How did people like Methuselah and Adam live so long?

[Mazrocon]

@johnZ

@johnZ

Enoch did not live half the average lifespan of the others, but rather half the average lifespan of all, including himself. Average lifespan of the others was 907 years.

There are 10 patriarchs listed… Adam-Noah. So their are 10 lifespans we are given: 365, 777, 895, 905, 910, 912, 930, 950, 962, and 969. The sum of these numbers are 7,665, so the average lifespan would be 766.5 (7,665 / 10) which is slightly over two times the average lifespan of Enoch; and the closest person to live to Enoch’s age was also slightly over two times the average lifespan.

@johnZ

We also cannot prove that Noah did not have other children previous to Shem Ham and Japheth.

I’m not sure why anyone would really conclude that Noah had other children? Did Noah not take all of his children on board with him on the Ark? Or did Noah have children prior to this time, and they died for some unexplained reason?

I would argue from the text that it very much implies Shem, Ham and Japheth were his ONLY children. In all the other nine patriarchs, including Enoch, it says “And he begat other sons and daughters.”. Noah, for some reason, has this omitted.

@johnZ

While we expect the oldest to be mentioned first, yet often in scripture we find cases of the youngest or younger attaining pre-eminence, such as Seth, Jacob, Isaac, Joseph and Judah, David, etc.

I agree with you. The younger taking preeminence over the older is very much a biblical trend. This happens 5 times in Genesis alone.

Abel is favored over Cain.
Isaac is favored over Ishmael.
Jacob is favored over Esau.
Joseph, youngest of eleven sons at that time, is the favorite.
Ephraim get’s Abraham’s blessing, rather than the firstborn Manasseh.

In other books we see the trend continues.

Moses is favored Aaron.
David is the youngest of 8 sons, and is the least likely to be king, yet becomes king anyway.
Solomon is favored over Adonijah.

@johnZ

While it is true there are only five different digits used for end of years of patriarchs, this is not statistically difficult since only nine numbers are available.

The lifespan numbers we have are 10: Adam-Noah (I’m including Noah even though it doesn’t tell us that he died until Genesis 9). Secondly, we don’t have just 10 numbers available: we have 30 (I’m including the numbers that each patriarch begat children, how long they lived afterwards, and their total lifespans… in my analysis).

@johnZ

Also, most females are not mentioned, yet we know they were born, even perhaps before the males.

I agree with you that the biblical patriarchs had other kids. But even so… if they had dozens or hundreds of kids, it still does not explain the statistical anomaly, we see happening in the Messianic Line.

@johnZ

In other words, the sample size is too small. If there were a hundred or 1000 people’s ages given, and only five ending digits used, then I would agree that this would seem to be a statistical anomaly.

I disagree John. For one we have 30 numbers, not 10, and for seconds, I did an experiment with my own genealogy with the help of Ancestry. I arranged my 10 ancestors in the exact same fashion that the Bible portrays it. Using the same formula as well: a + b = c. I compared both number-data and posted my results in the Theology & Philosophy section, in a post called Proof of Sacred Numbers. The post itself is closed, but you can still read it.

I’m still working on Part Two.

-Tim