How was age determined in the old testament?

Answer 1

Yes. If Adam was portrayed as living to 930 years, the reader was intended to understand that literally as 930 calendar years. If, for example, Abraham was portrayed as living for 175 years, the reader was intended to understand that literally as 175 calendar years. However, the tradents who first told these biblical stories knew they were not literally true, but based on numerology using the magic number 17.

Looking first at Adam and his immediate descendants in The Bible, we see:
Name ................. Lifespan ........PatternAdam ................ 930 ...............7x9 + 51x17 [3x17x17]

Seth .................. 912 .............. 5x9 + 51x17

Enos ................. 905 ............... 8x9 + 49x17

Cainan ............. 910 ............... 6x10 + 50x17

Mahalalel ........ 895 ............... 5x9 + 50x17

The very oldest man, Methuselah, lived to the grand old age of 969, which is 57 X 17, and even had his first child at the age of 187, which is 11 X 17.

Then if we look at the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we see:

1. Abraham lived to 175 (5 X 5 X 7)
2. Isaac lived to 180 (6 X 6 X 5)
3. Jacob lived to 147 (7 X 7 X 3
· Each lifespan involves a perfect square (5, 6, then 7 in a numeric series),
· the third factor also forms a series (7, 5, 3)
· in each case the sum of the factors is 17.

Genesis says Sarah lived to 127 years, which is the sum of these consecutive square numbers plus 17 (127 = 52 +62 + 72 + 17). Joseph, sometimes called the fourth patriarch, lived to 110 years, which is the sum of these consecutive square numbers (110 = 52+62 + 72).

Like other ancient people, the Hebrews portrayed their legendary heroes as living to great ages, but one would also have to ask why, for example, reliable Egyptian and Mesopotamian records never show people living to such great ages even prior to the biblical flood, or why fossil evidence going back many thousands of years invariably shows relatively early deaths.

So, yes, age was calculated in the same way, using calendar years. The great ages in the Bible are not the result of using different units, but of the mythical treatment of the characters in Genesis.

Answer 2

Yes. The idea "bothers" us only because it seems impossible today. Seeming impossibility, however, is not disproof. Any disproof would have to come from physical evidence, not conjecture or number-games.

Many ancient nations and historians have records of "unnaturally" long lifespans of the ancients:Manetho, Berosus, Mochus, Hestiaeus, Hieronymus the Egyptian, Hesiod, Hecataeus, Hellanicus, Acusilaus, Ephorus and Nicolaus all state that the ancients lived around a thousand years.

Such records are found in the histories of ancient Sumeria, China, Greece, Persia, Vietnam and India. Such widespread agreement can only be because it (like the Creation) is a worldwide tradition based upon more than mere myth.
See also:

Longevity

Reliability of the Hebrew Bible