In our next section, we will continue with the Biblical record from the Flood to Abraham
Cool Fact
Notice that Adam was alive till Methuselah 243.
Methuselah was alive till Shem was 98.
Shem lived until Isaac was 50 years old.
Why would they need written records, when with four generations, 2,158 years is covered?
Again, the Bible reveals these interesting things that resolve mysteries, rather than create them, if we are willing to consider what God has stated.
Mystery #4
As we have seen in Isaiah 28:13, we must study here a little there a little to find the answer.
Why did mankind live so long before the flood?
Consider, the antithesis of the evolutionary belief. Without God as Creator, life had to come into existence by natural processes, and their theory is that in order for what we see to be in existence, hundreds of millions if not billions of years have had to go by.
The story in the Bible is quite contrary, Adam and Eve were created perfectly, so were the animals, there was not disease or death in His original plans. The vitality of the human race was significantly greater from the beginning, and after sin entered, we see death develop.
Yet, even then people lived a long time. Yet, we will see that after the flood, we see a dramatic drop off in life expectancy. We will explore the reasons for that when we get there.
Scripture has a consistent and reliable set of evidence that fits together very cleanly. And if Mt. Saint Hellens proved one thing, what science believed has been proven inaccurate.
Yet, they cling to their beliefs even when there is a far more compelling case. The reason they don't change their viewpoint is simple, if they did, they would have to acknowledge God and His instruction for right living. Sin truly does separate us from God, but God is always trying to reach sinners.
So, we have an unbroken record of time to the flood. 1,656 years after creation. It began with Adam being 130 when Seth was born.
Scripture tells us there was a world-wide flood that removed all land life depending on air to breath from the earth, save that which was preserved by God in the Ark Noah prepared according to God's instruction.
Genesis 7:2-3, "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth."
Genesis 7:8-9, "Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah."
Genesis 7:7, "And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood."
Genesis 7:20, "Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered."
Genesis 7:21-23, "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heave; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth and hundred and fifty days."
From the Scriptures, we know why there are large amount of preserved fossils, why the rich fields of oil buried under ground came to be. Mt Saint Hellens has demonstrated, it does not take tens of thousands of years to make petrified trees, but years to decades given volcanic ash and water. The same goes for oil, given the right conditions, days, weeks, years, decades, but not millions of years as they believed prior to 1980's eruption.
The Bible gives the conditions for rapid burial of species in layers of dirt.
It is not so much a matter of wild faith any longer, just the right conditions.
Genesis 7:6, "And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth."
Mystery #3
Genesis 2:17, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
As we have seen in Isaiah 28:13, we must study here a little there a little to find the answer.
How do we understand that in the day Adam eats from the fruit he should surely die?
1) Spiritually they died.
2) They began to die.
3) From God's perspective they died in that day.
Evidence for view #1:
Genesis 3:7, "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."
Genesis 3:8, "And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden."
Isaiah 59:2, "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear."
Evidence for view #2:
Genesis 3:19, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
Genesis 3:22, "And the LORD God said, 'Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever. Therefore, the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So, He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."
Apparently, the tree of life was required to have eternal life. Without access to that tree, they could not have lived for ever.
Evidence for view #3
Psalm 90:4, "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night."
2 Peter 3:8, "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."
We do not have one individual in the Bible recorded as having lived over 1,000 years. Methuselah is the closest at 969, Noah got to 950, Adam to 930, etc.
Quite literally, every human has only lived one day in God's sight, and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23, 6:23).
Methuselah is the oldest man who ever lived and died. He lived to 969 years old.
Methuselah means "man of a dart." It is Jewish tradition that say his name means, "when he dies, it will come." This notion has been carried into Christian writings who were repeating Jewish tradition, but it does not come from the Bible. This said, Methuselah did die in the year of the flood, but most likely not as a result of the flood.
Genesis 5:27, "And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died."
Genesis 5:27, "And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died."
Mystery #2
As we have seen in Isaiah 28:13, we must study here a little there a little to find the answer.
Did Noah have triplets? Was Shem the firstborn?
Genesis 10:21, "Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born."
Genesis 7:6, "And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth."
If Noah's children were triplets, all three of them would be 100 at the time of the flood. Is this true?
Genesis 11:10, "These are the generations of Shem: Shem was a hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad, two years after the flood."
So, if Shem was 100 two years after the flood, that means he was 98 when the flood took place.
Noah did not have triplets.
Genesis 9:24, "And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him."
Shem was not the oldest, even though he was listed first.
Ham was Noah's younger son.
This confirms that Jepheth was the eldest son (Genesis 10:21), Japheth was the first born and 100 when the flood occurred.
This is an important part of our study. Three sons are born to one man, but not in the order listed, nor triplets. This is a key piece of the puzzle.
Why was Shem listed first in the sons of Noah?
In the Bible the word first can mean: In chronological order or importance, etc.
Shem is the most important son, because He is in the direct line of the Savior of the world promised in Genesis 3:15.
Genesis 5:31, "And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth."
Genesis 5:28-29, "28And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: 29And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed."
Mystery #1
As we have seen in Isaiah 28:13, we must study here a little there a little to find the answer.
What does it mean God took him?
Hebrews 11:5, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."
Here we see that Enoch did not die, but he was translated directly to heaven. Thus, Enoch is the oldest person to have ever lived, as he never died.
Genesis 5:22-24, "22And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."
Genesis 5:4-5, "4And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: 5And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died."
Genesis 5:25, "And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:"
Genesis 5:21, "And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:"
Here we find some interesting evidence of Scripture's Internal Consistency
Jude 1:14, "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,"
Genesis 5:18, "And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:"
Genesis 5:15, "And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared:"
Genesis 5:12, "And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel:"
Genesis 5:9, "And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan:"
Genesis 5:6, "And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:"
Genesis 5:3, "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:"
AM is Latin for Anno Mundi and means "The Year of the World
Genesis 2:7, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
Genesis 5 contains genealogies from Adam to Noah's sons. It gives us all the information we need to calculate the age of the earth.