Biblical Period Of Extraordinary Length Of Human Life Spans Examined
Posted: Wednesday, January 25, 2012
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
We have often mentioned the matter-of-fact style in which the Holy Bible is written. Unlike the writings of a modern day fiction writer, explanations of extraordinary facts often go without comment by the authors. The unusually long lives of the earth’s inhabitants from the creation until the global flood is one of those facts that is given without any explanation.
By analyzing some of the early statements made in the book of Genesis, it is thought that there was a large water vapor barrier in the atmosphere which kept many of the suns damaging rays from reaching man, plus creating a world wide moderate climate. This among other probabilities is thought to have granted the then inhabitants the extended life spans. It also explains where much of the enormous amount of water came from at the time of the global flood. Here is a verse which gives the possible explanation:
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. (Genesis 7:11 KJV)
Creation scientists believe there were huge caches of water deep under the earth’s surface at that time also and all were broken up from below and above which produced an ample amount of water to flood the entire globe. This upheaval of the enormous amount of earth and water formed the higher and lower levels where much of the water eventually flowed into the lower areas forming the seas and lakes.
The disappearance of the original atmospheric moisture barrier also allowed harmful sun rays to penetrate to the earth and to also allow the vast differential in climates. That, over a period of time, took it’s toll on human life expectancies.
So, if we can accept these facts as how the life spans changed so dramatically, we come to the point of why…would God create such a delightful scenario for longevity and then end it.
Let us think for one moment, that here we have a very large planet with no one on it. To create one man and one woman with a live expectancy of some 75-80 years, they might have a 30 year fertility period which could possibly be expected to produce 14-16 children at best. This would have taken an enormously long time to populate the earth. We do not know how long the median lifespan was in those early years. We know that some died 400 or so years old and that others more than double that. Methuselah is the oldest one recorded in the bible at 969 years old. But, these recorded ages were but a few of the entire population and there may have been many that lived over one thousand years.
The thing to remember here is that God’s omniscience made him fully aware of what would occur throughout the ages and all of his creation was made with his eternal purpose in mind. The evil which would develop was known by him and the global flood was also planned. This gave the world a set back in population, but it left the memories of what steps God was willing to take in order to accomplish his plan for mankind. The start-over period after the flood, at least had 8 people, 4 couples to begin to replenish the world’s populace. Plus they had accrued much more knowledge than that possessed by the first few.
We also need to keep in our minds the fact that all of the occurrences from the beginning until the appearance of Jesus Christ on the scene, was for that one purpose…the coming of Jesus. Without his appearance, his life, his death and his resurrection, not one soul on the earth would have been saved. And that was the intent of God. To furnish a means for man to be redeemed from his sins and be able to live forever in His presence.
God new the weaknesses inherent in mankind and that he would inevitably sin. He cannot look upon sin. No sin whatsoever will be allowed in the eternal heaven. And yet, man was incapable of removing his own sins, once he performed them. Only the blood from a sinless member of the Godhead could do that. And after giving his life on the cross, he has done his share. It is up to man now, if he wishes to be freed from those sins, to believe that Jesus was (is) the Son of the Living God, and then obey his instructions to the very best of his ability
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