Biblical References...
Genesis 5:32... Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 6:3... Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 
Genesis 6:10-14 ... Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.  God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.  Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.  Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.
Genesis 7:6... Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. 

Discussion thoughts... Genesis 6-3 is the only verse in the bible that talks about mans age limit is 120 years... but what exactly is the 120 years talking about... lets discuss the two options:

(Option 1... some scholars suggest that the 120 years is how long man could live)... At the time of the flood Noah was 600 years old; it would be logical to assume that other people alive at the time of the flood were also older that 120 years.  And after the flood the bible records numerous people who lived longer than 120 years (Sarah 127 years, Abraham 175 years, Jacob 147 years, Arphaxad 403 years, Shem 600 years, and others, and in 1997 a French lady reached the age of 122).  Conclusion is that the 120 years was not a timeline of how long "man" would live!  If it were a timeline... God would not have allowed the people listed to live longer than 120 years!

(Option 2... most scholars say that the 120 years was a warning of when the flood would happen)... It is known that Genesis is not always written chronologically, so the timeline becomes difficult to interpret... Genesis 5:32 tells us that Noah was 500 years old when he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth... Genesis 6:10-14 tells us that God told Noah to build the Ark after the birth of Shem, Ham, and Japheth... Genesis 7:6 tells us Noah was 600 years old when the flood started.  We can assume that Shem, Ham and Japheth were triplets.  The bible does not say... but again, we can assume the Shem, Ham and Japheth helped build the Ark.  Scholars estimate that it took 75 years to build the Ark (this is based mostly on the fact that they needed to be about 25 years old to help with construction on the Ark).  The flood occurred about 75 years after the Ark's construction was started!  Based on the timeline it appears God had decided the flood would be in 120 years but did not tell Noah to build the Ark until 45 years after his decision to create the flood!

My Beliefs... The conclusive answer is Option 2... the 120 years was a timeline that the flood would happen 120 years after God decreed that life would end... it appears that God waited 45 years to tell Noah to build the Ark.

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