Traditionally the genealogies are considered the most boring part of the whole Bible, but to the observant or just the morbidly curious with nothing better to do they can yield all kinds of cool little treasures. What follows is one of my curious explorations of the first genealogy in the scriptures.
In Genesis 5:21 we have Enoch one of the descendants of Seth (Able’s replacement). Enoch has the distinction of being the first person after the Garden who the Bible actually says walked with God. He is also the first person in scripture who got a fabulous Elijah like disappearance. Verse 24 reads, “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” When Enoch was 65 he had a child whom he named Methuselah. Enoch’s name means ‘dedicate,’ and he was definitely dedicated to the Lord.
Methuselah means to the end of the spear or to the full extent of the branch or as far as the dart flies. His name is a combination of two words that have multiple applications. The idea seems to be that Enoch was saying that Methuselah is one who would live up till the end of something. The question is what is he living to the end of? Answer: the world as they knew it. From Genesis 5:25 - 31; 7:11 we learn the following information.
Methuselah lived a total of 969 years. At the age of 187 he had a son named Lamech (not the easily offended Lamech that was a descendant of Cain).
Lamech lived for 777 years in all. Lamech had a son named Noah (this is the Noah who built the ark). Lamech lived 595 after Noah was born. Noah was 600 years old at the time of the flood. Doing a little bit of math we figure out that Lamech died 5 years before the flood. Methuselah lived another 782 years after his son Lamech was born which means that he yet another 5 years after Lamech died. Methuselah lived right up until the year of the flood. He lived right up until the end of the age he was living in, just like Enoch said he would when he named him. How’s that for a cool prophetic word?
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