120 Year?

[Linksquest]

Genesis 6
The Flood
1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with [a] man forever, for he is mortal [b] ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."

Does that mean that the max age for man is 120 years?

[Scribs]

This is a point that is somewhat contested, some belive that it means that no one will live longer than 120 years, but for a while after this verse people did live for longer than 120 so I have doubts about that.

Given that this passage is right befor the flood account, I think that it is likely that God was saying that Man had 120 years before they would be wiped out by the flood. This seems like the likely meaning to me.

Its a rather contested issue and noone knows for sure, but thats my take on it.

[Alice]

I've heard it meant the time until the flood came. I tend to believe that theory. Because one of the names of the guys is supposed to translate to mean "When he dies, it comes," and if you work out the life spans and deaths and the flood, it did come just after he died. Anyway that's what I think. ^^ You can of course believe what you want.

[Scribs]

So fa, no mane has ever reached the 120 year mark.

actually thats not true.
Genesis 25:7 Altogether Abraham lived 175 years

this is considerably after the 120 verse, so if it meant that man could only live to 120 after that point, then abraham couldnt have lived to 175.

[Technomancer]

What I think is, in many ancient cultures, people did not keep numerical records of how old people lived. For people in old age, it was probally easy to lose track of their age (In russia. after the commnists took power, some elderly people claimed to be 150 or older since their society did'nt require them to keep records of age before, and they lost count)

It wasn't so much losing track as people dodging military service. During the war, a number of people used their parent's/grandparent's identity papers. When some clerks actually got around to checking the census figures, they realized they had citizens who were apparently 150 years old or so.

However, your point about Abraham is well taken. There was also a tendency to exaggerate ages in the ancient near east. In the case of the Mesopotamians however, the ages were much larger.

[Fsiphskilm]

[quote="Vo

[Scribs]

Do realize that translations loose A LOT of hidden meaning. Reading between the lines becomes very difficult when a book isn't read in it's original language.

amen to that. Bottom line is that we have no idea what that verse means for sure, and I doubt that we will untill we are with God in Heavan.

[Arnobius]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercentenarian
The oldest documented person died at 122
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment

[GhostontheNet]

However, your point about Abraham is well taken. There was also a tendency to exaggerate ages in the ancient near east. In the case of the Mesopotamians however, the ages were much larger.

You have any sources for that for the perpetual research-hunter-seeker in me?

[~Natsumi Lam~]

well for me... i dont think i care about it... because i dont want to live 120 years... i will be peein in my pants for a good ummm 40 years by then.. i dont think i can live with that humilitation of the bed pan.


~NL~

[Technomancer]

You have any sources for that for the perpetual research-hunter-seeker in me?

You could look in:
http://cura.free.fr/11kings.html

Most books on ancient Mesopotamia should also mention this.

[Kisa]

interesting, never paid much attention to the year as th efact that people talked about the sons of God and the daughters of man....

[agasfas]

I remember about 7th grade me and a friend had an arguement about it. I later asked my grandfather about it (whom was a pastor) and he explained how it was to represent the time left before the flood; to allow people time to either look towards God for repentence or not. God did encourage Noah to preach about what would happen but no one listened or put their faith in Him. Also the bible states (about 3 chapters later) that noah live about 950yrs; much longer then 120yrs.

Genesis 9:29
So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.

I think this is a common verse that is often taken out of context.

[termyt]

The "days until the flood" interpretation is an interesting one and could be true. I don’t recall hearing that one before, but it seems plausible.

If it is a limit on the lifespan of man, I don’t think it should be looked at as a hard, fast, die the second you hit 120 years old kind of a law.

Instead, it should be looked at that the body will age in such a way that it will simply wear out in 120 years, if not sooner, making your 120th birthday extremely unlikely. We probably age much more quickly today than they did before the flood, perhaps due to environmental changes resulting from such a cataclysmic event.

[GhostontheNet]

You could look in:
http://cura.free.fr/11kings.html

Most books on ancient Mesopotamia should also mention this.

Nothing in the above site documents that they wouldn't have taken these numbers literally though, though I will admit to knowing people who say they are a gazillion years old. :eyewink:

[mitsuki lover]

I wonder if anyone here who knows Hebrew could tell us what the literal meaning
of the Hebrew is.

[GhostontheNet]

I wonder if anyone here who knows Hebrew could tell us what the literal meaning
of the Hebrew is.

Even if you knew the literal Hebrew you wouldn't be as able to read it literarily in the way an ancient Jew would - on my return I'll explain what all this about "such and such in the Ancient Near East" means to those who use these sorts of arguments if necessary.