How old?
December 10, 2008
So, give a quick read of Genesis 5 and into chapter 6 (I won’t paste it here, you have to find it yourself). Questions, right? Adam – 930 years, Seth 912, Enosh 905, Kenan 910, 895, 962 – and then a 365. Did Enoch who “walked with God” get a bit of a raw deal living almost 600 years less than his predecessors? At the end of the chapter there is this note that bridges us to the Noah’s ark story … “After Noah was 500 years old he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.”
If you look ahead into chapter 7 you see that it wasn’t until 100 years later that the ark was built. Noah was 600 years old. How do you draw 600 years old when telling the story to kids?
WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?
I ask myself whether anyone would want to live for 962 years – when is retirement? How huge would the RRSP’s have to be to save for 898 years of maintaining the lifestyle that you are used to?
Some hints at the big questions …
God says that he will limit the number of days for people on earth – to 120 years – which, as it turns out is pretty much still about as long as anyone gets these days.
I am reminded as well that the first 11 chapters of Genesis are what has been referred to as “pre-history” – in other words, not quite like things are now – the time frames, the years, all of that – it is pretty tough to draw equivalents to today. Anyway, next time – on to the flood.
