Age Shall Not Weary Them Trivia Quiz

Methuselah is mentioned in the Book of Genesis (5:21-27: NIV) as the son of Enoch and then, later, as the father of Lamech and the grandfather of Noah. At the time of his birth, his father, Enoch, was 65 years old but, he would go on to (only) live a further 300 years. The interesting thing is that the above passage indicates that Enoch "walked with God" and then he was no more... he didn't die, God simply took him. To some, this passage also implies that, at Methuselah's birth, God had revealed his proposed retribution upon the Earth.

From this, some scholars argue that Methuselah's name means "when he is dead, it will be sent" and that Enoch so named his son because he knew what was coming. The fact that Methuselah passed away the same year as the Great Flood either bears this argument out or it is a very strong coincidence. That being the case, why had God allowed him to live so long. Perhaps the answer lies in 2 Peter 3 (NIV), verses 8 and 9 where it indicates "but do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

Jared is mentioned in the Book of Genesis (5:18-21: NIV) as the son of Mahalalel and that he was a sixth generation descendant of Adam and Eve. A member of the tribe of Seth, it is estimated that he was born some 465 years after the creation of Adam and that he would live to see both the passing of Adam and witness Noah as a young boy.

He would be the father of the prophet Enoch and it is considered that he was one of the men who went on the (unsuccessful) search of his son after he was taken by God.

The tale of Noah and his deeds during the Great Flood is one of the best known stories of the Bible, so I will just summarize by re-iterating that God flooded the Earth, symbolically and physically washing away the misdeeds of man. Noah started the rebuild of the world by stowing the animals of the Earth and his family aboard the Ark.

Noah was a direct descendant of Adam and Eve, the grandson of Methuselah and the son of Lamech, he was around about 500 years old when he fathered his three sons in Shem, Ham and Japheth.

The story of Adam and Eve, their fall from grace, the loss of their immortality and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden is another well known tale from the Bible. In Chapter 4 of the Book of Genesis (NIV), after their expulsion, we are informed that they gave birth to two sons in Cain and Abel, which then leads to the first murder in the Bible (Cain slays Abel). In verse 25 of the same chapter, Adam makes love to his wife again and they have a third son, Seth... and so commences the line that would lead directly to Noah. Adam passes at 930 years of age, just before the Great Flood.

Seth arrives on the scene after the murder of his brother Abel and he begins the line of descendants that will, ultimately, link his parents to Noah. Born when Adam was said to be 130 years old, he is one of only three of Adam and Eve's children that are mentioned in the Bible.

The Bible provides very little data on Seth. Genesis 4:25 (NIV) indicates that Eve saw the granting of Seth as God's replacement for Cain and Abel and, as such, they named him Seth, which means "granted". Genesis 5:6 (NIV) indicates that Seth became the father of Enosh in his 105th year.

Kenan is named in Genesis Chapter 5 as a part of Adam and Eve's lineage. Genesis 5:9 indicates that he was the son of Enosh, which makes him the grandson of Seth and the great grandson of Adam and Eve. Whilst Kenan does not appear in any of the stories in the Bible, he is vital to the sequence of events, as it is his descendants that become prominent in the unfolding of God's future plans.

Kenan father's Mahalalel who, in turn, fathers Jared, who then fathers Enoch, the man who walked with God and is, possibly, the most significant of Kenan's descendants.

The questions to ask are "Who is Enos/Enosh in the Bible" and "What did he do"? We can answer the first one rather succinctly, he was the first son of Seth and, consequently, the first grandson of Adam and Eve. As to the second question, that we cannot answer with any conviction. He is only mentioned in the genealogies (Genesis 5: 10-11 NIV) and that is it.

Enosh also rates a mention, one again in genealogical terms, in Luke 3: 23-38 (NIV). Other clues that can be provided appear in the texts of the Church of Latter Day Saints, Doctrines & Covenants 107:53 which indicates that he became a High Priest at age 134, while the Book of Jubilees (4:11-13) (Ethiopian Orthodox Bible) implies that he began a revival of sorts, "calling on the name of the Lord on the earth" (Yahweh).

Mahalalel receives several mentions in the Bible, but they are, essentially, notations to reveal lineage. He is a link in the chain that joins Adam to Jesus Christ by way of Noah and Noah's son Shem. The historicity of this is confirmed by Luke in 3:37-38 (NIV).

Mahalalel, (referred to as Maleleel in the New Testament of the King James Version), was the son of Kenan and became the father of Jared at age 70. His name, however, may have also signified a changing of the times. It means "praise of God", which is a happier, or more positive, step away from his father's name, Kenan, which meant "a low, humble, possession", or that of Enosh, which meant "frail flesh".

There are two men named Lamech in the early Bible and they should not be confused as they are very different people. The one that we won't be dealing with here was the descendant of Cain and, as if to showcase the curse on that line, this Lamech was known for his arrogance, polygamy, and violence.

The other Lamech is notable for two reasons. First, he was the father of Noah, he lived to the ripe old age of 777 and he managed to be alive for the last 56 years of Adam's life. The second is that he is the only person, apart from Adam, who gets a quote in the Bible... before the Great Flood. The quote appears in Genesis 5: 29 (NIV), which deals with the birth of his son... "He named him Noah and said, "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.""

There are four Enochs mentioned in the Book of Genesis but the one that gets the most mentions lived to be 365 years old and is first spoken of in Genesis 5: 18-24 (NIV). Here it tells that that he was born of Jared and that from him (Enoch) came Methuselah. After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch "walked with God" and "then he was no more, because God took him away" (from that same passage in Genesis).

Exactly what that means is unclear. It is implied/assumed by some that he was taken to heaven, but that is not specifically stated. The other question is why. A possible answer appears in Hebrews 11:5 (KJV), where it indicates that he "had pleased God" and, as a consequence, God did not wish him "to see death". It also says that he was not to be found because God had "translated" him. Translated could mean transferred but it still doesn't tell us definitively where he went.