Genesis 5:25-31

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 5:25-27

Concerning Methuselah observe, 1. The signification of his name, which some think was prophetical, his father Enoch being a prophet. Methuselah signifies, he dies, or there is a dart, or, a sending forth, namely, of the deluge, which came the very year that Methuselah died. If indeed his name was so intended and so explained, it was fair warning to a careless world, a long time before the judgment came. However, this is observable, that the longest liver that ever was carried death in his... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 5:28-32

Here we have the first mention of Noah, of whom we shall read much in the following chapters. Observe, I. His name, with the reason of it: Noah signifies rest; his parents gave him that name, with a prospect of his being a more than ordinary blessing to his generation: This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. Here is, 1. Lamech's complaint of the calamitous state of human life. By the entrance of sin, and the entail... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 5:25

And Methuselah lived an hundred and eighty and seven years, and beget Lamech. The Septuagint version is an hundred and sixty seven; the Samaritan only sixty seven; the same names were given to some of the posterity of Seth as were to those of Cain, as Lamech here, and Enoch before. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 5:26

And Methuselah lived, after he begat Lamech, seven hundred eighty and two years ,.... The Greek version is eight hundred and two years, and so makes the sum total of his life the same; but the Samaritan version only six hundred and fifty three, and so makes his whole life but seven hundred and twenty; and thus, instead of being the oldest, he is made the youngest of the antediluvian patriarchs, excepting his father Enoch: and begat sons and daughters ; some, it is highly probable, before... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 5:27

And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty nine years, and he died ,.... This was the oldest man that ever lived, no man ever lived to a thousand years: the Jews give this as a reason for it, because a thousand years is God's day, according to Psalm 90:4 and no man is suffered to arrive to that. His name carried in it a prediction of the time of the flood, which was to be quickly after his death, as has been observed; see Gill on Genesis 5:21 . Some say he died in the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 5:28

And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat son. According to the Septuagint version he was an hundred and eighty eight years old; but according to the Samaritan version only fifty three; the name, of his son, begotten by him, is given in the next verse, with the reason of it. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 5:29

And he called his name Noah ,.... Which signifies rest and comfort; for rest gives comfort, and comfort flows from rest, see 2 Samuel 14:17 , where a word from the same root is rendered "comfortable", and agrees with the reason of the name, as follows: saying, this same shall comfort us, concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground, which the Lord hath cursed ; this he spake by a spirit of prophecy, foreseeing what his son would be, and of what advantage to him and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 5:30

And Lamech lived, after he begat Noah, five hundred ninety and five years ,.... The Septuagint version is five hundred and sixty five; and the Samaritan version six hundred: and begat sons and daughters ; of which we have no account. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 5:31

And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years, and he died. According to the Greek version, he lived but seven hundred and fifty three; and according to the Samaritan version, only six hundred and fifty three: but it is best and safest in these, and all the above numbers, to follow the original Hebrew, and the numbers in that, with which the Targum of Onkelos exactly agrees, written about the time of Christ; and these numbers were just the same when the two Talmuds... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 5:27

The days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years - This is the longest life mentioned in Scripture, and probably the longest ever lived; but we have not authority to say positively that it was the longest. Before the flood, and before artificial refinements were much known and cultivated, the life of man was greatly protracted, and yet of him who lived within thirty-one years of a thousand it is said he died; and the longest life is but as a moment when it is past. Though life... read more

Group of Brands