Genesis 5:15-17 “And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: and Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred and ninety and five years: and he died.”
Imagine the mocking sing-song from the irreverent descendants of Cain:
“Hey! There goes old Hállelu! Boom, boom, boom, boom… hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah!”
But if Mahalaleel was as patient and dignified as his name, I’m sure he took it in stride. Interestingly enough, while hallelujah means “God be praised,” Mahalaleel means praise of God. Take that in for a second! What would it be like to receive praise from God Himself? Wow. Jesus was the only man to ever deserve God’s praise, and he received it audibly at His baptism by water and the Spirt, and again right before his baptism of suffering on our behalf (Matthew 3:17, John 12:28.) Yet we also find imperfect, sinful men in the Bible who received praise of God. For example, God called Abraham his friend, (James 2:23) He called Job “perfect and upright,” (Job 1:8) and David “a man after mine own heart” (Acts 13:22). These men received Christ by faith, and in receiving Christ, they received praise of God. "He is thy praise, and he is thy God" (Deuteronomy 10:21).
To receive Christ, however, requires firm, unwavering commitment that is unashamed to bear reproach for His sake. Many who believe on Christ fail to confess Him consistently because “they [love] the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:43). When we distance ourselves from a brother who has become a target of popular scorn, do we not prove that we care more about what others might say about us than what God says? On the other hand, those who prove faithful in the judgment, when the Lord brings “to light the hidden things of darkness,” and makes “manifest the counsels of the hearts:” all such men "shall […] have praise of God.” (1 Corinthians 4:5). “For he is not a Jew, [or a Christian] which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Romans 2:28-29, emphasis added). Circumcision of the heart is a work God does that results in a heart that loves God and therefore keeps His commandments: “And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” (Deuteronomy 30:8, see also verses 15-16). Or as Paul expresses, “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:11).
Perhaps Mahaleleel used all his patience for spiritual matters, for when it came to starting a family, he set a new record for youngest father, having his first child at age 65, exactly half the age that Adam was when he had Seth. Mahalaleel set another new record when he became the first antediluvian to die without completing his 9th century. Yet Mahalaleel’s greatest record is the meaning of his very name. Still, you might ask, what praise did Mahaleleel receive from God, when nothing more is said about his life? Consider this: his son raised a son who God took straight to heaven because he walked with God. What greater praise could God give to a grandfather and his legacy than that?
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