Revelation
Extended lifespans also facilitated the transmission of revelation during this period. Adam lived to the days of Lamech, Noah’s father. An unbroken bridge exists between Adam and Noah by which God oral revelation was communicated and preserved generation to generation until it was ultimately inscripturated in the days of Moses. Calvin writes,
“For through six successive ages, when the family of Seth had grown into a great people, the voice of Adam might daily resound, in order to renew the memory of the creation, the fall, and the punishment of man; to testify of the hope of salvation which remained after chastisement, and to recite the judgments of God, by which all might be instructed. After his death his sons might indeed deliver, as from hand to hand, what they had learned, to their descendants; but far more efficacious would be the instruction from the mouth of him, who had been himself the eye-witness of all these things.”[4]
Robert Candlish observed,
“The length of their days well fitted them for being the depositories of the revealed will of God, preserving and transmitting it from age to age; and since so many of them survived together, not for years only, but for centuries, they must have formed a holy and reverend company of teachers and witnesses in the world.”[5]
Restraint
The question of the shortening of man’s lifespan is also a matter of great interest to the Christian. The shortening of the lifespan of humanity was a merciful restraint. Imagine if a Hitler, a Mussolini, a Stalin, or a Mao Zedong had 800 years to perfect their evil regimes. Think of the devastating effects that would result, if people were given more time to act on their sin and depravity. The world would certainly destroy itself. This is evident from what we read about the violence on the earth in the days leading up to the flood. In light of that wickedness, the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” While some have concluded that the reference to 120 years marks the length of time between God rebuking men on the earth and the sending of the flood, it is more likely that it is a reference to the shortening of man’s lifespan after the days of Noah (Gen. 25:7). Ultimately, God reduced man’s lifespan to an average of 70 or 80 years by the time of Moses (Ps. 90:10). The Psalmist reflected on this principle of restraint when he said, “Murderers and liars will die young, but I am trusting you to save me” (Ps 55:23).
Redemption
No matter how long men lived after the fall, the curse of the fall echoed in the words, “…and he died.” Man cannot outlive death, no matter how long his life may have been. The futility of life and the inevitability of death served to produce in that primitive era a greater taste of the bitterness of the fall, the longing for the promised Redeemer, and the hope of the resurrection. The extraordinarily long lives of Adam’s descendants served the purpose of God’s mercy, as did the shortening of man’s life. God shortened man’s lifespan so that we may hope in His mercy and long for His promised redemption in Christ. Additionally, it is a mercy for God to take believers away from this wicked and fallen world. Scripture teaches that the Lord sometimes takes the righteous away in order to keep them from experiencing more of the calamities and evils in this life (Isaiah 57:1–2).
The Son of God came into this fallen world to take the sin of His people on Himself. Since He died in the place of murderers and liars, His life was cut short. He rose from the dead in order to give eternal life to all who trust in Him. Rather than hoping in a long life in this present fallen world, we can hope in the certainly of eternal life in glory with the Savior. Whatever else we may conclude, something of the glory and wisdom of God is displayed in the way in which He has ordered His purposes in conjunction with the human lifespan.
[1] https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/WorldPopulationAgeing2019-Highlights.pdf
[2] Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. Richard B. Gaffin, trans. Annemie Godbehere et al., vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012–2016), 161.
[3] Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 1: Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 1-5, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 1 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 342.
[4] John Calvin, Commentary on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 229.
[5] Robert Candlish The Book of Genesis Expounded in a Series of Discourses (Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1868), 119.
This article originally appeared here.
