How old is methuselah

Some of those people had lived many years, while others' lives had been cut short. But I wonder, if we knew the real story of their age, if we knew the sum of all the days in their lives that really amounted to anything—what their age would truly be.

The head of John the Baptist was cut off when he was less than thirty-five years old, yet John the Baptist had accomplished more than all the prophets before him. Jesus Christ was crucified when he was not yet thirty-five, but what amazing things he accomplished in those few short years.

The value of life is not reckoned by its length , but by its accomplishments. There should be a purpose in every day of life—a purpose for the whole life, and a purpose for each day of the life. A life without a purpose, can never be a full life. It is not living—it is merely existing. The person without a definite purpose in life, is like a ship without a rudder. Such living is mere drifting —not accomplishing anything worthwhile.

Such a person is the plaything of circumstances. The ship drifts in whichever direction the wind is blowing. So a life without a purpose—drifts, drifts. We should put something of value into every day of our life. If we ourselves do not put something into our lives—they will contain nothing.

We once constructed a cistern. We had it built very carefully. We desired that it be a very good one so that we might drink the water. A short time after it was constructed, a heavy rain fell and soaked up the ground thoroughly, but there was no water in the cistern.

It was a good cistern, therefore no water could soak in through its walls, but it was an empty cistern. It had capacity, but no contents. Plenty of water had fallen on the roof to have filled it full, but there was no water in the cistern. It is that way with many lives.

There are many things to be accomplished all about them. There are many things that might enrich them and beautify them and make them worth while—but though there are opportunities all around them, though there are many things that might fill their lives—still their lives are empty.

The reason the cistern was empty, was because there was nothing as yet to conduct the water to it—the rain that fell, did not go into the cistern. In the same way, there are many lives that are empty, while there are opportunities of usefulness all around the person.

So many are ready to say, "Oh, my life does not count. I cannot do anything worthwhile. God never created a single human being to live a useless life. Methuselah was years old when Noah was born Genesis Methuselah died in the year of the flood when Noah was years old Genesis After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God years and had other sons and daughters.

After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of years, and then he died. Methuselah died in the same year of the Flood — yes, that flood. The Methuselah tree is in a hidden and protected location in the White Mountains of eastern California. The tree is a Bristlecone Pine and is 4, years old as of National Parks Service , Bristlecone Pine, Penny Noyes, M.

This could explain why all the reported ages end in 0, 2, 5, 7, or 9. For some of the numbers in Genesis 5, the combinations have to get more complicated. These and all the others can be generated by combinations of 60, 5, and 7. Now perhaps it might be claimed that you can come up with most any number if you let the combinations get complex enough.

Such practices are often vague and ambiguous under the light of rational investigation. We may never know for sure what significance the numbers had for the ancient Hebrews who wrote the text. Knowing what we do about the culture, and in the absence of any persuasive reasons for thinking that the ages of these men were so radically different than they are today, it seems that a symbolic or rhetorical interpretation is a legitimate option and maybe even a preferable one.

Taking the biblical text as a product of an ancient culture which was very different from our own forces us to do a lot of difficult work in order to interpret it correctly. I believe that anyone can pick up the Bible and read it profitably. Even if we never know for sure how genres worked in the ancient world or how long the patriarchs actually lived, we know enough to understand what God expects us to take from the text.

We make it to the time of Noah, and God starts things over again, preserving Noah to carry on the human race. Then the Tower of Babel sends civilization scattering, and God calls Abram to father the Hebrew people through whom all people would be brought back to God. Not everyone needs to get a PhD in Ancient Near Eastern studies in order to read Genesis; but there should be some people in our faith communities who get such degrees and help us to read the text more accurately.

God expects us to use our minds to the best of our ability. He has communicated to us through the Bible and through the created order. Christian communities honor God and enable themselves to proclaim the truth more effectively by studying both of these.

Join us to receive the latest articles, podcasts, videos, and more, and help us show how science and faith work hand in hand. I calculate that number to be very close to. Part Six in the Uniquely Unique mini-series. We take stock of one more distinguishing feature of humans—the image of God. People on all sides of the creation debate are convinced the other sides are doing it all wrong.