Oldest Man in the Bible
The Oldest Man in the Bible – Get Ready for a Shock!
Did you know that the oldest person in the Bible was a man named Methuselah?
How old you might ask?
You may want to sit down.
Methuselah was 969 years old – making him the oldest man in the Bible.
969!
Right there in Genesis 5:27 . . .
So all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died. – Genesis 5:27, (NASB).1
How could he be that old?
I think of all the anti-aging creams I have bought in the past. 🙂
Even if they did actually work, there’s no way I would ever want to live to be 969 years old!
He was the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Adam and the grandfather of Noah. He was likely a godly man to have been blessed by God with such a long lifespan. – gotquestions.org.2
These very long and mysterious lifespans seems to defy explanation.
However, the following consideration (there are quite a few) makes a lot of sense to me.
Over time, as a result of sin, the human genetic code became increasingly corrupted, and human beings became more and more susceptible to death and disease (emphasis mine). This would also have resulted in drastically reduced lifespans. – gotquestions.org.3
The Oldest Man in the Bible – Trust God’s Word
The unimaginable power and divine nature of God will accomplish His plan for humanity no matter how inexplicable it seems to us.
This side of heaven we don’t completely understand the long lifespans of some of the patriarchs in the Bible.
Even so, we can have complete confidence in the timeless truths in God’s Word because the Bible is God-breathed.
I’m sure the debates about this and other divine mysteries will continue.
Sadly, they’re often fueled, not by curiosity seekers, but ultimately by an Adversary who wants to disprove the Bible by any means necessary.
Whether sin corrupted the long lifespans of the past, or perhaps another interpretation, the bottom line is that God is sovereign and we can trust Him.
He remains the Final Authority and His Word is infallible.
8“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8-9, (NASB).4
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1 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.
2 Quotation from gotquestions.org from “Why did the people in Genesis live such long lives”? n.d., para. 4. Web. Accessed March 20, 2025. Retrieved from oldest man in the Bible.
3 Quotation from gotquestions.org from “Why did the people in Genesis live such long lives”? n.d., para. 4. Web. Accessed March 20, 2025. Retrieved from long lives in the Bible.
4 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.
