the son of Enoch, and father of Lamech, Gen 5:21. He was born A.M. 687 and died A.M. 1656, being the very year of the deluge, at the age of nine hundred and sixty-nine, the greatest age to which any mortal man ever attained.
Methu´selah (man of the dust), son of Enoch, and remarkable as being the oldest of those antediluvian patriarchs whose great ages are recorded (Gen 5:21-22). At the age of 187 years he begat Lamech (the father of Noah); after which he lived 782 years, making altogether 969 years [LONGEVITY].
Son of Enoch, and father of Lamech. He lived 969 years, a longer life than any other on record, and died within the year before the deluge, Gen 5:21,22 .\par
Methu’selah. (man of the dart). The son of Enoch, sixth in descent from Seth, and father of Lamech. Gen 5:25-27.
("he dies and it (the flood) is sent".) A name given prophetically by Enoch, or given after the event. Phoenician inscriptions use
Methuselah (me-thû’se-lah), man of dart, or he dies and it is sent—namely, the flood. The son of Enoch, and, according to Hebrew chronology, 969 years old when he died, in the first year of the flood. The longest-lived man was the son of the saintliest of his time. Gen 5:27; 1Ch 1:3. He lived 243 years with Adam and 600 years with Noah. The history of the fall and of the world before the flood was carried thus through only one person to Noah.
[Methu’selah]
Son of Enoch, and the seventh from Adam: he lived 969 years, longer than any other person, and died in the year of the flood. Gen 5:21-27; 1Ch 1:3. He is called MATHUSALA in Luk 3:37.
METHUSELAH.—Mentioned as a link in our Lord’s genealogy, Luk 3:37.
One of the Hebrew patriarchs, mentioned in Genesis 5. The word is variously given as Mathusale (1 Chronicles 1:3; Luke 3:37) and Mathusala. Etymologists differ with regard to the signification of the name. Holzinger gives "man of the javelin" as the more likely meaning; Hommel and many with him think that it means "man of Selah", Selah being derived from a Babylonian word, given as a title to the god, Sin; While Professor Sayee attributes the name to a Babylonian word which is not understood. The author of Genesis traces the patriarch’s descent through his father Henoch to Seth, a son of Adam and Eve. At the time of his son’s birth Henoch was sixty-five years of age. When Methuselah had reached the great age of one hundred and eighty-seven years he became the father of Lamech. Following this he lived the remarkable term of seven hundred and eighty-two years, which makes his age at his death nine hundred and sixty-nine years. It follows thus that his death occurred in the year of the Deluge. There is no record of any other human being having lived as long as this for which reason the name, Methuselah, has become a Synonym for longevity.The tendency of rationalists and advanced critics of different creeds leads them to deny outright the extraordinary details of the ages of patriarchs. Catholic commentators, however, find no difficulty in accepting the words of the Genesis. Certain exegetes solve the difficulty to their own satisfaction by declaring that the year meant by the sacred writer is not the equivalent of our year. In the Samaritan text Methuselah was sixty-seven at Lamech’s birth, and 720 at his death.-----------------------------------JOSEPH V. MOLLOY Transcribed by Joseph P. Thomas In Memory of Matteo Ricci S.J. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XCopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York