“From Shem to Abram
Gen 11:10 This is the account of Shem’s family line. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father d of Arphaxad. 11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
Gen 11:12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
Gen 11:14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
Gen 11:16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
Gen 11:18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
Gen 11:20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
Gen 11:22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
Gen 11:24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
Gen 11:26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.”
from “NIV, Discover God’s Heart Devotional Bible, eBook: Explore the King’s Love for His People on a Cover-to-Cover Journey Through the Bible” by Zondervan, Laurin Makohon Greco
You know how when you read those parts of the Bible you tend to skip over them? You probably just skipped it now. Some may have even dropped off the page before ever getting to this point. I mean – it’s just a long list of names. Most of them aren’t anyone who’s ever mentioned again. And if they are mentioned again, it probably says something about their heritage anyway. And failing that – if you really want to know who someone was, just Google them. What’s the big deal?
A few days ago I started another of those “read the Bible in a year” (or whatever amount of time it is) plans. This one said it would make even the lists of names interesting. So I read the names. I read the years too.
When I got to the written description, it didn’t talk about the years.
But I noticed something about them anyway.
Do you see what it is?
Here are some clues –
The Sons of Noah
Ge 9:18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.
Shem, whose lineage we just read, was one of Noah’s sons.
That is very important.
Really – it is.
Ge 6:1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
You see, shortly before this listing of Shem’s descendants, God said that rather than living to 900 or 1,000 years – they would now have a shorter lifespan – something in the neighborhood of 120 years – max.
If you’re paying attention, you’ve noticed that Shem is one of Noah’s sons.
Remember what happened while Noah was alive?
Ge 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
Yeah – the flood.
As a side note – lot’s of people, maybe you, will associate the flood with rain. Forty days and forty nights of rain.
But notice – that’s not what this verse says. Not entirely anyway.
To look into that further, please see “Was there really enough water to flood the earth?”
It’s an interesting (I think it was interesting anyway) look into the science of the flood.
So – anyway – was it just coincidence that God says that man’s lifespan will be shortened just before the flood?
I think not.
Go back and look at those verses again.
Look at the generations after Noah – and what happened from one generation to the next.
| Name | Age at first child | Age at death | Difference from previous generation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noah | 500 | 950 | N/A |
| Shem | 100 | 600 | -350 |
| Arphaxad | 35 | 438 | -162 |
| Shelah | 30 | 433 | -5 |
| Eber | 34 | 464 | +31 |
| Peleg | 30 | 239 | -225 |
| Reu | 32 | 239 | 0 |
| Serug | 30 | 239 | 0 |
| Nahor | 29 | 148 | -91 |
| Terah | 70 | 205 | +67 |
| Abram | 86 (Ishmael) | 175 | -30 |
So we see a drop in lifespan.
We see an even more drastic drop in the age when the first child is born.
Except for Abram. Remember – Abraham and Sarah having a child at their age (100) was unheard of – at least in their time.
Nine generations before that – it was the expected age to have the first child.
A mere one generation before that – 100 was also unheard of – but because it would have been too early – not too late!
So God said he was going to cut the lifespan of man. And He did.
Not all at once. It happened over time.
Some may be tempted to say this was evolution.
There are at least two problems with that.
- Given the adage attached to evolution of it being “survival of the fittest”, a decrease in lifespan hardly sounds like survival of the fittest. It’s going the wrong direction.
- Evolution is something that takes place over tens of thousands or years, if not longer. This change took place in 3 generations:
- Noah had his first child at 500
- Shem – at 100
- Arhpaxad – at 35.
Yes – the period needed for the change in age of first child took only the 100 years of Shem’s life.
Noah was born before the flood – had his first child before the flood.
Shem – 100 years old when his first was born – 400 years younger than his father.
Arphaxad – had his first at 35 – an age that’s not unusual even today.
The implications of the short period of time for this change
And now we get to the heart of the matter.
Way too much faith (Yes – I really do mean faith) has been put into Darwin and evolution.
See my article “It’s time for Christians to acknowledge what Darwin REALLY did” for more on this.
This is something that, had the change gone the other way around, and had it taken tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of years – it would have been called evolution and “science” would claim it as proof of evolution. But that’s not what happened. This is more like “anti-evolution” – if there was such a term.
This is like God saying – “Take this, you brilliant scientists who deny Me and ignore the evidence of My existence”.
Oh yeah – God sort of did say that, didn’t He?
Isa 29:13 The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is made up only of rules taught by men.
Isa 29:14 Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
Isa 29:15 Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the LORD,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?”
Isa 29:16 You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,
“He did not make me”?
Can the pot say of the potter,
“He knows nothing”?
Conclusion
So – the age decrease sure wasn’t evolution. Or “anti-evolution” / devolution.
No – that was God.
Makes you wonder – at least it should make you wonder –
for things that people try to make out to be “evolution” / “science” / “nature” –
wasn’t it really God?
He can do whatever He wants.
And there’s nothing we can do about it.
In this case, People have been looking for the “fountain” of youth for 7,000 years. Maybe more.
Trying desperately to extend our lifespan back to what it was before.
The Fountain of Youth is a spring that supposedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted across the world for thousands of years, appearing in writings by Herodotus (5th century BCE), the Alexander romance (3rd century CE), and the stories of Prester John (early Crusades, 11th/12th centuries CE). from wikipedia.org
But it’s never been found.
Not in a literal fountain.
Not in chemicals.
Not in animal byproducts or excrement.
Not with any amount of money.
Because it’s in the one place man can never reach by himself.
Adam and Eve had it. But they gave it up for the knowledge of good and evil.
We can have it, if we want it. Through Jesus.
Not through evolution.
Not through science.
From God.
And that –
All of it –
is the significance of people living to about 120 years.
Interested?
the quote and details on the book are at amazon.com — http://amzn.to/2c5Njlt