Monday, April 21, 2008

Ummmm ... God?

I know the Bible is full of mysteries and things that we won't understand until later. But sometimes I wish he'd just given us a little more detail. (If it was a space issue, maybe he could have left out a few of the details in Deuteronomy and Numbers to address stuff like this.)

From Genesis 5 ...

5 Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.
8 Altogether, Seth lived 912 years, and then he died.
11 Altogether, Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died.
14 Altogether, Kenan lived 910 years, and then he died.
17 Altogether, Mahalalel lived 895 years, and then he died.
20 Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died.
23 Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years.
27 Altogether, Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died.
31 Altogether, Lamech lived 777 years, and then he died.
32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

So here's what I want to know ... what did that really look like? I mean physically. What was their development process like?

When you live for 600 years, when do you reach adolesence? At 150 years old?

Are you in puberty for, like, 50 years? (ugh ... NO thank you.)

Did they reach adulthood in their 30's (like we do) and just spend the next few hundred years as an adult?

Or maybe each stage was proportional to today ... so childhood was about 10% of their total life, adolescence another 10%, young adulthood was 20% and then finally adulthood.

And what about the physical aging? Right now, at age 80-90, most people's bodies have pretty much been worn out. But if you still had to live for hundreds of years, it would be pretty miserable if you had to do it like most 85-year-olds. Obviously Noah still had it after 500 years (vs. 32) so he can't have been too decrepit.

Seriously, I want to know. Anyone have any insight? (Skip, I know you gotta have something on this.)

This is definitely going on the list of things to ask God when I see him.

4 comments:

nate said...

Way to read the Old Testament!

I have heard theories stating that the flood started a cycle of degradation of the earth, introducing diseases and all other toxins into the environment that did not exist before the flood as explanation, and the aging process was slow. I don't know how we can assume that, but regardless I never thought about the whole puberty thing. Sheesh. How long did menopause last?

I have also hear that the names of those mentioned in your list are allegorical for families/clans. i.e., Gen 5:2, Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called THEIR name Adam. That explains the weird life span.

I don't know where I stand on the issue, but I think I would like to live for 930 years.

Becky said...

Ooooh thanks, Nate. I've never heard the family/clan theory before but that helps.

And I didn't even think about menopause. Wow.

It would be pretty sweet to see what life is like in 2922.

Anonymous said...

That's funny. I think you're one of the few people who actually want more information than is already in that section! :)

Skip Crust said...

You were hoping that I had something to say about it...I'm feeling pressure. Intense pressure. I have to lay down and make something up, I mean remember what I learned in school.

Actually, I haven't the slightest clue what it was like. The only thing I can imagine is that adulthood was really, really long. Maybe God just took out 850 years of adulthood or so. That's what I HOPE he did. I wouldn't want to spend most of my life with an old body.

Weird. Ummmm...God? Can you answer the thing about the stuff Becky asked?