Methuselah.

The bible states that a man by the name of Methuselah lived to be 969 years old. Is this a metaphor, like a snake talking, or did this really happen. Thats physically impossible isn't it?

SOURE: http://www.bible.com/answers/afacts.html

#26

http://www.topical-bible-studies.org/48-0058.htm

The top.

Some people say that it is a metaphor and some say the it really happened. None of the "scientific" therorys about how people can live so long make much sense, But if God is realyy omnipotent like Christians claim he could keep people alive as long as he needed.

Im not a christian or anything, but shouldnt some Kain guy from the OT walk around still?

Cain supposedly had six generations of grandchildren and great grandchildren under his belt before Eve even had his brother, Seth.

Cheers,

Lost

quote:Originally posted by Valek:

Im not a christian or anything, but shouldnt some Kain guy from the OT walk around still?

If God did not let him die the great flood would have done it. Walking the Earth forever sounds more like a Zeus punishment than a YHWH punishment, like pushing a boulder up a never ending hill, having your guts picked out by birds every morning or holding up the Earth. Did he not have Hell ready or something?

quote:Originally posted by LostCause:

Cain supposedly had six generations of grandchildren and great grandchildren under his belt before Eve even had his brother, Seth.

Cheers,

Lost



Yeah, East of Eden was big on that, that sin is a choice that furthers humanity and that we are children of Cain really. But some people say that Cain was actually killed by some guy...

It does seem like a correlation to Prometheus(essentially started humanity) and the story of Romulus and Remus though....

[This message has been edited by AngrySquirrel (edited 11-30-2004).]

If what i've read is correct, "hell" didn't come about until later in the Hebrew belief system. At first there was not even a concept of sin, but there was a concept of "favor" brought about by the henotheistic society in which they lived. You "please" gods, like how David tried to make God do what he wanted by putting on sackcloth and ashes, and then when he found out it wasn't working, he quit trying. That's just one example.

You can read the bible as having been read in several periods by many authors, and you call these periods traditions. Generally there are 4, but i've studied 6 separate traditions. Yahwistic, Elohistic, Deuteronomic, Priestly, Apocalyptic, and Worldly Wisdom. Read up on em if you want to know more.

If you believe in these traditions then you'd believe that the 969 years was just a metaphor. As the people became more and more evil their ages decreased, showing they lost favor with God and grew more apart from Him. The narrative form was just a way of conveying this idea in an oral culture.

that's all for now.

quote:Originally posted by Valek:

Im not a christian or anything, but shouldnt some Kain guy from the OT walk around still?

Cain died when the roof of his house collapsed upon him.

Check the Guiness Book, in the Old Testament age was used as a way of describing influence...So and So lived to 987 means So an So was an very influential in their communtiy.