solar calendar (5:21–24), the ten patriarchs from Adam to Noah almost attained the 1,000 year mark. Adam, the first patriarch, lived for 930 years, Noah twenty years longer, and Methuselah holds the record for longevity with 969 years. In his monograph on The Garden of Eden and the Hope of Immortality, James Barr (1993a: 79–81) made the interesting suggestion that 1,000 years was thought to count as virtual immortality, which these ancient worthies almost but not quite achieved. This motif of the