The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1902-11-11
LIFE IN BIBLE DAYS.
Argument of Scientist to Show That
Men Died at the Age of One
Thousand Years.

Thousand Years,
In the scientific or quasi-scientifc
interpretations of the Old Testament,
attempts have been made to explain
away the repeated and definite state
ments as to the longevity of the first
generations of men-of Adam and his
descendants. Is it possible that men
actually lived thousand years in those
tlmes-in amazing contrast with the
present span of life, which, indeed, goes
back to the Psalmists era? "The. days
of our years are three score years and
ten" said the Psalmist, ''and if by rea-
son of strength they be four score
years, yet is their strength labor and
Eorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we
fly away" How is this to be recon-
ciled with the chronicles of the Bible?
asks the Chicago Tribune.
This and similar questions relating
to the longevity, physical conditions,
and environments of humanity in Bib
lical times are discussed in book just
published in Russia by a learned physi-
clans, A. a. Piasetski. The title of the
work is medicine According to the
Bible and the Talmud," and it is an at
tempt to prove the complete accuracy
of the statements of fact made in the
Old Testament in regard to early man
kind.
A full account and review of this
book appears in the Noyoye Vremya,
which praises the book as sound. rever-
ent, scholarly and ingenious. The ar
ticle is condensed by the Library Di-
gest in the following free translation:
Eight of the forefathers lived near
ly thousand years each. Adam lived
$50 years, Seth, 912, and so on until
Enoch, who lived only 365 years, and
of whom the Bible intimates that he
died prematurely. OF each of the 9TH
ers it is said: And he died. implying
perfectly natural cause, while of
Enoch it is said: and he was not, for
God took him. Lamech's days We're TIT
and Noah $50. When we reach Terah,
the change is striking; for his days
were only POS years, and there is no
intimation of any special cause of
death. Abraham, who died in good
old age, an old man, and full of years.
1lNcd dlloSetlieT 10 years.
"How is this decline in longevity to
be explained? The skeptics hold that
in the antedeluvian period our month
was called a year, and that, therefore,
the average length of life was so years.
But the Bible distinctly recognizes a
monthly and an annual period of time,
and the theory in question is purely
arbitrary fanc;ful
"There is no reason for doubling
the literal accuracy of the Bibles reck-
oning. The conditions of ant ediluvian
humanity were such as to permit the
length of individual life alleged'in the
Bible. There were, we know, giants in
those days. The animals, too, were of
stupendous and colossal proportions,
strata fully attest. We must apply
different measures and different cri.
terra to the beings of that era.
"1f the men were giants. their organ
ishs were naturally stronger and their
health infinitely better. 1t could not
we'll be otherwise. The climate of
Mesopotamia Che cradle of the human
race), is even now mild, warm, benefi-
cent, and favorab bic to longevity. Then
it was much more so. And men led diff
ferent lives. They lived under the
smiling sky, needed no buildings to
shelter them and undermine their Vi
tality; there was food in abundance
on every hand, to be had practically
without eXertion. The trees We're
laden with fruit, the rivers teemed with
fish, and the meat of one animal suf-
feed for weeks.
again, the use of fermented liqui.is
was totally unknown; the grape was
not among the fruits eaten by early
mankind, and consequently alcoholism
with all its evils was absent. Marital
life was the natural condition. and ap-
parently offspring were equally divided
between males and females, so that
neither sex had a preponderance. There
was no vice, no violation of natural
law
"To all this must be added the en-
tire freedom from the diseases due to
congestion and the sundry other evils
of dense population. There was no
rivalry, no anxiety, no struggle for
life, and no tax upon the nervous sys-
TEN. Death could come only from vio-
lence or old age.
sin short, in 5000 years the average
of human life fell from upward of 900
to 260 years, and as result of natural
causes."t