And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.
Mahalaleel lived eight hundred ninety-five years and then died as one of the nine generations before the Flood who generally lived nearly a thousand years. He lived those centuries in full health on vegetables, fruits and grains, without the fevers, wasting diseases and broken-down organs that mark later ages, until the springs of life simply grew weary and stood still. His length of life came from the life-giving power of the tree of life still working in the race with great physical and mental vigor, while overlapping lifetimes from Adam to Jacob and seven generations living together at once gave men greater advantages than modern people for handing down what God had taught Adam unimpaired. He belonged to a gifted, long-lived people given life to serve God and make His name a praise, among whom righteous men in the line of Seth kept the knowledge of God continually before the world, yet most gave loose rein to iniquity with guilt in proportion to their skill until God destroyed that race by a Flood. After his era the average span fell steadily from over nine hundred years to three hundred thirty-two years after the Flood, to seventy years in the time of Moses and David, to about thirty to thirty-five years at present, bowed down by flesh eating and continued violation of the laws of life.
Long Life Before Flood
The record is that Mahalaleel lived eight hundred ninety-five years and then died, one of the patriarchs from Adam to Noah who lived literally between nine hundred and a thousand years, with only one or two exceptions, generally nearly a thousand years. The nine generations before the Flood together averaged nine hundred twelve years of life. That great length stood at the start of a steady decrease afterward to an average of three hundred thirty-two years over nine generations after the Flood, tapering down to between one and two hundred years at the time of the Egyptian vassalage, to seventy years in the time of Moses and David about halfway from Adam to the present day, and to about thirty to thirty-five years at present in Europe and the United States, but twenty years in great cities. The record gives the age at death of men, with but an exception or two never mentioning how old women were at death.
His long span belongs to overlapping lifetimes from Adam to Jacob by which what God taught Adam was handed down directly through few people. Adam was still alive when Methuselah was two hundred forty-three years old, and Methuselah was still alive when Shem the son of Noah was ninety-eight years old. Shem lived one hundred fifty years after the birth of Abraham and fifty years after the birth of Isaac, Abraham lived till Jacob and Esau were fifteen years old and Isaac till they were one hundred twenty, so knowledge passed from Adam to Methuselah to Shem to Abraham and Isaac to Jacob the father of the tribes of Israel.
Its span of nearly nine centuries gave the men of that olden time greater advantages in merely human knowledge than modern men have. For hundreds of years seven generations lived upon the earth at the same time, with opportunity to consult together so that each profited by the knowledge and experience of all. During those centuries they had among them Adam, formed in the image of God and pronounced good, instructed by God in all wisdom pertaining to the material world, who had learned the history of creation from the Creator and witnessed the events of nine centuries and imparted his knowledge to his descendants. Though without books or written records, the men of that age had great physical and mental vigor and strong memories able to grasp and retain what was communicated and to transmit it unimpaired to posterity, so that even with the work left by masterly minds who planned and studied and wrote, modern people do not equal their advantages.
Its length came from the life-giving power of the tree of life transmitted from Adam and Eve to their descendants, for the tree had power to perpetuate life so that as long as they ate of it they could not die. Because only a few generations had passed since Adam had access to the tree that prolongs life, the race still kept much of its early vigor and human life was still measured by centuries. Mahalaleel belonged to that long-lived people with rare powers to plan and execute, including many giants of great stature and strength, renowned for wisdom and skillful in devising cunning and wonderful works. To them God gave life to serve Him and make His name a praise in the earth, but they failed to do this and gave loose rein to iniquity, with guilt in proportion to skill and mental ability.
He belonged to the long-lived race before the Flood when righteous men including Seth, Enoch, Noah, Methuselah and others kept the knowledge of God continually before the world. The people despised the truth, gave the imaginations of their hearts to evil and only evil continually, and formed secret societies to work in darkness to do violence, until God destroyed that long-lived race by a Flood. He stands in the faithful line of Seth, Enoch, Noah and others through which truth about God was passed down by human lips from one generation to another, engraving the image of God on the heart. This handed-down instruction later equipped Daniel and his three companions to refuse wine as a snare and to refuse food and drink dedicated to idols.
Health, Decline, and Warning
Mahalaleel's 895 years were lived in full enjoyment of health and then ended in death, belonging to the more than sixteen hundred years from Adam to Noah when vegetables, fruits and grains were the diet of man. That manner of living produced remarkably good health, with no sickness and death of children, no feebleness in youth or middle age, no fevers, dyspepsia, gout, consumption, or local disease in which one organ breaks down while others remain strong. There was no suffering long drawn out and no excruciating agonies in death, but as with the other lives of that time lasting nearly a thousand years, the springs of life grown weary at last stood still, so the record simply gives the measure of his life and its cessation.
That length of life proves the first man was formed in the image of God as lord over creation, a noble, grand, perfectly symmetrical work, very good intellectually and physically, walking in Eden with God, His Son and angels. Size and physical strength have fallen off in proportion as length of life has fallen off. His long life stands at the start of a steady decrease, from lives before the Flood averaging 912 years over nine generations to an average of 332 years over nine generations after the Flood, to seventy years in the time of Moses, and to about thirty-five years at present. That tapering continued gradually down to between one and two hundred years at the time of the Egyptian vassalage, and by the time of David, about halfway from Adam to the present day, the average of human life was only seventy years, while now in Europe and the United States it is but thirty to thirty-five years, and in great cities but twenty years, in contrast with the shorter lives and widespread mortality of the present generation.
The tapering began after the days of Noah, and after Noah and his sons ate flesh for a time the original curse with accumulated transgression and violation of natural law rapidly shortened life and bowed the race down to its present brief period marked with disease, decrepitude and imbecility. Since that era continued violation of the laws of life and of physical law brought disease steadily increasing through successive generations, with weakness and mortality increased to a fearful extent. That violation of God's laws of health and life cut down the years of man to contemptible brevity and harrows those years with pain. The long ages show the race was created with ten times more vital force than it now possesses, for otherwise its known violations of all the laws of health and life would long ago have extinguished it altogether. The genealogical record gives the age at death of men, with but an exception or two never mentioning how old women were at death.
Mahalaleel lived eight hundred ninety-five years and then died as one of the nine generations before the Flood who generally lived nearly a thousand years. He lived those centuries in full health on vegetables, fruits and grains, without the fevers, wasting diseases and broken-down organs that mark later ages, until the springs of life simply grew weary and stood still. His length of life came from the life-giving power of the tree of life still working in the race with great physical and mental vigor, while overlapping lifetimes from Adam to Jacob and seven generations living together at once gave men greater advantages than modern people for handing down what God had taught Adam unimpaired. He belonged to a gifted, long-lived people given life to serve God and make His name a praise, among whom righteous men in the line of Seth kept the knowledge of God continually before the world, yet most gave loose rein to iniquity with guilt in proportion to their skill until God destroyed that race by a Flood. After his era the average span fell steadily from over nine hundred years to three hundred thirty-two years after the Flood, to seventy years in the time of Moses and David, to about thirty to thirty-five years at present, bowed down by flesh eating and continued violation of the laws of life.
Long Life Before Flood
The record is that Mahalaleel lived eight hundred ninety-five years and then died, one of the patriarchs from Adam to Noah who lived literally between nine hundred and a thousand years, with only one or two exceptions, generally nearly a thousand years. The nine generations before the Flood together averaged nine hundred twelve years of life. That great length stood at the start of a steady decrease afterward to an average of three hundred thirty-two years over nine generations after the Flood, tapering down to between one and two hundred years at the time of the Egyptian vassalage, to seventy years in the time of Moses and David about halfway from Adam to the present day, and to about thirty to thirty-five years at present in Europe and the United States, but twenty years in great cities. The record gives the age at death of men, with but an exception or two never mentioning how old women were at death.
His long span belongs to overlapping lifetimes from Adam to Jacob by which what God taught Adam was handed down directly through few people. Adam was still alive when Methuselah was two hundred forty-three years old, and Methuselah was still alive when Shem the son of Noah was ninety-eight years old. Shem lived one hundred fifty years after the birth of Abraham and fifty years after the birth of Isaac, Abraham lived till Jacob and Esau were fifteen years old and Isaac till they were one hundred twenty, so knowledge passed from Adam to Methuselah to Shem to Abraham and Isaac to Jacob the father of the tribes of Israel.
Its span of nearly nine centuries gave the men of that olden time greater advantages in merely human knowledge than modern men have. For hundreds of years seven generations lived upon the earth at the same time, with opportunity to consult together so that each profited by the knowledge and experience of all. During those centuries they had among them Adam, formed in the image of God and pronounced good, instructed by God in all wisdom pertaining to the material world, who had learned the history of creation from the Creator and witnessed the events of nine centuries and imparted his knowledge to his descendants. Though without books or written records, the men of that age had great physical and mental vigor and strong memories able to grasp and retain what was communicated and to transmit it unimpaired to posterity, so that even with the work left by masterly minds who planned and studied and wrote, modern people do not equal their advantages.
Its length came from the life-giving power of the tree of life transmitted from Adam and Eve to their descendants, for the tree had power to perpetuate life so that as long as they ate of it they could not die. Because only a few generations had passed since Adam had access to the tree that prolongs life, the race still kept much of its early vigor and human life was still measured by centuries. Mahalaleel belonged to that long-lived people with rare powers to plan and execute, including many giants of great stature and strength, renowned for wisdom and skillful in devising cunning and wonderful works. To them God gave life to serve Him and make His name a praise in the earth, but they failed to do this and gave loose rein to iniquity, with guilt in proportion to skill and mental ability.
He belonged to the long-lived race before the Flood when righteous men including Seth, Enoch, Noah, Methuselah and others kept the knowledge of God continually before the world. The people despised the truth, gave the imaginations of their hearts to evil and only evil continually, and formed secret societies to work in darkness to do violence, until God destroyed that long-lived race by a Flood. He stands in the faithful line of Seth, Enoch, Noah and others through which truth about God was passed down by human lips from one generation to another, engraving the image of God on the heart. This handed-down instruction later equipped Daniel and his three companions to refuse wine as a snare and to refuse food and drink dedicated to idols.
Health, Decline, and Warning
Mahalaleel's 895 years were lived in full enjoyment of health and then ended in death, belonging to the more than sixteen hundred years from Adam to Noah when vegetables, fruits and grains were the diet of man. That manner of living produced remarkably good health, with no sickness and death of children, no feebleness in youth or middle age, no fevers, dyspepsia, gout, consumption, or local disease in which one organ breaks down while others remain strong. There was no suffering long drawn out and no excruciating agonies in death, but as with the other lives of that time lasting nearly a thousand years, the springs of life grown weary at last stood still, so the record simply gives the measure of his life and its cessation.
That length of life proves the first man was formed in the image of God as lord over creation, a noble, grand, perfectly symmetrical work, very good intellectually and physically, walking in Eden with God, His Son and angels. Size and physical strength have fallen off in proportion as length of life has fallen off. His long life stands at the start of a steady decrease, from lives before the Flood averaging 912 years over nine generations to an average of 332 years over nine generations after the Flood, to seventy years in the time of Moses, and to about thirty-five years at present. That tapering continued gradually down to between one and two hundred years at the time of the Egyptian vassalage, and by the time of David, about halfway from Adam to the present day, the average of human life was only seventy years, while now in Europe and the United States it is but thirty to thirty-five years, and in great cities but twenty years, in contrast with the shorter lives and widespread mortality of the present generation.
The tapering began after the days of Noah, and after Noah and his sons ate flesh for a time the original curse with accumulated transgression and violation of natural law rapidly shortened life and bowed the race down to its present brief period marked with disease, decrepitude and imbecility. Since that era continued violation of the laws of life and of physical law brought disease steadily increasing through successive generations, with weakness and mortality increased to a fearful extent. That violation of God's laws of health and life cut down the years of man to contemptible brevity and harrows those years with pain. The long ages show the race was created with ten times more vital force than it now possesses, for otherwise its known violations of all the laws of health and life would long ago have extinguished it altogether. The genealogical record gives the age at death of men, with but an exception or two never mentioning how old women were at death.