METHUSAEL, or Matthusael, Son of Mehujael; Son of Enoch, and Father of Lamech, the Father of Noah, of the Race of Seth, Gen. v. 21, 22, &c. Methuselah was born in the Year of the World 687. He begat Lamech in the Year 874, and died in the Year of the World 1656, aged nine Hundred sixty nine Years, which is the greatest Age that has been attained by any mortal Man upon Earth. This same Year 1656, before Christ 2344, before the Vulgar Æra 2348, was the Year of the universal Deluge.
St. Jerome1 in his Hebraical Questions upon Genesis tells us, there is a famous Question that used to be debated in all the Churches, which is, that Methuselah, according to the Text of the Septuagint, must have lived fourteen Years after the Deluge; and according to other Copies, he died six Years before the Deluge: In which they both must recede from the Truth of the Hebrew Text, which assures us that he died in the very Year of the Deluge. Thus the Seventy read it. Methuselah being an hundred and sixty seven Years old begat Lamech, after which he lived yet eight hundred and two Years, (or according to other Copies, seven hundred fourscore and two Years; and the whole Number of his Years was nine hundred sixty nine Years. But if Lamech was born in the Year of Methuselah 167, and if he begat Noah at the Age of 188 Years, which was the 55th Year of Methuselah, the Deluge happening in the 600th Year of Noah, as the Scripture affirms, that is, in the Year of Methujaleb 955, it must follow that the Year of the Deluge will be 14 Years before the Death of Methuselah.
But we must admit, that the Copies of the Septuagint were corrupted in this Place, and must therefore recur to the Hebrew Text, which tells us that Methuselah begat Lamech at the Age of one Hundred fourscore and seven Years. After this Time he lived on for seven Hundred fourscore and two Years; in all nine Hundred sixty nine Years. Lamech begat Noah at the Age of one Hundred fourscore and two Years, six Hundred Years before the Deluge. Add together the six Hundred Years of Noah, one Hundred and eighty two of Lamech, one Hundred and eighty seven of Methuselah, which will amount to the Sum of nine Hundred and sixty nine Years, which will be the Year of the Death of Methuselah, and also the Year of the Deluge.
The Rabbins pretend that Methuselah was a very learned Man, that he was an Hundred Years at the School of his Father Enoch, that he wrote several Works, and pronounced to the Number of three Hundred and thirty Proverbs or Parables2. Eupolemus quoted in Eusebius3 acquaints us, that Methuselah, by the Ministry of Angels, learned all the Kinds of Knowledge that are derived down to us. Solomon Jarchi thinks he died seven Days before the Deluge, that his Son Noah might have Time to lament him; and the Book of Jalkut says, that then a Voice was heard from Heaven, as if the Angels themselves bewailed the Death of Methuselah.
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Footnotes
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Vide Hieronym. tradit. Hebr. in Genes. Aug. l. xv. c. 11, 13. de Civit. Georgius Syncellus Chronic. p. 114. believes that Methuselah was miraculously preserved from the Waters of the Deluge, and that perhaps he was taken away in the Manner of his Father Enoch; that after this he lived fourteen Years upon the Earth. Eu- sebius in his Chronicon acknowledges, that he lived fifteen Years after the Deluge, and that it was unknown where he was secured during the Deluge. ↩
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Vide Scipion. Sgambat. Archiv. V. T. p. 139. ↩
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Eupol. apud Euseb. Præparat. l. ix. c. 17. † 60 French Pounds make 78¾ English Pounds Troy, which allowing a Pint for a Pound, comes to 9²⁷⁄₃₂ Gallons. This differs but little from the Capacity of the Metreta, as assigned by Dr. Arbuthnot in his Tables, which is 10¼ Gallons of English Wine-Measure. But the Jewish Bath is determined by him to be only 7½ Gallons. ↩