Was Methuselah a real live person?

Answer 1

A:The only information we have on Methuselah comes from The Bible, and the only thing the Bible really tells us is that he lived to be 969 years old. It is reasonable to say that Methuselah was not a real, historical person.

He features in a pre-Flood narrative that scientists and historians say is purely legendary. We even find that the two most important events in his life occurred at ages that are multiples of the number 17, a special number in the numerology of the Book of Genesis. Methuselah had his first child at the age of 187, which is 11 X 17, and died at 969, which is 57 X 17. The statistical chance of the oldest person in the Bible having his first child at an exact multiple of 17 and then of dying at an exact multiple of 17 are somewhat remote, confirming that this part of the story arose out of the spiritual meaning of the number 17, not history.

Another Answer:

The Scripture simply states that Methuselah lived 969 years and he 'died.' He was not killed like the others in the flood, though his stated death was in the same year. Methuselah was from the line of 'Righteousness' that continued from Seth through Enoch to Methuselah to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the 12 tribes of Israel forward. It is highly unlikely God would of grouped him into the unrighteous He destroyed by the Flood though he dies in the same year.

Additionally, the Jewish tradition of 'Rashi' a famous rabbi writing many commentaries suggested that Methuselah died a week before the flood so the family could have 7 days of mourning and burial. Then the flood. It is simply an unknown timeline but Methuselah is a real person mentioned in other Books of the Bible and in Jesus' genealogy back to Adam

Answer 2

A:No, Methuselah was not the oldest man who ever lived, but he is the oldest man according to the Bible. Historians and anthropologists do not accept the biblical account of Methuselah's long life as literally true.

It is useful to look at the biblical lifespan for Methuselah in terms of Hebrew numerology. First of all, the number 17 was important in Genesis genealogies, from Adam all the way down to the legendary Patriarchs. Methuselah is portrayed as having his first child at the age of 187, which is 11 X 17, and dying at 969, which is 57 X 17. The statistical chance of the oldest person in the Bible having his first child at an exact multiple of 17 and then of dying at an exact multiple of 17 are somewhat remote, confirming that this part of the story arose out of the spiritual meaning of the number 17, not history. Methuselah was not a real person and was therefore not the oldest person who ever lived.