And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
This verse belongs to the post-Flood genealogical record in Genesis 11 tracing the line from Shem to Abraham. It records that Reu lived 207 years after begetting Serug and also begat other sons and daughters. That 207-year period after begetting the heir is far fewer years than the ages attributed to the generations before the Flood, showing that human longevity after the Flood had decreased.
At the same time those patriarchal lifespans after the Flood were still much longer than lifespans later became. Each father in this genealogy lived hundreds of years after begetting the next heir, with long overlapping lives in which Shem was still alive 150 years after Abraham was born and 50 years after Isaac was born. By those overlapping lives the knowledge God taught Adam was communicated by direct personal contact from Adam to Methuselah to Shem to Abraham and Isaac to Jacob, the father of the tribes of Israel.
This verse belongs to the post-Flood genealogical record in Genesis 11 tracing the line from Shem to Abraham. It records that Reu lived 207 years after begetting Serug and also begat other sons and daughters. That 207-year period after begetting the heir is far fewer years than the ages attributed to the generations before the Flood, showing that human longevity after the Flood had decreased.
At the same time those patriarchal lifespans after the Flood were still much longer than lifespans later became. Each father in this genealogy lived hundreds of years after begetting the next heir, with long overlapping lives in which Shem was still alive 150 years after Abraham was born and 50 years after Isaac was born. By those overlapping lives the knowledge God taught Adam was communicated by direct personal contact from Adam to Methuselah to Shem to Abraham and Isaac to Jacob, the father of the tribes of Israel.