3 ms·

All religious aspects aside, it's amazing that this was documented back to at least 2nd century BCE to within 2.5 years or so. "... they are mortal; their days

All religious aspects aside, it's amazing that this was documented back to at least 2nd century BCE to within 2.5 years or so. "... they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years." https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Genesis%206%3A3 https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Genesis%206%3A3 ... with the longest living person in modern times documented as being 122 yrs, 164 days: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment

javajosh 11y ago
Does living 2 years and 164 days over the deadline (so to speak) count as a sin?
- krapp 11y ago
  Knowing the Old Testament, probably. You live until God kills you, but it's still a sin to live too long.
Nadya 11y ago
The Bible isn't a good prediction of age. Seth lives to be 912 years of age. (Gensis 5:8 ) Enosh lived to be 905 years of age. (Gensis 5:11) Reu had a son at 32 then lived another 207 years living to be 239 years of age. (Gensis 11:20-21) Abraham lived to be 175 years of age (Gensis 25:7) Also the passage you noted, Gensis 6:3, is often seen as referring to the amount of time from when God determined to destroy mankind to when God sent a global flood and not the lifetime of humans mandated by God.
- pugio 11y ago
  Actually, the Jewish tradition is that Moses lived 120 years, and that, after him, 120 years was the approximate cap on human life. Many Jewish well-wishings end with something like "may you live until one hundred and twenty".
nicholas73 11y ago
In middle school (Christian) our religious studies teacher told us that ancient Jews used "40 years" as an expression of a generally very long time period. So 120 years might be an extension of it, not an actual prediction. I did always find it interesting that it happens to be about right though. But of course it's easy to just record who lived to be the oldest.
gwern 11y ago
If you look through religious texts and physicians' claims, you can find almost any date. In Stambler's _A History of Life-Extensionism: In The Twentieth Century_ http://www.longevityhistory.com/book/indexb.html http://www.longevityhistory.com/book/indexb.html (which actually covers more than the title indicates), you can find estimates of maximal lifespan of baseline humans ranging from 110 to 300+; someone was going to be close to right.

javajosh 11y ago

Does living 2 years and 164 days over the deadline (so to speak) count as a sin?

krapp 11y ago
Knowing the Old Testament, probably. You live until God kills you, but it's still a sin to live too long.

Nadya 11y ago

The Bible isn't a good prediction of age. Seth lives to be 912 years of age. (Gensis 5:8 ) Enosh lived to be 905 years of age. (Gensis 5:11) Reu had a son at 32 then lived another 207 years living to be 239 years of age. (Gensis 11:20-21) Abraham lived to be 175 years of age (Gensis 25:7) Also the passage you noted, Gensis 6:3, is often seen as referring to the amount of time from when God determined to destroy mankind to when God sent a global flood and not the lifetime of humans mandated by God.

pugio 11y ago
Actually, the Jewish tradition is that Moses lived 120 years, and that, after him, 120 years was the approximate cap on human life. Many Jewish well-wishings end with something like "may you live until one hundred and twenty".

nicholas73 11y ago

In middle school (Christian) our religious studies teacher told us that ancient Jews used "40 years" as an expression of a generally very long time period. So 120 years might be an extension of it, not an actual prediction. I did always find it interesting that it happens to be about right though. But of course it's easy to just record who lived to be the oldest.

gwern 11y ago

If you look through religious texts and physicians' claims, you can find almost any date. In Stambler's _A History of Life-Extensionism: In The Twentieth Century_ http://www.longevityhistory.com/book/indexb.html http://www.longevityhistory.com/book/indexb.html (which actually covers more than the title indicates), you can find estimates of maximal lifespan of baseline humans ranging from 110 to 300+; someone was going to be close to right.