Another Issue With the Flood Story - 120 years.

[Tcg]

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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

[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 their wives. There is no provision for any others.


Tcg

[JehovahsWitness]

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 their wives. There is no provision for any others.

COULD OTHERS HAVE SURVIVED THE FLOOD?

God certainly announced his intentions to flood the earth and wipe out that wicked generation. His command to Noah and his family however did not include instructions to keep others from joining him and his family in the construction.

There is no record of God commanding Noah to prohibit others from boarding the vessel and the Ark's God ordained massive proportions meant were more than enough room for many others had they have wanted to join Noah. Also there is no record of God prohibiting others from also building their own arks had they have taken to heart divine warnings.

Noah evidently preached to his contemporaries so they would have known why he was building the ark and what God intended to do, had they repented Jehovah no doubt would have changed his mind regarding their fate.

JEREMIAH 26:2,

“This is what Jehovah says,.... Tell them everything that I command you; do not take away a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and each one will turn back from his evil way, and I will change my mind concerning the calamity that I intend to bring on them because of their evil deeds.

JW

To learn more please go to other posts related to ...

NOAH, KILLING and ... THE FLOOD OF NOAH'S DAY

[Miles]

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 their wives. There is no provision for any others.

God certainly announced his intentions to flood the earth and wipe out that wicked generation. His command to Noah and his family however did not include instructions to keep others from joining him and his family in the construction.

No such instructions were necessary because god had already said:

Genesis 6:5-7
5 The Lord saw that the people on the earth were very evil. He saw that they thought only about evil things all the time. 6 The Lord was sorry that he had made people on the earth. It made him very sad in his heart. 7 So the Lord said: “I will destroy all the people I created on the earth. I will destroy every person and every animal and everything that crawls on the earth. And I will destroy all the birds in the air, because I am sorry that I have made them.”...... [OOPS! god made a mistake ]

FURTHERMORE:

Genesis 6:13
13 So God said to Noah, “Everyone has filled the earth with anger and violence. So I will destroy all living things. I will remove them from the earth. 14 Use cypress wood and build a boat for yourself. Make rooms in the boat and cover it with tar inside and out.

There is no record of God commanding Noah to prohibit others from boarding the vessel.

Nope. None was necessary because all the others were all doomed to die. God had even said so.

The Ark's God ordained massive proportions meant were more than enough room for many others had they have wanted to join Noah

Yeah, sure.

"About 8.7 million (give or take 1.3 million) is the new, estimated total number of species on Earth -- the most precise calculation ever offered -- with 6.5 million species on land and 2.2 million in oceans. Announced by the Census of Marine Life, the figure is based on a new analytical technique. The number of species on Earth had been estimated previously at 3 million to 100 million.
source

And having to double, say 85% of those 8.7 million individuals to account for the mating requirements, Noah and family would be looking at about 16 million individuals to house and feed---just think of all the food that would have to be stowed on board, YIKES!. . . . . . . . . "Enough room for many others"! Give me a break here.

and there is no record of God prohibiting others from also building arks had they have taken to heart divine warnings.

Of course not, because as I've shown, god had no intentions on leaving anyone around to build other arks. “I will destroy all the people I created on the earth." Half constructed arks or not.


.

[Purple Knight]

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

I'm going to go with soft cap, for the simple reason that at least one translation says "about 120 years," and 120 happens to be a round number, so if it wasn't an estimate, an approximation (which is all we really should get), I assume it would say something like, 118 years, 133 days, 6 hours, 21 minutes, and 4 seconds. I also assume that if 120 was the hard cap, that would mean at least some people would live to exactly 120, and then die that instant, which would be problematic.

A soft cap is a gamer term. It basically means that instead of making it so you can't level past (let's say) 50, it just gets really really really really hard to the point of being prohibitive for you to do so.

[Tcg]

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 their wives. There is no provision for any others.

God certainly announced his intentions to flood the earth and wipe out that wicked generation. His command to Noah and his family however did not include instructions to keep others from joining him and his family in the construction.

No such instructions were necessary because god had already said:

Genesis 6:5-7
5 The Lord saw that the people on the earth were very evil. He saw that they thought only about evil things all the time. 6 The Lord was sorry that he had made people on the earth. It made him very sad in his heart. 7 So the Lord said: “I will destroy all the people I created on the earth. I will destroy every person and every animal and everything that crawls on the earth. And I will destroy all the birds in the air, because I am sorry that I have made them.”...... [OOPS! god made a mistake ]

FURTHERMORE:

Genesis 6:13
13 So God said to Noah, “Everyone has filled the earth with anger and violence. So I will destroy all living things. I will remove them from the earth. 14 Use cypress wood and build a boat for yourself. Make rooms in the boat and cover it with tar inside and out.

There is no record of God commanding Noah to prohibit others from boarding the vessel.

Nope. None was necessary because all the others were all doomed to die. God had even said so.

The Ark's God ordained massive proportions meant were more than enough room for many others had they have wanted to join Noah

Yeah, sure.

"About 8.7 million (give or take 1.3 million) is the new, estimated total number of species on Earth -- the most precise calculation ever offered -- with 6.5 million species on land and 2.2 million in oceans. Announced by the Census of Marine Life, the figure is based on a new analytical technique. The number of species on Earth had been estimated previously at 3 million to 100 million.
source

And having to double, say 85% of those 8.7 million individuals to account for the mating requirements, Noah and family would be looking at about 16 million individuals to house and feed---just think of all the food that would have to be stowed on board, YIKES!. . . . . . . . . "Enough room for many others"! Give me a break here.

and there is no record of God prohibiting others from also building arks had they have taken to heart divine warnings.

Of course not, because as I've shown, god had no intentions on leaving anyone around to build other arks. “I will destroy all the people I created on the earth." Half constructed arks or not.


.

Indeed. It was quite clearly a private deal:

Genesis 6: 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

God's covenant was with Noah and Noah alone. The deal is spelled out clearly. The reservation was for 8 and only 8.


Tcg

[JehovahsWitness]

COULD GOD HAVE CHANGED HIS MIND ABOUT DESTORYING EVERYONE IN THE FLOOD?


God had indeed pronounced his intention to destroy everyone except Noah and his family. Biblically however He remained a God that can change his mind If the wicked repent and change their ways.

JEREMIAH 26:2,

“This is what Jehovah says,.... Tell them everything that I command you; do not take away a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and each one will turn back from his evil way, and I will change my mind concerning the calamity that I intend to bring on them because of their evil deeds.

EZELKIEL 18: 23, 27-28

Do I take any pleasure at all in the death of a wicked person?’ declares the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. ‘Do I not prefer that he turn away from his ways and keep living?’ [...] when someone wicked turns away from the wickedness that he has committed and begins to do what is just and righteous, he will preserve his own life.*+ 28 When he realizes and turns away from all the transgressions that he has committed, he will surely keep living. He will not die..

JW

[Miles]

COULD GOD HAVE CHANGED HIS MIND ABOUT DESTORYING EVERYONE IN THE FLOOD?


God had indeed pronounced his intention to destroy everyone except Noah and his family. Biblically however He remained a God that can change his mind If the wicked repent and change their ways.

JEREMIAH 26:2,

“This is what Jehovah says,.... Tell them everything that I command you; do not take away a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and each one will turn back from his evil way, and I will change my mind concerning the calamity that I intend to bring on them because of their evil deeds.

EZELKIEL 18: 23, 27-28

Do I take any pleasure at all in the death of a wicked person?’ declares the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. ‘Do I not prefer that he turn away from his ways and keep living?’ [...] when someone wicked turns away from the wickedness that he has committed and begins to do what is just and righteous, he will preserve his own life.*+ 28 When he realizes and turns away from all the transgressions that he has committed, he will surely keep living. He will not die..

But god didn't change his mind.

Genesis 7:20-24
20 The water continued to rise above the mountains. The water was more than 20 feet above the highest mountain.

21-22 Every living thing on earth died—every man and woman, every bird, and every kind of animal. All the many kinds of animals and all the things that crawl on the ground died. Every living, breathing thing on dry land died. 23 In this way God wiped the earth clean—he destroyed every living thing on the earth—every human, every animal, everything that crawls, and every bird. All that was left was Noah and his family and the animals that were with him in the boat. 24 The water continued to cover the earth for 150 days.

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[Tcg]

COULD GOD HAVE CHANGED HIS MIND ABOUT DESTORYING EVERYONE IN THE FLOOD?


God had indeed pronounced his intention to destroy everyone except Noah and his family. Biblically however He remained a God that can change his mind If the wicked repent and change their ways.

JEREMIAH 26:2,

“This is what Jehovah says,.... Tell them everything that I command you; do not take away a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and each one will turn back from his evil way, and I will change my mind concerning the calamity that I intend to bring on them because of their evil deeds.

EZELKIEL 18: 23, 27-28

Do I take any pleasure at all in the death of a wicked person?’ declares the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. ‘Do I not prefer that he turn away from his ways and keep living?’ [...] when someone wicked turns away from the wickedness that he has committed and begins to do what is just and righteous, he will preserve his own life.*+ 28 When he realizes and turns away from all the transgressions that he has committed, he will surely keep living. He will not die..

JW

There is absolutely nothing in the flood mythology found in Genesis that suggests God might have changed his mind.

Jeremiah 26:2 and Ezekiel 18:23, 27-28 quite clearly aren't found in either Genesis 6 or Genesis 11 which of course are the focus of this thread.


Tcg

[JehovahsWitness]

COULD GOD HAVE CHANGED HIS MIND ABOUT DESTORYING EVERYONE IN THE FLOOD?


God had indeed pronounced his intention to destroy everyone except Noah and his family. Biblically however He remained a God that can change his mind If the wicked repent and change their ways.

JEREMIAH 26:2,

“This is what Jehovah says,.... Tell them everything that I command you; do not take away a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and each one will turn back from his evil way, and I will change my mind concerning the calamity that I intend to bring on them because of their evil deeds.

EZELKIEL 18: 23, 27-28

Do I take any pleasure at all in the death of a wicked person?’ declares the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. ‘Do I not prefer that he turn away from his ways and keep living?’ [...] when someone wicked turns away from the wickedness that he has committed and begins to do what is just and righteous, he will preserve his own life.*+ 28 When he realizes and turns away from all the transgressions that he has committed, he will surely keep living. He will not die..

But god didn't change his mind...

No he didnt, which indicates they did not repent of their wickedness. This does not however prove he would not have changed his mind *if* they had.



JW

[Tcg]

COULD GOD HAVE CHANGED HIS MIND ABOUT DESTORYING EVERYONE IN THE FLOOD?


God had indeed pronounced his intention to destroy everyone except Noah and his family. Biblically however He remained a God that can change his mind If the wicked repent and change their ways.

JEREMIAH 26:2,

“This is what Jehovah says,.... Tell them everything that I command you; do not take away a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and each one will turn back from his evil way, and I will change my mind concerning the calamity that I intend to bring on them because of their evil deeds.

EZELKIEL 18: 23, 27-28

Do I take any pleasure at all in the death of a wicked person?’ declares the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. ‘Do I not prefer that he turn away from his ways and keep living?’ [...] when someone wicked turns away from the wickedness that he has committed and begins to do what is just and righteous, he will preserve his own life.*+ 28 When he realizes and turns away from all the transgressions that he has committed, he will surely keep living. He will not die..

But god didn't change his mind...

No he didnt, which indicates they did not repent of their wickedness. This does not however prove he would not have changed his mind *if* they had.

JW

No. It indicates God had made up his mind and nothing was going to change it. The text is exceedingly clear on this fact.


Tcg