When studying the ages of the Patriarchs as listed in the Bible, one wonders if these numbers are corruptions of the truth or actual numbers. If I believed that they were corruptions, I would not have developed this Web site. But I believe, like millions of others, that the Bible is the inspired word of God and that while there may be occasional problems in the translation to the English language, the Bible is correct. If you believe this, then enjoy the following discussion, and if you don't, humor me and yourself.

1) Adam lived 930 years which was long enough to see nine generations of offspring born from him. This would make Lamech (the ninth generation) Adam's great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson.

2) Prior to the flood, Methuselah lived the longest number of years: 969. Quite possibly, he may have been the oldest human being to ever have lived. It is interesting to note that the flood occurred in the year 1656 (from time zero) which is the same year of Methuselah's death. Did he die in the flood? Was Noah's grandfather considered one of the ungodly? On the contrary, the translation of Methusela's name is: "When he is dead it shall be sent" Quite possibly he was considered one of the godly and died before the flood. All other members from this genealogy died prior to the flood. Take a look at this link which analyzes these biblical names: Koinonia House.

3) Prior to the flood, the average age of these listed was 857.5 years. The next 10 generations (Noah to Abraham) after the flood had an average age of 317.1. Did the pre-flood world enable a longer life or did God enact shorter lives because He was sorry he had created man (Gen 6:7)? Consider this quote from the King James Version:

Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also [is] flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

4) Noah was the tenth generation from Adam. God established a covenant with Noah because of the flood (Gen 9:1-19). Abraham was the twentieth generation from Adam, and God also established a covenant with him (Gen 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 15:1-7, 18-21; 17:1-8).

5) Noah lived 950 years to the year 2006 (from time zero) which was long enough to see ten generations born from him. Only Peleg and Nahor died before him. Therefore, Noah lived long enough to see Abram's birth. Abram was 58 when Noah died.

6) Because Adam sinned against God, that is, Adam transgressed the law of God, Adam was to suffer the consequences of the cursed soil (Gen 3:17-19). Lamech named his firstborn son Noah, which meant 'rest' because of the curse of the soil from Adam's sin (Gen 5:29). It is interesting to note that after Noah and his family had exited the ark, he worshiped God. God was pleased with Noah and soothed by his offering and thus recanted the curse from the soil (Gen 8:20-22). From God's statement, Noah's name, 'rest', truly does apply to the soil as his father Lamech had foretold. Did God purposely lengthen the pre-flood lifetime to punish man as he tilled the cursed soil to magnify the punishment? Obviously man today lives an average of 75 years and does not endure the hardships of a cursed soil, especially with today's mechanized farming implements.

The Garden of Eden

After Adam and Eve had sinned, God banished them from the Garden of Eden. Gen 3:24 "So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life." (NKJV) The Bible describes cherubim. Understand that Satan is one of several cherubim (Ez 28:12-17) and Satan is called a dragon (Rev 20:2). There are other cherubim who are good and Ezekiel 1:4-11 shows us in great detail what they look like:

"4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness [was] about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 5 Also out of the midst thereof [came] the likeness of four living creatures. And this [was] their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. 6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. 7 And their feet [were] straight feet; and the sole of their feet [was] like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. 8 And [they had] the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. 9 Their wings [were] joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. 10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. 11 Thus [were] their faces: and their wings [were] stretched upward; two [wings] of every one [were] joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. " (KJV)

Garner Ted Armstrong has some very interesting comments regarding the relationship between the garden of Eden and the flood. The following excerpts are taken from his article, "Satan's Greatest Deception".

"Notice that each one of these creatures had four faces; four wings, and their bodies seemingly included the aspects of all four of the chief creatures of the whole earth.

Man reigns supreme; the most intelligent and top of the food chain, having been placed over all creatures of the field, the sky and the sea.

The domestic ox is the largest and most useful of all animals. It can draw wagons, plow, be milked, and give meat. The eagle reigns supreme in the air; is the symbol of many nations, including the United States of America.

The lion is revered as the "king of the beasts"; the most powerful and majestic of all the big cats, and has no natural enemy, save man.

... When the Levites were given directions for the decorations inside the ancient tabernacle, they were told to decorate is with "cherubs." Yet no descriptions are extant in any of the first five books of the Bible which would tell these artisans what "cherubs" looked like!

... Now why is it not necessary for God to reveal to those ancient artisans what cherubim looked like?

Because they already knew! (See Gen 3:24 above and recall that Abram was 58 when Noah died. It is very possible that the pre-flood world would have been described and the story passed down from father to son.)

... How long did the garden of Eden survive? We have no further information, except that by the very fact God placed guardian cherubim at the entrance to the garden, it is obvious that garden remained for a considerable period of time - that God intended that Adam and/or his future progeny would be denied access to the garden of Eden ...

There is every reason to assume that the garden of Eden was obliterated at the time of the Noachian deluge! In other words, it's quite likely that the cherubim (the Bible does not state how many were so assigned) were stationed at the entries of the garden of Eden, perhaps one-sixth of all humanity until now.

Think about it. Adam and Methuselah were contemporaries. Men lived to a great age during the pre-flood period. For all of these hundreds of years, approximately ONE THOUSAND YEARS, these great creatures were stationed at the entrance to the garden of Eden, refusing entry to any humans who assayed to enter the garden!

Now, think about the incredible collection of fables extant in many, many cultures around the earth!

... According to various tales, the castle is guarded by a dragon; but in any event, it is inhabited by a giant, who possesses a "goose that lays the golden egg."

Dozens of varieties of this, and other mythological tales all portray similar scenes:

1) That a fabulous, treasure-filled, idyllic castle, subterranean world, lost continent, or city is in existence somewhere.

2) That such a castle or great-gilded city is guarded by a DRAGON. (Saint George and the dragon is but a derivative of this original myth.)

3) The hero always encounters a huge, serpentine-appearing creature with wings, probably featuring FIRE coming out of his mouth!

4) If the hero of the myth can somehow conquer the dragon, behold, the gates to the continent, city, or castle lay open before him, wherein are treasures unimaginable!

... How many times prior to the flood of Noah, did human travelers either accidentally stumble across one of the cherubim God had placed to guard the way to the garden of Eden? And what does a cherubim look like?" (Recall the biblical description in Ezekiel.)"

The above timeline is a synopsis of Halley's Bible Handbook 1965 page 74, "Time in The Ark".

It is implied by Dr. Henry H. Halley, that prior to the flood, God made His decision to destroy sinful mankind when Noah was 480 years old (Gen 6:3). From that time, Noah was asked to build the Ark, at 500 years old, begot "Shem, Ham and Japeth" (Gen 5:32) and at 600 years old finally entered the Ark (Gen 7:6).

The above figure gives one a perspective of the events once Noah entered the Ark until he exited it 377 days later (Gen 8:16-18).

The Vapor Canopy

What IS the Vapor Canopy? Recall the first chapter of Genesis.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry [land] appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good. (KJV)

Consider the implications of what you just read! Waters above the heavens! This is the vapor canopy! "Could this be?" Yes, it could. "Well", you might say, "don't we have waters above the heavens today?" Yes we do .... but .... but ..... There's more. Here's Psalm 104. (Hey! That rhymes.)

5 [Who] laid the foundations of the earth, [that] it should not be removed for ever. 6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as [with] a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. 8 They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. 9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.

Notice verse 7, "At thy rebuke they fled" and verse 9, "that they turn not again to cover the earth" . These waters are not there any more or at least not like they once used to be! These waters are known as the "Vapor Canopy" which encircled the Earth during the time of Noah. We do have a vapor canopy above us today. But based upon Biblical description, it is not like it once was.

The following image and quote are taken from WATER VAPOR in the CLIMATE SYSTEM Special Report. December 1995 by Susan Bucci Mockler.

If all the water vapor in the air at a particular time were to condense and fall as rain, it would amount to a depth of only about 2.5 cm. This is called precipitable water. Because water vapor is not evenly distributed globally, there would be about 5 cm near the equator and less than one tenth as much at the poles. The average recipitation over the globe is about 1m annually, so there must be a rapid turnover of water in the air; the average water molecule spends about 9 days in the air before precipitating back to the surface....

Despite the small amount of water vapor in the upper troposphere (above about 5 km) and stratosphere, recent research has shown that upper tropospheric water vapor is very important to the climate.

So what was it like before? The answer is near your fingertips and closer than you might have ever imagined.

God has left us a spectacular witness to this antediluvian world. It is something that both you and I know and can see in the morning and evening sky frequently throughout the year. It is a planet who's size and shape are much like that of our own; and who's atmosphere is possibly an example of that of the antediluvian Earth. Give up?

Okay, okay, the planet is ...... Venus. Its atmosphere is very thick and contains a large concentration of carbon dioxide (which is not like ours), but it does give us the frame work with which to imagine and ponder what it would have been like in the time of Noah.