What's up with the old people in Genesis?

[Contrabass101]

Hey there,

Am reading from the book of Genesis now, and have started applying the four-fold interpretation of the Fathers, which is an enourmous blessing!

But I was wondering, why is it that the earliest generations have lifespans of almost 1000 years? And why dont they have any children before the age of 70-80?

How am I to understand this? Do they have another way of measuring time? Did they just get very old - and why?

I heard a Young Earth Creationist make a case once about this, but it presupposes some rather wild theories about a “shell” of ice around the earth preventing genes from mutating etc.

Are there other explainations?

What do the Fathers teach?

• CB

 

[steveandersen]

Well…
One of the basic teachings of Christianity is that we were intended to be better than we are and that we are not because of The Fall

The story of very long lives is supposed to suggest that long ago we were closer to the original when we had eternal life.

It is also supposed to support the veracity of the story by limiting the # of generations between when the events happened and when they were written down. “I heard from so-and-so and he heard from his great grand father who heard from his great grand father and he was there.”

Were there really people who were centuries old? Probably not. But in an era when the average age was below 20 and the number of folks who made it to 50 were few and far between, living your full 3 score and ten would make you seem very very very old in the eyes of those around you.

“Shells” of ice around the planet? A halting of mutations?
Not very likely.

 

[cazayoux]

Any chance that those ages are actually in months rather than years?

michel

 

[buffalo]

When Adam and Eve were created they had preternatural gifts including bodily immortality. After the fall sin, death and corruption entered the scene. Their offspring were genetically pure. Science has now shown us that better genes lead to longer life.

After the flood God limited the lifespan to 120 years.

Pro Life Expectancy - a look at the actual actuarials

 

[Marsha_Adams]

Here is a theory.

With the advent of sin in the world came diseases. The first few generations probably didn’t have as many diseases, and the people’s bodies had not deteriorated the way ours have over the millenia so they were more resistent to these diseases and lived longer. The earth had not decayed as it has now, so the food grown was more nutritious (I’ve heard that the vegetables grown in just our grandparents day were more nutritious than what is grown in our time). The animals had not become as diseased as they are now, so eating meat probably wasn’t as bad for them as it is now. There was no pollution so that propably prolonged their lives. There were no “waves” from radios, TV’s, microwaves, etc. which are supposedly bad for us. The atmosphere was probably thicker so sun light wasn’t as dangerous to them as it is to us.

All of these things together probably account for their longevity.

 

[DaveBj]

If you and I had inherited perfect genetics and a perfect immune system, we couls pro’ly live for 900 years, too.

DaveBj

 

[Cari]

I’ve heard young-Earth folks tell me about the “protective layer around the Earth” before the Flood, too. Frankly, as this was the first time I’d ever run into a you-Earther, I was too amazed that people actually believed in the theory to follow the arguments.

And yes, poor farming practices, dependence on chemical fertilizers rather than soil-building techniques, over-bred produce, etc. all result in poorer nutritional quality over time.