Johnnyboy

Hey guys,

I have a very idiotical question. My Father - who is a fundy - said to me, that there is a passage in the bible which says that humans cannot be older than 120 years. I personally know that there is a passage which mentions the number "120" in some case, but I forgot where it is, and I forgot the case. I am not sure but as far as I know that passage does not have to do anything with human mortality, or am I wrong? Sorry for this very stupid question, but I cant stop thinkink about it and i really forgot the passage.


Greetings from Heidelberg.

Minnesota

Mentions of "120" in the Bible


1 Kings 9:14
Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold.

1 Kings 10:10
And she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

1 Chronicles 12:37
and from east of the Jordan, men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, armed with every type of weapon-120,000.

1 Chronicles 15:5
From the descendants of Kohath, Uriel the leader and 120 relatives;

2 Chronicles 5:12
All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets.

2 Chronicles 9:9
Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. There had never been such spices as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

Daniel 6:1
[ Daniel in the Den of Lions ] It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom,

Julian

Genesis 6:3
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Buster Daily

So would your father renounce his faith if someone lived longer than that? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment

Johnnyboy

Well I think, he would just say, that two years less or more doesn't matter.

Dean Anderson

You have to bear in mind that God apparently said that before all those Old Testament people with their ages far greater than 120 years were born.

I've heard an interesting apologetic for this (although to be fair, this apologetic was from our friend WILLOWTREE), which is that it is not talking about people living to 120 years old - but is a veiled warning talking about mankind living for another 120 years before the flood kills them all.

Julian

That's very interesting, actually. I am not overly familiar with the OT. Is there any chance that this explanation could be correct? At first glance it sounds moderately reasonable to me.

Julian

Johnnyboy

I am interested in that too.

post tenebras lux

Well, you'd have to be able to PROVE it first. I'm guessing that you'd need to have been present at the guy's birth to know if he was actually that old ...

mdarus

The other issue is whether a proper interpretation of the verse is that a person cannot live more than 120 years. It does not say that plainly.