The Life of Methuselah

One of the early patriarchs was Methuselah, best known for the fact that he lived longer than any other recorded in the Bible. He was the son of Enoch and the 5^th great grandson of Adam, born 687 years after Adam became mortal. He was born when his father Enoch was 65 years old, and his birth seems to have marked the beginning of the city of Zion. We read, “And all the days of Zion, in the days of Enoch, were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch and all his people walked with God, and he dwelt in the midst of Zion; and it came to pass that Zion was not, for God received it up into his own bosom; and from thence went forth the saying, Zion is Fled. And all the days of Enoch were four hundred and thirty years.” So the days of Enoch were 430 years, the days of Zion were the last 365 of those years, and Methuselah was born when Enoch was 65. And yet, despite his life marking somehow the time of the city of Enoch, he didn’t get to go with them when they were taken up: “And it came to pass that Methuselah, the son of Enoch, was not taken, that the covenants of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to Enoch; for he truly covenanted with Enoch that Noah should be of the fruit of his loins” (Moses 7:68-69, Moses 8:1-2). The Lord left him on the earth to continue the covenant He had made with his fathers.

                We have a few more details about his life, and several passages confirm that Methuselah was indeed a righteous man. We read that “Methuselah was one hundred years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam,” and his son Lamech was born when he was 187 years old. When Methuselah was 240 years old, he participated in the great meeting in Adam-ondi-Ahman: “Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, who were all ahigh priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing. And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel” (Doctrine and Covenants 107:50-53). After his father Enoch was taken up with his city when Methuselah was 365, “Methuselah prophesied that from his loins should spring all the kingdoms of the earth (through Noah), and he took glory unto himself” (Moses 8:3). I don’t think that last statement should be taken in a negative way; rather he seems to have gloried in the promises and covenants of the Lord for his seed. At the age of 379, after Enoch had been taken up, he ordained Noah: “Noah was ten years old when he was ordained under the hand of Methuselah.” The only other thing we know about him is that he “begat sons and daughters” and then he died at the age of 969 (Moses 8:6). That means he died in the 1656^th year since Adam, which was the same year as the flood. It was also five years after his son Lamech passed away. Likely he died shortly before Noah and his family got on the ark to preserve themselves from the flood. So he missed going with his father up into heaven with the city of Enoch which he undoubtedly helped to create, and he missed going on the ark with his grandson Noah which he surely helped to build. We remember him most because he lived 969 years, which is 39 years longer than Adam and longer than any other recorded in the Bible. But most importantly he was a righteous man, and though perhaps he faced some disappointment in not being taken up with the city of Enoch or preserved on the ark, he no doubt was united with his father Enoch upon his death and will one day return with that city to join the faithful saints at the New Jerusalem.