How Our Ancestors Reached Such Old Ages!

 Nadene Goldfoot                                        

      The Fountain of Youth  by Lucas Cranach  the Elder, a German Artist.  Notice that old people go in  but come out as young again. Aging is today's hot topic.  Everyone wants to live forever! 

                Lady born in Nicoya, Costa Rica, a blue zone.  

 Scientists have found that people in Costa Rica live longer than anyone other people.  It is one of several blue zones, where this is happening, a longer life span.  The desired age to die is to live till 120 to 125.  Isn't that interesting.  A coincidence?    This is the age Jews wish for others on their birthdays, that they live as long as Moses till 120.  It's important to rise early with the sun, take a walk outside first thing in the morning, so as to set your  body's circadian rhythm.                   

The science behind this is that cells live only so long and then must reproduce themselves, which shortens the telemeres of the ends of chromosomes.  As it turns out, people in Costa Rica have much longer telemeres than other peoples.  Think of a shoelace with a hard tip on it.  The tip is the telemeter.  So, is it genetics or environment?  Another experiment showed that you must be born there to be so lucky to live so long, so it'll do no good to move there after reading this.                                          

 Methuselah, son of Enoch and father of Lamech, Gen.5:18-24) died at the age of 969 years,  was the oldest man on our ancient biblical records. (Gen.5:25-27)  He must have had extremely long telemeres!  I really can't swallow this age!  I think Moses had to fill in time of an era unknown to all of us, so he spread out Methuselah's age.  Also, references show Enoch's  age was only 365 years like the Babylonian calendar.  Many myths are built around Enoch.  Lamech was a descendant of Seth and was father of Noah (Gen. 5:4-29)and his 3 sons were founders of 3 civilizations.  This takes us way back in time.  

We don't know when Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldees on the Euphrates River, only that it was in the 2nd millennium BCE, which would be about 1945 BCE;  3,967 years ago.  

We don't know Isaac's age, either, but know he was 40 when he married Rebekah and when 60, they had twin sons, Jacob and Esau.  He suffered from old age, losing his eyesight. 

Jacob was the youngest twin, and lived till age 147. His age is what we aspire to live. He was quite healthy marrying Leah, Rachel (sisters) and their handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah and then having 12 sons and 1 daughter.  

Levi, the 3rd son of Jacob, died at age 137.  

Moses, son of Amram, son of Kohath, son of Levi b: 1391BCE in Egypt, d: 1271 BCE just outside of Canaan at the age of  120 years.  Moses was raised by the pharaoh's  daughter, royally schooled and brought up as a prince.   

Aaron, son of Amram, etc, died at age 124 years.  He had been a slave.  
Judah, the 4th son of Jacob, died at an unknown age.  Jews are named for Judah, because we are the known survivors, but this also includes a few from Benjamin and a few others that might have been living in Judah by 70 CE when Jerusalem-in Judah, by the way, was destroyed by the Romans.  

David, King of Israel, son of Jesse, son of Oved, son of Boaz and Ruth, son of Levi, was born in Bethlehem and reigned from 1000 BCE to 960 BCE.  He was the youngest son of Jesse, from the tribe of Judah.  At age 25 he was armor bearer for King Saul.  In his old age, his son, Absalom turned against him and was killed by his brother, Solomon.  

Solomon, King of Israel, reigned from 961-920 BCE, taking over David,  his father's reign.   David was still alive at the time, however.  he also rid himself of another dangerous brother, Adonijah.  At the time of his death, he must have been stressed out with political problems.  

Rehoboam, King of Judah, son of Solomon, reigned from 933-917 BCE.  During his reign, the kingdom split in 2, with tribes of Judah, Simeon and parts of Benjamin remaining loyal to him. Shishak( 925 BCE) of Egypt-king of Libyan origin,  took advantage of this and plundered the Temple treasure. Perhaps it was he who took the ark. He also plundered in the kingdom of Israel, a regular pirate.      

I have noticed that ages of our ancestors in the Tanakh (Old Testament) start high and get progressively lower as time elapses, getting down to Moses at age 120 years (1391-1271 BCE).  It's very progressive.  Yet most bones found by archaologists prove to be very young according to our standards.  

The family of King Tut is a convoluted mixture of multiple relationships. Tut's wife was also his half-sister, his father was also his uncle, his mother was also his mother-in-law, and so forth. This practice of in-breeding resulted in a high mortality rate at a young age; the average lifespan of an ancient Egyptian was about 30 years.

Egyptian pharaohs  had the practice of marrying their siblings, which is really not being healthy.  I would imagine that many were aborted and couldn't make it to full term because of this.  Hebrews married cousins and aunts, uncles, but not siblings.  This led to them being called an endogamous people, today. It's not inbreeding, but does cause one to have many cousins from throughout the ages of marrying into a population that had already mated earlier.  

"Most of these physical deformities may have been the result of decades of incest, which was so popular among ancient Egyptian royalty. Rather than keeping the royal bloodline pure, as the ancient Egyptians thought, incest resulted in defective genes and many deformities.

King Tut's parents were brother and sister, and his wife was his half-sister. The union of Tut and his wife produced only two children, both stillborn girls. Tut's young life as pharaoh was tumultuous and filled with intrigue. Although experts now speculate that Tut may have died from malaria, historically, the assumption has been that he was murdered."

Hebrews were in Egypt for 400 years before Moses led them back to Canaan, their homeland.  When they were on the Exodus, they often dreampt of the food they enjoyed in Egypt that they didn't have then.  In Numbers 11-15, they recalled meat and fish that they had had back in Egypt, and cucumbers, melons and leeks, onions and garlic.  On the Exodus, they ate "manna from heaven" which tasted like dough kneaded with oil. Manna was like a coriander seed.   It had to be as great as taking vitamin pills every day since it sustained them for 40 years.  They complained again and quail flew in from the sea, but they were struck with a plague killing those who had been complaining.  (Num. 11:4-34).  

  Egyptian staples were bread and beer.  Their wheat for bread was an ancient type: Emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. Dicoccon) was the most popular cereal in ancient 

Egypt. When the Romans invaded Egypt they adopted the use of this cereal, which they called “Pharaoh's wheat” (“farro” in Italy).  At first, around the time of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, beer was brewed by mixing cooked loaves of bread in water 

and placing the mixture in heated jars to 

ferment. (Doesn't penicillin come from such a mixture?  The use of hops was unknown to the Egyptians as was the process of carbonation.

What they missed:  Food in Egypt was all fresh, and probably organic.  The same goes for food once eaten in Canaan which developed into Israel and then Israel and Judah.  There were no additives and no processed foods, no canned or frozen foods.  The soil was new and full of nutrients since it was so long ago.  

   

Costa Rica’s Longevity Secrets

Have a plan de vida.

Successful centenarians have a strong sense of purpose. They feel needed and want to contribute to a greater good.

Drink hard water.

Nicoyan water has the country’s highest calcium content, perhaps explaining the lower rates of heart disease, as well as stronger bones and fewer hip fractures.

Keep a focus on family.

Nicoyan centenarians tend to live with their families, and children or grandchildren provide support and a sense of purpose and belonging.

Eat a light dinner.

Eating fewer calories appears to be one of the surest ways to add years to your life. Nicoyans eat a light dinner early in the evening.

Maintain social networks.

Nicoyan centenarians get frequent visits from neighbors. They know how to listen, laugh, and appreciate what they have.

Keep hard at work.

Centenarians seem to have enjoyed physical work of all their lives. They find joy in everyday physical chores.

Get some sensible sun.

Nicoyans regularly take in the sunshine, which helps their bodies produce vitamin D for strong bones and healthy body function. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a host of problems, such as osteoporosis and heart disease, but regular, “smart” sun exposure (about 15 minutes on the legs and arms) can help supplement your diet and make sure you’re getting enough of this vital nutrient.

Embrace a common history.

Modern Nicoyan’s roots to the indigenous Chorotega and their traditions have enabled them to remain relatively free of stress. Their traditional diet of fortified maize and beans may be the best nutritional combination for longevity the world has ever known.

All this could easily be said about our Israelite ancestors almost 4,000 years ago.  

Resource:

Decoding the secret of Longevity , youtube, 

https://www.bluezones.com/2012/03/costa-ricas-longevity-secrets/

https://www.non-24.com/about-non-24.php?gclid=Cj0KCQjwqPGUBhDwARIsANNwjV5XbhZiLHDhh5wUCfC6uVFerbJ0gq5URZb00OYo2w-OFcXHjfJgUKcaAtQ-EALw_wcB

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/king-tut-family.html