From looking at the Genesis account we know that the earliest men to walk the earth had exceptionally long lifespans but the question is, how were they able to live so long?
By looking at Genesis 5 it is stated that the lifespans until the flood were as follows:
Adam 930Yrs, Seth 912Yrs, Enosh 905Yrs, Kenan 910Yrs, Mahalalel 895Yrs, Jared 962Yrs, Enoch 365Yrs (Gen 5:24), Methuselah 969Yrs, Lamech 777Yrs. Now we know from Gen 5:31-32 & Gen 7:6 the flood came 100Yrs after the death of Lamech, at which time Noah was 600Yrs old.
For us living in today's world where we consider a person of 80Yrs+ to have lived a generously long life these figures are above all else a testament to God's handiwork. According to a variety of sources it's estimated that Moses wrote the prayer 'God's Eternity and Man's Transitoriness' (Psalm 90) around the year 1407BC. In the prayer he states that 'As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years.' It's interesting to note that this was almost 3500Yrs ago and already man's normal lifespan was what it is today. Another interesting point to note is that whilst Moses was aware of the normal human lifespan at the time... 'Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated' Deu 34:7. By all accounts Moses lived a very long life, as well as the fact that his final years were not spent in frailty but with vigor.
In 2016 Dr Nigel Blamey published a topic relevant article in what is described by ResearchGate as 'Undoubtedly the most popular and widely read earth science journal in print', Geology. The article looked at measuring the earths past atmospheric Oxygen level, it concludes in saying 'Our atmospheric oxygen measurements indicate an oxygenated environment in which complex life could have emerged and flourished in advance of the Ediacaran and Cambrian explosions... ~(approximately)100–200 million years in advance of most proxy-based models'.
Whilst this is a mouthful (I'm not a scientist either), the main point I'm alluding to is that the modern evolutionary model of early life formation and earth's early atmospheric formation may be out by 100-200 million years.
Going back to the biblical narrative,Gen 9:11-13 is the sign of God's new covenant with man, the rainbow. Presumably given that it was a 'new covenant' I think it's fair to assume Noah had never seen a rainbow before, this coupled with Gen 2:5-6 leads me to believe it is possible that the inhabitants of the earth prior to the flood had much higher levels of protection from UV light due to the thick water vapour in the atmosphere, thus resulting in longer life. This of course is conjecture so don't take my opinion as gospel, quite literally 😊.
Ultimately we won't know until we meet Adam, Enoch, Noah and the rest of the righteous souls who we will be in communion with one day, what is certain is that the Word of God is as fascinating today as when it was written 2000years ago.
Please consider giving an upvote, following for more content and resteeming. Thanks for investing your time 😊
