What was the average life expectancy in the Bible?

The average life expectancy in the Bible is a fascinating topic. Right away, we see that people of ancient times lived much longer—by hundreds of years—than people do today.

According to the CDC, the average lifespan today in the US for both sexes is 77.5 years (www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/life-expectancy.htm, accessed 7/25/24). This is markedly different from what’s presented in the early chapters of Genesis. Adam, the first man, lived for 930 years (Genesis 5:5). Adam’s descendants also lived for a very long time: Seth lived for 912 years (Genesis 5:8), Enosh lived for 905 years (Genesis 5:11), and Methuselah, with the longest life on record, reached 969 years (Genesis 5:27).

These lengthy lifespans have intrigued scholars for centuries. Some read these long lifespans symbolically, believing they represent the idealization of a bygone golden age or represent the righteousness of these people. Others propose that these lengthy lifespans reflect a different method of counting years or are based on Near Eastern traditions of ascribing long lives to legendary figures. But there is no good reason for dismissing the figures given. Moses, who wrote the book of Genesis, knew what a year was. Life was different in the time of Adam, Seth, and Methuselah.

A significant turning point in the length of lifespans occurs with the story of Noah and the flood. Noah lived to be 950 years old (Genesis 9:29). But after the flood there is a sharp decline in human longevity. Life expectancy drops dramatically. Shem, Noah’s son, lived 600 years (Genesis 11:10–11), and his descendants continued the trend of declining lifespans for generations. It seems evident that the flood changed things, and a decline in life expectancy was a direct result.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had extraordinarily long lives, too, by modern standards. Abraham lived 175 years (Genesis 25:7), Isaac 180 years (Genesis 35:28), and Jacob 147 years (Genesis 47:28). Although they lived much longer than people do today, their lives were shorter than those of their ancestors, reflecting the continued shortening of human lifespans.

Moses, a central figure in the Old Testament, lived 120 years (Deuteronomy 34:7). His successor, Joshua, lived to 110 years (Judges 2:8). By the time we get to David, who “died at a good old age, having enjoyed long life” (1 Chronicles 29:28), we see a further drop in life expectancy. David died when he was about 70 years old, a “long life” for that time.

The book of Psalms provides a sobering perspective on human life. Psalm 90:10 states, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their spans is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away” (ESV). How short life is! How important it is to seek the Author of life and the Savior of our souls!

The New Testament contains few references to people’s age, so life expectancy cannot be calculated from the biblical text. The Old Testament numbers can be grouped according to era as follows:

As these averages show, life expectancy fell considerably from Adam’s day to Shem’s, and then fell even more after that. The global flood is the line of demarcation.

Concerning the extremely long lifespans of the first few generations of humanity, Dr. John Piper comments, “God granted those long lives so that we, looking back, could see from which we have fallen. In other words, those long lives testify that death was not part of the perfect creation. . . . Life, not death, was his design and our portion in creation at the beginning. So, the long lives of those first humans stand as a testimony of how utterly short our lives are and how God’s design at the beginning and his design in the future is life—indeed, eternal life” (Ask Pastor John, Episode 1620, 4/30/21).

Praise the Lord for His salvation. He has delivered us from the curse of death brought about by sin. “Now Christ Jesus has come to offer us God’s gift of undeserved grace. Christ our Savior defeated death and brought us the good news. It shines like a light and offers life that never ends” (2 Timothy 1:10, CEV).