Genesis 5:21. A Ticking Time Prophecy

 

Genesis 5:21 “And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:”

    Like Lamech, the assassin descendant of Cain, Enoch was the 7^th generation from Adam (Counting Adam as the first generation. See also Jude 1:14). The generational gap from Adam is about the only thing the two men have in common, however, except perhaps the slightly extended length of commentary about them as compared to the rest of the men in each genealogy (Compare Genesis 4:19-24 and 5:21-24). Beyond that, everything is stark contrast: while Lamech plumbed the depths of wickedness, Enoch ascended the heights of godliness. 

    Enoch copied his grandfather and started his family at age sixty-five. His son’s name Methuselah in the original Hebrew is a compound of two words:  math,  meaning “an adult (as of full length),” which derives from mâthay, meaning “to extend; properly extent of time, when (either relative or interrogative) long,” and, -Shelach, the meaning of which is “a missile of attack, that is spear, also figuratively a shoot of growth, that is, branch:” This word derives from shâlach which means "to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications) bring, cast (away, out), forsake, give (up)” (Ibid). 

    In synthesis, Methuselah literally means, “when as an adult his time extends and reaches its full length, then comes the attack, or the forsaking and giving up.” In other words, when Methuselah would die, then the world would be given up to divine justice, forsaken and cast away. Thus Methuselah’s name was a dire warning of judgment to come, and his life was a ticking time prophecy. How can we be sure? Firstly, Enoch had the gift of prophecy and preached of the coming judgment of God (Jude 1:14-15). Secondly, the math in the coming verses confirms that Methuselah died the very year that God destroyed the world with water.

     What would happen if we were to follow the example of Enoch and not only seek righteousness for ourselves, but disciple our posterity? Wouldn't our families also become living sermons to warn the world?