Debunking the Myth of a 70 or 80 Year Lifespan

The Bible says we should expect to live about 70 or 80 years.

This is a commonly held belief because it’s been propagated from pulpits for a while. However, I want to explain to you why I think this needs to be debunked.

Of course, the bible does say something about 70 or 80 years in Psalm 90. The question is, however: To whom is it referring?

But before we get to the verse, I want you to consider a few things regarding life span.

The actuary tables (statistics used by life insurance companies) tell us that people in the United States have a life expectancy of 70 to 80 years (depending on gender). National Vital Statistic Reports confirm the fact that in the year 2000, life expectancy for men was 75 and 80 for women. It is this observation that leads some people to consider themselves “over the hill” at age 40. Halfway home, they say.

Many people have read Psalm 90 and concluded that it supports what we see around us: we should only expect to live 70 or 80 years. But one hundred years ago, 70 or 80 would have sounded absolutely crazy! That’s because those same vital statistics reports tell us that life expectancy was only 47 and 49 in the year 1900! So, the “fact” that current rates line up with this idea of living 70 or 80 years according to the Bible IS SHEER COINCIDENCE! In other words, it only “works” in current times and in modernized countries.

May I suggest to you that even though the majority of people may die at 70-80 years, you don’t have to? Because those numbers are compiled from statistics—which you are not necessarily subject to. Consider this,

[Psalms 91:7]  A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.

Now let’s do some math. 10,000 people die, but one (you) does not.  More accurately, we could say 11,000 if it’s 1,000 on one side and 10,000 on the other, but to keep the math simple, we’ll just use the 10,000 figure . So in this situation, what would your odds of dying be? Including you, we have a sample size of 10,001 total people where 10,000 out of 10,001 died.  So the odds of dying in this scenario are 10,000/10,001 which works out to be 0.9999. We call that a 99.99% death rate or chance of dying.

But know this: GOD’S PROMISES TRUMP STATISTICS! For those that believe, anyway.

Okay, let us now take a look at this (what I believe to be) misunderstood passage in the Bible:

[Psalms 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.

“See; I told you so”, they say. “The bible supports us.”

But does it? Go back and look at the top of Psalm 90. Who is the author of this Psalm? Did you expect to see David or Asaph? Who is the author of Psalm 90? It’s Moses! Now Moses lived to the ripe old age of 120 years! Hmmm, so what’s going on?

In Psalm 90, the author, Moses, talks about maybe making 80 years—and yet that is how old he was at the first meeting with Pharaoh!

[Exodus 7:7]  And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Something else to think about: Would Moses really say that the years of all men’s lives are about 70, maybe 80, years when his very own father, grandfather and great-grandfather FAR SURPASSED THAT? Did you know that Moses’ father Amram, grandfather Kohath, and great grandfather Levi—all 3 of them—lived past 130 years???

[Exodus 6:16-20]  These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven.  [17]  The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimi according to their families.  [18]  And the sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three.  [19]  The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations.  [20]  Now Amram took for himself Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven.

Recapping: Amram (Moses’ father) lived to be 137. Kohath (Moses’ grandfather) lived 133 years and Levi (Moses’great grandfather) also lived to be 137.

Furthermore, the two brothers, Aaron and Moses, both achieved 120 years plus.

[Numbers 33:39]  Aaron was one hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.

[Deuteronomy 34:7]  Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.

Although it is not stated specifically in the bible, it can be derived that Moses’ older sister Miriam was about 130 years old at death.

While we are here I want you to notice something. Not only did Moses die OLD, he died with FULL strength! He did not go out with a whimper. Neither must we. Many people upon hearing that we need not get sick (and I believe that is true), answer with “well, then, how will we die?” as if the only way to die is to become sick and lethargic. Moses is our example. Take your last breath, and tell God you will see Him on the other side. 

Now take a look what immediately preceded the 70 or 80 years described in Psalm 90:10

[Psalms 90:7-9]  For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified.  [8]  You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.  [9]  For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh.

Remember, it is Moses who is writing “we have been consumed by Your anger.” Now consider this…

[Numbers 14:33-35]  And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.  [34]  According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.  [35]  I the LORD have spoken this. I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.’ “

That rebellious generation was CONSUMED BY HIS ANGER just like Psalm 90:7 said. Speaking of the Israelites in the Exodus, Paul wrote this:

[1 Corinthians 10:5] But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

Because they did not believe God’s promise to go into Canaan and overtake it and falsely accused God of bringing them out there to die, God put a death sentence on them, and their lives were cut SHORT! Certainly, if they had not complained against God, the death sentence would not have been issued, and there age spans would have been much longer, and Psalm 90 would not have been written the way it was. Can you now see that seventy or eighty years should be considered a shortened life?

I believe Moses wrote Psalm 90 using the conditions of life in the wilderness as his backdrop. There, men’s lives were cut short for the sake of the children who were yet to go into the promised land. The curse was two-fold: You shall not go in and you have a maximum of 40 years left. Had God not limited their lifespans, the next generation could easily have ended up waiting another 40 years to get in, waiting for the last of the parental generation to die off!

[Num 14:29] The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.

The youngest to get the 40 year death sentence, being 20 years old, would have died no older than age 60.  It may be possible that the bulk of the population was somewhere between 30 to 40 when the judgment was pronounced and therefore, died in the range of 70 to 80 years given the 40 year “grace period.” But that assumes that everyone got to live out 40 years from where they were. We don’t know that. It’s just as likely that someone could have been 60 to start with and still died around the 70 to 80 years age. 

Now watch this.

Hopefully, you can see why I believe these verses in Psalm 90 apply to the generation coming out of Egypt—and them alone. But I want you to observe one more thing here:

[Psalms 90:7-9]  For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified.  [8]  You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.  [9]  For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh.

I’ve shown the passage from the book of Numbers that clearly indicates that the group Moses led was consumed in God’s anger. And remember, Moses is the author of this particular Psalm. But consider this, also: Would we say new covenant believers have been consumed by His anger, or that ALL our days have passed away in His wrath? Or would we say that He is still setting our iniquities before Him?

Absolutely not! After all, the book of Hebrews has this to say:

[Hebrews 8:6-12]  But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.  [7]  For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.  [8]  Because finding fault with them, He says: “BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH– [9]  NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; BECAUSE THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DISREGARDED THEM, SAYS THE LORD.  [10]  FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR MIND AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.  [11]  NONE OF THEM SHALL TEACH HIS NEIGHBOR, AND NONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ FOR ALL SHALL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST OF THEM TO THE GREATEST OF THEM.  [12]  FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.“

So if verses 7-9 (of Psalm 91) do not apply to us (and they don’t), then it shouldn’t be so hard to see that verse 10 (the seventy-eighty verse) does not either!

Once you realize that the 70 or 80 years was for a rebellious lot, you should get a better picture of just how merciful our God truly is. And you should also reconsider whether those ages apply to you.

Finally, after reading Psalm 90, study Psalm 91 and compare the two. One is full of despair, hopelessness and shortness of life living under God’s wrath. The very next one is about hope and long life living under God’s favor. Recognize the difference, and know this—the choice is yours!

[Psalms 91:14-16]  “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.  [15]  He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.  [16]  With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”

And don’t call 70 or 80 a long life. Moses, the author, certainly wouldn’t have!