Maddenation
Methuselah
Genesis 5:27 states: In all, Methuselah lived for nine hundred and sixty-nine years; then he died. My question is, “What’s up with that?” I’ve never heard a good explanation for why these ancient, pre-flood, patriarchs lived so long.
One explanation I think I heard in school was that maybe they counted years differently. Not likely. I mean, it is generally accepted that God’s “days” of creation were not really solar days, but more like “stages” that could have lasted millennia (to satisfy Darwin’s need for more time). But counting age in years is a much more “hands-on” down to earth thing. (Whoa, I just got a credibility alarm from my brain. Before the decimal system was developed [isn’t that web page annoying?] how did they accurately count that high?) Maybe that’s how they counted years differently! They couldn’t count that high, so they used other descriptors that were later translated into “years” by the biblical writers.
I don’t like that explanation either, but it does raise the question about how much math the ancients knew. Maybe they knew a lot, but it was all lost in the flood?
I once floated a theory that perhaps in those early days of semi-recorded history, there were so few humans in the world that infectious diseases either didn’t exist yet, or didn’t spread because of the sparse population. Hence, people lived longer, “old age” notwithstanding. David thought that was unlikely, as biblical time is measured in thousands of years, while evolutionary time is measured in hundreds of thousands or millions of years. He thought is was likely that the diseases would have evolved along with the human species. I tend to agree with that.
So the mystery remains. Did Methuselah really live that long and if so, how?
Dad • Questions • 01/15/05 • 4 comments
Comments
David • 01/16/05 • 8:59 PM:No.
Patrick • 01/17/05 • 10:30 AM:Human diseases probably did evolve with human beings, but not with all human beings. The Spanish brought small pox and other diseases to the New World, wiping out whole Indian populations. AIDS, it is generally believed, evolved rather recently, in Africa, not everywhere at once. SARS, likewise, can be traced to a small part of Asia. I’m sure there are other examples.
Maybe it’s most likely that Methuselah didn’t write his own story, that his (and other patriarchs’) long life was something of an object lesson to those who first heard the story. But if he did live that long, then I’m confident that it was simply God’s intervention or blessing. I don’t have all the answers about God’s dealings with humans, but it doesn’t seem too hard to believe that He could alter the human lifespan.
Dad • 01/17/05 • 1:21 PM:Good point, but it does raise a question about the mechanism God might have used to extend life. Of course an omnipotent God doesn’t need a mechanism other than His own will, but maybe there was one anyway, like a super immune system for those who were favored. Regarding the “object lesson” you speak of, I am skeptical. The ages and lives of these people are recorded in a matter-of-fact way, without much reference to their lives, other than to mention who they sired. If God were going to favor some humans with supra-long lives, why not Moses, Abraham, or Isaiah?
This also raises questions about the literal interpretation of the bible, which most of us do not feel compelled to believe. Clearly, God, through extraordinary intervention, could have allowed Jonah to survive being swallowed by a fish, but most biblical scholars view this as a made-up story to illustrate a point about the perils of ignoring God’s will. Likewise, there have been numerous efforts to explain events like the Great Flood, and the parting of the Red Sea within the “normal” physical Laws of the universe.
You might ask, “Where do you stop?” What about the miracles of Jesus, such as the loaves and fishes, His many cures, the raising of Lazarus? The answer is, you can stop wherever you wish, wherever your reason begins to take a back seat to faith. But rest assured that your stopping point will be different from that of others, and some will accept no stopping point at all; either continuing indefinitely to seek natural answers, or taking the bolder step of denying supernatural influences altogether.
David, for example, did not think it necessary to explain his emphatic denial that Methuselah lived to his “biblical” age. I, for one, need to hear more.
David • 01/19/05 • 10:07 PM:Dad, you asked if he lived that long, and only if so (meaning yes) then how. Not and how, if no. You bring up good points concerning the Bible and how literally to take it. Hmm.
Kinda like, if some of it (seemingly a whole lot) is not true and meant to be taken symbolically, then why not the whole thing? And why is it that we’re way more inclined to believe the miracles of Jesus and not, say, Old Testament miracles. I know we have reasons, but are they good reasons? Does it matter?
As for the aging. God would most definitely had to have intervined in order for someone to live that long. Although ageing isn’t understood by anyone, including me, there are some signs and limitations. One being our telomeres. These are the ends of our chromosomes, our DNA. After each cell division - mitosis - some of the genetic material from the ends, telomeres, gets knocked off/widdled down/lost. After a certain point (for some cells around 50 divisions) there isn’t enough DNA to run the cell - it can no longer divide and sometimes the cell commits suicide - called apoptosis. The telomeres are like the fuse, and each division burns off more. Different cells divide at different rates and so their overall lifespan will vary. So, many scientist believe that telomere shortening is the key to aging. And preventing it could be a key to living longer. There are other genes and enzymes that have a role in repairing damaged/lost telomeres. I forget what else, so now I’m going to look it up on the internet and get back to this. Hold on a second.
Here’s a good website with info on telomeres and aging. I can’t believe I forgot that the name of the enzyme was telomerase. Duh. Maybe if God gave Methuselah a hefty dose of telomerase (and lots of good luck) he may have lived that long.
Also, I just sent everybody an article from Scientific American titled, “Making Methuselah”. Read on!
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