Did Noah really live for 950 years?

Does it matter? If he lived only 23 years would it change the saving message of Christ's incarnation? I encounter too many people who get hung up on details about years and days in the Old Testament. As Orthodox Christians we do not read Old Testament as a book of science but as a book of faith - The Faith as revealed by God for our edification. Whether Noah lived 950 years or not cannot and will not change whether we are saved through/in Christ or not. Please don't misunderstand my comments here. The tact of \"discrediting\" the minutae details in scripture is used by many to discredit the message of Christ. I would hate for you or others to get lost in that battle. Similarly as Orthodox Christians we don't make an issue of whether a book was written by Moses or not either even though the Holy Tradition refers to \"as Moses said\" etc. The Scriptures, New and Old Testament, are the Holy Revealed Word of God written by the Church for the Church and bear their authority granted to them by the Holy Canons of the Church.