Adam lived over 900 years - wouldn’t this have made him still alive during a number of important events? I’m not sure of the chronology of the Bible the way it has been worked out by fundamentalists, but shouldn’t Adam have still been around at the time of the Flood? What year did he die in?
He was probably in his summer house in the Hamptons. When he turned 500, he divorced Eve, grew a ponytail and married some young Trophy Wife who was only 230 years old.
I’m not that old.
Nope; the flood was wasn’t until 1656 years after creation. Adam died at 930, before Noah was even born. Methuselah, the oldest Biblical character, did die the same year that the flood came, although whether the author intended his death to be a result of the flood is uncertain.
I have a table of Biblical chronology from Adam to the Babylonian conquest, if you’re interested.
As a side note about the really high ages in the Bible it was believed that it was a habit picked up from the Babylonians, who would use it as a sign of great wisdom. So when the Bible says Adam lived to 900 it really means he was very wise, much wiser than some normal schmuck who would die at 50 or some such.
Yes, Methusela’s death was meant to bring on the flood. You see, Enoch was M.'s father and walked very closely with God, so much so that he was taken up at the ripe age of 300-something. God apparantly told Enoch something about the flood because the name Methusela means “When he dies, it will come.” And Methusela died, the flood came.
That’s a facinating piece of etymology, Mahaloth. A lot of Old Testemant characters have interesting meanings to their names. Do you happen to have a cite for this one?