Methuselah

Methuselah is the oldest living man mentioned in the Hebrew Bible; his name has gradually become a synonym for any person or creature of extraordinary age. Methuselah in the Bible, (not to be confused with Methuselae) is the son of Enoch, father of Lamech, who is subsequently the father or Noah; making Methuselah the grandfather of Noah. Methuselah is, according to calculations by Biblical scholars, supposedly to have fathered Lamech when he was already 187 years old. When reading closely to the dates in the Old Testament, Methuselah was supposed to have died when the Great Flood, or “Noah’s flood” occurred. In this case, this is also an allegorical mention of how long God withheld judgement of mankind.

According to the Bible, when Methuselah died, he was 969 years old, in Genesis 5:27: “And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died”. Also according to the Bible, Adam was alive at the time of Methuselah’s birth, as quoted from Genesis 5:5: “So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died”, though this is of course assuming that Adam was born at the time of Creation.

When using the Bishop Ussher’s Bible chronology, describing the times from Creation, to the time of Nebuchadrezzar II, one follows the events in terms of Creation in 4004 B.C., the birth of Methuselah in 3317 B.C. and then in 2348 B.C. Noah’s flood, and the death of Methuselah. The interesting thing is that the Bible places the same years on a man’s life as does that of modern science. Today, the limit is 130 years, at the very most, and then Biblically, the limit was 120 years. Which is why Methuselah’s ancient length of life was a source of such great speculation. Many people have simply tossed this off as being a metaphorical statement and as just being good storytelling. Other creationists believe that, as according to the Bible, prior to the ‘fall’ in Eden, men could live forever, but gradually, as time went on, God sought to punish men by decreasing their lifespan.