Why did the patriarchs live so long?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

Because God had created a world in which conditions were optimized for human beings. For example,

-The atmosphere was much denser with a very much higher water-vapor content. This absorbed a lot of the harmful radiation that today strikes the earth and of course, human beings as well. This meant people's DNA was NOT damaged or deteriorated as much as today.

-The DNA itself was purer and not corrupted compared with today. It's like breeding purebred animals: the more generations away from the original parents, the more DNA defects, health problems, and weaknesses. Man has degenerated with time, not improved.

- Men and women were bigger and stronger physically, and more superior intellectually with bigger brains than today.

- There was a higher Oxygen content in the atmosphere. This meant people lived longer and healed faster and had more energy. (This has been proved by hospitals keeping patients in a pressurized and high-Oxygen-content room finding they recover from surgical operations and bad burns where normally they would die .)

- You are what you eat: their food was purer and cleaner without the defects and diseases so common today, and chemical sprays etc were not required and were not used and ingested as today.

Answer 2

Let's have a look at the biblical evidence for the lifespans of the Hebrew patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Bible says that:

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)
• and in each case the sum of the factors is 17.

This is certainly mystical, but is it believable? No? Then the first thing to realise is that whether or not Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were real, historical persons, they did not live to such great ages. We do not need pseudo-scientific explanations for something that did not happen. We do need to understand that numerology was important in the beliefs of the ancient Jews.

Answer 3

On the contrary, they lived much shorter lives that the early generations (see Genesis ch.11). God gradually shortened the lifespans after the Flood (ibid.). The fact that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived relatively long lives was a gift of God which enabled them to teach thousands, as well as to fully inculcate their teachings among their offspring.

The idea of Biblical longevity "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 mathematics.

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 for centuries.

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

Answer 4

The ages of the patriarchs in the Bible are likely symbolic rather than literal. They were meant to highlight their significance and favor with God. The focus was on their importance in the history and lineage of the Israelites.