Methuselah
“Man of the dart or when he dies it shall be sent”
Summary
Methuselah was the son of Enoch and the longest-lived person in the Bible, dying at the age of 969 years in the year of the flood.
☩Life and Family
Methuselah was the son of Enoch, the godly patriarch who 'walked with God' and was translated without seeing death. When Methuselah was 187 years old, his son Lamech was born, and he continued to live another 782 years after that. His grandson was Noah, through whom humanity was preserved from the flood. Methuselah appears in the genealogies of both the Old Testament and the New Testament as an ancestor of Jesus Christ.
☩Significance of His Name and Death
The meaning of Methuselah's name has been interpreted as 'man of the dart' or, more suggestively, as a prophetic name meaning 'when he dies, it shall be sent.' According to this interpretation, Enoch gave his son a name foretelling the coming judgment of the flood, which would arrive at his death. The chronology of Genesis confirms that Methuselah died in the very year the flood came, demonstrating God's patience in waiting until this longest of lives had run its course before sending judgment. Unlike his father Enoch, no record of particular godliness is given for Methuselah—a reminder that faith is not always hereditary.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Methuselah," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. VI (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Methuselah," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. III (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.George Morrish, "Methuselah," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Methuselah," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).