Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 90:357 (Jan 1933)
Article: Causes Of The Antediluvian Longevity
Author: John Lowell Butler

BSac 90:357 (Jan 1933) p. 49

Causes Of The Antediluvian Longevity

John Lowell Butler

We have two well-preserved records of the unusual longevity of the men and animals who lived before the great astronomical Flood. One record is in the sample list of antediluvian and postdiluvian patriarchs mentioned in the Bible, and the other record is in many of the unusually large fossils of geology. Just as, today, we are able to trace the energy of many terrestrial activities back to the Sun, so we are now able to show that the unusual longevity of man and many of the animals who lived in ancient times—prior to Noah’s Flood—was primarily due to (1) the influence of a brighter sunlight, when according to the Biblical record, it was fully seven times brighter than it is today; and (2) to the influence of the moonlight when it was as bright as our present sunlight.

A sample list of the longevity of the ancient patriarchs, from the days of Adam to the days of Moses, is recorded in the following chapters of the Bible: Genesis 1, 5, 11, 16. 21, 23, 25. 30, 35, 37, 47, 48, 50, Exodus 2, and Deuteronomy 34. In this sample list we have the following names with the age of each person attached: Adam, 930 years old; Seth, 912; Enos, 905; Cainan, 910; Mahaleel, 895; Jared, 962; Enoch, 365 (because translated); Methuselah, 969; Lamech, 777; Noah, 950; Shem, 600 (born 98 years before the Food, which occurred 1, 657 years after the Week of Creation); Arphaxad, 434; Salah, 433; Eber, 464; Peleg, 239; Reu, 239; Serug, 230; Nahor, 148; Terah, 205; Abraham, 175; (Sarah, 127; Ishmael, 137); Isaac, 160; Jacob (Israel), 147; Joseph, 110, and Moses, 120.

We cannot help making several interesting observations of this sample list. First of all the number of years recorded with each person’s name is not some multiple of a common number, such as 2, 5, 10, or 40, etc. There are just as many even numbers as odd numbers. Only half the numbers are multiples of 5. And only three people

BSac 90:357 (Jan 1933) p. 50

out of twenty-six have ages which are multiples of the number 40; namely, Shem, Isaac, and Moses. In three instances the number...