Noah is 600 Years Old

I was reading Genesis from the King James Version of the Bible from a link someone on ATS gave me, and as I read further I came across some interesting passages. In Genesis 6, God says that the lifespan of humans is 120 years. In Genesis 7 however, it is mentioned that Noah had been around for 600 years before the flood...what exactly is this implying?

www.biblegateway.com...
www.biblegateway.com...

(edit) Might this mean that man was immortal before the flood, and that God decided to make our lifespan 120 years after the flood? If so, I don't remember hearing about immortality when I was a Christian.

[edit on 21-1-2005 by zhangmaster]

I remember reading somewhere that at the time of Noah the human lifespan was a lot longer than it is now - not immortality by any means, but certainly centuries.

I think it's to do with the farther away you get (generation wise) from the Biblical ancients, the shorter the lifespan (until recently of course when scientific knowledge has expanded it slightly once again).

And yes, some days I do feel 600 years old :shk:

Yeah, it was because of the times before the flood that God shortened the lifespan of "man's skin," which i believe was the correct term, i don't know i could be wrong. It's funny though, i actually read that people stop aging when they hit roughly the age of 90, and that technically the body can't get any worse after that, i wonder if these 2 are some how related.

I can't tell you exactly where I have read about this stuff. Maybe from Lost Books of the Bible and from Dr. Gene Scot's teachings... but here goes, in my own words:

Before the flood man lived to be hundreds of years old. Some think that it is because there was a "firmament" or atmosphere that surrounded the earth and consisted of water and there are even ancient writings of seeing fish in the sky.

One of the reasons that people did not believe Noah about the impending flood was that it had never rained on the earth...everything was watered until then by a heavy mist that rose up at night. When the flood started....this firmament was opened up and all the water in it fell to the earth causing the flood. Supposedly, this firmament protected humans against the harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun that cause aging.

So that is why we now age differently then before the deluge.

I do believe this had been discussed here before......

yup, you're right. I never thought something like that would have been discussed before, so I didn't boter to do a search....I found more info on the mist from the older topic Cherish:

Before the flood, the earth was watered by a mist coming up from the ground (Genesis 2:6). Also note that the 120 years bit came from Genesis 6:3--And the LORD said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. I've heard some people say that God was giving man 120 more years to repent before the Flood. In fact, when the ark was complete, God allowed an extra seven days--a last call, if you will. And there were no takers.

I also found this which gives a different perspective on the subject:

These people did NOT live so long. During the time of the Old Testament it was traditional to lie about important people?s age after their deaths. Typically, kings and princes were assigned very long life spans as a sign of respect. It was a gross exaggeration which was socially acceptable and expected by the people.

Before the flood man lived to be hundreds of years old. Some think that it is because there was a "firmament" or atmosphere that surrounded the earth and consisted of water and there are even ancient writings of seeing fish in the sky.

One of the reasons that people did not believe Noah about the impending flood was that it had never rained on the earth...everything was watered until then by a heavy mist that rose up at night. When the flood started....this firmament was opened up and all the water in it fell to the earth causing the flood. Supposedly, this firmament protected humans against the harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun that cause aging.

If it never rained, how can mist rise up? If the earth was surrounded (atmospherically) by water, wouldnt plant life have a hard time of photosynthesis? How thick was this alledged water firmament?
Its an intresting theory though that the falling firmament caused the flood,
im just not sure i beleive it.

Well, Egyptians used to judge time off the moon rather than the sun like we do now. It is quite possiable that Noah and them did too. Which would make him 46 years old instead of 600.

[edit on 23-1-2005 by mrsdudara]

In Genesis 2, it is said that a mist came up from beneath the ground to water the land

www.biblegateway.com...

Personally, I dont believe any of it, I'm not even Christian, but I just found this passage to be interesting so I wanted to see how other Christians would comment on it, people who are much more knowledgeable than I on this subject.

[edit on 23-1-2005 by zhangmaster]

ahhh yes- well Noah was already on Earth when God said that- but yeah, if you noticed, the generations went from like 600, to 400, to 200, and now down to present day 80 from when God said that, and the flood happened.

funny how thats truth, the oldest dude thats ever lived on record (current times) is like 124. so I guess God meant not past the 120's, as in not past 129, and a day before 130.

Originally posted by LadyV
I do believe this had been discussed here before......

A link to the previous discussion would be nice instead of a canned response.

Why did people in the bible live so long?

Did you see how long Methuselah lived? 969 years. That' pretty impressive.

There was a lady on my old street and she was 120, and man she was a meanie.

I was so scared of her as a kid, she had a huge bee hive in her front yard.

If people live to be 120 max how come god makes the meanies live??

they say only the good die young, maybe theirs some truth to that.

i dont think its biologically possible to live to a age of 600