DID THE BIBLE STATE THAT GOD LIMITED THE AGE OF MEN ON EARTH TO 120 YEARS?

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The question is, have there been people who live beyond 120 years since the pronouncement in Genesis 6:3? There are three verses that are relevant to these questions. They are: 

Genesis 5:32 (NASB) - Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” 

Genesis 6:3 (NASB) - Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 

Genesis 7:6 (NASB) - Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. 

The first passage, Genesis 5:32, says that Noah was 500 years old when he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The third passage tells us that the flood started when Noah was 600 years of age. That means that flood occurred 100 hundred years after his sons had been born. The question before us is since Genesis 6:3 occurs between Genesis 5:32 and Genesis 7:6, to what does the 120 years refer? 

First View. The first view believes that the middle passage is not a prophecy about the coming flood. This view says that due to man’s sin, God announced a judgment on men and women that they would no longer live more than 120 years. But this view cannot be supported by the fact that men and women continued to live longer than 120 years even though their length of days were dropping. That is the testimony of Genesis 11:10-26, Genesis 23:1; 25:7; Genesis 47:28. Notice that Sarah lived to be 127 years (Gen. 23:1), Abraham lived to 175 years (Gen. 25:7), and Jacob lived 147 years before dying (Gen. 47:28). 

The flood occurred about 1,556 years after Adam and Eve were created. After the flood the length of life began to shorten, but men continued to live longer than 120 years for a long time. Later in Psalm 90 God indicates that it is very difficult for anyone to live past 80 years of age. 

Psalm 90:10 (NASB) - As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away.
 
Second View. The second view states that Genesis 6:3 is a prophecy of the coming flood. This is possible even though the verse occurs between Genesis 5:32 and Genesis 7:6. Notice the additional details about the creation of Adam and Eve that were provided in Genesis 2:4-25 after a lengthy description of the creation was given in Genesis 1. It is clear that Genesis 2:4-25 did not occur after Genesis 1. The creation account in Gen. 2:4-25 merely overlaps the creation account given in Genesis 1. This reveals that the book of Genesis is not always chronological. 

Conclusion: From 1) the flow of the announcement, 2) the fact that the account in Genesis is not always chronological and 3) since men and women continued to live longer than 120 years we conclude that Genesis 6:3 is an announcement of the coming flood, a warning that God will not tolerate man’s sin forever and not a statement about the longevity of man’s life.


By Will Jones, BA Ecomonics, University of the South (1966)

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