Just a few days ago, my wife and I were watching a documentary about Noah and I was checking on the timeline around the flood. I noticed something I had not seen before, Methuselah died in the year of the flood, possibly "in" the flood. I wondered if perhaps I was missing something else so I built out a table giving the life span and dates of the generations from Adam to Abram.
After I built the chart below, I found a a few other interesting facts:
- Adam died just 126 years before the birth of Noah
- There are only nine generations from Adam unto Noah
- Noah's father Lamech who lived 777 years died just five years before the flood
- Abraham was born only approximately 252 years after the flood
- Noah died approximately when Abraham was 58 years old
- Noah and Shem lived through he tower of Babel where God scattered the people over the earth.
- All of Abraham's grand fathers from Noah unto Terah, Abraham's father, was alive when Abraham was born
- Noah's son Shem, Salah and Eber outlived Abraham, would be something to have your great, great, great, great, great, great, great grand Father outlive you!
Some people think that right after the flood, people started living short lives of just a hundred years or so, but that did not really happen until after Abraham's time. Some prior to him lived several hundred years.
While the dates below might not be perfectly accurate as each generation can vary up to a year depending on the time of the year they are born and we do not know for sure the exact date that the sons of Noah nor Abram was born since it only says that in a given year he begat his sons but some take that to mean that in that given year they started to have their sons. Even with those exceptions you are only taking a 100 years or so difference in the dates from the time of creation until now. Not a lot to worry about ;)
It really puts a different view on things when you see how Adam lived almost unto the flood and Noah was around when Abraham was being called of God. Imagine being Abraham and possibly talking with Noah all about the flood...
| |
From Father's Birth
|
Age at Death
|
Birth Year From Adam
|
Death year From Adam
|
Birth Year BC
|
Death Year BC
|
| Adam |
0 |
930 |
0 |
930 |
4004 |
3074 |
| Seth |
130 |
912 |
130 |
1042 |
3874 |
2962 |
| Enos |
105 |
905 |
235 |
1140 |
3769 |
2864 |
| Cainan |
90 |
910 |
325 |
1235 |
3679 |
2769 |
| Mahalaleel |
70 |
895 |
395 |
1290 |
3609 |
2714 |
| Jared |
65 |
962 |
460 |
1422 |
3544 |
2582 |
| Enoch |
162 |
365 |
622 |
987 |
3382 |
3017 |
| Methuselah |
65 |
969 |
687 |
1656 |
3317 |
2348 |
| Lamech |
187 |
777 |
874 |
1651 |
3130 |
2353 |
| Noah |
182 |
950 |
1056 |
2006 |
2948 |
1998 |
| Shem |
502 |
600 |
1558 |
2158 |
2446 |
1846 |
| Arphaxed |
100 |
438 |
1658 |
2096 |
2346 |
1908 |
| Salah |
35 |
433 |
1693 |
2126 |
2311 |
1878 |
| Eber |
30 |
464 |
1723 |
2187 |
2281 |
1817 |
| Peleg |
34 |
239 |
1757 |
1996 |
2247 |
2008 |
| Reu |
30 |
239 |
1787 |
2026 |
2217 |
1978 |
| Serug |
32 |
230 |
1819 |
2049 |
2185 |
1955 |
| Nahor |
30 |
148 |
1849 |
1997 |
2155 |
2007 |
| Terah |
29 |
205 |
1878 |
2083 |
2126 |
1921 |
| Abram |
70 |
175 |
1948 |
2123 |
2056 |
1881 |
* Flood Dates in bold print