Judy L. Anthony emailed me with the following:
| I read an article of yours "#X113, God's limits on man's years" at a site called "The Y-files". 2 Chronicles 24:15 states "But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; a hundred and thirty years old when he died". This is at least one man listed in the Bible as having lived after Jacob and yet also living longer than 120 years. |
My response back to Judy:
|
I wrote the paper a few weeks ago and I did not realize this. I will look into it and make the correction, but usually these little things become new papers so I will investigate before I post.
Thanks for the clue Sincerely,
|
A simple answer could be; "Yes, Jehoiada lived 130 years, but if you found someone who lived 200 or 450 years old, I would be impressed."
However, as in most cases there is more here then first meets the eye.
A little background on Jehoiada is required to understand the solution to the problem.
In 2 Chronicles 22 we find thee following details:
Athaliah was the mother of the Ahaziah. Ahaziah was king for one year before he was killed. Athaliah seeing that her son was dead, destroyed all the royal heirs. But Johoshabeath, the daughter of the king (Jehoram), took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were being murdered. She hid him with her husband Jehoiada the priest in the house of God for six years while Athaliah reigned over the land.
Jehoiada risked his life to hide the rightful heir (to the king's throne) in the temple.
2 Chronicles 23
In the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself and made a covenant with the captains of hundreds...
Jehoiada (a priest) gathers the temple guards, the Levites and the chief fathers of Israel. They all gather at the temple and fortify the temple and create a bodyguard for the rightful king, who is Joash. Armed with weapons from King David that were in the temple and special orders from Jehoiada they further fortified the temple. Jehoiada brought out the king's son, put a crown on him gave him the Testimony and made him king. Then Jehoiada and his sons anointed Joash.
Athaliah hearing the cheers from the temple came to see that Joash was alive and crowned a king. Athaliah tried to charge them with treason. But the temple guard were set over the army and remained in control. They seized Athaliah under orders from Jehoiada. Jehoiada gives the command to take Athaliah outside the temple and kill her.
At this point in the history of Judah, the people had slipped so far from God that Baal was worshipped in Jerusalem.
Then Jehoiada makes a covenant between the people, the king and himself that they should be the Lord's people. He restores the worship of God in Judah.
2 Chronicles 24:2
Joash did what right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
Both Joash and Jehoiada worked on restoring the temple. When the temple was restored they took the money left over and made from it articles for the temple.
The death of Jehoiada
2 Chronicles 24:15-16
But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old when he died.
And they buried him in the City of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and His house.
The fall of Joash
Immediately after the death of Jehoiada, Joash turns to idol worship. God sends a wrath against Judah and Jerusalem and sends prophets. But the people would not listen to the prophets. So God sends Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, to the people to bring them back to God. Joash gave the command to stone Zechariah with stones from the temple.
Then Syria invaded and during the invasion wounds Joash. When the Syrian army withdrew, Joash's own servants conspired against him because of Zechariah's death and killed Joash in his bed.
2 Chronicles 24:25
...And they buried him in the City of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.
| Queen Athaliah came within one baby of wiping out the royal line descending from King David. The prophets predicted that Jesus the Messiah would come from David's line, so in a sense the entire future of God's plan rested with the family's success in hiding Joash and returning him to the throne.
|
Jehoiada (a priest) saves Joash as a child, hides him, crowns him the rightful king and raises him as his own son. They both serve the Lord until Jehoiada dies. They bury Jehoiada with the kings.
Joash (the king), after Jehoiada death, turns on God and Jehoiada's own son, Zechariah. When Joash dies they bury this king in Jerusalem, but away from the tombs of the kings where Jehoiada is also buried.
Jehoiada was an exception to the rule.
130 years old?
But let's look at his age - 130 years. In the paper #X113, I point out the verse from Genesis 6:3 And the Lord said, "My Spirit will not strive (abide) with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." (Genesis 6:3) NKJV
When we review the age limit on men after this time we see it drop until it reaches Moses at 120 years.
My following statements from #X113are incorrect:
| "It is interesting to see that the last recorded person to live beyond 120 years was Jacob (otherwise known as Israel). Jacob was the father of Israel"
"You will not find another person in the Bible from this point on that exceeds 120 years." |
While reviewing the story of Jehoiada, I wondered why God would allow this man to live to 130 years, 10 years beyond the 120 year limit?
Going back to the 360 day per year rule.
For background on the 360 day per year see: #X94 also see: #X112
Let's calculate how long Jehoiada lived if they were using a 360-day per year rule
130 years x 360 days per year = 46,800 days
Now how long would this be if we calculated our actual year, which is 365.25 days per year?
46,800 divided by 365.25 = 128.13 years
We are told in both 2 Chronicles 23 and 2 Kings 4 that Jehoiada waited until the seventh year before attempting the coup.
The middle of the seventh year would not be 7.5 years, it would be 6.5 years. Just as the 1st year of your life your age is not given as 1.
2 Chronicles 22:12 - 23:1
And he was hidden with them in the house of God for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
In the seventh year Jehoiada...
Joash was hidden for six complete years in the seventh year he became king.
We know that this cannot be considered exactly 7 years because we find in 2 Chronicles 24:1 that Joash (also known as Jehoash in 2 Kings 11:21 and 2 Kings 12) was seven years old when he became king. For us to consider exactly 7 years, Joash would have to have been hidden from the day of his birth.
Let us assume that "In the seventh year" was 6 years and 6 months (=6.5 years) that Jehoiada waited.
6.5 years x 360 days per year = 2,340 days
46,800 days - 2,340 days = 44,460 days
44,460 divided by 360 days per year = 123.5 years
But if we use the 365.25 days per year we find:
44,460 divided by 365.25 = 121.72 years.
However, when we read the original Hebrew of 2 Chronicles 24:15, we find the Jehoiada was in his 130th year when he died. He was not 130 years old but somewhere between 129 years old and 1 day less 130.
If we recalculate with this information:
129 years x 360 days = 46,440 days
46,440 days - 2,340 days (6.5 years of 360 days per year) = 44,100 days
44,100 days divided by 360 days per year = 122.5 years
129 years (360 days per year) - 6.5 years (360 days per year) = 122.5 years (360 days per year)
44,100 days divided by 365.25 days per year = 120.74 years
|
122.5 years (360 days per year) = 120.74 years (365.25 days per year) |
Did God place our life span limit at 120 years of 365.25 days?
Did God also add extra years to Jehoiada's life above and beyond the 120-year rule that equaled the time he hid Joash in the temple?
Would God add years to a life? Just read Isaiah 38:5
We already see that the burial place of Jehoiada was an exception to the rule. It appears that his long life span was also an exception to the rule.
My research on this subject has now led to some very interesting discoveries on the 360 day per year calendar. But these can wait for the next paper #X116.
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