“1This is the written account of Adam’s family line.”

When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.

If we examine what is written down in the Bible, we will find a number of extremely peculiar things that according to many authors suggest history as we know it is completely manipulated and inaccurate.

In addition of potentially mentioning advanced technology, and flying machines, the bible mentions has people in the past lived through incredible longevous lifespans.

Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham and Japeth, all of them lived more than 500 years, some of them close to a thousand.

Everything started with Adam.

Written down in the bible we find that “3When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. 4After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.”

So what are we missing here? Is it really possible for someone to live more than 900 years? Or, are we looking at mistranslations of the original text? Or Perhaps a mistake?

Curiously, Adam isn’t the only one who lived nearly a thousand years.

The Bible further states “6When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh.7After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.”

Adam’s son Seth lived nearly as much as his father. However, the incredibly longevous lifespan continues even after Adam’s son.

“9When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan.10After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.”

While we see a reduced lifespan trend after Noah, all the way until Enosh, it slightly increases with Enosh’s son Kenan.

“12When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel.13After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.”

Therefore, we can’t say that there is actually a ‘trend’ we can identify in the lifespan of the ‘first’ generation of humans, according to the bible.

A few Generations more and we’ll come across one of the most interesting characters mentioned in the Bible: Enoch.

“15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. 16After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.

18When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch.19After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.”

Finally, Enoch has was born after his Father Jared lived for an incredible 962 years.

But Enoch, unlike all other characters mentioned in Genesis 5 did not die.

He was taken.

Where? To the heavens, because God took him away.

Genesis 5 21:24 mentions what many have identified as one of the very first ‘cases’ of alien abductions:

“21When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.22After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. 24Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”

We don’t know where Enoch ended up, now how long he lived.

However, he fathered another extremely interesting character in the Bible: Methuselah, the antediluvian Patriarch who had the longest lifespan of them all: 969 years.

“25When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. 26After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.”

It is Methuselah’s son Lamech who fathers one of the most famous characters of the Bible: Noah.

“28When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 29He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.” 30After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died. 32After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.”

Not long after the flood would follow. God saw the Earth was corrupt and full of violence, so God said to Noah he would put an end to all people, and He was going to destroy the Earth and the people.

However, God decides to Save Noah and his family, and gives him the task of building an ark of cypress wood, where Noah’s family would live during the flood, together with two of all living creatures, male and female.

After Genesis 5, we see no more verses speaking about the lifespan of following generations, but we do know that after the flood, the lifespan of the generations that would follow was drastically shorter.

Why do you think that is?

Let me know and thank you for reading.

Featured Image Credit: A screengrab from Noah the movie. Niko Tavernise—Paramount Pictures/AP