Home

This blog is all about the the inspired Scriptures, which are the Word of God.  The devil is always seeking to undermine confidence in God's Word and here I provide evidence to bolster your faith in God's Word, as you take your stand against the evil one.

Jesus said, “The Scripture cannot be broken.” (Joh 10:35).

And the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2Ti 3:16-17).

I hope this will be an encouragement to you in your walk with God.

The Scripture Must Be Fulfilled	The Conciseness of God	Pros and Cons of the NIV
God's Word Never Fails	Understanding the Gaps in Scripture	The Bible is the Word of God
Numerical Patterns in Scripture	Read the Bible for All Its Worth!	Oral Account of Creation from Adam to Abraham
Unidentified Descendant of Jacob Who Went to Egypt	The Uniqueness of God's Word	Bible Reading Plan
The NET Bible	Progressive Revelation	The Unity of the Bible
Who Was the Exodus Pharaoh?	Jacob Was 77 Years Old When He Married	Decreasing Lifespans of Biblical Characters

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.

Author's note:  You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master. 

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Doulos Training School

Doulos Missions International now offers discipleship training online through the Doulos Training School (DTS).  Please visit the DTS online at Doulos Training School to find out more about how you or someone you know can participate.

___________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org. Partner with us online by giving to DMI.

Donate

Our gift of these articles by Len Lacroix is made possible in part by your gracious support of the ministry.

There are two ways to donate to Doulos Missions International. You may either send a check or money order by mail or you may donate securely online.

Doulos Missions International, Inc. is incorporated in the State of New Hampshire as a publicly-supported non-profit charity.  We are recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax exempt organization under IRC 501(c)(3). Contributions made to this organization are tax deductible.

Online Donations

You may use an electronic check or a major credit card to make a gift today. Click here to donate.

Secure Payments

By Mail

You may send your check or money order made payable to Doulos Missions International to the following address:

Doulos Missions International

PO Box 5526

Manchester, NH 03108-5526

By Paypal
You may also securely send money directly to Len Lacroix via Paypal, which is an alternative to donating to DMI, if you prefer this method. Please note that this alternative method of giving through Paypal is not tax-deductible, as it would otherwise certainly be if you use the online button above or mail a check, and will not be given to DMI, but to me personally. If you prefer this method of giving, just message me through the comments section of this post to get my email address for Paypal.

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38


Thank you!

We invite you to visit our Collection of Blogs.

Decreasing Lifespans of Biblical Characters

In this post, I'd like to illustrate to you how the lifespans of biblical characters steadily decreased over time, and how there were periods when it stayed approximately the same prior to the next decrease.

In the chart above that I created, you can make the following six observations:

1. Life spans were very consistently close to 1,000 years during the period from Adam through Noah. The two exceptions were Enoch, who was raptured and Lamech who died at 777, which was for a reason.

2. Then life spans dropped to a new plateau that was slightly descending from Shem through Eber. Shem was like a pre-flood transition guy, so his life span was in the intermediate level between those of the pre-flood period and those of the men in the initial post-flood period (Arphaxad through Eber). Note that Shem's firstborn son,  Arphaxad was born right after the flood. So from Aprhaxad through Eber, their life spans remained pretty similar (436 - 464 yrs old).

3. After Eber, you can see another slightly descending plateau from Peleg through Abram, where they lived until they were 148-242 years old. Or you could look at that era in two phases, the first one being from Peleg through Serug (living until they were 232 - 242 yrs old), and then the second phase being from Nahor through Abram (living until they were 148-205 yrs old). This plateau should include Jacob, too, who lived to be 147. He was from that same era, but his sons did not live to be that old. 

4. After Jacob, according to the Bible, Joseph died at the age of 110, while Simeon died at the age of 120. The ages of the other sons of Israel at their deaths are not recorded in Scripture, but there are Jewish traditions and sources that give us an idea:

Ages at Death (as provided by the Bible or Jewish tradition):

Joseph: 110 years old.

Simeon: 120 years old (according to the Talmud).

Reuben: ~125 years old (according to rabbinic sources).

Judah: Possibly 119 or 129 years old (according to rabbinic sources).

Asher: 123 years old (according to rabbinic sources).

This life span range of 110 – 129 seemed to continue for at least another 450 years or so through the time of Moses, who lived to be 120, Aaron who lived to be 123, and Joshua, who lived to be 110. 

5. However, Eli the priest was 98 years old, and his eyesight had failed so that he couldn't see. That was 1405 years after Joshua died, so well over a millennium later we see the life span not quite reaching 100 years old.

6. By the time we get to the era of King David, who was born about 70 years after Eli died, he only lived to be 70 years old, dying around 970 BC, which is very similar to today’s era. We know that about 1,000 years later, the apostle John is believed to have died around the year 100 AD, at the age of approximately 93. So that 70 – 93 year-old life span during the era from King David until John during the first century is consistent with life spans today. That means that from David’s time until now (the past 3,000 years), human life spans have remained around 70 – 93 years old.

 

 

The average life expectancy around the time of Jesus is estimated to be between 20 and 35 years. However, this figure is heavily influenced by the high infant mortality rate. Those who survived childhood could reasonably expect to live into their fifties or sixties, or even longer. 

Closing Words

In conclusion, we could say that people have lived to be 70-93 years old since around the time or Eli the priest, which is the past 3,100 years. 

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the other posts in this blog available through the Home page, such as Oral Account of Creation from Adam to Abraham, Jacob Was 77 Years Old When He Married, The Bible is the Word of God, All Scripture must be fulfilled, and The Bible Never Fails. You may also access other articles on the Home page for this blog, as well as my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Jacob Was 77 Years Old When He Married

Did you know that the Jewish patriarch Jacob (Israel) met Rachel when he was 70 years old, then served 7 years for her before marrying her a week after he was tricked into marrying Leah? So he married Leah and Rachel when he was 77, then served another 7 years for Rachel.

Rachel was barren for the first several years of her marriage, while her sister Leah was bearing sons for Jacob. Although the Bible does not state exactly how long she was barren, some ancient Jewish rabbinical sources say it was 14 years. The midrash relates that Rachel was twenty-two years old when she was married to Jacob (Seder Olam Rabbah 2), and her barrenness lasted for fourteen years (Seder Eliyahu Rabbah 18, p. 99).

Benjamin was born within the same year they left Laban’s house. Year 2302

Joseph was 6 years older than Benjamin, so he was born in 2296.

Joseph was 17 years old when he was taken into captivity.

Joseph was 39 years old when he was reunited with his brothers in Egypt.

Jacob was 130 years old when he was reunited with Joseph in Egypt.

Jacob was 147 years old when he died.

Joseph was 56 years old when his father passed away.

Subtract from Jacob’s age at death (147) Joseph’s age at Jacob’s death (56), & subtract 14 more years of Rachel’s barrenness to get Jacob’s age at marriage to Rachel (77). 147 – 56 – 14 = 77.  

  

Divine Coincidence

After I wrote this article, a few minutes later I happened to watch the first part of a video on Youtube about the Feast of Trumpets in 2025, after which I was quite amazed to find the following statement in the video comments, which the channel owner left in reply to one of his viewers:

"Jacob (Israel) was 77 when he took his first bride..." That seemed to me like a divine confirmation of this article.

Lesson Learned
Consider the fact that although Jacob was a full-grown man, he obeyed his father Isaac and followed his direction to go to the country of Laban to find a wife for himself. He did not disobey his father simply because he was over 18 years old, based on the false premise that since he was an adult, his father had no right to be involved in his search for and selection of a wife.

Life Application

The application for our lives today is that fathers most certainly have a God-given role in their adult children's marriage partner selection process. Deciding who to marry should not be made without the guidance and blessing of your parents, unless you have tried to work through that with great wisdom and care, and after much prayer and fasting the Lord has shown you that you are to get married without their blessing or against their counsel. If that is the case, then you should have many, well-documented confirmations that would withstand anyone's close scrutiny, and also have the blessing and approval of your church elders and the parents of the person you are marrying.

Attribution Notice: The cropped image above is of the 1652 painting by Jan Victors, called Jacob Seeking the Forgiveness of Esau, which is on display in the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the other posts in this blog available through the Home page, such as The Father's Role in the Marriage of His Children, Oral Account of Creation from Adam to Abraham, All Scripture must be fulfilled, The Bible Never Fails. You may also access other articles on the Home page for this blog, as well as my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Who Was the Exodus Pharaoh?

Here is something that may help your understanding of the account of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, which was so aptly explained by archeologist Joel Kramer in his video, The Exodus Pharaoh Explained.

The predecessor of the pharaoh at the time of the exodus (whom we will call the "exodus pharaoh"), had to have reigned for more than 40 years, and here is how we know that. 

It says in Exodus 2:15: "When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well." 

Then in v 23, referring to the same king, it says: "During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God."

We know from Acts 7:23 that Moses was 40 years old at the time he first fled from Egypt into Midian. And in Acts 7:30 it says that Moses had been in Midian for 40 years at the time the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush, and told him to go back to Egypt to set His people free. 

We may assume that the pharaoh who tried to kill Moses when he was 40 years old (Ex 2:15) is the same king who had previously ordered the Hebrew baby boys killed at the time Moses was born 40 years earlier, because there's no mention of any Pharaoh dying until you get to v 23, so it implies it's referring to the same pharaoh mentioned at the beginning of the book of Exodus. Therefore, based on that assumption, since he was in power prior to the birth of Moses, and didn't die until after Moses fled from him to Midian at age 40, we may conclude that the reign of that Pharaoh who tried to kill him had to be more than 40 years.

Incidentally, when Moses was 80 years old, at the time when he led the Israelites out of Egypt, the "exodus pharaoh" that he dealt with would have been the son of the pharaoh who tried to kill him. Since Moses was raised by Pharaoh's daughter, who found him floating in a basket in the Nile River, and he was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Ac 7:22), he would probably have been raised as a prince (or in a princely fashion) in the same household as Pharaoh's son, who later reigned, and with whom Moses had to deal at the time of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Therefore, they would have known each other from the time of their youth, when they grew up together. 

The question as to which pharaoh Moses dealt with at the exodus is a hotly debated topic. Many believe it was the pharaoh known as Rameses II. But that cannot be so for two reasons: 

1) First, Rameses II didn't begin his reign until 167 years after the time of the exodus, which occurred in the mid 15th century around 1446 BC. Kramer points out that 1 Kings 6:1 says that Solomon began to build the temple 480 years after the exodus from Egypt, in the fourth year of his reign. Since it is well established that the fourth year of Solomon's reign was 966 BC, we simply need to add 480 years to 966 BC, to arrive at 1445 BC as the date of the exodus.

2) Secondly, the pharaoh who reigned immediately prior to the "exodus pharaoh" had to have reigned for more than 40 years, as was previously mentioned, but that is not the case with Rameses' II predecessor, Seti, who reigned for only 11 years.

Another important point Kramer has made is that Rameses II can not be the pharaoh from the period of Moses' childhood, in whose household he was raised. Here's why: 

We know that Rameses II was succeeded by Merneptah, so if Rameses II were the pharaoh of Moses' childhood, that would make Merneptah the "exodus pharaoh". 

However, according to Exodus 11:5, the firstborn son of the "exodus pharaoh" died in the 10th plague.  So in order for Merneptah to be the "exodus pharaoh", his successor who reigned after him could not have been his firstborn son. But we know that the successor of Merneptah was indeed his firstborn son, known as Seti II; so Merneptah fails the test for being the "exodus pharaoh", based on this criteria. Since Merneptah fails the test for being the "exodus pharaoh", that rules out Rameses II from being the pharaoh of Moses childhood. Thus Kramer proves how Rameses II fails all the criteria for being either the pharaoh of Moses childhood or the "exodus pharaoh".

Kramer explains that the first century Jewish historian, Josephus, quoted from an Egyptian historian named Manetho, who wrote an Egyptian history in Greek, quoting from early Egyptian religious historical records. According to Manetho, the "exodus pharaoh" was Amenophis, which is the Greek form of the Egyptian name Amenhotep. There were three pharaoh's by that name, but the one who reigned during the exodus period was Amenhotep II, who reigned from 1450-1423 BC. Since the biblical date for the exodus is 1446 BC, that places the exodus within the reign of Amenhotep II. See the images of his statue and his preserved mummy above.

The interesting thing about Amenhotep II is that he meets all the criteria for being the "exodus pharaoh": 1) He not only reigned during the exodus period, but 2) his predecessor, Thutmose III, reigned for 54 years, which was more than 40 years, and 3) the successor of Amenhotep II was Thutmose IV, who was not his firstborn son. That's because the firstborn son  of Amenhotep II died mysteriously.

In conclusion, based on the excellent research done by Kramer, we can conclude that only Amenhotep II meets the criteria to be the "exodus pharaoh" and only his predecessor, Thutmose III, fits the criteria to be the pharaoh of Moses childhood. 

Attribution notice: Images may be subject to copyright, used per the Fair Use Act only for educational or commentary purposes. Source info taken from archeologist Joel Kramer's video, The Exodus Pharaoh Explained. Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the other posts in this blog available through the Home page, such as All Scripture must be fulfilled, The Bible Never Fails, Oral Account of Creation from Adam to Abraham, and The Evil Nephilim Giants. You may also access other articles on the Home page for this blog, as well as my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

The Unity of the Bible

In my previous articles on this blog, I have discussed the uniqueness of the Bible, as well as its conciseness, it's divine inspiration, its unbreakable nature, its self-fulfilling nature, and its progressive nature. Now today I would like to discuss briefly with you the unity of the Bible.

Consider the fact that the Bible is not a single book written by one human author like books are normally written. Rather it is a collection of 66 divinely inspired books, written by 40 different authors from various walks of life (from kings and nobles to shepherds and fishermen), over a period of more than 1500 years, in 3 different languages, on 3 different continents, in multiple different genres (eg., history, wisdom, poetry, apocalyptic, and epistles), in multiple settings (times of war, times of peace, etc.); yet they all have a common storyline and agree with one another in an amazing, supernatural way. 

This is not true of any other book, such as the Quran or the Bhagavad Gita, and that's because the Bible is supernatural and is actually God's Word, which means that He is the divine Author, who inspired the men who wrote it. Let me encourage you to read the Bible for yourself, asking God to show you the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And a good place to start is the Gospel of John.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the other posts in this blog available through the Home page, such as The Bible is the Word of God, Read the Bible for All Its Worth!, All Scripture must be fulfilled and The Bible Never Fails. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.