methuselah

Everyday

1. (Bible) Methuselah is a man in the Book of Genesis who is said to have lived 969 years, the oldest person in the Bible. tree →
2. (informal) A methuselah is a very old person or thing. tree →
3. A methuselah is also a very large wine bottle holding six litres. tree →

In the lessons

Met in Bible lessons and in sayings: «as old as Methuselah» means extremely old. Also the name of a very old bristlecone pine tree in California.

Examples

• The Bible says Methuselah lived to be 969 years old. tree →
• Grandad jokes that he is as old as Methuselah. tree →
• Methuselah was the grandfather of Noah. tree →
• A pine tree called Methuselah is nearly 5,000 years old. tree →
• That old car is a real methuselah. tree →
• A methuselah holds as much as eight normal bottles. tree →

Note

As a Bible name, capital M. Christians and Jews read the long ages in Genesis in different ways; some take them literally, many see them as symbolic. No real person today lives anywhere near that long.

In Jewish tradition

In Genesis Methuselah is the son of Enoch and grandfather of Noah. He lived 969 years, the longest life recorded in the Torah.

Interpretation. The rabbis said he lived so long because God gave sinners time to repent before the Flood. Some say the Flood came in the year he died.

Examples

• And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begot Methuselah. (Torah GEN.5.21, JPS 1917) tree →
• And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty and seven years, and begot Lamech. (Torah GEN.5.25, JPS 1917) tree →
• And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years; and he died. (Torah GEN.5.27, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

As a Bible name, capital M. Christians and Jews read the long ages in Genesis in different ways; some take them literally, many see them as symbolic. No real person today lives anywhere near that long.