For a printable copy of this chapter (4) click here: 8.5×11″; A4 paper

Click here for a pdf of Genesis 4–11 in Redemptive History: 8.5×11″; A4 paper

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5) Gen 5:25–27: Methuselah experienced the longest recorded life in the Bible.

Based upon the genealogy in Gen 5, the patriarch who lived on earth for the shortest time produced the biblical person who dwelt upon the planet the longest.

In the Old Testament, longevity typically signifies divine favor (Ps 91:14–16; Deut 6:1–2; Prov 10:27).[1]

However, even the oldest patriarch lived less than “a day” (yom) by the Lord’s accounting (Ps 90:1–6).

This prevented these men from achieving a God-like status (Gen 3:17–19; Gen 5:5).[2]

Those who reside in the Lord’s presence—as Enoch did— receive far greater benefits than a long life on earth (Gen 5:21–24).[3]

Image via Wikimedia Commons

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Read Gen 5:25–27. In contrast to the account of Enoch, how does the record of Methuselah remind us of the effects of sin upon humanity?

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Go to Chapter 5: Groaning and Grieving (Genesis 5:28–6:8)

[Related posts include Walking with God (Gen 5:21–24); Let There Be Light (Gen 1:3–5); A Return to the Ground (Gen 3:19); In Adam’s Likeness and Image (Gen 5:3–5); and Pleasing to God (Heb 11:5–6)]

[Click here to go to Chapter 4: The Generations of Adam (Genesis 5:1–27)]

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[1]Note an exception in 1 Ki 14:12–14, where the Lord ended a child’s life to spare him from greater calamity.

[2]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 257–8.

[3]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 115.