Well, perhaps it is appears that way because by Moses’ time the average lifespan was around 70-80 years long already.
The Psalm says absolutely nothing about the long lifespans preceding the flood and so one cannot make any definitive statement either way regarding those long lifespans by merely looking at the text of the Psalm.
Well now that you mention it, what does the text mean when it says that the lights that separate night from day was put into the “vault” or “dome”?
In fact ALL the lights that mark seasons etc. were put into it. So the understanding is that all stars and galaxies are contained in the “dome” or “vault” underneath the waters above. Therefore one can come to one’s own conclusions regarding that.
Atheists will be super skeptical and highly entertained about this idea. So will anyone else imposing on Genesis 1 a non-literal reading inspired by the atheistic religious dogma of big bang, billions of years, abiogenesis and darwinian evolution.
Just take note though that astronomists are beginning to discover water everywhere they look in the universe. Plus, they might one day find a super explanation for the uniform distribution of background radiation that they cannot explain currently (no matter how they twist and divide it).
Ah but… never mind.
Ah but… never mind.
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I’m not quite sure where you are going with this.
The “light” introduced in Genesis is not light from the stars, or from the Sun. It is light from the very sky itself. Job has references to this mysterious source of light.
As for the water reference, by nobody’s definition is atmospheric moisture something that requires a firmament. In fact, if the firmament defines the top of the atmospheric sky, clearly there is supposed to be more water above the firmament than immediately below the firmament in the open air.
Of course, there is always the thought too that Genesis was not written at the time of the Psalms, as I understand it (at least not in its final form.) But that is another kettle of fish.
Prode, you’re beginning to sound like a record stuck in the groove.
You’ve been given several different reasons, by myself and others, why billions of years have nothing whatsoever to do with “atheistic religious dogma.” Yet you keep repeating this same shenanigan over and over and over again without making the slightest attempt to address any of them.
If you have any evidence to bring to the table that would prove our reasons to be wrong, then by all means do so, but if you don’t, then please let it drop, because it is nothing more nor less than name-calling, and besides adding nothing whatsoever of substance to the discussion, it sounds thoroughly obnoxious.
Prode, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: scientific theories are not falsified by unanswered questions, but by contradictory data. If scientific theories could be nullified by unanswered questions, we would be able to claim that tornadoes do not happen because their formation is not well understood. This, of course, would be ridiculous.
For what it’s worth, the horizon problem is nothing more than an unanswered question, and even then only if you do not consider cosmic inflation to be a satisfactory answer. On the other hand, as far as YEC is concerned, distant starlight is contradictory data.
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We are at the end of a long tail-off of the long lifespans in Genesis. Moses’ Father Amram lived to 137, his brother Aaron lived to 123 Miriam similar, in the next generation and Joshua lived to 110. There is no reason for Moses to have expected he would only live to 70 or 80 if these life-spans were literal. If the average lifespan was 70 or 80 and Moses’ family and exception why did Moses includes himself in the 70 or 80 year life expectancy “The years of our life are seventy or…eighty"?
It does tell us about lifespans before the flood. It shows us you cannot assume ages are literal when ancient Hebrew custom ascribes symbolic or honorary ages to people. It is like societies that ascribe honorary titles grandfather or uncle to old men. It is not meant literally and wouldn’t have been taken literally. Not just Hebrew custom either, unless we take the 18,600 - 43,200 year lifespans of Sumerian kings before their flood literally too.
Excellent article! I am interested in your interpretation of Gen. 47:9. How do you think that this verse fits in with your theory? @jstump
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Hello I am a jew from Israel, I’m sorry if my English is bad…
recently I thought about that long life span problem and I think I might be on to somthing.
those numbers - 0,2,5,7 are unique because they represent quarters, i.e. 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5.
if that is the case then it is understandable why they come in the end of the number, because they represent the Decimal number.
it means that the 930 years of Adam becomes 93.0 years, and 777 years of Yered are 77.75 years.
so why write it that way?
maybe because these people represent more than just themselves, maybe they have two meanings,
one is of Individuals, And one talks about long periods of time.
I’d like to hear what you think.
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I think people have already studied this topic in depth in light of ancient Near East numerology. Have you read the article linked in the OP article: https://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2003/PSCF12-03Hill.pdf
the base 60 theory seems to me very forced because every number could be made this way. and I don’t understand why use this method when you can just use the regular one…
Sorry my english is not good enough for this article…
I don’t think the numbers have meaning because they seem to match a graph in constant decline, more than they seem to have a symbolic numerical meaning.
If i might add that these numbers are different in other versions of the Torah, and thus I believe they have been changed over time,and maybe that explains the 969 years of Methuselah, because It is possible that it was 970, and they didn’t understand why, so they changed it.
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