Genesis 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Genesis records the lifespans of Adam, Seth, and Methusaleh as 930, 912, and 969 years, respectively.  But now Genesis 6:3 seems to be saying that God is reducing the centuries-long expected lifespan, enjoyed by men since the Creation, down to a more modest 120 years.

Actually, something different is happening.  Remember the context of this sixth chapter of Genesis--  Here God is:  1.) declaring displeasure with man;  and  2.) announcing plans to destroy man.

The message is not, God will cease striving with men after each one lives (an average of) 120 years .  Rather, God plans to call them all down to the grave together, after the expiration of 120 years... by means of a universal flood.

Tthe doom-after-120-years finds mention before any sign of God's displeasure with man.  Yet hidden in the very start of the chapter (v. 1,2) are seeds of man's drift into sin-- for it says, "the sons of God" (believers) inter-married with "the daughters of men" (unbelievers).

Years later, God warned in His law against the dangers of such behavior:

Exodus 34:12,16  Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: ... And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

The Bible itself tends to refute any  'lifespan shortened to 120 years '  interpretation of Genesis 6:3:

1.  Men continued to exerience centuries-long lifespans:  For instance, Noah himself lived to be 950 years at his death;  Shem, 600;  and Arphaxad, 438.

2.  Other than Moses, the Bible fails to record anyone's life ending at age 120.  And it was Moses himself who had his words quoted in Psalms, on this very topic:

Psalm 90 ("A Prayer of Moses the man of God") verse 10:  The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Even today we see the same:  under optimal conditions, men and women typically live to approximately 70 or 80 years.

Yet, notice the uncertainty alowed by this wording:  "threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years".  Compare this to the inescapable certainty of the flat declaration:  "his days shall be an hundred and twenty years"  (Genesis 6:3).

This then is the grim pronouncement of God:  120 years to destruction.

Was the 120-Year Timetable Made Known to Noah?

The 120-year timetable being established, there remains the question:  Did God convey this detail to Noah?  For this we consult what God said, and to whom.

In Genesis 6:3 God sets a limit to the years man had left to live.  Then in v. 7 He says:

Genesis 6:7  And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

Notice, Noah is not brought up until v. 10.  And God's declaration to Noah only begins at v. 13.

Included elements:

– the coming destruction of life
– command to build an ark
– ark specifications
– method of destruction = flood
– command to place animals, family, & food in the ark to survive

Whether Noah received details as to the timing of all this, is not apparently indicated here in Genesis 6.

Still, at a minimum, the maker of the ark would have known that the flood could not arrive while he was still diligently at work preparing it.  Accordingly, it could be said that Noah had no critical need to know in what year the Flood was planned.

As the ark slowly progressed in its unspoken testimony to all onlookers, Noah-- the project foreman-- could likely have gauged the time remaining for its completion to within a certain number of years.

Arguing Against Noah's Knowledge of the 120 Years

1.  God, in stating His pronouncement of Genesis 6:7 ("And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth"), could have been talking to himself, much as He did when about to destroy Sodom:

Gen 18:17,18  And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;  Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

2.  As already stated, it appears God's words disclosing His plans were spoken before Noah was included in the discussion, let alone the chapter.

3.  It may have been enough for Noah to busy himself with the construction of the ark, and with the preaching of righteousness, and leave the distant matter of the exact timing of the end to God.

There is precedent with God in the initial concealment of His timing:  God has withheld the timing of the end all throughout the church age, so believers could focus on the building of the church... which, interestingly, is typified as a ship in Acts 27.

Arguing For Noah's Knowledge of the 120 Years

1.  Noah, as a preacher of righteousness, and one close enough to God that "he walked with" Him, could understandably have been charged with knowledge of such an important detail.  Also, knowledge of the times would have allowed Noah to bring a more full counsel of God in the matter to his contemporaries.  An actual time warning would set him at a par with Jonah, whose warning to the Ninevites included a specific time element.

2.  Consider:

Ecclesiastes 8:5  Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.

3.  Also:

Amos 3:7  Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

4.  Revealing the 120-year countdown to Noah (and thus to the world) would indeed serve to heighten the urgency of the warning.  Yet as it is God who grants repentence and bestows righteousness, and as His plan only included saving eight people, the inclusion of the actual date in the warning would not have interfered with anyone's salvation... as none were to become saved.

5.  The more God's truth is mocked and unheeded by a people, the more God is honored by their destruction.  The more merciful information there is contained in God's warning, the more there is to mock and to reject.  Mankind's error of having the actual year of God's pronouncement, yet ignoring it entirely, would further heap upon themselves their own rightful sentence and utter destruction.

Dimensions of the Ark

One set of numbers we must not overlook in the Flood account is the list of dimensions for the ark, specified by God Himself:

In some fascinating ways, Noah’s Ark displays similarities to Jesus Christ.  Noah’s Ark was a vessel of salvation.