Another Issue With the Flood Story - 120 years.

[Tcg]

.

Genesis 6:3 reads:

Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

And yet after the flood in Genesis 11 we find these individuals reportedly lived well past 120 years:

Shem: 600 years

Arpachshad: 438 years

Shelah: 433 years

Eber: 464 years

Peleg: 239 years

Reu: 239 years

Serug: 230 years

Nahor: 148 years

Terah: 205 years

How can one account for the reports of such long lives after God's proclamation in Genesis 6?


Tcg

[Miles]

.

Genesis 6:3 reads:

Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

And yet after the flood in Genesis 11 we find these individuals reportedly lived well past 120 years:

Shem: 600 years

Arpachshad: 438 years

Shelah: 433 years

Eber: 464 years

Peleg: 239 years

Reu: 239 years

Serug: 230 years

Nahor: 148 years

Terah: 205 years

How can one account for the reports of such long lives after God's proclamation in Genesis 6?


Tcg

. . . . . . . . . Woah! Someone in the Bible is a liar, liar, pants on fire. (Nice find, by the way. )


.

[Purple Knight]

I have a lot of issues with language, and this is exemplary of it.

What does God mean when he says "120 years"? Maximum? Minimum? Average? Soft cap?

What does it mean if that's the maximum? That God has written your name in Death's book on that date, so that you'll die no matter what the second your 120th birthday hits, Final Destination style? And that if Death can't get you, God sends him to HR and has a talk with him about his performance?

As an aside, the oldest human achieved 122 years, which is close, so going by reality I'd have to say it was a soft cap, which still begs the question of how these people in the Bible lived so long. Maybe God decided to cut the lifespan down to 120 over a few generations. Maybe immediately isn't explicitly stated because it isn't implied.

[Tcg]

[Replying to Tcg in post #1]

It is interesting to note that on the list of verified oldest people we find a number of people lived to just below that age with quite a few at 117 years old. A few are still alive and may exceed 120 years. Of particular interest is Jeanne Louise Calment who lived 122 years and 164 days. Here she is celebrating her 121st.




Tcg

[tam]

Peace to you,

Or it means that 120 years is the length of time man(kind) had left before God sent the flood. Giving Noah (et al) 120 years to build and load the ark.

[Miles]

I have a lot of issues with language, and this is exemplary of it.

What does God mean when he says "120 years"? Maximum? Minimum? Average? Soft cap?

Here

Genesis 6:3

ERV
The number of people on earth continued to increase. When these people had daughters, the sons of God saw how beautiful they were. So they chose the women they wanted. They married them, and the women had their children.
Then the Lord said, “People are only human. I will not let my Spirit be troubled by them forever. I will let them live only 120 years.”

CEV
Then the Lord said, “I won’t let my life-giving breath remain in anyone forever. No one will live for more than one hundred twenty years.”

EXB
The Lord said, “My Spirit will not ·remain in [or contend with] human beings forever, because they are ·flesh [mortal]. ·They will live [L Their days will be] only 120 years.”

GNT
Then the Lord said, “I will not allow people to live forever; they are mortal. From now on they will live no longer than 120 years.”

VOICE
Eternal One: My life-giving Spirit will not sustain human beings forever because they are, after all, made of flesh. Therefore, I will put a limit on their lifespan of about 120 years.

NLT
Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.”

etc.

etc.

What does it mean if that's the maximum?

"max·i·mum
/ˈmaksəməm/
noun: maximum; plural noun: maxima; plural noun: maximums

the greatest or highest amount possible or attained."

No one gets past 120

That God has written your name in Death's book on that date, so that you'll die no matter what the second your 120th birthday hits, Final Destination style?

If you should live that long.

And that if Death can't get you, God sends him to HR and has a talk with him about his performance?

God has a HR?? I doubt it.


.

[Tcg]

Peace to you,

Or it means that 120 years is the length of time man(kind) had left before God sent the flood. Giving Noah (et al) 120 years to build and load the ark.

I've heard of that possibility before, but does that really match the phrase we find?

.....“My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

It doesn't seem that God's Spirit not abiding in man forever would equate being given 120 years to build and load an ark.


Tcg

[JehovahsWitness]

I have a lot of issues with language, and this is exemplary of it.

What does God mean when he says "120 years"? Maximum? Minimum? Average? Soft cap?

Is there possibly another, more basic, question you are not asking?

“My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

While we're in the area of "fish teaching" one of the FIRST things I do when questions arise about language in scripture is go to google and read various translations of the verse in question.

Various translations
https://biblehub.com/genesis/6-3.htm





JW

[tam]

Peace to you,

Peace to you,

Or it means that 120 years is the length of time man(kind) had left before God sent the flood. Giving Noah (et al) 120 years to build and load the ark.

I've heard of that possibility before, but does that really match the phrase we find?

.....“My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

It doesn't seem that God's Spirit not abiding in man forever would equate being given 120 years to build and load an ark.

I think the phrasing is a bit awkward either way.

God would be abiding with man(kind) in general a lot longer than 120 year lifespans. So men dying at 120 years (which I would take as the max, and that it might take a while to go into effect)... would mean only that God would not have to abide with that particular man.

Whereas if there was an issue that God wanted dealt with (like the issue that is immediately mentioned thereafter in the account), it makes sense that He would set a time limit.

Instead of all mankind coming to an end in 120 years, though, God made an exception for Noah and his family (due to Noah's faith), and mankind would continue through them. (And though it is not written, had other actual men/women exercised faith - as Noah did - and come to the ark, they too could have been survived.)



Peace again to you!

[Tcg]

Instead of all mankind coming to an end in 120 years, though, God made an exception for Noah and his family (due to Noah's faith), and mankind would continue through them. (And though it is not written, had other actual men/women exercised faith - as Noah did - and come to the ark, they too could have been survived.)



Peace again to you!

This last bit doesn't match what is written in the story. Even before building the ark God tells Noah exactly who would be boarding the ark and it is limited to Noah, his wife, his three sons and there wives. There is no provision for any others.


Tcg