Maybe... but he also was 969 (the year he died) when Noah was 600 (the year the flood came).
Poor Methusaleh!
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Jewish names are very interesting and have much meaning to them.
Methuselah meaning
The name Methuselah consists of two elements. The first part is מת (mat), which is either one of a few words to denote man or mankind, and used most often to indicate a male capable of combat, or it comes from the similar verb מות (mut) meaning to kill or die:
The verb שלח (shalah) means to send; to send whatever from messengers to arrows. It may even be used to describe a plant's offshoots or branches.
Noun שלח (
shelah) refers to some kind of weapon, apparently a kind of missile. Plural noun שלוחים (
shilluhim) means a send-off; a sending away or parting gift. Noun שלוחה (
sheluha) refers to a shoot or branch. Noun משלח (
mishlah) describes an outstretching of one's hand (i.e. an undertaking, or referring to the place where the letting go takes place). Noun משלוח (
mishloah) also means an outstretching or a sending. Noun משלחת (
mishlahat) describes a discharge from service, or a deputation.
The noun שלחן (
shulhan) means table. It may actually stem from a whole other but identical verb that originally described the skinning an animal and stretching the hide out to dry. Possibly helped by the previous verb, this outstretching of a hide became attached to the laying down of a blanket (or indeed a hide) in order to stall goods on it (like the elements of a meal). When someone invented a table on legs the word to describe it was lifted from the old custom of picnicking on a blanket: a stretcher-outer.
For a meaning of the name Methuselah, Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads מות (
mut) for the first part and translates the whole name with
When He Is Dead It Shall Be Sent. NOBSE Study Bible Name List and BDB Theological Dictionary both read מת (
mat) for the first part; NOBSE translates the whole name with
Man Of A Javelin; BDB proposes
Man Of The Dart.
Note that although a name that means Man Of A Javelin may seem a touch daft to modern ears, the ethnonyms Saxon and Frank both derive from words for a kind of weapon that served as a symbol for a high social status.
The amazing name Methuselah: meaning and etymology
The first meaning of the name, makes sense because of the flood. Most Jewish scholars take the name to mean "When He is dead it shall come" and it is believed by them that Noah died of old age just before the flood came