1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Methuselah

METHUSELAH, in the Old Testament, the seventh in descent from Adam, and father of Lamech. According to Genesis v. 21 he lived 969 years (see Bible: Old Testament, § 5, “Chronology”). The name itself has been much discussed. Holzinger interprets it as “man of the javelin”: Hommel prefers “man of Selah,” Selah being the Hebraized form of the Babylonian Sarrahu (i.e. the god Sin), and identifies it with the Ἀμέμψινος of Berossus. The form Methushael, used by the author of Gen. iv. 18 and by some commentators preferred for Gen. v. 21, is variously explained as meaning “man of El” (Ball), or as a transcription (Sayce) of the Babylonian Mutu-ṣa-ili (possibly, “man of the goddess”).