What do we know about this man?
The bible tells us that he is the oldest record human that ever lived. In Genesis 5:21-27 we can read about this man.
Just to say a few things about this man and the family that he was born into. According to the Bible we know that Methuselah was the son of a man called Enoch. Enoch was a Godly man, a man who “walked habitually” with God. We know this because in Genesis 5:22 we read that Enoch “walked with God, and he was not; for God took him.” Here was a man so taken up with God that his life is described as one with God.
This life is the kind of life that propels the being we know as God into the lives of those around us. This was certainly true of Enoch.
We read that Enoch fathered Methuselah when he was 65 years old and gave him a name with meaning, it was a kind of prophetic name that means “in the year that he dies it will happen”.
Methuselah fathered Lamech which means “powerful” and the bible says that Lamech fathered a son and named him Noah, which means comfort or rest, because “this one will comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.”
There appears to be some kind of repentance and awakening in these four generations of Godly men, men who had found God and who were pained to be concerned for the souls of men and women who were lost and without hope. They were men who recognised that without God intervening in the world that they inhabited it was headed for destruction and the lives of future generations were in danger of being left without hope.
We find in this short account four generations that were prepared to walk with, and listen to God at all costs with little or no regard for their own status or standing in society. This is certainly true of Noah who “found Grace” because he was a “just” and “perfect” man, a man who had proved God in a fallen world.
We can read how bad the world was in Genesis 6. This man Noah whose name means rest or comfort, built an ark upon the instruction of God. This is a story in its self and I may get to write that one day, but for now I want to concentrate on Noah's grandfather and set you a little puzzle.
Methuselah means “in the year that he dies it will happen” can you tell me what happened in the year that Methuselah dies?
The answer is as follows:-
Methuselah was 187 when Lamech was born.
Lamech was 182 when Noah was born so Methuselah was 369 (187 + 182).
When Noah was 600 years old the flood started so Methuselah was 369 + 600 = 969, the age that the bible records that Methuselah was when he died, Genesis 5:27.
It is as if God was extending Grace for as long as possible in order for mankind to repent and renew a right relationship with God and His creation, a relationship which He had purposed at the outset of the world, one where mankind could walk with God and not be ashamed.
The bible tells us that he is the oldest record human that ever lived. In Genesis 5:21-27 we can read about this man.
Just to say a few things about this man and the family that he was born into. According to the Bible we know that Methuselah was the son of a man called Enoch. Enoch was a Godly man, a man who “walked habitually” with God. We know this because in Genesis 5:22 we read that Enoch “walked with God, and he was not; for God took him.” Here was a man so taken up with God that his life is described as one with God.
This life is the kind of life that propels the being we know as God into the lives of those around us. This was certainly true of Enoch.
We read that Enoch fathered Methuselah when he was 65 years old and gave him a name with meaning, it was a kind of prophetic name that means “in the year that he dies it will happen”.
Methuselah fathered Lamech which means “powerful” and the bible says that Lamech fathered a son and named him Noah, which means comfort or rest, because “this one will comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.”
There appears to be some kind of repentance and awakening in these four generations of Godly men, men who had found God and who were pained to be concerned for the souls of men and women who were lost and without hope. They were men who recognised that without God intervening in the world that they inhabited it was headed for destruction and the lives of future generations were in danger of being left without hope.
We find in this short account four generations that were prepared to walk with, and listen to God at all costs with little or no regard for their own status or standing in society. This is certainly true of Noah who “found Grace” because he was a “just” and “perfect” man, a man who had proved God in a fallen world.
We can read how bad the world was in Genesis 6. This man Noah whose name means rest or comfort, built an ark upon the instruction of God. This is a story in its self and I may get to write that one day, but for now I want to concentrate on Noah's grandfather and set you a little puzzle.
Methuselah means “in the year that he dies it will happen” can you tell me what happened in the year that Methuselah dies?
The answer is as follows:-
Methuselah was 187 when Lamech was born.
Lamech was 182 when Noah was born so Methuselah was 369 (187 + 182).
When Noah was 600 years old the flood started so Methuselah was 369 + 600 = 969, the age that the bible records that Methuselah was when he died, Genesis 5:27.
It is as if God was extending Grace for as long as possible in order for mankind to repent and renew a right relationship with God and His creation, a relationship which He had purposed at the outset of the world, one where mankind could walk with God and not be ashamed.
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