K
KingCrimson
Guest
I just thought this would be a fun discussion topic to debate 
In the Bible, specifically the book of Genesis, people seemed to have lived for an extremely long time, as I'm sure you all know. The question is, why? Why is it that the early books of the Bible have people living for hundreds and hundreds of years?
As far as I understand it, there are five generally accepted perspectives to take:
be1). Literal interpretation. The ages given in the book of Genesis are the actual lengths of time that people lived. As man got further and further from Eden and came more and more distant from God, his lifespan would gradually decrease.
2). Differing Calendar. At the time of writing, there would have been a largely different system of calendar in place than the one used today. A "year" in the time of Seth or Noah could have been considered to be however long it took for migrating animals to leave and return to a nearby field. The lifespans of people decreases drastically in the book of Exodus because the Hebrews, now influenced by Egyptian culture, have a much more accurate way of determining how long a year actually is. N.B. that this view generally carries an implicit challenge to traditional Mosaic authourship of the Torah.
3). Exaggeration. It was common practice in those times to inflate the ages of important figures. The Patriarchs were recorded as living much longer than they actually did in order to convey that they were the forefathers of the Jewish people. This is not a lie or inaccuracy in God's Word, but it is adjusting the facts in order to convey a theological message. This happens all the time in the Gospels (e.g. how the Gospel of John has Jesus clearing the temple near the beginning of the book while every other Gospel has it towards the end - John adjusted the position of it in order to fit his message).
4). Numerological Significance. The ages given to people in the book of Genesis each have numerological significance which would have been understood by the audience at the time but which has been lost on present-day readers. The specific age numbers would convey various pieces of information about the person or his story, or about God.
5). Mythology. Similar in some ways to 3), this view maintains not only that the ages have been exaggerated, but that the entire story is made up. The characters in Genesis never actually existed, but the book is a myth designed to show how man has, in general, turned away from God, yet God is working to redeem man. The inflated ages of Genesis characters are meant to show that they never actually existed.
So, which particular perspective do you agree with, and why? If you hold to a particular view that is not represented here, what is it? Why do you believe it?
Let's try to keep the discussion civil, please, and try to learn to understand and respect the beliefs of others, while having our own challenged.
In the Bible, specifically the book of Genesis, people seemed to have lived for an extremely long time, as I'm sure you all know. The question is, why? Why is it that the early books of the Bible have people living for hundreds and hundreds of years?
As far as I understand it, there are five generally accepted perspectives to take:
be1). Literal interpretation. The ages given in the book of Genesis are the actual lengths of time that people lived. As man got further and further from Eden and came more and more distant from God, his lifespan would gradually decrease.
2). Differing Calendar. At the time of writing, there would have been a largely different system of calendar in place than the one used today. A "year" in the time of Seth or Noah could have been considered to be however long it took for migrating animals to leave and return to a nearby field. The lifespans of people decreases drastically in the book of Exodus because the Hebrews, now influenced by Egyptian culture, have a much more accurate way of determining how long a year actually is. N.B. that this view generally carries an implicit challenge to traditional Mosaic authourship of the Torah.
3). Exaggeration. It was common practice in those times to inflate the ages of important figures. The Patriarchs were recorded as living much longer than they actually did in order to convey that they were the forefathers of the Jewish people. This is not a lie or inaccuracy in God's Word, but it is adjusting the facts in order to convey a theological message. This happens all the time in the Gospels (e.g. how the Gospel of John has Jesus clearing the temple near the beginning of the book while every other Gospel has it towards the end - John adjusted the position of it in order to fit his message).
4). Numerological Significance. The ages given to people in the book of Genesis each have numerological significance which would have been understood by the audience at the time but which has been lost on present-day readers. The specific age numbers would convey various pieces of information about the person or his story, or about God.
5). Mythology. Similar in some ways to 3), this view maintains not only that the ages have been exaggerated, but that the entire story is made up. The characters in Genesis never actually existed, but the book is a myth designed to show how man has, in general, turned away from God, yet God is working to redeem man. The inflated ages of Genesis characters are meant to show that they never actually existed.
So, which particular perspective do you agree with, and why? If you hold to a particular view that is not represented here, what is it? Why do you believe it?
Let's try to keep the discussion civil, please, and try to learn to understand and respect the beliefs of others, while having our own challenged.
