by some system that would have been understood at the time.
B. God let Noah escape the limit of 120 years on human life just as today an occasional person passes that age. In Noah’s case the longevity was extreme to reward Noah for unusual faith and obedience by letting him be around long enough to have a vision of Christ and understand the way to be saved. That’s how long it took him to be ready.

 

[Jaypeeto4]

The statement by God that man would live no longer than 120 years was, I believe, a statement that the Flood was to occur within 120 years.

While I have no problem with evolutionary theory,
I do firmly believe that God created our two first parents
in a state of holiness, justice, and a robust physical health that we cannot begin to comprehend today.

As humanity progressed farther and farther away from the Fall,
human physical health began to slowly deteriorate and people began to live gradually less and less longer. After the time of Noah, you’ll note in scripture, human lifespans begin to drop dramatically.

Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+

 

[Renton405]

I think the year/day system was different before the flood in hebrew. Like for instance the word “yom” in hebrew which means “day” in english can also mean a “period” or a “phase”… Other times there are lotsa meanings(like the book of daniel) where a week can mean a year and vise-versa. I somehow doubt that before the flood a year would be the same exact 365 days as it is now…

 

[stringbeanduck]

I think the year/day system was different before the flood in hebrew. Like for instance the word “yom” in hebrew which means “day” in english can also mean a “period” or a “phase”… Other times there are lotsa meanings(like the book of daniel) where a week can mean a year and vise-versa. I somehow doubt that before the flood a year would be the same exact 365 days as it is now…

That is a interesting point and I have thought about that before. Note to self: ask God how it worked out with noah.

 

[Neil_Anthony]

I think this shows that the years weren’t just symbolic:

Methusalah, the oldest person recorded in the bible, and Noah’s grandfather, apparently died in the flood

5:26. And Mathusala lived after he begot Lamech, seven hundred and eighty-two years, and begot sons and daughters

5:28. And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years, and begot a son. 5:29. And he called his name Noe, …

7:6. And he was six hundred years old, when the waters of the flood overflowed the earth.

Noah was born 182 years after Lamech was born, and the flood was 600 years later, or 782 years after Lamech was born. The same year Methusalah died. Co-incidence?

 

[TheOneTrueFred]

The statement by God that man would live no longer than 120 years was, I believe, a statement that the Flood was to occur within 120 years.

I think you’re right about what the statement was referring to, but it’s interesting that modern science currently considers somewhere around 120 years to be our upper limit biologically, and that the oldest person since modern record keeping lived to 122.

 

[Stolen_Rutters]

I think you’re right about what the statement was referring to, but it’s interesting that modern science currently considers somewhere around 120 years to be our upper limit biologically, and that the oldest person since modern record keeping lived to 122.

Correlation doesn’t equal causation. It is interesting though.

 

[ribozyme]

My reply to this thread will be in a jocular tone.

Aubrey de Grey wants us to live to 1000.

Life expectancy is increasing in the developed world. But Cambridge University geneticist Aubrey de Grey believes it will soon extend dramatically to 1,000. Here, he explains why.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4003063.stm

God let Noah escape the limit of 120 years on human life just as today an occasional person passes that age. In Noah’s case the longevity was extreme to reward Noah for unusual faith and obedience by letting him be around long enough to have a vision of Christ and understand the way to be saved. That’s how long it took him to be ready.

Nah, perhaps Noah practiced calorie restriction and use trans-resveratrol supplements.

No, I do not take resveratrol, nor endorse it.

You said the limit for biological humans was 120 years. I suppose uploading our minds to computers or going cybernetic would render the notion of "biological” irrelevant.