"yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years"

In the early history of the human race, death did not cut off the sons of Adam so soon as it does now; where we count our years by tens, the antediluvians counted them by hundreds. After the flood, there were a few lived from two to four hundred years and more; but the length of human life rapidly shortened, especially after the time of Abraham, until at last, when the children of Israel were settled in their own land, it reached its present general limit of three score years and ten. It has been suggested that this reduction in the length of human life was effected by two decrees, one at the flood, fixing it at 120 years, and the other in the days of the Psalmist, fixing it at 70 years. But for this there is no warrant; the Psalmist’s words are simply a statement of fact, not a decree (Ps. 90:10), and the words of the Lord uttered at the time of the flood, have reference to the number of years which were to elapse before the earth was to be covered with water:—“My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”—(Gen. 6:3.) This was undoubtedly a decree, but instead of relating to the age of all men, it simply fixed a limit to the existence of that generation. If it had been a decree, such as is suggested, it would have been impossible for anyone living afterwards to exceed it. In that case we should have had no record of the following ages being attained by postdiluvians:—

Arphaxad, son of Shem        438 years.
Salah, son of Arphaxad         433 ”
Eber, son of Salah                460 ”
Peleg, son or Eber                239 ”
Reu, son of Peleg                 239 ”
Serug, son of Reu                230 ”
Nahor, son of Serug             148 ”
Terah, son of Nahor             205 ”
Abraham, son of Terah         175 ”
Sarah, wife of Abraham        127 ”
Isaac, son of Abraham         180 ”
Ishmael, son of Abraham     137 ”
Jacob, son of Isaac              147 ”
Levi, son of Jacob                137 ”
Aaron, son of Levi                123 ”
Kohath, son of Aaron            133 ”
Amram, son of Kohath          137 ”

This genealogical tree comprises a period of over 800 years, or just about one-half the length of time which elapsed from the creation to the flood. These names, doubtless, represent the average length of life attained by their respective contemporary generations. The highest is 460 years, and the lowest is 123 years. They gradually diminish in length as the age of the world increases; and since the lastnamed passed away, the instances of persons exceeding 120, or even 100 years, have been few and far between. Whereas, if the Psalmi t’s words were a divine decree, no one since his day could have passed even the term of three score and ten.


(2001). The Christadelphian, 11(electronic ed.), 122.