Chapters one and two of Genesis detail God created the world, including humanity. Adam and Eve were the first humans, and every other human being descended from them. Genesis 2:7 tells us that God created Adam from dust and breathed His life into him. In Genesis 2:22, we learn that God made Eve from Adam’s rib. Adam, Eve, and all humans walking the earth were created in God’s image. So how old were Adam and Eve when they died? Let’s go through Adam and Eve’s life in the Garden of Eden and learn more about them.
The Garden of Eden.
In Genesis 2:8, the Bible says that God planted a garden and put Adam there to care for it. Despite the beauty of God’s new world, one thing was missing. God didn’t think that man should live alone, so He made a helper to make life easier, detailed explicitly in Genesis 2:18. God created Eve and brought her to Adam. They started their life in paradise until they sinned and were cast out.
Based on biblical evidence, we can understand that Adam and Eve’s life in the Garden of Eden was short. The couple didn’t have their first child until after their banishment from the garden. Romans 5:12 says that sin came into the world through one man, so Adam was childless when he decided to sin. Any child born before Adam sinned wouldn’t have inherited his sinful nature. We can’t assume that man and woman abstained from sexual intimacy in the garden, but we know that Eve didn’t have her first child before their sin. It appears that the serpent tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit, and the couple was exiled from the garden early.
Adam and Eve’s sin.
Adam and Eve decided the Lord wouldn’t be their Lord in this situation of their sin. They wanted to be their gods and choose what was right for them. Ever since their sin, the world has been reaping the consequences. God gave them everything they needed to enjoy life and thrive, but they disobeyed God and lost their life in paradise. Adam and Eve understood they were naked and felt ashamed immediately after sinning, as detailed in Genesis 2:25 and 3:7.
They covered themselves with fig leaves. Still, Genesis 3:21 says God gave them garments of skin, showing that sin leads to death and that there would be no forgiveness without bloodshed. God’s action foreshadowed the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, whose blood ultimately covered the sins of those who put their faith in Him. Also, in Genesis 3:15, God promised a Savior in the garden, one who would crush the serpent. That Savior was Jesus Christ.
After their sin, God drove Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, placing an angel with a sword to guard it so they wouldn’t try to return. Still, God never forsook them after their sin. He had a plan for redemption even before the world existed. The world persists in sin, ruined by its consequences. However, the sins of those who believe in Jesus have been forgiven. There’s new life, and it will live with God for eternity. When the time comes, God will create a new earth and heavens. Though the Tree of Life was lost to Adam and Eve, it will be available to those who are part of God’s new creation.
How old were Adam and Eve when they died?
Genesis 5:5 tells us that Adam was 930 years old when he died. However, it has no information about Eve’s age when she died. However, it does tell us that Adam’s children and grandchildren also had long life spans. The ten patriarchs born before the Great Flood lived an average of 900 years during Noah’s lifetime, not counting Enoch. Genesis 5:9 tells us that Seth, Adam’s son, lived to be 912 years old. Noah’s father, Lamech, died young at 777 years old. Noah’s grandfather, Methuselah, lived the longest, dying at 969 years old, according to Genesis 5:27. If Adam lived a century longer, he would’ve been alive for Noah’s birth.
The human lifespan started to shrink significantly after the flood. From Noah’s son Shem to Peleg, the post-flood patriarchs lived to about 435 years old. Humans were living less than 200 years by Abraham’s time. The average person lived to be about 70 or 80 years old in Moses’ days, though he died at 120. Psalm 90:10 says, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty.”
Why did generations before the flood live so long?
Adam and Eve were created without sin, so, in that state of perfection, they were supposed to live in paradise on earth forever. After the introduction of sin and the fall of man, death started to use its disparaging influence on all of humanity, as stated in Romans 5:12. With the deterioration process in its infant stages, there would be fewer genetic defects and illnesses affecting the young race. It would take time for diseases and corruption to increase and spread throughout the earth. These factors could account for the prolonged ancient life spans.
The Bible doesn’t say, but it makes sense that longevity at the beginning of the human race would allow humans to accumulate knowledge and make cultural advances. Simultaneously, God commanded Adam and Eve to fill the earth by being fruitful and multiplying. Longevity appears to be God’s way of starting civilization’s growth since it would take centuries of multiplying to fill the earth with people who only lived mere decades.
The effect of death and disease would have shortened the human life span as sin continued to work through generations. In tandem, the fall of man and curse would’ve produced worsening influences on the earth and every creature. Adam and Eve were the beginning of humanity. They were both created in God’s image but fell short due to sin. Though the Bible tells us that Adam was 930 years old when he died, it doesn’t give the same information on Eve’s age at her death.
