This is a very interesting question; particularly, when we think of the ages of some of the patriarchs, and we look at the ages of people at other times during the last 6,000 years. We want to briefly explore the question of life-spans and why King David only lived to the age of 70 when he was considered to be very old, which is not very old by today’s standards.
From the Bible, many people will know that Methuselah was the oldest man who ever lived – he was 969 years old when he died (Genesis 5:27), Jared was 962 (Genesis 5:20) and Noah 950 years old (Genesis 9:29). The next oldest were:
Adam – 930 (Genesis 5:5)
Seth – 912 (Genesis 5:6-7)
Canaan- 910 (Genesis 5:14
Enosh – (not to be confused with Enoch) 905 (Genesis 5:11)
Mahalalel 895 (Genesis 5:17)
Lamech 777 (Genesis 5:31)
Enoch 365 (Genesis 5:23)
These were all before the Flood around the year 1,656, but after the new beginning with Noah and his family, ages came down dramatically. Some have proposed that in Genesis 6:3, God reduced the life-span of man to 120 years. However, God’s reference to 120 years in Genesis 6:3 has nothing to do with the average life-span of man; rather, it is God’s expression that He would bring the Flood in about 120 years which would destroy all life. Noah was about 600 years old when the Flood came, and he lived many hundreds of years after the Flood along with Shem, Ham and Japheth. Even several generations later, men like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived much longer than just 120 years.
There are many theories as to why this should be the case but the Bible doesn’t specifically give us the full explanation. What we can say is that in Genesis 1:31 we read: “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Man would be formed in, and live in, a perfect world, whereas later man would soon go the wrong way.
One commentator wrote this:
“The most straightforward explanation may be that as time has ticked on since the Flood, disease and other dangers of this world have simply taken their toll on us. Today, mutations of diseases mean that we have more things trying to kill us now than we did a decade ago. Decay and entropy have likewise broken things down more and more as the centuries go by… with the new world breeding various new diseases and other natural problems that took their toll on Moses and his descendants. A comparison would be how the quality of life in first-world countries dramatically affects lifespans compared to those in third-world countries. In this case, we may consider the living conditions before and after the Flood as so different that lifespans were naturally shortened.”
Others try to explain the shortened life-span of man after the Flood with the disappearance of a water canopy. It is suggested that the pre-Flood Earth was surrounded by a dense layer of water vapor or ice. The canopy was believed to have trapped heat uniformly, producing a mild, tropical climate worldwide, and shielding the Earth from harmful cosmic radiation. When the “windows of heaven” opened, the canopy condensed and collapsed, providing 40 days of rain.
We say the following in our free booklet, “The Theory of Evolution, A Fairy Tale for Adults?”
“… many theologians and scientists state that a vapor canopy once surrounded the earth. Theologians refer to Genesis 7:11 where it says that the ‘windows of heaven were opened.’ They feel this is probably a reference to the pre-flood vapor canopy. Another reference to this canopy can be seen in Genesis 1:6-7, where we read that God made a firmament and divided the waters under the firmament from the waters above the firmament, giving reference to a water vapor canopy. This canopy, scientists explain, would have created a greenhouse effect. This seems to be confirmed in Genesis 2:5 where we are told that the antediluvian world was watered by dew or mist, not by rain. This dew would have been dependent upon humidity, saturation, temperature, dew point and condensation—all made possible through the water vapor canopy.”
That could be an explanation for the shortening of the life-span of man after the Flood, or part of it, but we simply don’t have the direct answer from the Word of God.
Later we see that Abraham died at age 175 (Genesis 25:7) and his wife Sarah lived 127 years (Genesis 23:1). Their son Isaac lived to age 180 (Genesis 35:28) and Jacob (Israel) lived to be 147 (Genesis 47:28), all long life-spans compared to today but many hundreds of years less than those quoted at the beginning of this Q&A.
Moses wrote the following words in Psalm 90:10: “The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
That would have been true at the time of Moses; it was not necessarily true for the centuries before or since then, nor would it have to be true for us today or for future generations to come.
King David was probably the oldest king except for King Saul who was 70 or 72 when he died. In 1 Chronicles 29:26-28 we read:
“Thus David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. And the period that he reigned over Israel was forty years; seven years he reigned in Hebron, and thirty-three years he reigned in Jerusalem. So he died in a good old age, full of days and riches and honor; and Solomon his son reigned in his place.”
We learn this from 2 Samuel 5:4: “David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.” And so that would mean that he was 70 when he died.
It is interesting what many Bible Commentaries say about 1 Kings 1:1 which reads: “Now King David was old, advanced in years; and they put covers on him, but he could not get warm.” The margin of some of the New King James Bibles explains that “advanced in years” means “seventy years.” The Authorized Version states that he was “stricken in years.”
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers points out:
“Stricken in years—about seventy years old. Since ‘clothes’ mean ‘bed-clothes,’ the meaning is that the King was now too feeble to rise from his bed. His life began its responsibilities early; it had been hard and trying; and, as the history shows, not wholly free from self-indulgence. Hence, at no excessive age, its complete decrepitude.”
The Benson Commentary states:
“They covered him with clothes, but he got no heat — Which is not strange, considering he was a person who had been exercised with so many hardships in war, and with such tormenting cares, and fears, and sorrows for his own sins, (as divers of his psalms witness,) and for the sins and miseries of his children and people. Besides, this might be from the nature of his bodily distemper, which Dr. Lightfoot thinks was a dead palsy. (David now began to feel the effects of old age…).”
Barnes Notes on the Bible explains:
“…..the Jews at this time were not long-lived. No Jewish monarch after David, excepting Solomon and Manasseh, exceeded sixty years… The king was evidently bed-ridden (1 Kings 1:47).”
In passing, some disagree with the view that no Jewish monarch exceeded 60 years except for Solomon and Manasseh, as they say that Uzziah was 68 when he died. Nevertheless, the ages of kings were not long-lived.
The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary states:
“Now king David was old—He was in the seventieth year of his age (2 Samuel 5:4, 5). But the wear and tear of a military life, bodily fatigue, and mental care, had prematurely, if we may say it, exhausted the energies of David’s strong constitution (1 Samuel 16:12). In modern Palestine and Egypt the people, owing to the heat of the climate, sleep each in a ‘separate’ bed. They only depart from this practice for medical reasons (Ecclesiastes 4:11).”
We want to clarify that we do not necessarily agree with that assessment and especially with the quote of Ecclesiastes 4:11 as proof for sleeping in separate beds.
Gill’s Exposition of the Whole Bible points out:
“…there are many persons at the age he was, that are lively, healthful, and robust, comparatively speaking at least; but David’s strength was impaired, and his natural force abated by his many wars, fatigues by night and day in campaigns, and the many sorrows and afflictions he met with from his family and his friends, as well as enemies; which exhausted his natural moisture, weakened his nerves, and drank up his spirits, and brought upon him the infirmities of a decrepit old age very soon.”
The Pulpit Commentary states in general:
“David’s early hardships and later sorrows and anxieties appear to have aged him prematurely. Possibly he was also afflicted with disease.”
A number of other Bible Commentaries come to pretty much the same conclusions as stated in those already quoted and seem to feel that David’s lifestyle, toils, and hardships contributed to him being feeble, aged and very old. Even though he was “only” 70, he was considered very old in the Bible, based on his condition. In addition, when noting the following explanation, aged 70 could already be described as very old in general terms for people living at the time of David.
On the website “Longevity in the Ancient World,” we read:
“There is little firm information about the collective lives of those who lived in the first centuries BC and the first centuries AD, but the conjecture is that the average life span was about 35 years. The 35-40 average life span of people in the Western world held true through the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance until the 19th and 20th centuries when modern medicine and its life-preserving discoveries began in earnest. For thousands of years, life was uncertain but it was pretty certain the normal person would not live past 40 years. Ambitious or talented young men, or young men like Herod the Great’s 19-year-old son Archelaus who inherited kingdoms, were forced to grow up quickly because by age 20 their life was already half over. Alexander the Great in the 3rd century BC reigned over his father’s kingdom and commanded the army that would conquer the known world when he was 20. Charlemagne ruled most of western Europe in the 700’s AD when he was 26. Genghis Khan in the 1100’s began building the army that would conquer Asia when he was 20. Chaucer the Father of English Literature wrote his first major work, the Book Of Duchess, in the 14th century when he was 25. Shakespeare wrote his first play when he was 26 in 1590…”
As an example of how life spans have increased in more modern times, we quote from the UK Office for National Statistics:
“In 1841 the average newborn girl was not expected to see her 43rd birthday. Thankfully times have changed and so have life expectancies in the 170 years since the first lifetable was constructed. The information contained in the Decennial Life Tables release, produced every 10 years, provides a fascinating insight into those changes, spanning three centuries. In 2011 life expectancy at birth is almost double what it was in 1841.”
And so, when we think about King David being very old at age 70, we may view this through the optics of what we see in life expectancy today or in previous times, and may also have in mind some of the extraordinary longevity of Old Testament examples at the dawn of civilisation and after the Flood. How things have changed over the centuries!
And they might still change once again. We are told that Christ will rule mankind on earth for 1,000 years, during the Millennium. We do not know what age the people will reach then… how long they will live in the flesh. It is POSSIBLE that some, if not most, will live for close to 1,000 years to qualify before being changed into immortal Spirit beings. We know that people will live for 100 years in the flesh during the Great White Throne Judgment period.
On June 12, 2013, the BBC website reported that “A Japanese man recognised as the world’s oldest living person, and the oldest man recorded in history, has died aged 116, local officials say. Jiroemon Kimura died of natural causes on Wednesday in a hospital in Kyotango, Kyoto, a government statement said. In December, Guinness World Records recorded Mr Kimura as the oldest man ever verified to have lived.”
Of course, they are not taking into account biblical examples and the Guinness Book of Records has only been in operation since 1955. We are now more informed about how to prolong our lives through information about health, hygiene, better food supply, nutrition and exercise. Although this Q&A was about King David and his age, we finish by showing just a few examples as to how different it is today.
In the Countries ranked by life expectancy (2025), we see the following results with the numbers showing the ranking average ages for 201 countries [compare https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/]:
1. Hong Kong 85.77
5. Switzerland 84.23
6. Australia 84.21
19. Canada 82.88
20. Israel 82.77
29. Austria 82.29
36. Germany 81.71
37. UK 81.60
48. USA 79.61
201. Nigeria 54.78
As a footnote to the life of David during his seventy years, we quote from gotquestions:
“God blessed King David with a long and prosperous life. He survived a battle with a giant, multiple attempts by King Saul to murder him, various wars, and a coup led by one of his own sons. In the end, he died of old age. Scripture leaves no doubt that David was of sound mind when he died. Knowing his death was imminent, David was able to give support and guidance to his heir and successor. Despite his many faults, David was admired and respected as a hero by the people of Israel. His dedication to God, loyalty in the face of ill-treatment, courage in war, benevolence in conquest, and faithfulness in friendship were so extraordinary that he would forever be viewed as an ideal king and a man after God’s own heart.”
We might add: David sinned, but his repentance was genuine and sincere. His heart was right, and so he WAS a man after God’s own heart.
Lead Writers: Brian Gale (United Kingdom) and Norbert Link