Genesis 5:21

Genesis 5:21

 

And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:

 

a. NLT: When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah. [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. ASV:  And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. YLT: And Enoch liveth five and sixty years, and begetteth Methuselah. [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

 

d. Amplified Bible:  When Enoch was 65 years old, Methuselah was born. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

 

f. Stone Edition CHUMASH, Rabbinic Commentary: Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE CHUMASH; Copyright 1998, 2000 by Mesorah Publications, Ldt.]

1. “And Enoch lived sixty and five years…”

 

a. [And] Enoch [2585 * Chanowk] [Strong: from 2596; initiated; Chanok, an antediluvian patriach:--Enoch.]

 

b. lived [2421 * chavah] [Strong: a primitive root (Compare 2331, 2421); to live, whether literally or figuratively; causatively, to revive:--keep (leave, make) alive, X certainly, give (promise) life, (let, suffer to) live, nourish up, preserve (alive), quicken, recover, repair, restore (to life), revive, (X God) save (alive, life, lives), X surely, be whole.]

 

c. sixty [8346 * shishshiym] [Strong: multiple of 8337; sixty:--sixty, three score.]

 

d. [and] five [2568 * chamesh] [Strong: masculine chamishshah {kham-ish-shaw}; a primitive numeral; five:--fif(-teen), fifth, five (X apiece).]

e. years [Strong: 8141 shaneh shaw-neh' (in plura or (feminine) shanah {shaw-naw'}; from 8138; a year (as a revolution of time):--+ whole age, X long, + old, year(X -ly).]

 

2.  “…and begat Methuselah:”

 

a. [and] begat [3205 * yalad] [Strong: a primitive root; to bear young; causatively, to beget; medically, to act as midwife; specifically, to show lineage:--bear, beget, birth((-day)), born, (make to) bring forth (children, young), bring up, calve, child, come, be delivered (of a child), time of delivery, gender, hatch, labour, (do the office of a) midwife, declare pedigrees, be the son of, (woman in, woman that) travail(-eth, -ing woman).]

 

b. Methuselah [4968 * Mĕthuwshelach][Strong: man of a dart.][Gesenius:  man of a dart.]

 

1). In research concerning the name of Methuselah, I turned up some interesting things. I had heard in years past that his name meant something about the flood but it is not found in Strong’s or Gesenius.

 

a). When Methuselah was born, his godly father must have prophetically known of coming things for his son's name means "when he dies, judgment," and interestingly enough, Methuselah died in the same year God judged the sinful world with the great Flood of Noah's day. http://www.icr.org/article/how-did-methuselah-die/

 

b). Gleanings In Genesis, Arthur Pink: “It is not said that Enoch walked with God before his son was born, and the inference seems to be that the coming into his life of this little one God’s gift—may have been the means of leading him into this close fellowship. Such ought ever to be the case. The responsibilities of parenthood should cast us more and more upon God. The name of his son strongly implies that Enoch had received a revelation from God. Methuselah signifies, "When he is dead it shall be sent," i.e., the Deluge (Newberry). In all probability then, a Divine revelation is memorialized in this name. It was as though God had said to Enoch, "Do you see that baby? The world will last as long as he lives and no longer! When that child dies, I shall deal with the world in judgment.” http://www.davidcox.com.mx/library/P/Pink%20-%20Gleanings%20in%20Genesis%20Commentary.pdf

 

c). “Methuselah is the son of Enoch, who famously walked with God, and the father of Lamech the Second and the grandfather of Noah (Genesis 5:25). He is also the man with the longest life-span in the Bible (969 years). The Bible doesn't actually mention it but a little arithmetic reveals that Methuselah died in the year of the great flood. The question of whether he died of natural causes or drowned remains unanswered.

The name Methuselah consists of two elements.  The first part is (mat), which is one of a few words to denote man or mankind, and used most often to indicate a male capable of combat. There is an obvious and grim connection with the word (mut), to die; corpse. The second part comes from the verb (shalah) meaning send, send out, let go. The charge of the verb becomes clear in the meaning of the derivatives:(shelah), a sort of weapon that was thrown, like a javelin;  (shilluhim), sending away; (sheluha), shoot, branch (Isaiah 16:8);  (mislah); undertaking (that to which one stretches out the hand), or pasture (where animals get to roam free);  (mishloah), outstretching, sending;  (mishlahat), discharge, deputation. For a meaning of the name Methuselah, Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads When He Is Dead It Shall Be Sent. NOBS Study Bible Name List reads Man Of A Javelin. Perhaps less dramatic is Man With A Mission.” http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Methuselah.html#.Uy9UEfldVj4

 

d). Methuselah, the son of Enoch: Henry Morris, The Genesis Record, pp. 159, 160; “Many ancient and modern commentators have interpreted the name Methuselah as meaning, “when he dies, it shall be sent.” If this suggestion is correct(and there is at least a possible basis for it), then a justifiable inference is that Enoch, the prophet of the coming judgment, had received at the time of the birth of this son a special revelation concerning the coming judgment of the great flood. God, however, promised him that it would not come as long as Methuselah lived; and Enoch gave him a name to commemorate that prophetic warning and promise. This may be the significance of the fact that Methuselah lived longer (969 years) than any other man in history whose age was recorded.”

 

2). When the years of the genealogy from Adam to the Flood are added up, it totals 1656 years. Since the flood came on the 600th year of Noah’s life Genesis 6:11, we know Noah was born 1056 years after Creation.