Moses Really Did Live 120 Years
The biblical patriarchs lived hundreds of years until after the Genesis Flood, but this is rejected by those who disrespect the Bible,. Even afterward, there were some who had impressive ages. These include Abraham at 175, Isaac was 180, etc.
When watching movies like the silent 1923 or the 1956 The Ten Commandments, Moses was not exactly a spring chicken. They were not far off in that detail. He was around eighty, and afterward led cursed Israel for the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Moses died at age 120, but he was not decrepit (Deut. 34:7).
Moses and the Ten Commandments, James Tissot |
In recent years, it has become popular for many evangelical scholars to argue that the long lifespans of the patriarchs in Genesis do not refer to actual ages but are intended to be taken symbolically or as honorific numbers. It is not only the lifespan of the patriarchs that evangelical scholars are questioning but also Moses’s lifespan. Distinguished Egyptologist James Hoffmeier, who holds to a thirteenth-century date for the exodus (c. 1270–1240 BC), believes two factors, anthropological reports from burial sites in Egypt and certain details in the Exodus narrative, work against Moses living for 120 years (see below).This article will show why the chronological details in the book of Exodus (and the rest of Scripture) show that the 120-year lifespan of Moses is the only interpretation consistent with Scripture.
The rest of this article is located at "Did Moses Really Live 120 Years?" By the way, Joshua succeeded Moses and he lived 110 years (Joshua 24:19). Caleb was a scrapper when he was up in years as well.