1. Methuselah was a biblical patriarch and a figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
24 Facts About Methuselah
1. 2.
Methuselah is claimed to have lived the longest life, dying at 969 years of age.
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Elsewhere in the Bible, Methuselah is mentioned in genealogies in 1 Chronicles and the Gospel of Luke.
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Methuselah's life is described in further detail in other texts such as the Book of Enoch, Slavonic Enoch, and the Book of Moses.
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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.
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Methuselah's name has become synonymous with longevity, and he has been portrayed and referenced in film, television and music.
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When Methuselah had lived one hundred eighty-seven years, he became the father of Lamech.
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Methuselah lived after the birth of Lamech seven hundred eighty-two years, and had other sons and daughters.
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Methuselah is mentioned once in the Hebrew Bible outside of Genesis, in 1 Chronicles 1:3.
10.
Methuselah is mentioned a single time in the New Testament, when the Gospel of Luke traces Jesus' lineage back to Adam in Luke 3.
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In Slavonic Enoch, Methuselah asks his father for a blessing, and is given instructions on how to live righteously.
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All other very long-lived people died, and Methuselah was the only one of this class left.
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Methuselah lived until the ark was built but died before the flood, since God had promised he would not be killed with the unrighteous.
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Methuselah is mentioned in Islam in the various collections of stories of the pre-Islamic prophets, which say he was an ancestor of Noah.
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints further teaches that Methuselah was a prophet.
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Methuselah was the son of En-men-dur-ana, a Sumerian mythological figure often compared to Enoch, as he entered heaven without dying.
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Gnuse believes that the author of Genesis said that Methuselah died before he lived a thousand years to show that he was not divine.
18.
The lyrics of Ira Gershwin's song "It Ain't Necessarily So" cast doubt on the idea that Methuselah lived so long.
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Methuselah appeared in Darren Aronofsky's 2014 film Noah, with Thor Kjartansson playing him as a youth and Anthony Hopkins playing the elderly character.
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Aronofsky's version of Methuselah is an eccentric but virtuous hermit who lives on a mountaintop and is friends with Watchers.
21.
The character Flint from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Requiem for Methuselah" is a nearly immortal man who was born in ancient Mesopotamia during the year 3,834 BC; and was a soldier before his powers.
22.
Methuselah's identities include Methuselah, Alexander the Great, Solomon, Lazarus of Bethany, Merlin, Leonardo da Vinci and Johannes Brahms.
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Methuselah knew Moses, Socrates, Jesus, Galileo Galilei, and many more.
24.
Methuselah eventually begins to slowly die because he left Earth's atmosphere, and dedicates the remainder of his days to the betterment of mankind.