age of people before the flood

by DannyBloem 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • DannyBloem
    DannyBloem

    Here is some question about the ages mentioned in the bible of the people living before the flood.
    The age of all the ten persons unto Noah is mentioned there when the get there first son, and the number of years that the lived after that.
    So many of the numbers mentioned here end with a zero or a five that it started me wondering. There are also one or two that end with an 8 or 3. No other numbers. If we make the assumption that this are 8 and 3 are rounded from 2.5 and 7.5 we can say that all numbers are a multiple of 2.5 or 30 months.
    When you look at this statistically it is impossible that it is coincidence (with or without the assumption above). The chance would be 1 to a billion or so.
    I give here the numbers as found in the bible.
    1 Adam 130 800
    2 Seth 150 807.5
    3 Enos 90 815
    4 Kenan 70 840
    5 Mahalalel 65 830
    6 Jered 162.5 800
    7 Enoch 65 300
    8 Methuselah 187.5 782.5
    9 Lamech 182.5 595
    10 Noah 500 450
    11 Sem 100 500

    Since it can't be a coincidence what can be the conclusion? For a lot of people the Genesis account is just all a fable and has little value. But I like to know the JW’s point of view on this.

    1) It is all fake. The numbers are made up, that is why there are not random.
    2) Before the flood people used another way of measuring time. Since the period of a year did not have that much meaning maybe, the measured more the months and had a period of 30 months in which the measured the time of somebody’s life. Moses or somebody earlier made the conversion to years.
    3) The people themselves did not count them that accurately, and they are just not so accurate. (That means also the time of Adam 'birth' isn't accurate)
    4) It is just that one in a billion chance and everything is just as it is....

    Or somebody have any other thoughts about it?
    Let me know,

    Jaap van het Plurkendal.

  • Narkissos
    Narkissos
    But I like to know the JW’s point of view on this.

    Hmm... if you do give public talks in a Kingdom Hall (cf. your other thread) you certainly know it (# 4).

    Anyway, my opinion is that those figures (round or not) are legendary.

    Have you noticed that Enoch's lifespan is 365 years? Did you know that this Enoch plays a central role in apocalyptic literature (1 Enoch, Jubilees) which advocates a solar liturgical calendar (Jubilees)? Have you compared the names of Seth's and Cain's genealogies which are obviously variants of each other? Dig it...

  • Abaddon
    Abaddon

    Jaap, check your PM...

    .. oh, and I assume you mean 'x-jw view'.

    1) It is all fake. The numbers are made up, that is why there are not random.

    Yes.

    2) Before the flood people used another way of measuring time. Since the period of a year did not have that much meaning maybe, the measured more the months and had a period of 30 months in which the measured the time of somebody’s life. Moses or somebody earlier made the conversion to years.

    Before the what?

    3) The people themselves did not count them that accurately, and they are just not so accurate. (That means also the time of Adam 'birth' isn't accurate)

    I don't know of any innumerate literate societies.

    4) It is just that one in a billion chance and everything is just as it is....

    Ah, the chances of that are a billion to one

  • BluesBrother
    BluesBrother

    Yes, I have never noticed or heard it commented on before, but - just looking at total ages- 6 are either ending 5 or 0 , we just have Seth 912,Jared 962, Methuselah 969 & Lamech 777

    funny that, isnt it?

  • Jeffro
    Jeffro

    Because we're dealing with people who were probably entirely fictitious, we can only speculate about their possible ages for the hypothetical scenario that there is a 'grain of truth' behind the myth.

    (Assumption 0: Adam obviously wasn't the 'first human'. Perhaps he was ousted from a tribe and started his own. Or some other thing. After all, he most likely didn't exist at all. People were already living in 'cities', according to Genesis 4:17.)

    Assumption 1: An early culture may have calculated ages differently for men depending on whether they've had children (a clear distinction in Genesis).

    Assumption 2: A 'year' for men without children was counted in seasons (3 months).

    Assumption 3: Once a man had fathered his first child (probably not counting still-births), his 'years' were counted in months.

    Assumption 4: The story of 'the flood' is obviously a myth and Noah's age in that story is an abberation.

    Based on these assumptions, this is what happens to the ages of the first 9 people in the lineage given in the Bible when converted to actual years:

    NameFirst childRemaining yearsTotal age
    Adam32y 6m66y 8m99y 2m
    Seth26y 3m67y 3m93y 6m
    Enosh22y 6m67y 11m90y 5m
    Kenan17y 6m70y87y 6m
    Mahalalel16y 3m69y 2m85y 5m
    Jered40y 6m66y 8m107y 2m
    Enoch16y 3m25y41y 3m
    Methuselah46y 9m65y 2m111y 11m
    Lamech45y 6m49y 7m

    95y 1m

    The ages become plausible.

    Similarly, the ages after 'the flood' up until Abraham could follow a similar hypothetical 'rule', but with the ages halved ('year' for childless men = 6 months; 'year' for men with children = 2 months).

    NameFirst childRemaining yearsTotal age
    Shem25y41y 7m66y 7m
    Arpachshad17y 6m67y 2m84y 8m
    Shelah15y67y 2m82y 2m
    Eber17y71y 8m88y 8m
    Peleg15y34y 10m49y 10m
    Reu16y34y 10m50y 10m
    Serug15y33y 4m48y 4m
    Nahor14y 6m19y 9m34y 3m
    Terah35y34y 1m69y 1m

    Again, this is all just speculation.

  • prologos
    prologos

    The ancient story/fabel writers went out of the way to send this important message:

    DO NOT TAKE ALL THIS TOO SERIOUSLY !!! repeat: DNTATS. to wit:

    No procreation until 60 years minimum* to 500 max years of chastity? with only the rythm method around? no pills, rubber products? summary abortion techniques? because:

    They were closer to perfection i.e. self control?

    message to religion-starters:

    If anybody believes this, they will believe anything. have them hand over their lifes and life-savings. there is one born every day.

    * highly recommended, you will be eligible for medicare, medicaid, social security soon, and have all the time to devote to your newborn (s).

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