Methuselah
- Topic in Antediluvian Patriarchs. By Charles Kamins.
- Methuselah was the eigth generation after Adam, the son of Enoch and the grandfather of Noah.
Methuselah in the Bible
Methuselah is mentioned in one passage in Genesis 5:21-27 and most scholarship examines textual differences of his age at death. Methuselah was alleged to have been the oldest of the patriarchs dying at 969 years. In popular culture "old as Methuselah" commonly refers to anyone reaching a great age.
Extra Biblical Mentions
In the Book of Enoch, Enoch tells Methuselah, his son, of the coming worldwide flood and future Messianic kingdom. Elsewhere Methuselah is seen with his grandson Noah pleading with the people to repent of their sins. Further according to the Book of Enoch, Methuselah is the one chosen to convey God's warning to Noah.
The Book of Enoch also relates how, at the birth of Noah, his father Lamech becomes frightened at the sight of the boy's unnaturally white body and his uncanny ability to converse with God. Lamech flees to his father Methuselah and informs him that his grandson resembles an angel more than a child. Lamech informs Methuselah that he has foreseen that a terrible accident will befall the earth during the lifetime of this child. He begs Methuselah to consult Enoch, who was already passed into the spirit world. Methuselah travels to the ends of the earth to confer with Enoch. He learns that a flood will indeed destroy the world, and that only the new-born child and his future sons, three in number, would survive. Enoch tells Methuselah to name the child "Noah," inasmuch as he would console the earth for its destruction (Enoch 106-107).
