The number of years reached or expected to be reached in a human life. The span of life is determined by God and may be divided into distinct phases, each with its own characteristics. The term may also refer to an era of history, particularly in contrasting the present age with the coming age to be inaugurated at Jesus Christ's return.
The span of life
In God's hands
Matthew 6:27 parallel Luke 12:25 See also 1 Samuel 2:6; Psalm 139:16; Ecclesiastes 8:8; James 4:14–15
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Longevity in the OT
Genesis 5:5 See also Genesis 5:27, Genesis 9:29GEN Genesis 6:3, Genesis 25:7, Genesis 47:28
So Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.
The present-day span of life
Psalm 90:10 See also 2 Samuel 5:4–5 David lives to be 70; 2 Samuel 19:34–35 Barzillai, aged 80, expects to die soon; Isaiah 23:15
The length of our days is seventy years — or eighty if we are strong — yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
Its apparent brevity
Psalm 39:4–6 See also Genesis 47:9; Job 7:6; Psalm 89:47, Psalm 90:3–6
“Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is. You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.
Long life is a blessing from God
Proverbs 10:27 See also Psalm 91:16; Proverbs 3:1–2
The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be cut short.
Phases of human life
Importance associated with age
Genesis 43:33; 1 Samuel 16:6–11; Luke 22:26
The age of discretion
John 9:21–23 See also Luke 2:42
But how he can now see or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already determined that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”
The age of maturity: 20 years
Leviticus 27:3 Adulthood reckoned from the age of 20; Numbers 26:2–4 See also Numbers 1:3, Numbers 1:45, Numbers 14:29, Numbers 32:11; Joshua 5:41CH Joshua 23:24; 2 Chronicles 31:17; Ezra 3:8
if the valuation concerns a male from twenty to sixty years of age, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel.
“Take a census of the whole congregation of Israel by the houses of their fathers — all those twenty years of age or older who can serve in the army of Israel.” So on the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, Moses and Eleazar the priest issued the instruction, “Take a census of the men twenty years of age or older, as the LORD has commanded Moses.” And these were the Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt:
Full maturity reckoned from the age of 30
Luke 3:23 See also Numbers 4:3 Levites assumed their duties at the age of 30; Numbers 8:24 From the ages of 25 to 30, Levites may have served an apprenticeship.
Jesus Himself was about thirty years old when He began His ministry. He was regarded as the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,
Old age
Leviticus 27:7 Numbers 4:47, Numbers 8:25–26
And if the person is sixty years of age or older, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels for the male and ten shekels for the female.
Mountains as symbols of age
Habakkuk 3:6 See also Genesis 49:26; Job 15:7; Psalm 90:2; Proverbs 8:25
He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains crumbled; the perpetual hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.
Ages of history
Before Jesus Christ was revealed
Ephesians 3:9 See also Romans 16:25–26; 1 Corinthians 10:11; Colossians 1:26; Hebrews 1:1–2
and to illuminate for everyone the stewardship of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
The present evil age
Galatians 1:4 See also 1 Corinthians 1:20, 1 Corinthians 2:6–8; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2; Titus 2:12
who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
The end of this age
Matthew 13:49 See also Matthew 13:39–40, Matthew 24:3, Matthew 24:10
So will it be at the end of the age: The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous
The age to come
Matthew 19:28–29 See also Mark 10:30 parallel Luke 18:30; Luke 20:34–36; Ephesians 2:7; 1 Timothy 6:19
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
Blessing in the present age
Hebrews 6:5 See also Matthew 28:20; Mark 1:15; Ephesians 1:21; Hebrews 9:26
who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age —
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.