In Genesis 6:3 God says, “My Spirit shall not always
strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and
twenty years.”
In this verse, God set the
minimum number of years that His people
should live at 120. This verse could be written and read like this: “My Spirit
shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall
be at least a hundred and twenty years.”
God was saying in Genesis 6:3
that He is not going to let man live forever on this present earth in his
present condition--yet he will be allowed to live
at
least 120 years. We know this verse is
not talking about the maximum
number of years a person is promised to live, because God
says, “ yet his days
shall be a hundred and twenty years.” Also,
if the 120 years that God was talking about was the
maximum number of years that a person could
live, then no one would live beyond the age of 120. However, we have plenty of
people in the Bible and elsewhere that have lived to beyond 120.
Some
people misconstrue this scripture to mean that Noah had 120 years to build the
ark and gather the animals and preach until the flood came. This is not true.
Genesis 5:32 says that Noah was 500 years old when God made this pronouncement.
Genesis 7:6 says that Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters came upon
the earth. This means that Noah built the ark, gathered the animals (with the
supernatural help of God), and preached for 100 years--not 120. The 120 years
mentioned in Genesis 6:3 has to do with God shortening the lifespan of man down
to a minimum of 120 years, which took place gradually during the next ten
generations (Genesis 11:10-32.) Previous to this, men were living into their
600’s, 700’s, 800’s, and even 900’s. However, about ten generations down the
line from Noah (who lived to be 950), we have no record--in the Bible or
elsewhere--of anyone living to the age of 200. The oldest living person we have
record of since this time, is Isaac, who died in 1885 B.C. at the age of 180
(Genesis 35:28).
Some Christians say that we are only supposed to live
for 70 or 80 years. They use Psalm 90, verse 10 as their “proof
text.”
“The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by
reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and
sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
A “score” is 20. So
“threescore years and ten” would be 70 years, and “fourscore years” would be 80
years.
But to say that Christians can only live for 70 or 80 years is
ridiculous, because there are many Christians, as well as many sinners, who live
well beyond the age of 80. So this couldn’t be what this scripture is referring
to.
This scripture (the 90th Psalm) was written by Moses when the
Israelites were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years waiting for all the
people who were adults when they first reached the promised land, and refused to
go in, to die. These people all died when they were about 70 or 80 because of
their numerous sins of not believing God and murmuring and complaining during
the first year when they came forth out of Egypt. (Numbers 14:22-23, 26-35) They
were consumed by God’s anger and troubled by His wrath (verse 7). Their
iniquities were set before God, and their secret sins were set in the light of
His countenance (verse 8). Their days were passed away in God’s wrath, and their
years were spent “as a tale that is told” (verse 9). Their 70 or 80 years were
labor and sorrow, and their life was soon cut off and they “flew away” (meaning
their spirits and their souls left their bodies when they died; verse
10).
We see here that the Israelites who were sentenced to die in the
wilderness, only lived about 70 or 80 years. This was their sentence. This does
not apply to us--unless we live in sin like they did. Then we may only live to
about 70 or 80 years of age, instead of obtaining the promise of a minimum of
120 years. You can’t just live any old way you want to and expect to live to be
120. You have to live according to the Word of God in order to receive the
promises of God.
Here’s a list of some of the people of the Bible who
lived to 120 years of age and beyond, starting from the time of Abraham, about
10 generations after Noah.
Joseph, the son of Jacob, lived
to be 110. (Genesis 50:26)
Joshua, the son of Nun, lived
to be 110. (Joshua 24:29)
Miriam
Miriam, the elder sister of Moses
and Aaron, was old enough to watch and see what would happen to her 3 month old
baby brother, Moses, when he was set among the reeds in the Nile River in a
basket by their mother, and was picked up out of the water by Pharaoh’s
daughter. She then talked to Pharaoh’s daughter and asked if she should go and
get a “nurse” of the Hebrew women to breastfeed Moses. Pharaoh’s daughter then
told the girl to go and get one. (Exodus 2:1-8) Miriam must have been an old
enough girl to perform these tasks. Therefore, she must have been a number of
years older than Moses and Aaron (who was 3 years older than his brother, Moses
(Exodus 7:7)). Considering that she died in Numbers 20:1, near the end of the
Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness, she must have been at least in her late
120’s, because Moses died at the age of 120 right at the end of the 40 years of
wandering in the wilderness.
Job
Job had 10 children (7 sons and 3
daughters) who were grown. Job 1:18-19 says,
“...Thy sons and thy
daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: And,
behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners
of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead...”
Job’s
children are referred to as “young men,” meaning “young adults.” Job’s eldest
son, had his own house. Job’s other 9 children may have had their own houses
also.
After Job went through a number of very serious trials, including
having his 10 children killed by Satan, he was delivered, and lived another 140
years seeing his sons and his sons’ sons, even 4 generations (Job 42:16). This
means that his age was 140 plus whatever age he was when his 10 adult children
died.
Anna, the
Prophetess
Anna, the prophetess (Luke 2:36-37), was of a great
age--and was still alive at the time the Bible mentions her! We don’t know how
much longer she lived before she died, but the Bible says that she had been
married for 7 years, and had been a widow for 84 years. Considering that she was
an adult, at least 20 years of age (see When
Does a Person Become an Adult? ), when she got married, she was at
least 111 years old at the time that Joseph and Mary brought Jesus into the
temple. (20+7+84=111) (Some people, and some Bible translations, say that she
was “an 84 year old widow,” as opposed to “a widow for 84 years,” but this is
incorrect.)