Methuselah's Wife

Lamech Segment Analysis
© 1998 Alice C. Linsley


According to the Hebrew Scriptures, the ruler Methuselah lived 969 years, the perfect number set in the context of ancient Egyptian numerology. By his cousin wife Naamah, he had a son named Lamech. This is Lamech the Younger named for Naamah’s father (see bottom portion of the diagram.)

Naamah and Lamech are both names associated with the rulers among Abraham's people. Naamah is a royal name as attested by the name's connection with the Davidic Dynasty. David's grandson's mother was named Naamah (II Chron. 12:13). This is also the name of a region of Judah (Joshua 15:41). Lamech is a variant of la-melech which appears on several thousand Egyptian seals. It means "of the King" or "for the King."

Lamech ruled after Methuselah and is assigned another perfect number in the Masoretic text. He is said to have lived 777 years.[1] However, while the Scriptures agree on Methuselah’s 969 years, they disagree on the numbers assigned to Lamech. The Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) assigns Lamech 753 years, whereas the Samaritan Pentateuch assigns him 653 years. The Masoretic text provides the number that fits the biblical pattern. St. John Chrysostom noted the assignment of 7 to Cain, 77 to Lamech the Elder, and 777 to Lamech the Younger and believed that the number 7 in these cases speaks of God’s mercy shown to sinners.

It is likely that seven represents the seven visible planets and is linked to astrological concepts of ancient Egypt. We may never know exactly what these number sets signify, but the association of such auspicious numbers – 6, 7 and 9 – with Methuselah and his son Lamech indicate their greatness.[2]

Some view Lamech the Younger, named in Genesis 5, as the same Lamech named in Genesis 4 who bragged about killing a man. This is a mistake. Lamech the Elder is not presented as a righteous man, but as a braggart who set himself up as an equal to God.[3] Lamech the Younger, on the other hand, is the son of a righteous father and the father of Noah who found favor with God.

Why should there be such discrepancy in the number of years assigned to Lamech the Younger? Possibly the Septuagint didn’t recognize that there are two different persons named Lamech. Or the discrepancy might indicate dispute over Lamech’s character among the different recensions. Or it simply may be that the Septuagint and the Samaritan texts reflect lack of understanding of the kinship pattern of Abraham’s ruling ancestors.

I believe the discrepancy in numbers assigned to Lamech the Younger indicates lack of understanding of the kinship pattern. In this patrilineal system involving royalty and ascent to the throne, mother and first-born son do not belong to the same clan. The bride belongs to her husband’s clan while her son, if given her father’s throne name, belongs to the bride’s clan. The brilliant anthropologist, Lévi-Strauss recognized this in 1949, but his research was largely ignored by biblical scholars.

So it is that Naamah belonged to Methuselah’s clan, of the lne of Seth, while their first-born son belonged to the clan of his maternal grandfather, of the line of Kain.

NOTES



1.  The number seven has special significance as related to the first-born son’s marriage and his reception of a kingdom. In Jewish weddings the seven marriage blessings (Sheva Brachot) are recited under the huppah and the wedding feast lasts seven days. The assignment of 777 to Lamech the Younger symbolizes the son's marriage and ascension to the throne of his father.

2. Numbers were associated with totems such as the Lion, the Falcon, the Baboon, etc. The four sons of Horus are an example. Imsety is shown with a man’s head. Tuamutf is shown with a jackel’s head. Kabhsenuf is shown with a baboon’s head, and Hapi is shown with a falcon or hawk’s head. Mummification involved removing the body's organs which were placed in four jars adorned with the heads of these four sons. These four stood as guardians over the organs until such a time as the Ka and the Ba could be united, thus avoiding the second death (of which John speaks). Likewise, the Four Gospels have totems: Eagle (Matthew), Bull (Mark), Lion (Luke) and Man (John) and the Gospel writers are indeed guardians of Holy Tradition concerning the Son of God.

3. Lamech’s wives were named Adah (dawn) and t-Zillah (dusk), suggesting that Lamech the Elder placed his 2 wives on an east-west axis. All the other rulers listed in Genesis 4 and 5 likely had 2 wives also but it appears that they placed them on a north-south axis, as did Abraham. Sarah lived in Hebron and Keturah lived in Beersheba, to the south. By placing his wives on an east-west axis, Lamech the Elder claimed a territory corresponding to that of the Creator, whose emblem the Sun, makes a daily journey over the Earth, traveling from east to west. It is interesting to note that Mohammed, a descendent of Abraham by Keturah, placed his 2 wives’ apartments on the east and west sides of his mosque in Medina. Doubtless, this lent credibilty to his claim to be The Prophet of Allah.


Related reading:  The Cousin Bride's Naming Prerogative; African Naming Practices; An African Reflects on Biblical Names

Marrying that Messiah May Be Born

Alice C. Linsley

In the letter disseminated in December 2009, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger noted that approximately 50,000 abortions are performed in Israel every year. That is, 20,000 approved by Health Ministry abortion committees, and 30,000 unapproved procedures performed illegally in private clinics. The chief rabbis wrote that abortions, which Judaism permits under certain circumstances, “delay the coming of the Messiah.”

These Rabbis do not recognize Jesus as Messiah, so they are waiting. From their perspective, Jewish women having abortions could potentially delay Messiah's coming. They await a Messiah of their own invention, however. Since Judaism rejects belief in God Father and God Son, their expectation can never align with the historical Jesus, the Son of God.

Endogamous Marriage

The Hebrew ruler-priests caste practiced endogamy from long before the time of Abraham. It appears that they expected a woman of their caste to bring forth the Son of God, the Messiah. That expectation is first expressed in Genesis 3:15 which speaks of the Woman (not Eve) who is to deliver the Son/Seed of God who will crush the serpent's head. 

The Horite and Sethite Hebrew believed that the Woman would conceive by divine overshadowing just as the Angel Gabriel declared to the Virgin Mary (Lk.1:35). The archetype for the Theotokos was Hathor, the mother of Horus who is uniquely shown in ancient iconography wearing the solar crown between the horns of the celestial Bull.

The Horite and Sethite Hebrew were devotees of the High God who they believed has a son. In ancient texts the son is called HR, which in ancient Egyptian means "Most High One". The Horite and Sethite moieties maintained separate shrines along the Nile River. From there, they dispersed widely in the service of the early kingdom builders like Nimrod the Kushite (Gen. 10).

Among the early Hebrew were Cain and Seth whose descendants intermarried. The descendants of Ham and Shem also intermarried, as did the descendants of Abraham and his brother Nahor.

David was descended from Tamar, the daughter of a priest who, according to Jewish tradition, was called Melchizedek-Shem. His hometown of Bethlehem was a Horite Hebrew settlement before Judaism emerged. Among the "fathers" of Bethlehem was Hur. Hur is a Horus name. 

Matthew 2 explains that "Nazarene" is derived from the prophecy "He will be called a Nazorean", but this has no source in the Hebrew Bible. The term is from the older Akkadian language. Na-Zor in Akkadian means "one belonging to the Zorites". In 1 Chronicles 2:54, Salma of Judah is called the “father” of the Zorites. 1 Chronicles 2:5 states that Salma is also the "father of Bethlehem". So, the prophecy connects Jesus to both Nazareth and Bethlehem.

Jesus our Great High Priest

Jesus' priesthood is "in the order of Melchizedek" and that order of priests existed long before Judaism. Mary and Joseph, both descendants of the Horite Hebrew ruler-priest caste, were cousins. They married according to the marriage and ascendancy pattern of their ruler-priest ancestors.

Marriage and ascendancy patterns are highly resistant to change. If the pattern survived Egyptian captivity and deportation to Babylon, it surely continued afterwards. 

The Hebrew lines had been intermarrying from before Abraham's time and continued to intermarry up to the birth of Jesus Christ. Joseph's family lived in Nazareth which was the home of the eighteenth division of priests, that of Happizzez (1 Chr. 24:15).

Jesus' mother's name was named Miriam daughter of Joachim Son of Pntjr (Panther). From predynastic times (4000 B.C.), ntjr designated a ruler in the service of the High God. Pntjr was the name of Joachim's mother, evidence that the Hebrew traced lineage by both the male and female lines. A limestone stela (1539-1291 B.C.) bearing the names of Pekhty-nisu and his wife, Pa-netjer, is on exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.

It is certain that Mary was of the ruler-priest caste because even those who hated her admit this. Sanhedrin 106a says: “She who was the descendant of princes and governors played the harlot with carpenters.”

Abraham's people traced bloodline through the mother (as with Jews today), but social status and occupation of the sons was inherited through the father. So, Joseph was a carpenter like his father. St. Paul was Hebrew because he had a Hebrew mother, and he was a tent maker like his father.

Jesus was the Son of God, born to "the Woman" according to the ancient expectation (Gen. 3:15). Mary was the proper bride for Joseph since she was of a priestly line, and his patrilineal cousin. Joseph was also of the priestly line of Nazareth. Joseph of Nazareth married the daughter of a priest as did Joseph in Egypt, and Moses in Midian.

Why did Abraham's people preserve this unique and distinctive pattern of intermarriage between priestly lines? They did it for practical reasons: preservation of their Hebrew identity and wealth, but also because they believed that the expected Messiah would be born of their people. This is what Jesus indicated when he said to the Jewish authorities, "Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad." (John 8:56)

Likewise, John the Forerunner's testimony concerning Jesus as "the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) springs from direct knowledge of the tradition of his Horim (Horite Hebrew ancestors) that the Son of God was coming into the world to save sinners.


Related reading: The Hebrew Were a Caste; Horite and Sethite Mounds; Marriage Partner Selection Among the Hebrew; The Marriage and Ascendancy Pattern of the Early Hebrew; Jesus' Horite Hebrew Ancestry; The Blessed Woman of Genesis 3:15; The Marriage and Inheritance of Hebrew Daughters

St. Jerome on Genesis

Alice C. Linsley


Eusebius Hieronymus, better known as St. Jerome (c.347-420), was one of the most learned men of Christian antiquity. His grasp of ancient Semitic roots is astonishing. He was a classically trained scholar who became a monk and resided in Bethlehem, practicing extreme ascetical practices. He is the translator of the Latin Vulgate and a gifted interpreter of the Bible. The following reflections of St. Jerome on Genesis help us to understand some of the more difficult passages.

The water of creation prefigures the water of baptism.

In the beginning of Genesis, it is written: "And the Spirit was stirring above the waters." You see, then, what it says in the beginning of Genesis. Now for its mystical meaning - "The Spirit was stirring above the waters" - already at that time baptism was being foreshadowed. It could not be true baptism, to be sure, without the Spirit. (Homilies 10)

To be sure, if there was water and the Spirit, there was also from the beginning the Pleromic Blood of Jesus, for these three - the water, the Spirit and the Blood - bear eternal witness to the Truth.

On the Tree of Life at the sacred center

Now if wisdom is the tree of life, Wisdom itself is Christ. You understand now that the man who is blessed and holy is compared to this tree - that is, he is compared to Wisdom. Consequently, you see too that the just man, that blessed man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked - who has not done that but has done this - is like the tree that is planted near running water. He is, in other words, like Christ, inasmuch as he "raised us up together and seated us together in heaven." You see then that we shall reign together with Christ in heaven. You see too that because this tree has been planted there together with him. (Homilies 1)

The Tree of Life at the center of the garden forshadowed the Wisdom of God hidden and revealed in the Cross, the tree planted at the center of the universe.


On the building up of the Church

"God took a rib from the side of Adam and made it into a woman." Here Scripture said aedificavit ("built"). The concept of building intends to denote the construction of a great house; consequently Adam's rib fashioned into a woman signifies, by apostolic authority, Christ and the church, and that is why Scripture said he formed (aedificavit) a woman from the rib. We have heard about the first Adam; let us come now to the second Adam and see how the church is made (aedificatur) from his side. The side of the Lord Savior as he hung on the cross is pierced with a lance, and from it there comes forth blood and water. Would you like to know how the church is built up from water and blood? First, through baptism of water, sins are forgiven; then, the blood of martyrs crowns the edifice. (Homilies 66)


On God's coming to Adam in the cool of the day
We read in Genesis that when Adam transgressed, when he paid heed to the serpent rather than to God, when he hid himself from the face of God, then God came into the garden and was walking about in the cool of day. Now listen to what the Scripture says. God sought out Adam, not at midday but in the evening. Adam had already lost the sunlight, for his high noon was over. (Homilies 1)

Here we see that St. Jerome knew the Tradition that speaks of God meeting man at high noon when there are no shadows. Noon is the sacred center of the day. This is what St. James intends us to understand when he writes, "every good giving, and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation, or shadow of turning."


On Methuselah's Dying in the Year of the Flood

There is a famous question that has been aired by discussion in all the churches: that by a careful reckoning it can be shown that Methuselah lived fourteen years after the flood. It appears that in this case as in many others, in the Septuagint translation of the Bible there is an error in the numbers. Among the Hebrews and the books of the Samaritans, I have found the text written this: "Methuselah lived a hundred and eighty-seven years and became the father of Lamech. Methuselah lived after the birth of Lamech seven hundred and eighty-two years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died. And Lamech lived one hundred and eighty two years and begot Noah." Accordingly, there are 369 years from the day of Methuselah's birth to the day of Noah's birth; to these add Noah's six hundred years, since the flood occurred in the six hundredth year of his life, and so it works out that Methuselah died in the nine hundred sixty-ninth year of his life, in the same year when the flood began. (Hebrew Questions on Genesis 5:25-29)

Here Jerome notes the discrepancy between the Septuagint and the Hebrew and Samaritan texts. The Septuagint has Methuselah living for 14 years after the flood. The Hebrew and Samaritan texts have him dying the year of the flood. It is possible that the Septuagint was influenced by the Babylonian Talmud in assigning these 14 years. In the Babylonian tradition, 14 - the sum of 7+ 7 - represents the fullness of time. In the Hebrew and Samaritan tradition, which use a base 9 counting system, the 369 years from Methuselah's birth to Noah's birth is obviously symbolic. It signifies the end of unity on earth, and the 600 years of Noah's life signifies that two lines of descent from Noah will be established on earth (which happened with the lines of Shem and Ham, which intermarried).

In either case, the flood of Noah occurred during a wet period that lasted about 500 years in the region of Lake Chad and the symbolic numbers assigned to the antediluvian patriarchs are sensible in the context of the Afro-Asiatic cosmology of Abraham's people. As removed as Westerners are from the ancient deep reading of the Scriptures, it would help us were this to be "aired by discussion in all the churches."

On the deeper meaning of the Ark's dimensions

We read in Genesis that the ark that Noah built was three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Notice the mystical significance of the numbers. In the number fifty, penance is symbolized because the fiftieth psalm of King David is the prayer of his repentance. Three hundred contains the symbol of crucifixion. The letter Τ is the sign for three hundred, whence Ezekiel says "Mark THAV on the forehead of those who moan; and do not kill any marked with THAV." No one marked with the sign of the cross on his forehead can be struck by the devil; he is not able to efface this sign, only sin can. (Homilies 84)


Noah's dishonor prefigures the Cross

After the deluge Noah drank and became drunk in his own house, and his thighs were uncovered and he was exposed in his nakedness. The elder brother came along and laughed; the younger, however, covered him up. All this is said in type of the Savior, for on the cross he had drunk of the passion: "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me." He drank and was inebriated, and his thighs were laid bare - the dishonor of the cross. The older brothers, the Jews, came along and laughed; the younger, the Gentiles, covered up his ignominy. (Homilies on Genesis 13)


In the Bible we find 2 fathers who became drunk with wine. The first is Noah and the second is Lot. In Noah’s case, his 3 sons decide what to do while their father sleeps in a drunken stupor. In Lot’s case, his 2 daughters decide what to do while their father sleeps. Fathers should not fall into drunken slumbers! The consequences are not good.

One of Noah’s sons comes under a curse and Abraham’s descendents are troubled by Lot’s descendents, the Moabites. Yet even in these stories we find redemption. The descendents of Ham helped the Israelites escape from Egypt. Jethro, the Priest of Midian (a descendent of Ham through Keturah’s line) acted as an advisor to Moses. A Moabitess trusted God to care for her and Naomi in Bethlehem. There Ruth married Boaz and became the great grandmother of King David and ancestress of Messiah.

Notice the symmetry of a father-in-law and a mother-in-law. This is consistent with the complementary binary oppositions that frame the Afro-Asiatic worldview. We also find the theme of laughing Jews in the story of Sarah, a type of the Jewish people. To her was given the promise of a son. Initially, she laughed at the promise because she thought only in natural terms and she was beyond the age of child bearing. Then in her later days, she received the promised son and even insisted that he alone was to rule over his father’s territory. This is what happened to the Jews. They were given the promise of the Messiah, God’s Son, and they laughed at the promise. But later many came to believe in Him.
From this brief exploration of Jerome's exposition of Genesis, it is evident that he read the Scriptures on a deep level and detected the pattern that points us to Jesus Christ. The Church is richer for his work in translating the Bible into Latin, tirelessly comparing the versions available to him. May St. Jerome's memory be eternal!


All quotations are taken from Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Volume I, Genesis 1-11. InterVarsity Press, 2001. Edited by Andrew Louth in collaboration with Marco Conti.


Related reading:  Gender Reversal and Sacred Mystery; Methuselah's Real Age

Methuselah's Real Age

Alice C. Linsley


The only "old" dude mentioned in Genesis is Abraham, as St. Jerome, notes: "I am reviewing carefully the places in Scripture where I might find old age mentioned for the first time. Adam lived for 930 years, yet he is not called an old man. Methuselah's life was 969 years, and he is not called an old man. I am coming down all the way to the flood, and after the flood for almost three thousand years, and I find no one who has been called old. Abraham is the first, and certainly he was much younger than Methuselah." (Homilies on the Psalms 21)

Jerome's observation is significant. Abraham was old. Those who lived before the flood are not called old because the numbers assigned to them are symbolic.

Invariably, people ask: “What is the significance of the long lifespans listed in Genesis?” and “Why did those who lived before the flood live longer than those after the flood?” Many seem unaware of the semitic association of numbers to the letters of the alphabet. In the Hebrew system (Gematria), there is no notation for zero and the numeric values for individual letters are added together. This poses a challenge when attempting to understand the symbolism of years which include a zero, such as Kenan's 910 and Seth's 600 years.

Then there is the discrepancy between the Septuagint, the Masoretic, and the Samaritan texts. The three don't agree on the number of years before begetting sons and the total number of years. The total number of years in the Septuagint and the Masoretic (Hebrew) records agree except in the case of Lamech the Younger (Noah's father). The Septuagint assigns Lamech a total of 753 years, whereas the Samaritan Pentateuch assigns him only 653 years. The New Jerusalem Bible, following the Masoretic Pentateuch, assigns Lamech 777 years.

In his extraordinary Commentary on Genesis (Volume 1), Umberto Cassuto wrote, "What is the cause of the divergences between the three texts, and which recension has preserved the original figures? Much has been written on this subject, and the answer remains in dispute" (p. 265). Cassuto himself believed that the original figures are preserved in the Masoretic chronology. Those are the numbers I will use here.

Consider the lifespan assigned to each of these pre-flood patriarchs in Genesis 5:

Seth – 912 years
Jared – 962 years
Kenan – 910 years
Methuselah – 969 years
Lamech the Younger – 777 years

Now compare the lifespan of each of the following in Genesis 11:

Shem – 600 years
Eber – 464 years
Serug – 230 years
Nahor the Elder (Terah's father) – 148 years
Terah – 205 years

Various explanations are offered to make sense of the patriarchs’ longevity. They include:

· People lived longer in ancient times.

· God shortened the lifespan due to sin.

· Those who recorded the list of patriarchs (Gen.11) honored their forefathers by ascribing to them length of days.

· The numbers assigned are symbolic and intended to convey information about each patriarch.

· The number symbolism is based on a mystical numerological system that requires fuller investigation.

Let us explore each of these explanations.

Evidence for Exceptional Longevity among Ancient Peoples

Studies in Paleopathology indicate that the lifespan of ancient peoples living in an area extending from North Africa to Turkey and Mesopotamia was about 32 years. This data applies to peoples in the Late Paleolithic - 30,000 to 9,000 B.C., the Mesolithic - 9,000 to 7,000 B.C. and the Early Neolithic - 7,000 to 5,000 B.C. (For more information on this, go here.)

One might argue that the patriarchs listed in Genesis 11 enjoyed extraordinary longevity by divine providence. Were this the case we would want to know why God’s providence seems limited to a specific time, people and place. In other words, the singularity of the extraordinary longevity of these patriarchs is a miracle and therefore beyond scientific explanation. While I believe in miracles, I find this explanation unlikely, unnecessary and without support from the Bible itself.


God Shortened the Lifespan

Genesis 6 hints that God shortened the lifespan. The Lord said, “My breath shall not abide in man forever, since he too is flesh; let the days allowed him be one hundred and twenty years.” (Gen. 6:3) Were we to take this literally we would expect the lifespan of the patriarchs in Genesis 11 to be no more than 120 years, yet all exceed that number. This suggests that the number 120 is symbolic, but what it symbolizes is unclear without access to the numerology that stands behind this text. If we examine the mystical symbolism of Kabbala, we find clues as to what the number 120 might signify in this context.

The directional poles are critical to the interpretation of the numerical symbolism. The number 1 is associated with north and always represents the Creator God. The number 2 represents the Generative Word and zero is a placeholder that makes this a 3-digit number. The number 3 is associated with the Spirit of God. With this in mind, the symbolism of the number 120 seems to be that the lifespan of the sons of Adam is the exclusive knowledge of God, God’s Generative Word and God’s Spirit. It could also be that the zero is a pictograph representing a cycle or eternity. If so, the meaning would be that what God creates and imbues with the Generative Word will be eternal.


Honoring the Forefathers by Ascribing Length of Days

The Assyrian Kings List provides evidence that ascribing length of days to noble persons was not a common practice. If anyone expected to be shown honor, it was the ancient kings, but their regnal years are, by all appearances, historical. This is borne out by the similarity between the different inscriptions that speak of these kings’ reigns.

Were the Forefathers honored by the assignment of length of days, we would expect Abraham to have been assigned many years since he is the principal Patriarch and the progenitor of Jews, Arabs and other Semites. Yet we are told that Abraham's days were only 175 (Gen. 25:7). If we take up the idea that the longer days are a sign of honor, then we would expect Abraham, the most honored of the Patriarchs to have a very great number. Instead his number - 175- is the equivalent of 4 average lifespans for people at that time.


The Numbers are Symbolic and Convey Information

That the numbers are not to be taken literally is supported by the assignment of 930 years to the mythological first Father, Adam.

Were I to interpret the significance of this number based on the mystical numerology of Kabbala, it would be this: The creature will enjoy the consummation of his faith at the end of time. This makes Adam a type of Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten, who will enter the bridal chamber at the end of days. Paul may have had this in mind when he wrote: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at his coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father…” (1 Corinthians 15:22-24a) And this: “And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:45)

I draw on Kabbala, not because I believe it accurately represents the number system of Abraham's people, but because it has affinity to the older Afro-Asiatic cosmology which assigns numbers to the directional poles and to points between the north-south and east-west axes.

This exploration of the Patriarchs' lifespans seems to indicate that the numbers are symbolic and intended to say something about these individuals. What is being communicated is not clear because we still have much to learn about the numerology of Abraham's people.

The view that the numbers are symbolic is supported by the numerical discrepancy surrounding Lamech the Younger. Some might not view him as especially righteous because he was named after his maternal grandfather who bragged about killing a man. Yet Lamech was Noah's father, and Noah found favor with God. The different numbers pertaining to Lamech the Younger are (Greek Septuagint) 753, (Samaritan) 653, and (Hebrew) 777. No other man in the chronology has such a discrepancy in total number of years. It makes one wonder what the numbers suggest about Lamech in each cultural context.

So if the numbers are symbolic, what is Methusaleh's real age? He is assigned 969 years. The sum of these numbers is 21. That would mean that Methusaleh's lifespan was shorter than average. But there is another possibility. As the number system of Abraham's people was base nine, 969 might indicate that Methuselah lived 2 full cycles plus 1/3 again. If the average lifespan was 35 years, this would mean that he lived 35+ 17 + 35 = 87 years.


Who was Melchizedek?

Melchizedek, the ruler-priest of Jerusalem (Salem), is one of the most fascinating figures of Genesis. His Hebrew name means "righteous king." He is mentioned in Genesis 14, Psalm 110:4 and in the New Testament book of Hebrews. Melchizedek is also considered in the works of modern philosophers such as Soren Kierkegaard.

It is clear from Genesis 14 that Melchizedek and Abraham were well acquainted. Both belonged to the Horite caste of ruler-priests which practiced endogamy. In other words, they were kin. It is likely that Melchizedek was the brother-in-law of Joktan, Abraham's father-in-law.

Melchizedek comes to Abraham after a battle in which Abraham incurred blood guilt. Melchizedek's ministry in this situation would have been to perform the appropriate purification ritual. Every warrior society has a purification ritual to help returning warriors deal with their blood guilt. Melchizedek performed the purification ritual that absolved Abraham of blood guilt. In thanks, Abraham offers him the tithe.

Related reading:  Methuselah's Wife; The Lifespans of Methuselah and Lamech; Methuselah's Ancestry