Ages of the Patriarchs

One of the things a thorough reading of Genesis teaches us is that the ancient patriarchs lived a long time. Modern day prophets have confirmed the literal truth of these ages.  I'm personally not going to speculate why, but to show via couple of charts I found online how that the age of earth increased, the age of the people decreased.  I will also share an possible answer to the question addressed in the Ensign in February of 1994.

The biggest drop in longevity occurred from the time of Noah (950 years) to the time of his son, Shem (600 years.)  Shem was less than 2/3 the age of his father when he died. Shem's son and grandson and great-grandson again dropped by 2/3.

Then we get to Nahor and Terah, and Abraham, when ages dropped precipitously as this chart on the right shows.  By the time we get to Moses, life spans seem to be approaching those we have today.

Of course, individuals differ greatly in the length of their lives.  The patriarchs themselves may have had their lives extended to allow time for the teaching and preparation required for the promises of the fathers.  The scriptures are silent as to the life span of the woman of the time.  It is difficult to make a blanket statement and to extrapolate from the specific individuals named in the scripture to all of the early inhabitants of the earth.

Thomas R. Valletta, instructor, Ogden Utah Institute of Religion addressed this issue in an Ensign article in 1994.  Here are just a few of her thoughts.

 

A number of factors can be considered when studying the longevity of the Patriarchs. First and foremost, modern revelation supports the scriptural indication that many Old Testament patriarchs lived incredibly long lives.

 

Second, early prophets of this dispensation understood these scriptural references to be literal.

 

Third, early historical sources reveal that the ancients took these statements quite literally. The first-century historian Josephus tells us, for example, “Let no one, upon comparing the lives of the ancients with our lives, and with the few years which we now live, think that what we have said of them is false; or make the shortness of our lives at present an argument that neither did they attain to so long a duration of life.”

 

Others have suggested that it was righteousness that affected so profoundly the longevity of their lives. Josephus asserted that God “afforded [the ancients] a longer time of life on account of their virtue, and the good use they made of it in astronomical and geometrical discoveries, which would not have afforded the time of foretelling [or determining the periods of the stars] unless they had lived six hundred years.” The Prophet Brigham Young likewise attributed obedience to the “laws of life” as the primary reason for longevity.

 

It has also been suggested that something in the earth’s environment may have changed radically during or after the time of the great flood and that this also is what accounted for man’s decrease in longevity immediately thereafter. (See Moses 8:17.)

 

All of these factors listed above are feasible explanations. They are not mutually exclusive, nor do they exhaust the possibilities.

I haven't studied it out in my heart enough to draw a logical conclusion.  I am grateful that people like Brother Valletta have and are willing to share insights.

I will be away from the Couch for a few days.  Speaking of old age, mine is catching up to me and I need to have my cataracts removed.  I wondered if the ancients ever suffered from the afflictions of advancing years.  I suspecting that they did as some of the patriarchs after the flood are described as being blind in their old ages.  I am grateful for the blessings of modern medical technologies?
 

Gebara Education 2016