“Genesis is unreliable because the dates and ages of the men living before the Flood just don’t come out right.” This statement was meant as a challenge; and, of course, I could not resist the urge to check for myself to see what exactly Genesis does say. It turned out to be a rewarding experience which showed up some interesting facts which I would like to share.
There are ten patriarchs mentioned in Genesis 5, and when we plot the age of each patriarch and the time of birth of his son, we end up with an interesting diagram.
One of the first things we note is that people lived to a very ripe old age before the Flood. The average life span of these ten patriarchs is 857 years, which is more than ten times the life span for people of the twentieth century. This average would be still higher (912 years) if we would not count Enoch, because God took him.
As a consequence of this longevity, nine of the ten patriarchs lived contemporaneously between Lamech’s birth and Adam’s death. In fact, Lamech was fifty-six years old when Adam died.
Methuselah, who lived to be nearly a thousand years old, lived not only contemporaneously with Adam for 243 years, but also with Noah for the next 706 years, right into the year in which the Flood came. And Lamech died only 6ve years before the Flood. It would seem quite certain, since these men lived contemporaneously, that they knew first-hand from Adam what Paradise, the Fall, the Covenant, etc. were about. Whatever knowledge was passed on from father to son must therefore have been very reliable.
The pre-Flood people were apparently quite fruitful. Of each patriarch except Noah it is said that, besides the son mentioned, he begat sons and daughters. This would mean a family of at least five children.
The time span from Adam’s creation to the Flood was 1656 years, which is as long as from A.D. 316 to 1972, i.e., from the time or the early Christian church to the present—a remarkably long time. In fact, it was long enough for most parts of the world to become inhabited by people.
A careful look at Genesis 6 through 8 also shows that the waters of the Flood covered the earth for nearly a whole year, and that Noah and his family actually were in the Ark for more than a year. Truly an unforgettable experience!
Out of curiosity, I also looked at the post-Flood chapters of Genesis to see what similar information it would yield about people. Interesting in this context is what is recorded of Shem, Ham, and Japheth—namely, that “of them was the whole earth overspread.”
After the Flood we find another ten generations recorded in Genesis 11, from Shem to Abraham. Comparing this information with that of the first ten patriarchs, we find that their life span is much shorter—an average of 317 years. Striking, too, is the fact that the life span continues to drop off quite sharply until we come to Joseph who lived “only” 110 years (see below). It is tempting, of course, to look for a “natural” explanation for this phenomenon; but, since we cannot go back in time for a direct investigation, our explanations are bound to be quite speculative. It is permissible. however, to draw the conclusion that something must have changed at the time of the Flood to cause this sharp drop in longevity. If we study the records of mankind today, we find that all generations are much the same; and, if we then extrapolate back, we might conclude that people always lived to be about eighty years old. This clearly is not so, however. Certainly in this instance we must say that “the present is not the key to the past.”
As a result of the decrease in life span it also turns out that Shem, who was ninety-eight years old at the time of the Flood, lived until thirty-five years after Abraham’s death.
These things are nothing new, of course, for they have been there all the time. And they are probably tucked away very properly in various places in commentaries and theological handbooks where we as laymen very seldom browse. But they show again that God has dealt with His people in wondrous ways throughout the ages.
There are ten patriarchs mentioned in Genesis 5, and when we plot the age of each patriarch and the time of birth of his son, we end up with an interesting diagram.
One of the first things we note is that people lived to a very ripe old age before the Flood. The average life span of these ten patriarchs is 857 years, which is more than ten times the life span for people of the twentieth century. This average would be still higher (912 years) if we would not count Enoch, because God took him.
As a consequence of this longevity, nine of the ten patriarchs lived contemporaneously between Lamech’s birth and Adam’s death. In fact, Lamech was fifty-six years old when Adam died.
Methuselah, who lived to be nearly a thousand years old, lived not only contemporaneously with Adam for 243 years, but also with Noah for the next 706 years, right into the year in which the Flood came. And Lamech died only 6ve years before the Flood. It would seem quite certain, since these men lived contemporaneously, that they knew first-hand from Adam what Paradise, the Fall, the Covenant, etc. were about. Whatever knowledge was passed on from father to son must therefore have been very reliable.
The pre-Flood people were apparently quite fruitful. Of each patriarch except Noah it is said that, besides the son mentioned, he begat sons and daughters. This would mean a family of at least five children.
The time span from Adam’s creation to the Flood was 1656 years, which is as long as from A.D. 316 to 1972, i.e., from the time or the early Christian church to the present—a remarkably long time. In fact, it was long enough for most parts of the world to become inhabited by people.
A careful look at Genesis 6 through 8 also shows that the waters of the Flood covered the earth for nearly a whole year, and that Noah and his family actually were in the Ark for more than a year. Truly an unforgettable experience!
Out of curiosity, I also looked at the post-Flood chapters of Genesis to see what similar information it would yield about people. Interesting in this context is what is recorded of Shem, Ham, and Japheth—namely, that “of them was the whole earth overspread.”
After the Flood we find another ten generations recorded in Genesis 11, from Shem to Abraham. Comparing this information with that of the first ten patriarchs, we find that their life span is much shorter—an average of 317 years. Striking, too, is the fact that the life span continues to drop off quite sharply until we come to Joseph who lived “only” 110 years (see below). It is tempting, of course, to look for a “natural” explanation for this phenomenon; but, since we cannot go back in time for a direct investigation, our explanations are bound to be quite speculative. It is permissible. however, to draw the conclusion that something must have changed at the time of the Flood to cause this sharp drop in longevity. If we study the records of mankind today, we find that all generations are much the same; and, if we then extrapolate back, we might conclude that people always lived to be about eighty years old. This clearly is not so, however. Certainly in this instance we must say that “the present is not the key to the past.”
As a result of the decrease in life span it also turns out that Shem, who was ninety-eight years old at the time of the Flood, lived until thirty-five years after Abraham’s death.
These things are nothing new, of course, for they have been there all the time. And they are probably tucked away very properly in various places in commentaries and theological handbooks where we as laymen very seldom browse. But they show again that God has dealt with His people in wondrous ways throughout the ages.