Antediluvians
The people who lived before the Flood are commonly called “antediluvians.” The word is a combination of the Latin prefix “ante,” which means “before” and the Latin word “diluvium,” which means “flood.” So, what were the antediluvians like?
They lived a long time. The average lifespan of Noah’s antediluvian ancestors, as listed in Genesis 5, was 907 years. (That average does not include Enoch, who was translated at the very “young” age of 365. That age is the equivalent of being about 30 in terms of today’s lifespan.)
Since the antediluvians lived such a long time, they were probably extremely accomplished people. In fact, as we noted in the previous article, the worldly achievements of the House of Cain are a point of emphasis in the Bible’s record of their lives. Consider what is written about Lamech’s son, Jubal, for example: “His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe” (Gen4:21, ESV). Notice how Jubal’s accomplishments are highlighted in this verse.
Imagine what a person could achieve with the number of years that the antediluvians were given. A person can become pretty good at playing an instrument if she devotes five or six years to it. But what if she had 900+ years? Today a person can become a medical doctor with around ten years of training. But what if that amount of time was just over one percent of his life? He would still have time for many additional pursuits and to learn so many more things. So, the antediluvians were probably very sophisticated as far as the wisdom of this world is concerned. Of course, for time devoted to an activity to have eternal value, it needs to be spent in service to God.
Population of Antediluvians
Another aspect of the antediluvians was that there were a lot of them. I used a population formula derived by a researcher named Henry Morris and estimated that there were around 610 million people living at the time of the Flood. (See Appendix.) In order to arrive at that figure, I had to guess the average number of children that an antediluvian family had. I assumed that they had an average of 10, but there is a whole range of numbers that is plausible. The Bible gives us only limited insight into the size of antediluvian families. The most information comes from the structure of the “generations of Adam” in Genesis 5. For each generation, the father is named, his firstborn son is given, and then the record states that he “begat sons and daughters.” (See Genesis 5:7, for example.) That implies that each family had a minimum of five children (i.e., the firstborn son, two more sons, and two daughters).
Alfred Rehwinkel, who has written a number of books on the Flood, relied on a completely different approach than the one that I used to estimate the pre-Flood population, and he arrived at a figure of 900 million.1The 18th century mathematician, William Whiston, estimated that there were 500 million people alive at the time of the Flood.2
Of course, it is not necessary for us to know the exact population of the world before the Flood. But it is very satisfying that a realistic estimate can be derived from looking at the information the Bible provides. The Bible is not a scientific textbook. But when it is examined logically, its narrative of events will be shown to be sound. Thus, it is worth noting that the pre-Flood population was probably considerable. It is certainly reasonable to believe that it was two to three times the current population of the United States. Yet almost all of those people with all of that time and all of those talents did not use them as God had intended. Peter refers to the time before the Flood when the antediluvians lived as “the world of the ungodly” (2Pet 2: 5).
Warnings
Most of the antediluvians had banished God from their thoughts. But God continued to exist despite the antediluvians best efforts to ignore Him. And their indifference towards His commandments did not negate them or excuse them from having to keep them. The same is true today. So, it is of the utmost importance that we keep society’s increasing lack of regard for God’s way from influencing our thinking and behavior.
God sent warnings to the antediluvians to urge them to change their ways. The first ones that are recorded came from Enoch and were given nearly 1,000 years before the Flood. The next warning is recorded in Genesis. It was given in response to the people of God choosing marriage partners based on physical appearance alone instead of a common commitment to the things of God: “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years” (Gen 6:3).
There is some debate about the meaning of this passage. It has been suggested that God was stating his intention to limit the human lifespan to 120 years. However, that interpretation is not entirely supported by the text, and it is not in harmony with the record of subsequent events in the Bible. The descendants of Shem, who was one of Noah’s three sons, are listed in Genesis 11. They lived an average of 330 years. So, the human lifespan continued to be longer than 120 years after this prophecy was given.
What else could the passage mean? Let’s consider its different components. There is pretty strong agreement that the Hebrew word translated “strive” in the King James Version is better rendered “abide in.” That is how it is translated in the English Standard Version and the Revised Standard Version. That rendering is also supported by the Greek-language version of the passage in the Septuagint, which gives it as “My Spirit shall certainly not remain among these men for ever, because they are flesh.” So, God said that His spirit would not remain among the antediluvians for ever. But what does that mean? Elihu characterizes death as the withdrawal of God’s spirit: “If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust” (Job 34:14-15). So, God was expressing His intention to take away life (i.e., withdrew His spirit) from those who would not use it to give glory to Him.
The second half of the verse was a warning about the timing of this punishment that was coming to those who would not repent. William Tyndale translated it as “Nevertheless I will give them yet space, an hundred and twenty years.” Enoch had given the fairly general prophecy that when his son, Methuselah, died, judgment would come. But the wickedness of man had increased, so God provided more specifics to convey a greater sense of urgency. He told people that they had 120 years to repent. Then disaster would strike those who refused.
Genesis 6: 3 is a powerful illustration of the character of God and His plan and purpose for His Creation. He shows incredible mercy towards us by giving us repeated opportunities to turn from the foolish thinking of our flesh. Yet He is unwavering in His requirements that we serve Him and obey His commandments. And if we refuse to submit to Him, we will perish.
If the message of Genesis 6: 3 had an impact, it did not last for long. Most people continued on with their lives and kept their focus on accomplishing their goals and enjoying themselves. And God was saddened by what was occurring: “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart” (Gen 6:6). The Hebrew word nacham, which is translated “repented” in the King James Version, has a whole range of meanings. One of them is “to be sorry” or “to regret.” The English Standard Version renders the passage as “And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth.” The verse continues by saying that man’s behavior grieved God “at his heart.”
We are told repeatedly that God feels strongly about us. We are assured that He knows us:
“Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7, NKJV).
And it is extremely moving to note that the Creator of the heavens and the earth responds with great feeling to our service to Him. God and the angels rejoice over the repentance of a sinner: “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10).And the joy that God will experience at the salvation of His people is expressed in terms of what is probably the most powerful emotion that a person is capable of experiencing. That is the feeling that a young man has on the day that he marries the person that he loves: “For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee” (Isa 62:5). God will share this joy with us if we are among His faithful followers: “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zeph 3:17, ESV).
But just as God feels great joy when we choose to obey Him, He is also greatly saddened by our acts of disobedience. Therefore, we are urged not to “grieve” Him by the things that we do or say:
“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph 4:29-32).
Most of the antediluvians had no regard for God’s feelings. And what could have been a wonderful world was being wasted from God’s perspective. So, He stated His intent to undo Creation, as it were: “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them” (Gen 6:7).
Noah, however, gave heed to God’s words. And in the next article, we will consider why it was written that “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Gen 6: 8).
Appendix
The population of the world before the Flood can be estimated using the following formula derived by Henry Morris:3
where Pn is the population in generation n, n is the number of generations that have occurred, x is the number of generations alive, and C is half the number of children in the family.4
Noah was the tenth generation from Adam. He had children that were old enough to have children. Include another generation since Noah was unusually old when he began to have children. Assume, therefore, that n is 13. Further, Assume x is 6 (i.e., Noah and three generations following; Methuselah and Lamech). Assume 10 children per family. Therefore, C equals 5. This yields a population of 610,351,563.
- Alfred Rehwinkel. The Flood: In the Light of the Bible, Geology, and Archaeology, (Concordia, 1957).
- William Whiston. A New Theory of the Earth, From its Original, to the Consummation of All Things, Where the Creation of the World in Six Days, the Universal Deluge, And the General Conflagration, As laid down in the Holy Scriptures, Are Shewn to be perfectly agreeable to Reason and Philosophy, (London: Benjamin Tooke, 1696).
- Henry Morris. The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Appendix 6, (Baker Book House; Grand Rapids, 1984).
- For more information on this formula, see http://www.ldolphin.org/popul.html. Accessed November 14, 2010.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One