And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:
Seth lived 807 years after Enos was born and had other sons and daughters, as part of the literal unbroken record from Adam to Noah in which each patriarch lived nearly a thousand years. Those years are literal and not from a different way of reckoning time, averaging 912 years across nine generations before the Flood. That great length of life came from life-giving power received from the tree of life through Adam and Eve, so the race still kept much of its early vigor and lived for centuries in health without the sickness, feebleness, and suffering known now. The overlapping lifetimes let truth taught to Adam be handed down person to person for hundreds of years to serve God and keep His name before the world, but that long-lived race despised it and gave loose rein to iniquity until God destroyed it by the Flood. Since Noah lifespans have steadily shortened to seventy years and less, proving how far the race has fallen in size, strength, and vital force through violation of the laws of life.
Record of Long Life
Seth lived 807 years after Enos was born and begat other sons and daughters, as part of the unbroken literal record from Adam to Noah. In that record, with few exceptions, each patriarch lived nearly a thousand years, between nine hundred and a thousand years. The years are literal and not the result of a different method of computing time. Across nine pre-flood generations the record supports an average lifespan of 912 years.
These great ages meant lifetimes overlapped from Adam onward, making direct communication from person to person possible. For hundreds of years seven generations lived on the earth at the same time and could consult together, so that each could profit by the knowledge and experience of all. In Noah's day only a few generations had passed since Adam had access to the tree that prolongs life.
The sons and daughters are named without ages at death, because Hebrew historians with but an exception or two never mention how old women were when they died.
Vigor and Transmission of Knowledge
The 807 years Seth lived after Enos was born came from the life-giving power of the tree of life transmitted from Adam and Eve to their descendants, for while they ate of it they could not die and that vitality continued in their offspring and lengthened their years, so that in Noah's day only a few generations after Adam had access to the tree that prolongs life the race still retained much of its early vigor with life still measured by centuries. For more than sixteen hundred years on vegetables, fruits, and grains the patriarchs lived in full enjoyment of health, and the record gives only the measure of each life and its cessation, with no mention of sickness and death of children, feebleness in youth or middle age, fevers, dyspepsia, gout, consumption, local disease of particular organs, long-drawn suffering, or excruciating agonies in death, until the springs of life grown weary stood still. That long life measures the size, physical strength, and length of days belonging to man made in the image of God, noble intellectually and physically, and among that long-lived people were many giants of great stature and strength with rare powers to plan and execute, renowned for wisdom and skillful in devising cunning and wonderful works.
The centuries-long lives gave people before the Flood greater advantages for human knowledge than modern people have, for with great physical and mental vigor and without books or written records they had strong memories able to grasp and retain what was communicated and transmit it unimpaired to posterity. Adam, formed in God's image, taught by God the history of creation and wisdom about the material world, and witnessing nine centuries, remained among his descendants for hundreds of years and imparted his knowledge to them, while for hundreds of years seven generations lived on the earth at the same time and had opportunity to consult together so that each could profit by the knowledge and experience of all. These great overlapping ages made direct communication possible, so the knowledge God taught Adam was handed down person to person from Adam to Methuselah, Methuselah to Shem, Shem to Abraham and Isaac, and Abraham and Isaac to Jacob the father of the tribes of Israel.
Seth stands in the line through which truth was cherished and handed down by human lips from one generation to another with the image of God engraved upon the heart, and he was one of the early faithful men, along with Abel, Enoch, and Noah, about whom Daniel and his three companions had been educated, and that inherited instruction helped them refuse the king's food and wine dedicated to idols. Seth stood among the righteous men before the Flood who with Enoch, Noah, Methuselah and others presented the truth and kept the knowledge of God continually before the world, for that length of life and ability was given to serve God and make the Creator's name a praise in the earth. The people despised that truth as people despise truth today, with the imaginations of their hearts evil and only evil continually and secret societies formed to work in darkness to do violence, giving loose rein to iniquity in proportion to their skill and mental ability, and because of this rejection and corruption the Lord destroyed that long-lived race by a flood.
Decline to Present Weakness
After Noah the average length of life decreased, and lifespans steadily shortened from the nearly thousand-year standard of the early patriarchs. They tapered down to between one and two hundred years by the time of Egyptian bondage, then to an average of seventy years in David's day, about halfway from Adam to the present, and then to thirty years in Europe and America and twenty years in great cities. Seth's 807 years after Enos was born belongs to that first long-lived record from Adam to Noah, set in contrast with the progressively shorter lives that followed.
That shortening marks humanity's physical deterioration, for the effects of appetite, passion, and violation of physical law became evident over time and grew more severe in later generations. Continued violations of the laws of life brought increasing disease and mortality, with the average age across nine generations before the Flood standing at 912 years as the measure from which the decline is reckoned. What was at first retained with little weakening near creation was thus progressively lost.
The nearly thousand-year lives set against life now prove the race was created with ten times more vital force than it now possesses, since otherwise its violations of the laws of health and life would long ago have extinguished it. They prove also that the race has fallen off in size and strength in proportion to the shortened average length of life. Bowed down by the original curse with accumulated transgression and violation of natural law, life was further shortened after the Flood when flesh began to be eaten. The present brief existence, in contrast with the first two thousand years, is therefore marked with disease, decrepitude, imbecility, and widespread suffering and mortality.
Seth lived 807 years after Enos was born and had other sons and daughters, as part of the literal unbroken record from Adam to Noah in which each patriarch lived nearly a thousand years. Those years are literal and not from a different way of reckoning time, averaging 912 years across nine generations before the Flood. That great length of life came from life-giving power received from the tree of life through Adam and Eve, so the race still kept much of its early vigor and lived for centuries in health without the sickness, feebleness, and suffering known now. The overlapping lifetimes let truth taught to Adam be handed down person to person for hundreds of years to serve God and keep His name before the world, but that long-lived race despised it and gave loose rein to iniquity until God destroyed it by the Flood. Since Noah lifespans have steadily shortened to seventy years and less, proving how far the race has fallen in size, strength, and vital force through violation of the laws of life.
Record of Long Life
Seth lived 807 years after Enos was born and begat other sons and daughters, as part of the unbroken literal record from Adam to Noah. In that record, with few exceptions, each patriarch lived nearly a thousand years, between nine hundred and a thousand years. The years are literal and not the result of a different method of computing time. Across nine pre-flood generations the record supports an average lifespan of 912 years.
These great ages meant lifetimes overlapped from Adam onward, making direct communication from person to person possible. For hundreds of years seven generations lived on the earth at the same time and could consult together, so that each could profit by the knowledge and experience of all. In Noah's day only a few generations had passed since Adam had access to the tree that prolongs life.
The sons and daughters are named without ages at death, because Hebrew historians with but an exception or two never mention how old women were when they died.
Vigor and Transmission of Knowledge
The 807 years Seth lived after Enos was born came from the life-giving power of the tree of life transmitted from Adam and Eve to their descendants, for while they ate of it they could not die and that vitality continued in their offspring and lengthened their years, so that in Noah's day only a few generations after Adam had access to the tree that prolongs life the race still retained much of its early vigor with life still measured by centuries. For more than sixteen hundred years on vegetables, fruits, and grains the patriarchs lived in full enjoyment of health, and the record gives only the measure of each life and its cessation, with no mention of sickness and death of children, feebleness in youth or middle age, fevers, dyspepsia, gout, consumption, local disease of particular organs, long-drawn suffering, or excruciating agonies in death, until the springs of life grown weary stood still. That long life measures the size, physical strength, and length of days belonging to man made in the image of God, noble intellectually and physically, and among that long-lived people were many giants of great stature and strength with rare powers to plan and execute, renowned for wisdom and skillful in devising cunning and wonderful works.
The centuries-long lives gave people before the Flood greater advantages for human knowledge than modern people have, for with great physical and mental vigor and without books or written records they had strong memories able to grasp and retain what was communicated and transmit it unimpaired to posterity. Adam, formed in God's image, taught by God the history of creation and wisdom about the material world, and witnessing nine centuries, remained among his descendants for hundreds of years and imparted his knowledge to them, while for hundreds of years seven generations lived on the earth at the same time and had opportunity to consult together so that each could profit by the knowledge and experience of all. These great overlapping ages made direct communication possible, so the knowledge God taught Adam was handed down person to person from Adam to Methuselah, Methuselah to Shem, Shem to Abraham and Isaac, and Abraham and Isaac to Jacob the father of the tribes of Israel.
Seth stands in the line through which truth was cherished and handed down by human lips from one generation to another with the image of God engraved upon the heart, and he was one of the early faithful men, along with Abel, Enoch, and Noah, about whom Daniel and his three companions had been educated, and that inherited instruction helped them refuse the king's food and wine dedicated to idols. Seth stood among the righteous men before the Flood who with Enoch, Noah, Methuselah and others presented the truth and kept the knowledge of God continually before the world, for that length of life and ability was given to serve God and make the Creator's name a praise in the earth. The people despised that truth as people despise truth today, with the imaginations of their hearts evil and only evil continually and secret societies formed to work in darkness to do violence, giving loose rein to iniquity in proportion to their skill and mental ability, and because of this rejection and corruption the Lord destroyed that long-lived race by a flood.
Decline to Present Weakness
After Noah the average length of life decreased, and lifespans steadily shortened from the nearly thousand-year standard of the early patriarchs. They tapered down to between one and two hundred years by the time of Egyptian bondage, then to an average of seventy years in David's day, about halfway from Adam to the present, and then to thirty years in Europe and America and twenty years in great cities. Seth's 807 years after Enos was born belongs to that first long-lived record from Adam to Noah, set in contrast with the progressively shorter lives that followed.
That shortening marks humanity's physical deterioration, for the effects of appetite, passion, and violation of physical law became evident over time and grew more severe in later generations. Continued violations of the laws of life brought increasing disease and mortality, with the average age across nine generations before the Flood standing at 912 years as the measure from which the decline is reckoned. What was at first retained with little weakening near creation was thus progressively lost.
The nearly thousand-year lives set against life now prove the race was created with ten times more vital force than it now possesses, since otherwise its violations of the laws of health and life would long ago have extinguished it. They prove also that the race has fallen off in size and strength in proportion to the shortened average length of life. Bowed down by the original curse with accumulated transgression and violation of natural law, life was further shortened after the Flood when flesh began to be eaten. The present brief existence, in contrast with the first two thousand years, is therefore marked with disease, decrepitude, imbecility, and widespread suffering and mortality.