Genesis 11:12

Arphaxad. See on ch. 10:22. Prior to the Flood the average age of paternity had been 117 years (the lowest 65, the highest 187 years), but thereafter it decreased to 30-35 years, reaching unusual heights only in the cases of Terah and Abraham.

The same decrease is seen in the total ages of men after the Flood. Although Noah himself reached the antediluvian age of 950 years, Shem’s age was only 600 and that of his son Arphaxad but 438 years. In succeeding generations the process continued, so that Nahor, the grandfather of Abraham, lived to be only 148 years of age. This greatly abbreviated life span may have been due partly to climatic changes. More important still was the change in diet from vegetarian to one including the flesh of animals. With each succeeding generation the human race was further and further removed from the vigorous physical heritage of Adam and from the invigorating fruit of the tree of life.