How long Noah lived has always been a source of heated argument. His age at the time of his death is one of the major Noah controversies that leave historians and bible scholars alike with more questions than answers. The question that continues to confuse researchers’ minds is how long did Noah live?
The Bible implies that Noah lived for 950 years. He lived 600 hundred years before the flood and 350 years after the flood.
However, given that the current maximum human lifespan is estimated to be 120 years, historians, scientists, and other researchers have yet to come to terms with how Noah could have lived for 950 years, as the Bible implies. This article addresses the questions, how long did Noah live? Does the Bible say how long Noah lived and how long did Noah live after the flood? Read on to know more about what age Noah was when he died!
How long did Noah live?
The Bible implies that Noah lived for 950 years. According to Getty, at the age of 950, Noah, who God appointed as the shepherd of his creatures through the flood, passed away. He was believed to be survived by three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It is from Noah’s sons that the human race descended, Genesis 10:32.
However, some people challenge the age of Noah at this time of death. Some people suggest that Noah lived for only 76.7 years. According to them, the great ages that the book of Genesis attributes to the first about 10-20 generations cannot be true. According to this group, the authors of Genesis could have used the term years to refer to lunar months. Using this analogy, Noah only lived for 76.7 years rather than 950 years, as stated in the Bible. From this viewpoint, Adam was created in 1850 BCE, which is relatively too recent. Therefore, this line of thought is questionable.
Another function also believes that Noah is a fictional character who never lived. Giving people an impossibly long lifespan was a cleverly orchestrated way of enhancing their perceived importance in society or a narrative. Therefore, the long lifespans awarded to the first 10-20 generations after creation in the book of Genesis should be taken with a grain of salt. A biological limit is built into every organism’s DNA, predetermining its maximum lifespan. The maximum lifespan for human beings is said to be about 120 years. This line of thought questions the biblical notion that Noah lived for 950 years.
Coincidentally, according to the Bible, 120 years is the age that God said humans would live after they angered him, Genesis 6:3. This makes the creation story and the prolonged lifespan of the generations before Abraham credible.
Noah lived a bit longer than the Bible implies because the floods lasted for 40 days and forty nights, which is one month and ten days, Genesis 7:17. When the flood started, Noah was precisely 600 years old, according to Genesis 7:6&11. Therefore, it is suggested that Noah was 600 years, one month, and ten days old when the flood ended.
The Bible implies that Noah lived for 350 years after the flood. Therefore, the speculation is that his age at the time of his death was 600 years, one month, and ten days (the age when the flood stopped) plus 350 years (the number of years he lived after the flood). Therefore, according to this line of thought, Noah was 950 years, a month, and ten days old when he died.
Does the Bible say how long Noah lived?
The Bible implies that Noah lived for 950 years. Noah is a 10th-generation descendant of Adam. “Adam had a son when he was 130 years, who he named Seth; Seth had a son when he was 105 years, who he named Enosh; Enosh had a son at the age of 90, who he named Kenan; Kenan has a son at the age of 70 who he named Mahalel; Mahalel has a son at the age of 65, who he named Jared. Jared had a son at the age of 162, who he named Enoch; Enoch had a son at the age of 65, who he named Methuselah; Methuselah had a son at the age of 187, who he named Lamech; Lamech had a son at the age of 182 who he named Noah,” Genesis 5:3-29.
According to Genesis 5:32, when Noah was 500 years he had three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The Bible suggests that Noah is 601 years when he decides to take off the ark’s cover and look around after the flood; the Earth is not completely dry. He waits another month and 27 days for the Earth to dry. Noah alights the ark with his family and all the animals he had carried with him, Genesis 8.
As recorded in Genesis 9:28-29, after the flood, Noah lived for 350 years. He dies at the age of 950. Therefore, the Bible suggests that Noah lived for 950 years. Noah was the last person to live for more than 600 years.
How long did Noah live after the flood?
According to the Bible, Noah lived for 350 years after the flood Genesis 9:28. However, if we go by the argument that Noah lived for only 76.7 years, he was 48 years when the flood started and lived for 28.2 years after the flood. This argument is based on the current maximum human lifespan, estimated to be about 120 years.
What bible verse talks about Noah’s age?
Many verses in the Book of Genesis talk about Noah’s age. The verses listed below include his perceived age before and after the flood.
“After Noah was 500 years old, he had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth” Genesis 5:32.
“Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came on the earth,” Genesis 7:6.
“When Noah was six hundred years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the outlets of the vast body of water beneath the earth burst open, all the floodgates of the sky were opened” Genesis 7:11.
“When Noah was 601 years old, on the first day of the first month, the water was gone. Noah removed the covering of the boat, looked around, and saw that the ground was getting dry” Genesis 8:13.
“After the flood, Noah lived 350 years and died at 950,” Genesis 9:28-29.
The Bible implies that Noah was the last person to live over 600 years. Over time, the number of years people lived declined to just below 120 years.
References
chabad.org. (n.d.). 14 facts about Noah every Jew should know – Retrieved December 13, 2022.
Getty. (n.d.).The death of Noah (the J. Paul Getty museum collection). Retrieved December 12, 2022.
Good News Translation GNT. Genesis 5 to 10.
GotQuestions.org. (2014). Home. GotQuestions.org. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
GotQuestions.org. (2019). Home. GotQuestions.org. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
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