Questions to ask about the movie, Noah. #10. How do you deal with the people of great ages in the Genesis account?
- How do you deal with the people of great ages in the Genesis account?
In the movie, Noah, we meet an old man, Methuselah. He was 969 years old at the time of the flood. He was 350, or so years old, when Noah was born. Noah, at the time of the flood was about 600 years old. Now not all Christians are going to agree with the ages of these people. Some will and some won’t. I don’t believe that it makes one any less saved or any less a Christian. For those that believe in the old ages of these sages, I found a short and concise article explaining why they think the people lived so long.
I don’t think I would want to live so long. I would be toothless at the rate I am going. I would be stiff, sore and weak and blind. As a nurse I also see old people who are very lonely. When you get to be in your 90’s then your kids are grandkids and your grandkids are parents. They have their own lives to live. So many seniors are very lonely. I can only imagine how lonely I would be if I were 969 years old. Many people, when they reach their nineties are ok with moving on from this world to the next. At 969 I would really be OK with it. Methuselah was OK with going. When the flood came he was not distressed. He found his berry. He looked up and he welcomed death by embracing the flood. He had peace with death because he knew he was going home to his Creator.
In the movie, we meet Methuselah who lived on a mountain and was a type of wise sage, that his descendants, like Noah, would come to and receive some wisdom. Methuselah found that simplicity on life was most important. He enjoyed his solitude and he liked berries. He gave Noah the Genesis seed, that when planted, would quickly generate a forest and river system and attract life. The forest would provide the wood for the Ark. He was interested in the kids. He wanted fresh berries. I like his character in the movie. What else is there to be contented with than the simple things in life?
In the movie, Noah sure didn’t look 600 years old. One wonders where are all the other kids that Noah should have had if he was able to produce offspring for 580 years? I am not knocking the Bible. I am exploring the different angles. Maybe we were not meant to get hung up on every detail, but learn the lessons that God wants us to learn. Anyway, for those who want to know the reason why some Christians think that people lived such a long life, here is the article. There is a link to a chart that shows the ages and how they overlap quite nicely.
Why are such long lives recorded in Genesis? (from an article on the internet.)
Adam, the first man, lived to be 930 years old (Genesis 5:5). Seth was 912. Five generations later, God took Enoch when he was 365 (Genesis 5:24). Enoch’s son, Methuselah, died at 969 (Genesis 5:27). Methuselah’s grandson Noah, ten generations after Adam, lived to be 950 (Genesis 9:29).
All of these men were born and, excepting Noah, lived their entire lives before the Flood. After the Flood, life spans dropped quickly. Noah’s son Shem lived to be 600 (Genesis 11:10-11). The next three generations died in their 400s (Genesis 11:12-19). But six generations later, Abraham died at 175. So, Adam was 930; ten generations later, Noah was 950; ten generations later, Abraham was 175 (Genesis 25:7).
Why did people live so long in Genesis? And why the big difference after the Flood? We can only speculate. Adam was the genetically perfect creation of God. He had no physical or genetic faults. He would have passed on this incredible health to his children. Most of the patriarchs from Adam to Noah lived over 900 years. The exceptions were Mahalalel, who only made it to 895, Enoch, who was taken early by God, and Lamech who, at 777, had to die before the Flood. Each of these men inherited most of Adam’s genetic perfection.
The sudden decline in lifespan after the Flood was probably environmental. Cultivated fields were wiped out. Animals were both more leery and more aggressive. Before the Flood, the land had been a perfect creation cursed. Now it was completely obliterated. In addition, something changed in the human body to benefit from eating meat instead of just plants—whether this was because natural human mutation after the Flood required a different set of nutrients or if God used meat to shorten lives, the Bible doesn’t say.
The second major event that seemed to affect life spans is the Tower of Babel. We don’t know exactly when the Tower of Babel was built except it was in the days of Peleg (Genesis 10:25). It’s interesting to note that Peleg and all the generations after him saw their life spans cut in half, at least. In fact, Noah’s son Shem and his next three descendants outlived the next five generations. Shem, Noah’s son, outlived Terah, Abraham’s father. Apparently, the dispersion of people groups from a central, civilized location did nearly as much damage as the Flood had done.
Our shortened lifespan today is a blessing. A good man could accomplish great things in 900 years, but Genesis 6illustrates that long life doesn’t equate to a good heart. An evil man with 900 years to scheme can do an incredible amount of damage—so much so that God saw fit to destroy the entire world. As God protected fallen man from living forever inGenesis 3:22, He protected us from living long enough to sin as badly as the generations in Genesis had.
http://www.compellingtruth.org/Genesis-long-lives.html
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