Re: [asa] Ages of the Patriarchs

At 08:15 PM 2/14/2007, David Opderbeck wrote:
>I'm wondering if anyone has any references / perspectives on the
>ages of the antedeluvian patriarchs. I saw Carol Hill's 2003 PSCF
>article, which is very interesting (
>http://www.asa3.org/aSA/PSCF/2003/PSCF12-03Hill.pdf). I see also
>that Walton in the NIV Commentary favors taking these lifespans at
>face value. I guess they could be some kind of miraculous thing,
>but the sort of approach Carol takes seems reasonable. (My very
>bright daughter was reading her Bible on her own -- praise God! --
>and was asking about this, and it kind of stumped me.)

@ I thought this paper was interesting:

The Ages of the Antediluvian Patriarchs In Genesis 5 By: Andrew P.
Kvasnica 2005
http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=3054

[snip]

The Literal View

Historically, the most prevalent way to take these numbers is as
literal ages.The numbers mean what they appear at first sight to
mean. This is reason enough for many. Some add reasons to this and
hold that the patriarchs needed to personally pass on to future
generations the wisdom and art that they learned"such a duty, it is
said, could not have happened during a "normal" life span of 70 or 80
years. Luther states that these patriarchs also had a better diet,
more sound bodies, and experienced a less developed impact of sin on
the physical creation. Some also propose longevity based on the idea
of a water vapor canopy that protected the earth from physically and
genetically harmful solar radiation. .."

~ Janice :)

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Received on Thu Feb 15 11:27:09 2007