gale
views updated May 23 2018
METHUSELAH (Heb. מְתוּשֶׁלַח), patriarch of mankind, son of *Enoch, father of *Lamech, and grandfather of *Noah (Gen. 5:21–25). The name has been variously explained as meaning "man of the weapon" or "man [worshiper] of [the deity] Salah." Methuselah in the genealogy of Seth (Gen. 5:2–21, p) is the counterpart of Methusael in that of Cain (4:18, j). The parallel is even more exact in the Septuagint which transcribes "Methuselah" in both instances. Methuselah according to the Bible lived 969 years, longer than any of the pre-Abrahamic fathers of the human race. Babylonian tradition attributes exaggerated longevity – tens of thousands of years – to its heroes. U. Cassuto believes that the Bible wishes to negate the fantastic figures which attribute to kings a longevity that is unnatural to human beings and that makes them godlike. Not even Methuselah attained the age of 1,000 years, a single day of the Almighty (Ps. 90:4). If the biblical story be compared with the prevailing Babylonian tradition, the many years of Methuselah seem a modest, even a short life-span. The Bible diminished the exaggerated ages attributed to people in the Ancient Near East, but still preserved the tradition of assigning extraordinary longevity to great men.
bibliography:
K. Budde, Die biblische Urgeschichte (1883), 93–103; A. Ehrenzweig, in: zaw, 38 (1919/20), 84; E.G. Kraeling, ibid., 40 (1922), 154–5; M. Tsevat, in: vt, 4 (1954), 41–49, 322; U. Cassuto, A Commentary of the Book of Exodus 1 (1961), 287.
Encyclopaedia Judaica
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oxford
views updated May 14 2018
Methuselah In the Old Testament (Genesis 5:25–27), the longest-lived of all human beings; son of Enoch and eighth in descent from Adam and Eve. He is said to have died at the age of 969 and was the father of many children, including Lamech, the father of Noah.
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oxford
views updated Jun 11 2018
Methuselah in the Bible, a patriarch, the grandfather of Noah, who is said to have lived for 969 years. His name is used allusively as the type of a very old person, and the expression as old as Methuselah is recorded from the early 16th century.
The name methuselah is used for a wine bottle of eight times the standard size.
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ELIZABETH KNOWLES
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