And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:
Methuselah fathered Lamech and then lived 782 years longer, raising other sons and daughters as a literal part of the unbroken Genesis record in which the patriarchs from Adam to Noah lived nearly a thousand years. That great length of life shows the race as first made perfect in body and mind in the image of God, with size and strength in proportion to years and far greater vital force than now remains. His very long life made him the living link from Adam to Shem, since Adam was still alive during his first 243 years and he himself lived until Shem was 98, so what God taught Adam could pass by direct testimony to Abraham and Israel. Through those centuries he stood with the righteous before the Flood, hearing Enoch and then his grandson Noah warn of the coming waters, receiving instruction and helping to build the ark while the world around gave itself to evil and violence. Those lifetimes were first protracted by power from the tree of life transmitted for a few generations, then gradually shortened after Noah as transgression, violation of the laws of health, and the necessity of eating flesh brought in disease, decrepitude and early death.
Long Life Before Flood
Genesis 5:26 records that Methuselah lived 782 years after he fathered Lamech and fathered other sons and daughters. This belongs to the literal record of the long-lived patriarchs from Adam to Noah, who with one or two exceptions lived nearly a thousand years, between nine hundred and a thousand years. Those early generations lived nearly a thousand years, and human lifespans shortened after Noah.
The nine generations before the Flood averaged 912 years of life, compared with 332 years for nine generations after the Flood. That decline tapered to between one and two hundred years by the time of the Egyptian bondage. It fell further to seventy years, threescore years and ten, in the time of Moses and of David, about halfway from Adam to the present. At present it stands at about thirty-five or thirty years in Europe and America, and twenty years in great cities.
Those early lifespans are presented as a measure of life ending without accounts of prolonged suffering or particular diseases. During the first 2000 years no death of children is recorded, and it was uncommon for a son to die before his father.
Methuselah's very long life overlapped other patriarchs, for Adam was still alive during the first 243 years of his life, and he lived on until Shem the son of Noah was 98 years old. Seven generations lived on the earth together at the same time for hundreds of years. Adam himself lived through nine centuries, so that what God had taught Adam could be told directly from Adam to Methuselah to Shem.
Why Lives Shortened
The great length of life in Genesis 5:26 shows that humanity was made perfect physically, formed noble in body and intellect in the image of God and pronounced very good. Size and physical strength were in proportion to that length of life, and the race was created with ten times more vital force than it now possesses, for otherwise its violations of the laws of health and life would long ago have extinguished it. That original endowment is the measure against which the present brief existence, marked with disease, decrepitude and imbecility, reveals the fall of the race under the original curse with its accumulated weight of transgression and violation of natural law.
Those lifetimes were protracted because Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of life, which possessed power to perpetuate life so that as long as they ate of it they could not die. That life-giving power was transmitted from Adam and Eve to their descendants, so that only a few generations after Adam had access to the tree that was to prolong life, man's existence was still measured by centuries and the human race yet retained much of its early vigor with rare powers to plan and execute.
Human vitality was not weakened as quickly in the generations after creation, so life then stood near a millennium in length before the effects of corrupt appetites and violations of physical law became strongly felt across the human race. Methuselah's 782 years after begetting Lamech belong to that unbroken pattern from Adam to the Flood in which each patriarch lived nearly a thousand years.
After Noah human life gradually shortened as disease and mortality increased through successive generations amid continued and awful violations of the laws of life and health. That shortening filled the years of man with pain and disease from birth, adding decrepitude and imbecility, and it hastened rapidly from Noah onward after he and his sons of necessity began to eat flesh as food. The record of nearly a thousand years from Adam to Noah thus stands as the starting point from which continued transgression cut down the years of man.
Methuselah's Witness and Legacy
Methuselah was the son of Enoch who lived on into the time of Noah and the building of the ark, and Enoch instructed him with the rest of the family about the coming flood. He belonged among the righteous men before the Flood, with Seth, Enoch, Noah and others, who presented the truth and kept the knowledge of God continually before the world while the people despised the truth, the imaginations of their hearts were evil and only evil continually, and secret societies worked violence in darkness until God destroyed that race by a flood. During his long life after Lamech he listened to the faithful warning preaching of his grandson Noah that a flood of waters was coming upon the earth, and he with his sons and grandsons and some others received instruction from Noah and assisted Noah in building the ark.
He was the living link between Adam and Shem, for Adam was still alive during the first 243 years of his life and he lived on until Shem the son of Noah was 98 years old, so that what God had taught Adam could be told directly from Adam to Methuselah to Shem and then through Shem to Abraham and Isaac and through them to Jacob, the father of the tribes of Israel. This long overlap, when Adam himself lived through nine centuries and seven generations lived on the earth together at the same time for hundreds of years, gave great advantages for gaining and sharing knowledge, because Adam had learned the history of creation from the Creator and had seen nine centuries with his own eyes, and although they had no books and no written records they could consult together and each profit from the knowledge and experience of all, with great physical and mental vigor giving strong memories able to grasp and retain what was told and hand it on unimpaired to posterity. That existence still measured by centuries, only a few generations after Adam had access to the tree that was to prolong life, retained much early vigor with rare powers to plan and execute, given to serve God and make His name a praise in the earth; the long-lived people failed to do this, and their guilt in giving loose rein to iniquity was in proportion to their skill and mental ability, seen in many giants of great stature and strength, renowned for wisdom and skillful in devising the most cunning and wonderful works.
Methuselah fathered Lamech and then lived 782 years longer, raising other sons and daughters as a literal part of the unbroken Genesis record in which the patriarchs from Adam to Noah lived nearly a thousand years. That great length of life shows the race as first made perfect in body and mind in the image of God, with size and strength in proportion to years and far greater vital force than now remains. His very long life made him the living link from Adam to Shem, since Adam was still alive during his first 243 years and he himself lived until Shem was 98, so what God taught Adam could pass by direct testimony to Abraham and Israel. Through those centuries he stood with the righteous before the Flood, hearing Enoch and then his grandson Noah warn of the coming waters, receiving instruction and helping to build the ark while the world around gave itself to evil and violence. Those lifetimes were first protracted by power from the tree of life transmitted for a few generations, then gradually shortened after Noah as transgression, violation of the laws of health, and the necessity of eating flesh brought in disease, decrepitude and early death.
Long Life Before Flood
Genesis 5:26 records that Methuselah lived 782 years after he fathered Lamech and fathered other sons and daughters. This belongs to the literal record of the long-lived patriarchs from Adam to Noah, who with one or two exceptions lived nearly a thousand years, between nine hundred and a thousand years. Those early generations lived nearly a thousand years, and human lifespans shortened after Noah.
The nine generations before the Flood averaged 912 years of life, compared with 332 years for nine generations after the Flood. That decline tapered to between one and two hundred years by the time of the Egyptian bondage. It fell further to seventy years, threescore years and ten, in the time of Moses and of David, about halfway from Adam to the present. At present it stands at about thirty-five or thirty years in Europe and America, and twenty years in great cities.
Those early lifespans are presented as a measure of life ending without accounts of prolonged suffering or particular diseases. During the first 2000 years no death of children is recorded, and it was uncommon for a son to die before his father.
Methuselah's very long life overlapped other patriarchs, for Adam was still alive during the first 243 years of his life, and he lived on until Shem the son of Noah was 98 years old. Seven generations lived on the earth together at the same time for hundreds of years. Adam himself lived through nine centuries, so that what God had taught Adam could be told directly from Adam to Methuselah to Shem.
Why Lives Shortened
The great length of life in Genesis 5:26 shows that humanity was made perfect physically, formed noble in body and intellect in the image of God and pronounced very good. Size and physical strength were in proportion to that length of life, and the race was created with ten times more vital force than it now possesses, for otherwise its violations of the laws of health and life would long ago have extinguished it. That original endowment is the measure against which the present brief existence, marked with disease, decrepitude and imbecility, reveals the fall of the race under the original curse with its accumulated weight of transgression and violation of natural law.
Those lifetimes were protracted because Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of life, which possessed power to perpetuate life so that as long as they ate of it they could not die. That life-giving power was transmitted from Adam and Eve to their descendants, so that only a few generations after Adam had access to the tree that was to prolong life, man's existence was still measured by centuries and the human race yet retained much of its early vigor with rare powers to plan and execute.
Human vitality was not weakened as quickly in the generations after creation, so life then stood near a millennium in length before the effects of corrupt appetites and violations of physical law became strongly felt across the human race. Methuselah's 782 years after begetting Lamech belong to that unbroken pattern from Adam to the Flood in which each patriarch lived nearly a thousand years.
After Noah human life gradually shortened as disease and mortality increased through successive generations amid continued and awful violations of the laws of life and health. That shortening filled the years of man with pain and disease from birth, adding decrepitude and imbecility, and it hastened rapidly from Noah onward after he and his sons of necessity began to eat flesh as food. The record of nearly a thousand years from Adam to Noah thus stands as the starting point from which continued transgression cut down the years of man.
Methuselah's Witness and Legacy
Methuselah was the son of Enoch who lived on into the time of Noah and the building of the ark, and Enoch instructed him with the rest of the family about the coming flood. He belonged among the righteous men before the Flood, with Seth, Enoch, Noah and others, who presented the truth and kept the knowledge of God continually before the world while the people despised the truth, the imaginations of their hearts were evil and only evil continually, and secret societies worked violence in darkness until God destroyed that race by a flood. During his long life after Lamech he listened to the faithful warning preaching of his grandson Noah that a flood of waters was coming upon the earth, and he with his sons and grandsons and some others received instruction from Noah and assisted Noah in building the ark.
He was the living link between Adam and Shem, for Adam was still alive during the first 243 years of his life and he lived on until Shem the son of Noah was 98 years old, so that what God had taught Adam could be told directly from Adam to Methuselah to Shem and then through Shem to Abraham and Isaac and through them to Jacob, the father of the tribes of Israel. This long overlap, when Adam himself lived through nine centuries and seven generations lived on the earth together at the same time for hundreds of years, gave great advantages for gaining and sharing knowledge, because Adam had learned the history of creation from the Creator and had seen nine centuries with his own eyes, and although they had no books and no written records they could consult together and each profit from the knowledge and experience of all, with great physical and mental vigor giving strong memories able to grasp and retain what was told and hand it on unimpaired to posterity. That existence still measured by centuries, only a few generations after Adam had access to the tree that was to prolong life, retained much early vigor with rare powers to plan and execute, given to serve God and make His name a praise in the earth; the long-lived people failed to do this, and their guilt in giving loose rein to iniquity was in proportion to their skill and mental ability, seen in many giants of great stature and strength, renowned for wisdom and skillful in devising the most cunning and wonderful works.