We’re not told how old Noah was when God told him to build the ark. It does say he was more than 500 years old when his three sons were born, and that he was 600 years old when the Flood came. It is usually thought it took him between 60 and 80 years to build the ark. After the flood he lived 350 years more—950 years total. Is that for real?
Such a long life was not unusual before the Flood. The Bible says the ages of the first patriarchs at their deaths were—Adam was 930; Seth was 912; Enosh was 905; Cainan was 910; Mahalalel was 895; Jared was 962; Methuselah was 969; Lamech was 777; and Noah was 950.
If you think the ages given in the Bible is a long time, the first eight kings in the ancient Sumerian king list all reigned between 18,600 years and 43,200 years.
After the Flood, the ages of the patriarchs at their deaths, according to the Bible, decreased from Shem (one of Noah’s sons) at 600 years to Terah at 205 years and his son, Abraham, at 175 years. That’s still rather old, but it’s young compared to Noah’s 950 years.
Such a long life was not unusual before the Flood. The Bible says the ages of the first patriarchs at their deaths were—Adam was 930; Seth was 912; Enosh was 905; Cainan was 910; Mahalalel was 895; Jared was 962; Methuselah was 969; Lamech was 777; and Noah was 950.
If you think the ages given in the Bible is a long time, the first eight kings in the ancient Sumerian king list all reigned between 18,600 years and 43,200 years.
After the Flood, the ages of the patriarchs at their deaths, according to the Bible, decreased from Shem (one of Noah’s sons) at 600 years to Terah at 205 years and his son, Abraham, at 175 years. That’s still rather old, but it’s young compared to Noah’s 950 years.
An interesting thing is that after the eighth Sumerian king, who reigned 18,600 years, Sumerian history says a great flood swept over the land and then came the First Dynasty of Kish, in which, according to the Sumerian king list, the kings reigned from 1,500 years to 140 years—decidedly less than 43,200 years.
How do we explain these extremely large numbers? It should be no surprise there is no agreed-upon explanation. But three possibilities are:
- * mathematical—you have to divide the Sumerian numbers by 3,600 (the explanation for this includes the Sumerian use of a base 60 numeral system—60 squared is 3,600—and a possible scribal error) and the Bible numbers by 12 (because, this explanation says, the Bible is actually talking about months).
- * literal—the patriarchs really did live long lives and the Flood caused environmental and genetic changes that have shortened our lives.
- * symbolic—the large numbers are a way of ascribing honor to the ancient patriarchs.
To learn more about Noah, the ark, and the animals, read Noah: The Real Story.
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