Genesis 5:26 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters.

NIV: After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters.

NASB: Then Methuselah lived 782 years after he fathered Lamech, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

CSB: Methuselah lived 782 years after he fathered Lamech, and he fathered other sons and daughters.

NLT: After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived another 782 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

KJV: And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:

NKJV: After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters.

Methuselah is an important and poignant aspect of this part of the Genesis story line. Methuselah will survive until the very same year as the flood. In fact, at the time Methuselah was born, every one of his paternal ancestors was still alive! According to the ages given in this passage, Adam did not die until Methuselah was more than 200 years old. And, his son, Lamech, was also born just prior to the death of Adam. This means that there was an unbroken line of eyewitness history still thriving in the world. The wicked, evil world of Noah's day knew exactly what their history was. There were men and women walking the earth who had lived in direct contact with Adam himself.

Methuselah lives another 782 years after fathering Lamech, giving him time to father many, many other sons and daughters. This is also important, for a much sadder reason. It speaks to how widespread the corruption of man was by the time of Noah's birth. Cain's descendants celebrated their own sin (Genesis 4:23–24). Seth's line walked with God (Genesis 5:22–24), and grieved the state of the fallen world (Genesis 5:29). Sadly, at this point in the history of man, most people are not walking with God. The vast majority of Methuselah's family line are going to reject their Creator, and be destroyed in judgment.

Methuselah's name, in fact, might have been a prophecy. It can be translated either as "man of the dart," or as "his death brings judgment." Using calculations from this chapter, the flood occurs in the same year as Methuselah's death.

Genesis 5:1-32 is a bridge of genealogy connecting the time of Adam and his son Seth to the time of Noah. This brings the Bible's historical record to the era of the flood. It provides a small, but helpful set of details: early humans lived a long time, had many children, and all died as a result of ubiquitous human sin. Enoch is the exception that proves the rule, commended for walking with God and seemingly taken away before his physical death. Despite the presence of early God-worshippers such as Adam and Seth, man will quickly descend into extraordinary wickedness, as seen in chapter 6. The coming of Noah at the end of this chapter prepares us for God's response to the sins of humankind.

Chapter 5 uses a simple genealogy of Adam's descendants through Seth to link the earliest humans with the time of Noah and the flood. In the generations after the garden, human beings live extraordinarily long lives, have great numbers of children, and continue to be in relationship with God though separated from Him physically and spiritually. The description of Enoch being ''taken'' by God is the exception that proves the rule: No matter how long a person lives, sin always leads to death.

Genesis 4 ends with the birth of Seth's son Enosh, and a statement that people had begun to call on the Lord's name. Chapter 5 details the generations from Adam through Seth to Noah, connecting the time of Adam and Seth with the time of Noah and his sons as described in chapter 6. This sets the stage for God's judgment of mankind's pervasive sin in the flood.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.