120 years of Genesis 6:3 and 2034 C.E.

[The Librarian]

Quote

In Noah’s day, Jehovah declared: “My spirit shall not act toward man indefinitely in that he is also flesh. Accordingly his days shall amount to a hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:3) The issuance of this divine decree in 2490 B.C.E. marked the beginning of the end for that ungodly world. - Our Watchfulness Takes On Greater Urgency w03 12/15 p. 14-15

Notice it also said:

"What is one similarity between Noah's day and the presence of the Son of man? ... Having a clear understanding of the parallel between that time and our day should ... Only 120 years more and Jehovah would bring “the deluge of waters upon the ... 8 In modern times, sincere students of the Bible have learned from the ..."

 

This may be the basis for our new found interest in 2034 C.E.?

Noah's Ministry = 120 years

1914 C.E. + 120 years = 2034 C.E.

 

Before I put too much credence in this new date.... I think I will do a LOT more research regarding 1914. (That deserves a completely new thread)

 

I also noticed this point: 

Seems that Noah was around 500 years old when his 3 sons were born, & the flood came 100 years later, so that disqualifies the 120 years as being the time until the flood came  

Your thoughts?

 

[Olga]

I not

[Evacuated]

3 hours ago, The Librarian said:

Seems that Noah was around 500 years old when his 3 sons were born, & the flood came 100 years later, so that disqualifies the 120 years as being the time until the flood came  

WT 2012 15 April p 23 para 5

The Bible tells us that Jehovah issued a decree in heaven. According to Genesis 6:3, he said: “My spirit shall not act toward man indefinitely in that he is also flesh. Accordingly his days shall amount to a hundred and twenty years.” This was not a statement regarding the average human lifespan. It was a judicial decree in which Jehovah declared when he would act to cleanse the earth of ungodliness. Since the Flood began in 2370 B.C.E., we infer that God made this pronouncement in 2490 B.C.E. At that time, Noah was 480 years old. (Gen. 7:6) Some 20 years later, in the year 2470 B.C.E., Noah’s sons began to be born. (Gen. 5:32) About one hundred years remained before the Flood was to begin
 

[JW Insider]

7 hours ago, The Librarian said:

1914 C.E. + 120 years = 2034 C.E.

This was a very popular speculation among Bethelites in the 1970's and 1980's, long before it was necessary to extend the generational lifespan beyond 70, then 80 years. But even when we were adding 70, then 80 years to 1914, this didn't reach to 1984 and 1994, respectively, because we had to account for the ability of the person born before 1914 to be old enough to understand the sign. One of the supports for 1975 was the idea that a person born in 1900 would be 14 years old in 1914, and that should be old enough to understand the sign. That person would be just exactly between 70 and 80 years old, the perfect age to fit the Psalm:

• (Psalm 90:10) "The span of our life is 70 years, Or 80 if one is especially strong."

So, if 120 was ever seen again as a maximum lifespan, then it's not 1914 + 120 = 2034. It's really 1914 from the viewpoint of a teenager, and therefore the year 2020 could be pointed to. Then if that failed, we would finally start claiming that even an infant would be old enough, until we could reach 2034.

Understanding this to be the length of Noah's preaching work from the time of that decree (assumed 20 years prior to the birth of the first of Noah's sons) until the flood is going to be a more popular speculation. That's mostly because of the verses in Matthew  that say:

• 14 And this good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. . . .
• 37 For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. 38 For as they were in those days before the Flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39 and they took no note until the Flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.

A couple more thoughts I find interesting:

• If our date for the Flood is correct, then that verse in Psalms was written just over a millennium later. We also have the thousands of clay Babylonian banking records that let us figure the life-spans of several people from around 609 to 539. Several people lived to be 70 or 80, and there were exceptions claimed in royal Assyro-Babylonian records of a woman whose birthday was celebrated for either her 102nd or 104th birthday.  It's curious that the Psalm from about 3,000 years ago, is such a recognizable truth even today (about 70 or 80 years). We know there are exceptions, and obviously the Psalmist did, too.
• But it's still curious that we have so few exceptions after the flood of anyone living longer than 120 years. And we also have almost no exceptions from any modern period of history of 120 year life-spans. The best documented ones that get close are often in the 110 to 115 range. But it's so rare to hear of a claim above 120 that they seem very suspect. The facts of documented history seem to support the idea that a lifespan of 120 shouldn't be ruled out as the intended meaning of Genesis 6:3.

 

Eoin has already pointed out that we do accept the 120 years to be the amount of time from that decree until the Flood came. We just have to assume that the decree came 20 years prior to the time when Noah's children (assumed all boys) were born. That assumption isn't stated in the Bible, just as it isn't stated whether or not this is a declaration of a maximum lifespan.
 

 

[JW Insider]

Just thought of something else which is completely worthless, but it's an interesting last thought, which I only add for one reason: to show just how easy it is to turn numbers into something to speculate about -- no matter how likely or unlikely, reasonable or unreasonable:

• Let's assume that the Watchtower is correct with the date stated in the quotation from 2012 that Eoin provided: "we infer that God made this pronouncement in 2490 B.C.E." What if this decree of Jehovah at that time was his declaration of how much more time he was going to allow before installing a Messianic solution from on high. If Jehovah was declaring that he would give them another 120 years up until the Flood, and then continue to allow Gentile nations to rule uninterrupted for a period of say, 7 times, or a total of 2,520 years in all, can you guess where the end of those 2,520 years would land? Simple: -2490 BCE +2,520 = 30 C.E. But there was no zero year, which means it ended in 29 C.E. Let's see . . . was there any Messianic solution anointed in 29 C.E.?
• Sorry, one more thought, that just hit me. But it goes to the same point of ridiculous coincidences among numbers if you just look at them. If Jehovah was giving 120 years before the Flood and then the remainder of the 2,520 years after the flood, then what does that remind you of? Hint:

• (Daniel 9:24-27) 24 “There are 70 weeks. . .“And the people of a leader who is coming will destroy the city and the holy place. And its end will be by the flood. And until the end there will be war; what is decided upon is desolations. 27 “And he will keep the covenant in force for the many for one week; and at the half of the week, he will cause sacrifice and gift offering to cease.. . .

Don't think this is relevant? Here's the proof: what is the ratio of 120 years prior to the flood and the 2,400 years after the flood? (120 + 2,400 = 2,520). 120/2400=0.05 It's exactly .05 or 5% or 1/20th.

What's the ratio of that half-a-week to the full 70 weeks? Well, half a week is how many days? 7 days divided by 2 = 3.5 days, right? And what's the ratio of 3.5 to 70? Simple: 3.5/70=0.05 or 5% or 1/20th.

And for good measure what's the ratio of a shekel to a ge'rah?

• (Exodus 30:13) . . .Twenty geʹrahs equal a shekel. . . .

So it's exactly .05 or 5% or 1/20th

And can you guess the ratio of the square cubits of the floor of Noah's ark compared with the number of cubic cubits of space on the decks above? Yep! .05 or 1/20th!

Anyway. Hopefully all this appears silly. This is the kind of danger that such thinking results in.

Few people really recognize just how often numbers will surprise us with their seemingly "miraculous" coincidences. The flaws in such thinking are easily disregarded, just because there are some scriptures thrown into the mix. This may be how we get a wicked, vicious Gentile king in Daniel 4 to represent a non-Gentile, loving, Messianic king. This may be how we got from "7 times" to "7 x 360-days" to "2,520 365-day years" and somehow got them to start on a date that isn't even the right date for what that date is supposed to represent. 

There was a time when Watchtower articles printed suggestions about extrapolating dates from adding up and dividing the ages of animals that Abraham once sacrificed. I think this makes it easier to understand how men like William Miller, and Nelson Barbour, convinced thousands to pay attention to 1843, 1844, 1873, 1874, 1878, 1881, etc.

 

 

 

[Evacuated]

Fascinating stuff @JW Insider. But you don't mention Dr Ivan Panin?...

[Queen Esther]

Apart  from  the  calculate  about  Noah's  times....

The  next  Supermoon  is  indeed  in  *2034*

Its  only  16 years......

The Moon’s orbit is far from circular and its distance at closest approach to Earth, termed perigee, varies each lunar month. Tonight sees the nearest perigee of 2018 and there won’t be one closer until 25 November 2034.

This will only be surpassed by the 356,447-kilometre (221,486-mile) perigee of 6 December 2052 — the closest of the century. Tonight he full Moon will be almost 8 percent larger than average on this occasion, it is commonly called a supermoon.

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

42

[Matthew9969]

Slow down I'm still trying to wrap my head around Jesus being present but not arriving.

[Jesus.defender]

More date-fixing?

 

LOL

 

1889- In subsequent chapters we present proofs that the setting up of the Kingdom of God has already begun...And that the "battle of the great day of God almighty [revelation 16:14], which will end in A.D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of the earth's present rulership, is already commenced. [The 1915 edition of this book changed "A.D. 1914" to "A.D. 1915."] *from the book "The Time is at Hand; 1889

1899 "...the 'battle of the great day of God Almighty' (Revelation 16:14), which will end in A.D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership, is already commenced," (The Time Is at Hand, 1908 edition, p. 101).
 

 

[The Librarian]