Difference between revisions of "Methuselah" - New World Encyclopedia

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'''Methuselah''' or '''Metushélach''' (מְתוּשָׁלַח - "Man of the dart," or alternatively "when he dies/died, it will be sent/has been sent") the longest-lived person in history, according to the [[Hebrew Bible]]. The name ''Methuselah'' has become a general synonym for any living creature of great age.
 
'''Methuselah''' or '''Metushélach''' (מְתוּשָׁלַח - "Man of the dart," or alternatively "when he dies/died, it will be sent/has been sent") the longest-lived person in history, according to the [[Hebrew Bible]]. The name ''Methuselah'' has become a general synonym for any living creature of great age.
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In the apocryphal [[Book of Enoch]], Methuselah becomes a channel through which [[Enoch]], already living in the heavenly realm, communicates to the people on earth, revealing various cosmic secrets and predicting the coming of [[Noah]]'s flood.
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Various theories have been presented concerning Methuselah's reported long life, some considering him to be a theory of myth rather than history, and others explaining his longevity either with reference to scientific theories or simply as a matter of faith.
  
 
==Biblical data==
 
==Biblical data==

Revision as of 02:38, 26 September 2008

Methuselah or Metushélach (מְתוּשָׁלַח - "Man of the dart," or alternatively "when he dies/died, it will be sent/has been sent") the longest-lived person in history, according to the Hebrew Bible. The name Methuselah has become a general synonym for any living creature of great age.

In the apocryphal Book of Enoch, Methuselah becomes a channel through which Enoch, already living in the heavenly realm, communicates to the people on earth, revealing various cosmic secrets and predicting the coming of Noah's flood.

Various theories have been presented concerning Methuselah's reported long life, some considering him to be a theory of myth rather than history, and others explaining his longevity either with reference to scientific theories or simply as a matter of faith.

Biblical data

Methuselah is mentioned in Genesis as the son of Enoch and the father of Lamech, whom he fathered at the alleged age of 187. He is thus also the grandfather of Noah. A close reading of the dates in the Old Testament reveals that Methuselah is said to have died in the year of the Great Flood, but the Bible does not say whether he was among those who died in the flood or whether he died of natural causes. Some have interpreted his name as a prophecy: when he dies, the flood will come.

According to the Bible, Methuselah reached the age of 969 years. Genesis 5:27 states, "And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died" (American Standard Version). Genesis 5:5 states, "So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died." (American Standard Version). According the this genealogy, Adam was alive when Methuselah was born. This makes Methuselah the human link between Adam and Noah, having been alive in the time of each of them.

However, in the ancient texts from which the English Bible was translated, there are variations of the ages of the patriarchs in different versions.

Using Bishop James Ussher's Bible chronology from the creation to Nebuchadnezzar II following dates are proposed relating to Methuselah: [1]

  • 4004 B.C.E. - Creation
  • 3317 B.C.E. - Birth of Methuselah
  • 3000 B.C.E. - Approximate building of the Great Pyramids of Giza
  • 2348 B.C.E. - Death of Methuselah and Noah's flood

Methusalah in the Book of Enoch

Methuselah is mentioned prominently in the apocryphal Book of Enoch, in which he is presented as a link to convey Enoch's heavenly knowledge to those who will survive the Flood through the lineage of Noah. Here new details are presented about Methuselah's family, including his mother, named Edna, and his brothers. Enoch, who has seen God and yet lived, reveals to Methuselah several dreams and visions describing many secrets of the universe, including the coming Deluge and of a future Messianic kingdom (Chapters Chapter 83-85)

Enoch also commands Methuselah to gather his brothers to hear Enoch's words:

Love uprightness and walk therein.

And draw not nigh to uprightness with a double heart, and associate not with those of a double heart. But walk in righteousness, my sons. And it shall guide you on good paths,

And righteousness shall be your companion. (Ch. 91)

The Book of Enoch also relates how, at the birth of the still unnamed Noah, his father Lamech was frightened at the sight of the boy's unnaturally white body and his uncanny to converse with God. Lamech flees to his father Methuselah and informs him that his grandson resembles an angel more than a child. Lamech further 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 among the angels, and who consequently would know what was to happen.

Methuselah accordingly goes 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 also tells Methuselah to name the child "Noah," inasmuch as he would console the earth for its destruction. (Chapters 106-107)

Methusalah's lifespan

Christ Leading the Patriarchs to Paradise: Methuselah, Solomon, the Queen of Sheba, and Adam and Eve lead the procession of the righteous behind Jesus.

Modern science puts the natural limit on current human longevity below 130 years. The oldest person documented beyond reasonable doubt, Jeanne Calment, died at 122. This being the case, Methuselah's lifespan has been a source of much speculation.

Months, not years?

If one assumes that the age of 969 indicates months instead of years indicating an early mistranslation or an inaccurate transmission in the oral tradition that preceded the written version of Genesis, Methuselah's age is calculated as 80.75 years, which is a more realistic lifespan. Another theory suggests lunar cycles were mistaken for the solar ones. If this is the case, each lifespan from Genesis would be shortened by a factor of 12.37 and give ages for Methuselah and his contemporaries that resemble those of modern humans.

However, objections to such life-shortening calculations have been raised on the grounds that, if reductions by these factors are carried out consistency, several ancient biblical fathers would have had children while they themselves were approximately five years old.

One solution involving translation error is proposed by Robert Best, who suggests that inaccurate conversion between various ancient Sumerian numerical systems produced the ages of Methuselah, Noah, and kin out of archaic Sumerian numerals. Best calculates that Methuselah's actual age would have been 85, and that he would have had his first son at age 17 (instead of age 187).[2]

The literalist view

Biblical literalists, on the other hand, have proposed several reasons that might explain a drastic decrease in the human lifespan after the Flood. The simplest of these is the fact that Gen. 6:3 says, "And the Lord said, 'My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.'" This is interpreted by some as a prophecy that man's lifespan would be gradually shortened over time. Further, according to Genesis chapter 2, prior to the Human Fall in the Garden of Eden, man could have lived forever.

Witness Lee's "Four Falls of Man" hypothesis claims that man's life span was shortened four times, due to sin:

  • from everlasting to 1,000 (first fall: Adam's)
  • from 1,000 to 500 (second fall: around the time of Noah)
  • from 500 to 250 (third fall)
  • from 250 to 120 (fourth fall brings in the law with Moses).

In the times of King David and his successors, when actual ages were recorded, the ages of the kings generally were in the range of 40-70 years old.

Some Creationists accept the ages recorded in the Bible,[3] and have speculated on the scientific reasons for the dramatic decrease in lifespans following the Great Flood of Noah's time. One reason claimed is that conditions before the flood caused much less ultraviolet light from the sun to impact the earth, and that this allowed for longer life spans. The Institute for Creation Research has posited that a "vapor canopy" surrounded the earth before the Flood, and that this was the source of the floodwaters. In this theory, such a canopy would also have protected humankind from what the supposed aging effects of the sun's ultraviolet rays. After the dissipation of the canopy during the Flood, lifespans dropped rapidly to what they are today. Mainstream scientists have rejected the vapor canopy theory, asserting that it does not stand up to any scientific analysis.[4]

Young Earth creationist Carl Wieland alternatively speculates that the decline in lifespan is because of the drastic reduction in population due to the Flood, causing a genetic bottleneck in which the genes that were "coded for longevity" were lost.[5]

Another explanation for the rapid shortening of human life after the time of Noah is the introduction of meat into the human diet mentioned in Genesis 9:3. In this passage God says to Noah: "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." To Adam, God gave dominion over the animals, but apparently specified a vegetarian diet: "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food." (Gen 1:29)

See also

  • Aging
  • Back to Methuselah, a set of plays by George Bernard Shaw
  • Dvapara Yuga
  • Longevity
  • Longevity myths
  • Maximum life span
  • Genealogies of Genesis#Genesis_5_numbers
  • Methuselah Mouse Prize
  • Methuselah (tree)
  • "Requiem for Methuselah," an episode of Star Trek
  • 2000 Year Old Man, a recurring Methuselah comedy routine by Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks.
  • Methuselah's Children, a work of fiction by Robert A. Heinlein about long lived humans as a result of genetic selection.
  • The Methuselah Factor, a book by Vernon Eric Bridges[6][7], a far-fetched story of longevity.


Notes

  1. Ussher chronology
  2. Best, Robert, Noah's ark and the Ziusudra Epic, chapter 7
  3. James A. Borland, "Did People Live to be Hundreds of Years Old Before the Flood? Yes.," in The Genesis Debate, Ronald F. Youngblood (editor), Nelson (publisher), Nashville, TN 1986.
  4. Steiger, Frank. Creationist Vapor Canopy. Retrieved 2006-08-29.
  5. Wieland, Carl. Living for 900 years. Retrieved 2006-08-29.
  6. Vernon Eric Bridges (2007) The Methuselah Factor ISBN 9780954229221
  7. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0954229223

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

External links

  • Complete Bible Genealogy Family tree of Methuselah
  • [[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Methuselah "|Methuselah]".] Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  • The Methuselah Foundation A foundation dedicated to researching the end of aging.
 Hebrew Bible Genealogy from Adam to David
Creation to Flood Adam Seth Enos Kenan Mahalalel Jared Enoch Methuselah Lamech Noah Shem
Origin of the Patriarchs Arpachshad Shelah Eber Peleg Reu Serug Nahor Terah Abraham Isaac Jacob
Nationhood to Kingship Judah Pharez Hezron Ram Amminadab Nahshon Salmon Boaz Obed Jesse David

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