Your jaw probably dropped when you saw how long some of the people in the Bible lived, especially in the Old Testament – some are reported to have lived for hundreds of years!
We have to look at this a couple different ways to figure out exactly why and how people could live so long, especially before the flood, as some claim that these ages are figurative while others say they’re literal.
Let’s uncover the truth of this mystery by diving into the Bible!
People were originally created to live forever
Adam and Eve, the first humans God created, were never meant to die when they were in the Garden of Eden:
In fact, none of us were! God says in Genesis 1:27:
27 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 1:27, NIV
There was no sickness, and more importantly no death for humans in the Garden of Eden, until Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit that the Devil tricked them into believing would cause no harm in Genesis 3.
Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden afterwards, and it was made clear that human death had now entered the world:
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.
Genesis 3:19, NIV
This suggests that the bodily degeneration only started then, and it’s safe to assume that it would have been a much slower process – plus, I see it as a way of giving Adam and Eve a chance at populating the Earth, which would be a little tricky if they only had 100 years or so.
Lack of disease in old Bible times
We see some nasty illnesses and diseases these days, which weren’t yet in the world after the fall since Adam and Even came from perfection.
It likely took a lot of time for diseases to begin and spread, and many clans lived far away from one another, so there wasn’t a lot of contact between communities.
Humans needed time to learn & populate
I mentioned that it would be hard to populate the earth if they only had the lifespan of around 80 years like we do today, and it wouldn’t take much for human life to go extinct in that case.
We needed time to learn about agriculture, medicine, survival, and more to thrive, which would make sense why God allowed for such long lifespans.
Things like art, music, poetry, and other beautiful things were also needing to be discovered, and it would be easier to learn and teach with longer life spans.
For example, Jubal (from the line of Cain), was a pioneer in music:
21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes.
Genesis 4:21, NIV
Stuff like this would take generations to properly figure out, and long life spans would make it much more possible.
Equipped with this generational knowledge and a lack of diseases, it wouldn’t be too far stretched to assume that humans then figured out how to live healthier, and therefore longer, lives.
The climate was different
There’s the theory that the world was essentially a greenhouse, with a layer of water surrounding the earth before the Great Flood of Noah.
And, if you have your own greenhouse, you’ll know that many plants prosper in them, and they’re also protected from things like hail, rain, storms, etc.
While they very well may have had storms and hail, humans benefited from this water layer because it would stop a lot of the harmful radiation that the sun gives off, likely slowing the aging process.
I personally think that had an effect on the size of animals as well, but we’ll leave that for another article.
Now, this water layer collapsed during the Flood, and we can see that the human lifespan starts to decline:
- Noah, who was alive before, during, and after the Flood, lived 950 years (Genesis 9:29)
- His son Shem lived 600 years (Genesis 11:11)
- Abraham (called Abram until God gave him a new name) lived only for 175 years (Genesis 25:7)
There’s obviously a steep decline from the nearly 1000 years people used to live even up to Abraham and to today, which lines up with the theory that the water layer around the earth had a big affect on age.
That said, it doesn’t state that there was such a water canopy in the Bible, so we’re left speculating…
Does the Bible refer to age of dynasties rather than age of individual people?
I’ve seen the suggestion that, for example, it wasn’t Noah who lived 900+ years, but rather his dynasty.
The problem with this is that the Bible expressively names individuals, such as Cain, Noah, Shem, Abraham, etc, and lists their sons and daughters, or clearly says “[name] had this child when he was this age, and then many other sons and daughters, then lived X years before he died.”
Plus, the age of the father is given when a particular child is born (e.g. Genesis 5:2):
3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.
4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:3-4, NIV
Final thoughts
We don’t exactly know how people in the Bible lived so long, but these are some solid theories that add up.
Regardless of the past, we look to a future where there is no death again, patiently awaiting the return of Jesus Christ.
If you have any questions about that, the article, or anything else, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!
Make sure to check out our other articles as well!
God bless.
FAQs
The Old Testament states that people lived hundreds of years before the flood of Noah, often between 500-900 years.
Methuselah lived for 969 years as stated in Genesis 5:27, making him the oldest recorded person in history.
It’s thought that a combination of diet, lack of diseases, a layer of water around the earth (before the flood of Noah), and a need to populate the earth all contributed to the extremely long life spans that God allowed to the people of the Old Testament.