Methuselah was the son of Enoch and the grandfather of Noah, making him a prominent figure in biblical genealogy. While limited information is available about his life, the Bible states that he had many children and lived a righteous life before God. Methuselah’s long life is often associated with the prevailing concept of the time that long lifespans were a sign of
Methuselah (/muzl/ in the United States; Hebrew: Méla, in pausa Mla, “His death shall send” or “Man of the javelin” or “Death of Sword”;[1] Greek: o Mathousalas)[2] was a patriarch in the Bible who is revered in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He lived the longest of all of the biblical figures, dying at the ripe old age of 969.[3]The Book of Genesis identifies Methuselah as Enoch’s offspring, Lamech’s father, and Noah’s grandpa. Methuselah is mentioned in the genealogies of 1 Chronicles, Genesis, and the Gospel of Luke, among other places in the Bible.
His life is described in further detail in other texts such as the Book of Enoch, Slavonic Enoch, and the Book of Moses. Bible commentators have offered various explanations as to why the Book of Genesis describes him as having died at such an advanced age; some believe that Methuselah’s age is the result of a mistranslation, while others believe that his age is used to give the impression that part of Genesis takes place in a very distant past. Methuselah’s name has become synonymous with longevity, and he has been portrayed and referenced in film, television and music.
Longest Person To Live In The Bible
Methuselah is a biblical patriarch mentioned in Genesis 5:21–27, as part of the genealogy linking Adam to Noah. The following is taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible:
Enoch fathered Methuselah at the ripe old age of 65. After Methuselah’s birth, Enoch journeyed with God for 300 years and produced other children. Three hundred sixty-five years was the whole span of Enoch’s life. After a time spent in God’s company, Enoch passed away. Methuselah sired Lamech at the ripe old age of 187, making him the world’s oldest man. After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah continued to live for another 782 years and have more children. This is how long Methuselah lived: 969 years. Then he passed away. 5:21-27[5]
According to the Hebrew Bible, Methuselah begets Lamech and then lives 782 more years. When Lamech is 182 he begets Noah, and the Genesis Flood comes when Noah is 600 years old. This would imply that Methuselah dies the year of the Flood, but the Bible does not mention this. (In the Septuagint, most of the ages in this section are different. Lamech begets Noah at age 188, and Methuselah lives 802 years after begetting him.[7]) He was also the oldest of all the figures mentioned in the Bible. Methuselah is mentioned once in the Hebrew Bible outside of Genesis, in 1 Chronicles 1:3.[4] Methuselah is mentioned a single time in the New Testament, when the Gospel of Luke traces Jesus’ lineage back to Adam in Luke 3.
The 10 Oldest Persons in the Bible
Adam, the fourth oldest person in the Bible, is the ancestor of all the males on this list. Noah, the third-oldest person in history, comes in at the end of the family tree.
Before the Great Flood, the Bible says that people lived for over a millennium.The flood slashed decades off of people’s expected lifespan.
Abraham passed away at the young age of 175 years. King David’s contemporaries seldom made it beyond age 80, while Moses died at the ripe old age of 120. There is no clear explanation for this in the Bible, but it is generally accepted that as sin rose, so did mortality rates.
In many parts of the globe, modern life expectancy is close to the Biblical average. People may live to be as old as 120 years old, although the average lifespan is closer to 80.
The following are the 10 oldest men in the Bible:
- Methuselah: 969 Years Old
- Jared: 962 Years Old
- Noah: 950 Years Old
- Adam: 930 Years Old
- Seth: 912 Years Old
- Kenan: 910 Yeas Old
- Enos: 905 Years Old
- Mahalalel: 895 Years Old
- Lamech: 777 Years Old
- Enoch: 365 Years Old
10. Enoch: 365 Years Old
Enoch is Methuselah’s dad. It’s not clear if Enoch passed away as he was taken by god and he didn’t directly die anywhere in the bible. This seems to be attributed to the fact that he faithfully followed god.
It is clear that Enoch was 65 years old when Methuselah was born and that he lived another 300 years after that. During the latter 300 years, he had other sons and daughters. However, the specifics surrounding these other offspring are not well specified.
9. Lamech: 777 Years Old
Lamech is one of the 10 oldest persons in the bible. 5 years before the Great Flood, Lamech died at 777 years old. He was Methuselah’s son and Noah’s father. Adam was alive for another 56 years after Lamech’s birth.
8. Mahalalel: 895 Years Old
Mahalalel died at age 895 when Noah was 234 years old. His name may mean “the shining one of god.”
He had a lot of brothers and sisters. His niece was his son’s wife. It’s not uncommon for mythological and ancient human families to practice inbreeding.
7. Enos: 905 Years Old
At 105 years old, Seth welcomed his son Enos into the world. Enos is the third patriarch in the original lineup. He made it to 905 years old before he died.
6. Kenan: 910 Years Old
Kenan is Mahalalel’s dad who he had at 70 years old. He is also Seth’s grandson. At 910 years old, he finally died.
5. Seth: 912 Years Old
Seth is the son of Adam and Eve and his brothers were Cain and Abel. He is the child through which all descendants connect to Adam. Adam and Eve may have had other sons, but only Cain, Abel, and Seth were specifically identified.
Seth was born after Abel was murdered by Cain. Eve believed this was because Seth was going to replace Abel. When he died at 912 years old, he was 14 years shy of living to see Noah’s birth.
4. Adam: 930 Years Old
Adam is one of the 10 oldest persons in the bible living to be 930 years old. He is the first man to ever exist in the Bible. His wife Eve is the first woman and they lived together in the Garden of Eden until they were both expelled.
Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden because they ate fruit, sometimes portrayed as an apple, from the tree of life. God had specifically forbidden the consumption of this fruit so he punished the couple when they disobeyed. Adam was supposed to experience eternal life but he only lasted 930 years after eating the forbidden fruit.
3. Noah: 950 Years Old
Noah survived another 350 years after the Great Flood ended. The Great Flood lasted 150 days and it covered everything on earth including all mountains.
Noah is responsible for building an ark that saved a select few animals and people from the worldwide disaster. What wasn’t on Noah’s Ark perished.
Flood stories appear in other religious and cultural texts and they reference a similar event that occurs around the same time. Some kind of natural disaster likely caused a flood in ancient history though the details of this event are unsubstantiated by science.
2. Jared: 962 Years Old
Jared is Enoch’s dad and he became a father at 162 years old. He is only 7 years younger at his death than the oldest person in the Bible.
1. Methuselah: 969 Years Old
According to the Old Testament, Methuselah was a man who lived to the ripe old age of 969. He’s the offspring of Enoch and Lamech. Grandfather to Noah.
Like the majority of the other people on this list, he is a well-known figure in the three Abrahamic faiths (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity). For some, Methuselah’s age is a nebulous allusion to a very long time; for others, the term “year” may have been mistranslated as “month.”
Interestingly, at the historical period of the Bible, the Mesopotamians believed that any human being older than a thousand years was a divinity. It has been hypothesized that the original writers of scriptures concerning Methuselah intended for him to live long enough for a single generation to span from Adam to Noah. They were also concerned that if Methuselah lived too long, he may be elevated to deity status in the eyes of future followers.
