At synagogue recently there was a reading from the Torah about the age of Noah when he died. It said that he lived to be 950 years old. Afterwards I read some other passages from Genesis and lots of other people had super long lives, too.

So:

Did people just live longer then? or,
Did they use a different calendar for years? or,
Was it not meant to be taken literally? or,
Was it maybe even gematriya (code)?

I realize there are probably a lot of differing opinions but I'm very interested to hear about this, thanks.

Err the Board has censored the Hebrew name for Genesis, Bere****, LOL!! It's spelled B-e-r-e-s-h-i-t, and roughly pronounced as "bear-ray-sheet", in case anyone is interested.

Fr_Chuck

using such lanagage, (shaking head) and around children

but it is beleived that because man was closer to creation, and closer to Adam, he was more physcially pure and perfect ( not perfect) but better than we are today.

So he could live longer. After the flood, I believe the life span was to be set at about 125 but I am not sure where that is.

So man today does not live to 125 today ( more today but because of science not because of mans real better health)

No one knows for sure how long Adam lived ( we have an idea after he was out of the garden, but no one knows how long he was in the garden)

orange

LOL. Thanks Fr Chuck.

That's actually a pretty cool explanation. It makes sense too, in the sense that when I read further, I noticed that Abraham only lived 175 years. So by that time people were living shorter lives. The immortality or closeness to G-d or whatever was wearing off. I'm not sure if I believe it or not, but I think it's neat that people could live that long, kind of reminds me of the Elves in the Lord of the Rings.

Nez

Sorry to go off track,but as a side note,at the time of Jesus,the average Roman soldier,25 years service,numerous battles,full health care,pension...yes...even that...had a life average of 35-40 years maximum.Apparently it did not help that lead was widely used in a lot of their products.
It is interesting that Bible characters seemed to live to be "odd ages".Maybe the translation was lost,or how it should be interpreted.Noone could possibly live to be 950 years old,as the human bodies cell decay rate,would prohibit such a happening.However there is more than enough evidence,to suggest that these people existed,and were not simply figments of some spiritual teachers imagination.

RickJ

The books of the Old Testament have many different styles: poetry, parables, proverbs, history, legal, symbolic, etc.

It is not always easy to tell what is what...especially in Genesis and Exodus.

We just do not know whether those ages are to be taken literal or not.

fredg

Hi, Orange,
Another opinion.
Roman Soldiers were not Christians, in the sense that they were Baptized, and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. They did not have the Grace of God.
So, I believe the ages, because I am a believer in Christ.

NeedKarma

Fred, are you saying that because they weren't christian there didn't live as long? Like some sort of punishment? Do all christian people feel this way?

ScottGem

First, this is just another example of intolerance. To state that a non Christian would not live as long as a Christian even in those days, is ridiculous.

Second, the ages referred to are listed in the OLD TESTAMENT (Genesis to be exact). So what does a belief in Christ have to do with believing those ages? By the time of Christ, life spans were much, much shorter for all peoples.

Nez

My two sisters are not christians,nor is my father.Only me,my wife,and my mother are baptists.My six year old son,some weeks he comes to church,sometimes he does not,and stays with either myself or Sally at home.He has not been baptised.That choice is his when he is older,and able to understand.If he "grows out of church",so be it.
So that makes him,my two sisters,and my father,like the Roman soldiers then,and all will only live to be 35-40?
Er...my father is 68.

orange

Wow... thanks for all the comments.

I also don't think that people live longer or shorter lives because of their beliefs. And as Scott mentioned, I'm speaking of the Old Testament here, before Christ. If you look at Genesis 5, everyone lived an extremely long time, whether they were good or bad. And at the time of Jesus, I don't think the Romans were dying off early and Jesus' followers were living way longer. If that was the case, the Romans probably wouldn't have been able to occupy and conquer all the countries that they did. Everyone had shorter lifespans in those days.

My grandmother lived to be 96, and she was a Jewish communist and staunch atheist. She got pregnant with her first child before she was married (a huge scandal in those days!) and ran off with a gentile man who was fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Her brother, who was a very devout religious Jew, so devout that he was opposed to the creation of the State of Israel without the Messiah, died in his early 40s. Was G-d punishing my great uncle for being so devout and rewarding my grandmother for not believing in Him and living so freely??? That doesn't make much sense. Have any of you read the book, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" by Rabbi Harold Kushner? It's a really excellent book which explains, in Kushner's opinion, why people suffer in the world. Basically, even though he believes in G-d, he thinks bad things are random and can happen to anyone. And I agree with that.