Bible Dictionary: Longevity

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

(n.) Long duration of life; prolonged length of life.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

LONGEVITY

lon-jev'-i-ti: In the part of Genesis ascribed to the Priestly Code (P), the names and genealogies of the patriarchs are given (Genesis 5; Genesis 11). In the three versions which are our chief sources, Massoretic Text, Septuagint and Sam, the age-numbers given for these patriarchs are hopelessly at variance. It is in accord with what we find in the earliest legend of most races that in these chapters a great length of life is ascribed to these; thus Berosus attributes to the first 10 kings of Babylonia a span of 430,000 years, and Hesiod (Works and Days, 129) says that in the Silver Age childhood lasted 100 years, during which a boy was reared and grew up beside his mother. On the other hand the evidence of prehistoric archaeology shows that the rate of development of the individual in the early Stone Age differed very little from that of humanity at the present day. It is possible that, in the case of the Hebrew record, the names of certain pre-Abrahamic patriarchs were derived from an ancient tradition, and that in the desire to fill up the chronology of the period before the call of Abraham, these names were inserted and the time which was supposed to have elapsed was divided among them; on the basis of some such hypothesis as that which is said to have existed among the Jews, that the Messiah should come 4,000 years after Adam.

We know from the archaeological evidence that the antiquity of primitive man extends to a date very much farther back than 4,000 years. Indeed, we can prove that before 4000 B.C. there were settled nationalities both in the valley of the Nile and that of the Euphrates, and that among these the duration of individual life was much the same as at the present day. The first three dynasties in Egypt, starting at or about 4400 B.C., consisted of 25 consecutive kings, the average length of whose several reigns was about 30 years. The biographic sketches of Biblical persons other than those in Genesis showed that their longevity did not exceed that of our contemporaries. Eli was blind and feeble at 98. At 70 David was bedridden and frail. Manasseh, the king of Judah whose reign was longest, died at 67; Uzziah died at 68. The statement in Psalm 90:10 attributed to Moses is a correct estimate of what has been the expectation of life at all time.

At the present day among Palestinian fellahin very old men are uncommon. I have never seen anyone among them who could prove that he was 80 years of age; the rate of infant mortality is appallingly high. Maturity is earlier, and signs of senility appear among them sooner than among the same class in Great Britain.

Alexander Macalister

Library

Eternal Life.
... of being. Now it will speedily appear that a distinct relation exists, and
must exist, between complexity and longevity. Death being ...
/.../drummond/natural law in the spiritual world/eternal life.htm

How it is that Cain's Line Terminates in the Eighth Generation ...
... Their numbers in the period before the deluge must have been greater, if the date
of puberty bore no proportion to their longevity, and they had children ...
//christianbookshelf.org/augustine/city of god/chapter 20 how it is that.htm

Life of Bunyan
... houses sprinkled about in the picturesque confusion, and with the easy amplitude
of space, which gives an old English village its look of leisure and longevity ...
//christianbookshelf.org/hamilton/life of bunyan/life of bunyan.htm

Christian Morals. Part iii.
... of their hearts were evil, only evil, and continually evil; it may be feared that
their sins held pace with their lives; and their longevity swelling their ...
//christianbookshelf.org/browne/christian morals/christian morals part iii.htm

Field Hymns.
... It is a finished piece of work, but it owes its longevity less to its structural
form than to its spirit. For generations it has been sung to "Pleyel's Hymn.". ...
/.../brown/the story of the hymns and tunes/chapter xii field hymns.htm

Synagogues: their Origin, Structure and Outward Arrangements
... as it is written in Jeremiah 12:4; while, on the other hand, the practice of early
resorting to the synagogue would account for the longevity of people (Ber.8 a ...
/.../edersheim/sketches of jewish social life/chapter 16 synagogues their origin.htm

Preaching the Gospel, Healing the Sick
... The yellow coat is his protection from stings and bites, the tiny trousers from
measles, and longevity is secured by a heavy silver padlock, which hangs from ...
/.../the fulfilment of a dream of pastor hsis/chapter xxii preaching the gospel.htm

My Second Year in Benares.
... are. The longevity of many of the South African missionaries bears remarkable
testimony to the salubrity of their climate. This ...
/.../life and work in benares and kumaon 1839-1877/chapter ix my second year.htm

Chapter i
... appears from the following three facts: first, the number of links in the chain
of persons from Adam to Abraham was very few because of man's longevity at this ...
//christianbookshelf.org/leupold/exposition of genesis volume 1/chapter i.htm

Baptism.
... years and six, we are certainly not at liberty to infer, without any evidence, and
in the face of probabilities, that he had now attained a greater longevity. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/killen/the ancient church/chapter ii baptism.htm

Thesaurus

Longevity
...LONGEVITY. ... The biographic sketches of Biblical persons other than those in Genesis
showed that their longevity did not exceed that of our contemporaries. ...
/l/longevity.htm - 9k

Patriarch (2 Occurrences)
... But the expression "the patriarch," by way of eminence, is applied to the twelve
sons of Jacob, or to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. "Patriachal longevity presents ...
/p/patriarch.htm - 10k

Longeth (9 Occurrences)

/l/longeth.htm - 8k

Patriarchs (6 Occurrences)
... Even here the longevity of Jared and Methuselah is given similarly in the Hebrew
and the Septuagint; and probably represents the reading of the source ...
/p/patriarchs.htm - 37k

Antediluvian
... Even here the longevity of Jared and Methuselah is given similarly in the Hebrew
and the Septuagint; and probably represents the reading of the source ...
/a/antediluvian.htm - 35k

Long-forbearing (1 Occurrence)
Long-forbearing. Longevity, Long-forbearing. Long-haired . Multi-Version
Concordance ... Longevity, Long-forbearing. Long-haired . Reference Bible.
/l/long-forbearing.htm - 6k

Patriachs
... The problems connected with the longevity ascribed to the patriarchs in the genealogies
and narratives in Genesis are dealt with in special articles. ...
/p/patriachs.htm - 7k

Sarai (13 Occurrences)
... She was now far past middle life, even on a patriarchal scale of longevity, and
there appeared no hope of her ever bearing that child who should inherit the ...
/s/sarai.htm - 20k

Sarah (38 Occurrences)
... She was now far past middle life, even on a patriarchal scale of longevity, and
there appeared no hope of her ever bearing that child who should inherit the ...
/s/sarah.htm - 28k

Life (6001 Occurrences)
... possible (Psalm 91:16). The longevity of the ante-diluvian patriarchs
is a problem by itself (see ANTEDILUVIANS). It was one of ...
/l/life.htm - 51k

Subtopics

Longevity

Longevity: Aaron, One-Hundred and Twenty-Three Years

Longevity: Abraham, One-Hundred and Seventy-Five Years

Longevity: Adam, Nine-Hundred and Thirty Years

Longevity: Amram, One-Hundred and Thirty-Seven Years

Longevity: Anna, Older than Eighty-Four Years

Longevity: Arphaxad, Four-Hundred and Thirty-Eight Years

Longevity: Barzillai, Eighty Years

Longevity: Cainan, Nine-Hundred and Ten Years

Longevity: Eber, Four-Hundred and Sixty-Four Years

Longevity: Eli, Ninety-Eight Years