Genesis 5:25-27
‘Enoch…begot Methuselah…. And Methuselah lived 187 years, and begot Lamech. And Methuselah lived, after he begot Lamech, 782 years — and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Methuselah were 969 years; and he died.’ Genesis 5:21-27.
Methuselah was the oldest man who ever lived — 969 years! His father Enoch the Sethite never died. Methuselah’s son, Lamech the Sethite, begot the godly Noah — and lived but 777 years.
Methuselah died in the very year of Noah’s Flood. Seeing both his father Enoch was godly; and his son Lamech as well as his grandson Noah were godly — it is unlikely Methuselah, a child of the covenant, died in or after the commencement of Noah’s Flood.
He probably died right before the Flood commenced, before the 17th day of the second month of that year (Genesis 7:11). For Lamech lived 182 years, and begot a son and…called his name Noah — saying: ‘ This one shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed ‘ (Genesis 5:28-39).
Methuselah grew old, watching Noah build the ark for more than a century (Genesis 5:32 & 6:3 & 7:11). In fact, he may well have helped his grandson Noah to build the ark. But Methuselah died, just before he could enter it.
Methuselah apparently means ‘man of a dart.’ And indeed, it seems he certainly moved like a dart in helping to raise his grandson Noah — and probably also in helping him build the ark.
Some translate Methuselah’s name ‘man of the javelin.’ And his life certainly represents a long throw like a javelin — at a time when humanity its elf was becoming full of violence!
Too, Methuselah transmitted much of the character of his father Enoch, who ‘ walked with God ‘ — to his grandson Noah, who did the same (Genesis 5:22 & 6:9). Yet his life here on Earth was not shortened like his father Enoch’s, but instead perhaps full of difficulty and sorrow.
And after 969 years here on Earth, Methuselah still died apparently before the Flood — and never entered into the ark, the construction of which he had carefully witnessed. What a pity!
Or was that a pity? For Methuselah died and went straight into the very presence of God, right before the Flood commenced. But surely, that was better than to live here on Earth yet longer — and to have had to have put up with all those smelly animals for a full extra year, inside the ark?
So we too, after a long life here on Earth, may not quite live long enough to enjoy the company of our descendants inside an earthly place of refuge — but instead, go straight to Heaven. Thus did Methuselah, the oldest man who ever lived!
