And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
Jared lived eight hundred years after the birth of Enoch, fathering other sons and daughters as one of the patriarchs from Adam to Noah who lived nearly a thousand years and overlapped one another for many generations. The nine generations before the Flood averaged nine hundred twelve years of life. Those centuries-long overlapping lives gave greater advantages for knowledge than later ages possess, allowing what God taught Adam to pass through very few links to Jacob, with seven generations alive together for hundreds of years to share unimpaired what strong memories retained. That length of life was given to devote rare powers to plan and execute to the service of God, but it was turned to iniquity in proportion to skill and mental ability, and the witness of righteous men like Seth, Enoch and Methuselah was despised until God destroyed that race by a flood. The steady shortening of life afterward to seventy years by the time of Moses and David and to about thirty-five years at present shows downward decline, not progress, caused by the curse with its accumulated transgression and violation of physical law.
Antediluvian Lifespan and Decline
Genesis 5:19 records that Jared lived 800 years after Enoch was born and begot sons and daughters, placing him among the patriarchs from Adam to Noah who with few exceptions lived nearly a thousand years and overlapped one another for many generations. The nine generations before the Flood averaged 912 years of life. After that early period life steadily shortened to an average of 332 years in the nine generations after the Flood, tapering to between one and two hundred years by the time of Egyptian bondage, to seventy years in the time of Moses and David about halfway from Adam to the present, and to about thirty-five years at present, averaging thirty years in Europe and the United States and twenty years in great cities.
People before the Flood lived for centuries without the illnesses and prolonged suffering familiar in later times, while since the days of Noah the length of life has tapered and disease, sickness and mortality have steadily increased through successive generations. That protracted life came from the life-giving power of the tree of life, which could perpetuate life so that as long as Adam and Eve ate of it they could not die, and that power was transmitted from them to their descendants, so that only a few generations after Adam had access to the tree human existence was still measured by centuries. The race as created had noble, perfect physical and intellectual manhood with size and physical strength proportioned to length of days, created with ten times more vital force than it now possesses, for otherwise its violations of the laws of health and life would have extinguished it altogether.
The shortening of life shows downward decline, not progress, caused by the original curse with its accumulated weight of transgression and continued violation of physical and natural law, whose effects on the race were not strongly felt until more than a thousand years after creation, and hastened when Noah and his sons ate flesh as food, from which point the race rapidly declined to its present brief existence marked with disease, decrepitude and imbecility. The mention of sons and daughters gives no ages of women at death, for with an exception or two their ages are never mentioned.
Knowledge, Witness, and Accountability
The eight hundred years Jared lived after Enoch was born belong to a chain of very long overlapping lives by which what God taught Adam could be handed directly through few links to Jacob the father of the tribes, with Adam overlapping Methuselah, Methuselah overlapping Shem the son of Noah, Shem overlapping Abraham and Isaac, and Abraham and Isaac overlapping Jacob. Those centuries-long lives gave the people before the Flood greater advantages for human knowledge than modern people possess. Seven generations lived on the earth at the same time for hundreds of years with opportunity to consult together, so that each could profit from the knowledge and experience of all. Though without books or written records, their great physical and mental vigor gave them strong memories able to grasp and retain what was communicated and to transmit it unimpaired to posterity. They had among them for hundreds of years Adam, formed in God's image and instructed by God in all wisdom pertaining to the material world, who had learned the history of creation from the Creator Himself, had witnessed the events of nine centuries, and imparted his knowledge to his descendants.
In those long-lived generations righteous men such as Seth, Enoch, and Methuselah kept the knowledge of God before the world. Their witness was despised by a people whose hearts were continually evil. God eventually destroyed that race by a flood. That early history of Seth, Enoch, and Noah was preserved by human lips passing it down in a line from one generation to another. It was taught to Daniel and his three companions, who cherished what they received so that the image of God was engraved upon the heart, strengthening them to refuse wine and food dedicated to idols.
Such length of life endowed a people with rare powers to plan and execute. Life was given to devote themselves to the service of God and to make their Creator's name a praise in the earth and to answer the purpose for which He gave them life. They failed to do this and gave loose rein to iniquity in proportion to their skill and mental ability. Among them were many giants of great stature and strength, renowned for wisdom and skillful in devising the most cunning and wonderful works.
Jared lived eight hundred years after the birth of Enoch, fathering other sons and daughters as one of the patriarchs from Adam to Noah who lived nearly a thousand years and overlapped one another for many generations. The nine generations before the Flood averaged nine hundred twelve years of life. Those centuries-long overlapping lives gave greater advantages for knowledge than later ages possess, allowing what God taught Adam to pass through very few links to Jacob, with seven generations alive together for hundreds of years to share unimpaired what strong memories retained. That length of life was given to devote rare powers to plan and execute to the service of God, but it was turned to iniquity in proportion to skill and mental ability, and the witness of righteous men like Seth, Enoch and Methuselah was despised until God destroyed that race by a flood. The steady shortening of life afterward to seventy years by the time of Moses and David and to about thirty-five years at present shows downward decline, not progress, caused by the curse with its accumulated transgression and violation of physical law.
Antediluvian Lifespan and Decline
Genesis 5:19 records that Jared lived 800 years after Enoch was born and begot sons and daughters, placing him among the patriarchs from Adam to Noah who with few exceptions lived nearly a thousand years and overlapped one another for many generations. The nine generations before the Flood averaged 912 years of life. After that early period life steadily shortened to an average of 332 years in the nine generations after the Flood, tapering to between one and two hundred years by the time of Egyptian bondage, to seventy years in the time of Moses and David about halfway from Adam to the present, and to about thirty-five years at present, averaging thirty years in Europe and the United States and twenty years in great cities.
People before the Flood lived for centuries without the illnesses and prolonged suffering familiar in later times, while since the days of Noah the length of life has tapered and disease, sickness and mortality have steadily increased through successive generations. That protracted life came from the life-giving power of the tree of life, which could perpetuate life so that as long as Adam and Eve ate of it they could not die, and that power was transmitted from them to their descendants, so that only a few generations after Adam had access to the tree human existence was still measured by centuries. The race as created had noble, perfect physical and intellectual manhood with size and physical strength proportioned to length of days, created with ten times more vital force than it now possesses, for otherwise its violations of the laws of health and life would have extinguished it altogether.
The shortening of life shows downward decline, not progress, caused by the original curse with its accumulated weight of transgression and continued violation of physical and natural law, whose effects on the race were not strongly felt until more than a thousand years after creation, and hastened when Noah and his sons ate flesh as food, from which point the race rapidly declined to its present brief existence marked with disease, decrepitude and imbecility. The mention of sons and daughters gives no ages of women at death, for with an exception or two their ages are never mentioned.
Knowledge, Witness, and Accountability
The eight hundred years Jared lived after Enoch was born belong to a chain of very long overlapping lives by which what God taught Adam could be handed directly through few links to Jacob the father of the tribes, with Adam overlapping Methuselah, Methuselah overlapping Shem the son of Noah, Shem overlapping Abraham and Isaac, and Abraham and Isaac overlapping Jacob. Those centuries-long lives gave the people before the Flood greater advantages for human knowledge than modern people possess. Seven generations lived on the earth at the same time for hundreds of years with opportunity to consult together, so that each could profit from the knowledge and experience of all. Though without books or written records, their great physical and mental vigor gave them strong memories able to grasp and retain what was communicated and to transmit it unimpaired to posterity. They had among them for hundreds of years Adam, formed in God's image and instructed by God in all wisdom pertaining to the material world, who had learned the history of creation from the Creator Himself, had witnessed the events of nine centuries, and imparted his knowledge to his descendants.
In those long-lived generations righteous men such as Seth, Enoch, and Methuselah kept the knowledge of God before the world. Their witness was despised by a people whose hearts were continually evil. God eventually destroyed that race by a flood. That early history of Seth, Enoch, and Noah was preserved by human lips passing it down in a line from one generation to another. It was taught to Daniel and his three companions, who cherished what they received so that the image of God was engraved upon the heart, strengthening them to refuse wine and food dedicated to idols.
Such length of life endowed a people with rare powers to plan and execute. Life was given to devote themselves to the service of God and to make their Creator's name a praise in the earth and to answer the purpose for which He gave them life. They failed to do this and gave loose rein to iniquity in proportion to their skill and mental ability. Among them were many giants of great stature and strength, renowned for wisdom and skillful in devising the most cunning and wonderful works.