Methuselah

Biblical Record

Methuselah appears in the genealogy of Genesis 5, which runs from Adam to Noah. According to Genesis 5:21-27, Enoch became the father of Methuselah at the age of 65. Methuselah became the father of Lamech at 187, then lived another 782 years and had other children; he lived 969 years in all, and he died. Because Lamech was the father of Noah, Methuselah was Noah's grandfather. Scripture records only his name, his age, and his descendants; it says nothing about his deeds or character. His name also appears in the genealogy of 1 Chronicles 1:3.

Significance Within Scripture

Methuselah lived longer than anyone else whose age is recorded in the Bible. Genesis 5 closes the account of each figure with the words "and he died," and Methuselah is no exception. His father Enoch, by contrast, is described in different terms: "and he was not; for God took him" (Genesis 5:24). In the New Testament, his name appears only in the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:37: "Which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch."

Interpretations and Points of Debate

• Relationship to the Flood: Adding up the figures in the Masoretic Text (the standard text of the Hebrew Bible today) places Methuselah's death in the same year as Noah's Flood. A Jewish tradition holds that he died seven days before the Flood. The text itself, however, does not directly connect his death with the Flood.
• Textual variants: In some manuscripts of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), the figures differ, and by that reckoning Methuselah would have lived on after the Flood. Early Church Fathers such as Augustine are known to have addressed this problem.
• Meaning of the name: Scholars commonly interpret the name as "man of the spear." The rendering often heard in sermons, "when he dies, (judgment) will come," is a traditional interpretation tied to the chronology of the Flood, and its linguistic basis is disputed.
• Long lifespan: Some take the figures literally, while others regard the genealogical numbers as symbolic or literary, or read them in light of ancient Near Eastern genealogical conventions. In Korean churches, a literal understanding is widely held.
• Later embellishments: Stories that he was a righteous man or that he preached warnings of the coming Flood are not found in the biblical text. The pseudepigraphal Book of Enoch contains scenes in which Enoch passes revelations on to his son Methuselah, but Protestants do not accept this book as part of the canon.

In Korean Churches

In Sunday schools and Bible quizzes, Methuselah is a frequent answer to the question "Who was the longest-lived person in the Bible?" In sermons, the interpretation of his name as "when he dies, it will come" is used to illustrate the longsuffering of God, who withholds judgment and waits; alternatively, his record, which ends with "and he died" despite his 969 years, is contrasted with that of Enoch. The expression "to live like Methuselah" is also used figuratively of someone who lives a long life.