DEATH AND BEYOND

Souls and spirits
in the Old Testament

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT OUR LIFE SPAN

Death is seen as an enemy and, among those interested in health matters, long life is a goal to be reached. There is constant research to discover what causes the ageing process and if and how it can be overridden or reversed. We even speak of living to ‘a good old age’.

Today there is well documented information that the Hunzas have lived to about 130. Scientists have tried to find the factor that has given them long life. Is it the food they eat, their lifestyle, or the altitude at which they live? We hear of those who eat more sparingly and simply, and the claim is made that they live longer lives as a consequence.

• We have an interesting history in the Bible of the lives of people who lived about 6000 years ago. There are detailed accounts of their life spans. At the beginning people are recorded as living very long lives. Adam lived for 930 years, but he did not have a son until he was 130 years old. Methuselah who was the oldest man that ever lived, was 969 years old when he died. His first child is recorded as being born when he was 187 years old. It was a different picture from our times, when a child could potentially 12 year-old parents.

• These stories of long life change after the Flood, in Noah’s time. The Bible tells us that, after the Flood, God gave them meat as food, whereas previously they had only fruits and vegetables, grains, seeds and nuts. Maybe there was some connection? Noah himself lived 950 years. The Flood took place when he was 600 years old. (You may ask - was the Flood a real event? Look at the water-borne sediments laid down in the Grand Canyon one mile deep, and the deep-sea fossils high in the mountains. The Bible can be trusted.)

• Terah, the father of Abraham, had his son when he was 70, and then lived for 205 years. Abraham died at 175 years and was described as being in a good old age, an old man and full of years. When we get to Moses, we are told that he was 120 when he died, but on the day of his death he climbed to the summit of Mount Nebo. This is how he was described on the day of his death - his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. He just fell asleep. People did not seem to die of disease as they do today. The life span in their times was becoming shorter, but still much longer than today.

• In the Bible when we come down to the times of King David, the lifespan spoken of is as we know it today. The lifespan of the human race appears to have stabilised.
  The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; Psalm 90:10